College Football 2016 Week 2 running thread

Ferentz is in remarkably good shape for a guy his age and I could see him coaching nine more years.

Feels like Iowa is desperately trying to hang onto this cash cow amid the shifting landscape. Iowa football makes SO much money along with the BTN payout. Men's basketball is barely a dent and that's with teams that make the NCAA tournament.

Wisconsin has passed Iowa on the second-tier list of football programs in the conference. Iowa made his move out of more fear of turning into Purdue or Illinois than becoming Ohio State or Michigan.

 

Did we know this? Texas QB Shane Buechele is the fifth child of former MLB player and current Rangers bench coach Steve Buechele, who had the snip after kid No. 4.

From medical science flub to Texas' godsend -- how QB Shane Buechele crossed Red River lines to give UT hope | SportsDay

 

Reacher might make an impact on the world yet.

 

I readily admit I do not know the ins and outs of Iowa football as well as some on this board but to this outsider, Ferentz has done a pretty darn good job considering Iowa is a small state with crappy weather in the middle of flyover country with a small number of Division-1 caliber recruits, without a major sugar daddy like Phil Knight or T Boone to buy them whatever they want, and not much real football tradition to speak of beyond a guy who won the Heisman back in the leather-helmet days.

Compared to programs out here like Washington, ASU, Arizona and Cal, which have so many more advantages in weather, local talent, etc., Iowa has overachieved mightily.

 

For some reason that I have never been able to figure out, Iowa folks have always believed Hayden Fry was a great deal more successful than he actually was. So they get a little frustrated that Ferentz hasn't gotten them "back" to a place they never were.

 

Guess I had believed the hype, too. Always figured he'd won a handful of Big Ten titles and was a worthy rival for Woody and Bo.
And then I looked at his record.
Three conference championships in 20 years, including two when his teams went 8-4? Only three 10-win seasons? He had a good run in the 80s, and then it was a whole lot of mediocrity for another decade.
This guy has living legend status? Even at his best he was sucking hind tit to Michigan and Ohio State.
I'd compare him to Vince Dooley, but at least Dooley wrung one national championship out of Herschel Walker and sniffed another.

 

In fairness, Fry has as many national championships as Schembechler.

 

In five years before last fall, Ferentz was 8-5, 7-6, 4-8, 8-5, 7-6 and Hawks fans were mortified that they had agreed to such a huge buyout for a coach they perceived was coasting (and who hasn't always had pristine teams off the field either.)

 

However, the Big Ten's current conference alignment for football makes the Big Ten West not much more different than the MAC West.

Iowa and Minnesota an inflated record if they add a non-competitive non-con. At least I respect Wisconsin for finally playing a good SEC program the last three years.

 

Before Fry was hired Iowa had gone through 17 consecutive losing seasons. And in 12 of those years they won four games or less. It was one of the worst programs in college football for a long time so the first guy to break that string was going to be a hero no matter what. Fry not only snapped that streak, he did it by winning the Big 10 and ending Michigan and Ohio State's 13-year run as the Big 10 Rose Bowl rep. He was pretty much set for life at that point.

 

Michigan (-35) vs UCF
Appalachian St. (-2) vs Old Dominion
Oregon (-25) vs Virginia

 

I like all those picks, Dixie. Although, Appy has Miami coming in next week, right?