Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg (16) tosses a pass during the team's openspring practice Saturday, April 15, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG TV-9)

Phil Steele has become the E.F. Hutton of college football national gurus. For those of you who don’t remember the company’s world-famous commercials back in the 1980s, E.F. Hutton touted its stock market success and left you with a simple phrase: “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

Well, Phil Steele has that kind of clout, too. Nobody crunches the numbers on college football quite like Mr. Steele. His annual preseason guide is a must-buy and not for the articles. The numbers are free-flowing and crammed into the tiniest spot on a page. But they have power, as we learned last year after Iowa’s 22-21 loss at Minnesota.

Phil Steele knows his players, too, and he releases his preseason all-conference teams on his website each spring. Today, he unleashed the Big Ten, and two Iowa players landed on the first team.

Wide receiver Keenan Davis, who caught 50 passes last year for Iowa, headlines Iowa’s offensive honorees. Cornerback Micah Hyde was tabbed first-team defense. Nobody would argue that Hyde deserves that nomination, but Davis is maybe a bit of a surprise. But not overly so.

Iowa totaled eight players on Steele’s top four teams. Linebacker James Morris was a second-teamer with tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz and center James Ferentz landing on the third team. Fourth-team members include safety Tanner Miller, linebacker Christian Kirksey and left tackle Brandon Scherff, who has yet to play a snap at that position.

Perhaps the greatest surprise for Iowa fans might be at quarterback. Senior James Vandenberg passed for 3,022 yards and 25 TDs, last year and finished third among Big Ten quarterbacks in passing yards per game at 232.5. Vandenberg’s the top returnee in that statistical category, followed by Michigan’s Denard Robinson, who averaged 167.2 yards per game, Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez (162.3 ypg) and Illinois’ Nathan Scheelhaase (160.7 ypg). I’d say 55 yards a game is pretty significant.

Robinson was listed as Steele’s first-team QB and rightly so. He’s a dynamic dual-threat player and has a real shot at the Heisman Trophy. Martinez was listed third and Scheelhaase was fourth. Steele’s surprise was at second-team with Ohio State sophomore Braxton Miller, who passed for 1,159 yards last year as a freshman. While Miller has tons of talent, it’s a real stretch to think new Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer will mold Miller into the next Tim Tebow this year, let alone outplay a returning senior who topped 3,000 yards and threw just seven interceptions last year.

Vandenberg passed for 399 yards and four TDs in the greatest comeback in Iowa football history, a 31-27 win against Pittsburgh. Miller completed 1-of-4 passes in an improbable win at Illinois. Granted Miller had a couple of nice performances last but nothing to push him ahead of Martinez, Scheelhaase, Vandenberg or even Minnesota’s MarQueis Gray entering this season.

While Phil Steele, who resides in Ohio, remains a college football genius, he might have miscalculated with Miller, maybe like we all did with the Mayans and that whole end-of-the-world thing. Maybe Miller will be better than Vandenberg in a year or two, and the Mayans will be right in 7,000 years. Or Steele could be right with Miller this year, and his projections forever will remain stainless. Hopefully that doesn’t coincide with the end of the world.

— Scott Dochterman

LINK SLIME

– Off Tackle Empire is offering its thoughts on Iowa’s head football coach and his two coordinators.

While it’s flattering to Kirk Ferentz overall (though not entirely), it doesn’t paint OC Greg Davis as the bridge from the Insight Bowl to the Rose Bowl.

Greg Davis thrived on consistently boring screens, slant patterns, and QB’s who could take it upon themselves to make the coach look good despite the obnoxious plays that were called.

– The list of the 60 players invited to June’s NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Chicago has been released. Five players are from the Big Ten. Iowa’s Matt Gatens isn’t among them.

– How much money did Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany earn in 2010? Almost $1.8 million.

– Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa had a game of games against Iowa in 2010. Unfortunately, the game-deciding touchdown pass he through in the Wildcats’ come-from-14-points-behind victory was costly. Persa landed the wrong way after the throw and tore an Achilles tendon.

He returned last season, but he was no longer a threat to run. He could still throw and quarterback, though, and got a tryout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this month. Alas, he tweaked the same area, will have surgery in August, and will halt his football career.

– Illinois is trying to sell football season-tickets. It has 1,600 of them available for $99 each. They aren’t great seats, but who’s to complain at that price?

Purdue is selling 7,000 season-tickets for $98. They are in the south end zone of Ross-Ade Stadium, and have been knocked down from $147 last year.

Though it had a mild renaissance on the field in 2011 (7-6), Purdue was only 51st in NCAA football attendance with 45,225 fans per home game. Illinois was 42nd with an average home crowd of 49,548.

– The Big East already stretched conference basketball tournaments to the heights (depths?) of goofiness by having all 16 of its teams come to New York to play for the championship.

Who knows how many Big East teams there are or will be tomorrow, let alone in years to come, but the plan is to have a six-round, 18-team tourney when Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple and UCF join the league.

 – Compiled by Mike Hlas

Edgar Cervantes (left), Robert Gallery (70) and Maurice Brown (9) celebrate with Iowa's Dallas Clark after a touchdown against Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City Saturday, Nov. 9, 2002. (Gazette file)

Kirk Ferentz has been head coach for the Hawkeyes for 14 years now. That’s a long time and that’s a lot of great stories.

Bob Sanders rings out. Robert Gallery isn’t bad, either. Certainly, Nate Kaeding, Colin Cole and Pat Angerer. I’m not going to go over them all (Abdul Hodge/Chad Greenway). There’s no way I’d mention all the ones that have moved you (Mitch King/Matt Kroul) through the years.

I go back to Dallas Clark’s story, a lot.

The 33-year-old signed what could well be his final NFL deal on Monday, linking up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here’s the story (didn’t call them “posts” back then and I’m not even sure this ever found its way to the internet) I wrote when Clark announced he was leaving Iowa early for the NFL draft (nine seasons with Indianapolis and had 427 career receptions for 4,887 yards, 46 touchdowns and a Super Bowl ring).

Headline: No what-ifs: Clark opts for the NFL

IOWA CITY – Dallas Clark arrived at Iowa with a broken collarbone, a murky promise of a spot as a walk-on and darned near no money.

He leaves as one of Iowa’s all-time best tight ends and, if he cleans up well for NFL scouts, a wealthy young man.

Clark, everyone’s all-American this season, announced Wednesday he will skip his senior season and enter April’s NFL draft.

“Before I even decided, whatever decision I made it was going to be 100 percent, never looking back,” Clark said. ”I’m not going to live in the world of ‘what ifs, what ifs.’ If I get drafted in the fifth round or if I got hurt, this is my life and I’m going to live with the rewards and consequences. I feel great about this opportunity and my decision.”

Iowa went 2-for-3 in Hawkeyes shunning the NFL Wednesday.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, who interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars opening last week, dropped out of the running and received a raise, UI Athletics Director Bob Bowlsby said.

Offensive tackle Robert Gallery, who considered skipping his senior year next year, will remain a Hawkeye.

“I’m staying,” Gallery said. “I’m not filing papers (to the NFL offices), and I’m not looking back. This is the right decision for me. I belong at Iowa for another year.”

[Iowa has struck out on the senior O-lineman the last two times out with Bryan Bulaga and Riley Reiff, but they made the right decisions for them and that's all that matters. Ferentz will tell you that, too.]

Clark, a junior from Livermore, is the first Iowa player to skip a year of eligiblity since tight end Jonathan Hayes passed up the 1985 season for the draft.

Clark, 23, said he’ll remain on campus this semester to train but won’t enroll in classes. He said he intends to finish his degree and pursue a teaching career.

Clark kept himself composed and thanked Ferentz, strength coach Chris Doyle, tight ends coach Reese Morgan, Bowlsby and his family.

“It’s been a really hard decision, one of the toughest I think I’ll make,” Clark said. “I know that it’s probably going to upset a lot of people I’m not coming back. But I thought a lot about it. This is the right thing for me. At this point in my life, I have to look out for my best interests.”

Clark’s story is nothing short of incredible. He began his Iowa football life in 1998 as a part-time student with a broken collarbone. Former Iowa coach Hayden Fry promised Clark a chance to make the team and came through on the promise.

“We’ve got to put Hayden in there, because it was Hayden who gave him a chance,” said Doug Clark, Dallas’ dad.

Clark became a full-time student and a full-fledged team member in January ’99. But two days before the season opener against Nebraska – Ferentz’s first game as head coach – Clark had an emergency appendectomy.

The first two semesters in ’98 were particularly difficult.

His mom, Jan, died two days before he graduated from Twin Rivers High School. With two sons finishing college, Doug Clark had a tough time helping his youngest son make ends meet.

“Maybe we didn’t have the greatest stuff, but we enjoyed what we had and it worked,” Doug Clark said. “But I do know that any kid in America who says he can’t support college, I can testify he can.”

[A timely quote, IMO.]

Dallas Clark basically lived on his own that first year.

“It was really hard,” said Clark, who has some $15,000 in student loans. “I just didn’t feel like a college freshman, because I had so many responsibilities.

“I was by myself, so I had to handle that. I had to grow up. I didn’t get to enjoy the finer things at college. But to play even just one game at Kinnick Stadium, it was all worth it.”

Before being awarded a full scholarship in fall ’01, Clark played football, took classes and worked. He held a summer job with UI grounds services, which included mowing Kinnick Stadium.

[I asked this because I remember being at the complex for something and seeing Clark taking a ride in a John Deere Gator with work gloves on. Biggest whiplash juxtaposition in Iowa football history.]

“I woke up at 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” said Clark, who started as an outside linebacker and made a splash on special teams before moving to tight end in spring 2001. “I mowed Kinnick Stadium and mowed the baseball stadium, both softball fields, both soccer fields. I fixed sprinkler heads. I mowed the complex. That helped me pay the bills.”

[Oh yeah, he was an outside linebacker for a while at Iowa.]

He mowed Kinnick, then he owned Kinnick.

The deadline for underclassmen to file for draft eligibility was Wednesday at 5 p.m. Players then get 72-hour window to reconsider.

Clark is definitely going. Gallery is definitely staying.

Gallery, a 6-foot-7, 305-pounder, would have been a mid-round selection this year.

“I talked to a lot of NFL people and everyone said late first round or early second, but I had already made up my mind,” Gallery said. “I want to be the top offensive tackle in the draft next year. I want to help this team achieve next year.”

[He was to the tune of a $60 million deal. Gallery also is in the twilight of his career. He'll play with the Patriots this season.]

Clark said his age was a factor. He’ll be 24 in June. Next year would have been his sixth year at Iowa.

Clark talked to NFL scouts from the Ravens, Patriots and Colts. He sees himself as a “solid second-rounder.”

[Colts?]

ESPN’s Mel Kiper rated Clark as the No. 3 junior tight end in the nation.

Late first-round picks get contracts in the $5 million to $7 million range with signing bonuses of about $1.5 million.

Third-rounders get contracts in the $2 million range with signing bonuses of about $700,000.

“I think Dallas is going to be a guy they can split out, use as a slot receiver, a lot like the Giants use (Jeremy) Shockey,” said Marv Cook, a former all-American tight end at Iowa who had a Pro Bowl career in the NFL.

“I think he’ll be great in motion, being able to get in trips and work the three-man, West Coast-style offense with another tight end. I think he’ll be able to contend for a starting jobright now.”

[Man, Marv nailed it.]

Clark’s career as a Hawkeye

Career Receiving Statistics

Year No. Yds Avg. TD Long

Sophomore 38 539 14.2 4 40

Junior 43 742 17.3 4 95

Totals 81 1,281 15.8 8 95

Career Highlights

1998 – Red-shirted after joining the team as a walk-on.

1999 – Did not see any game action. Missed second half of season with an injury.

2000 – Earned coaches appreciation award for special teams play. Saw action on special teams and at linebacker in all 12 games.

2001 – Made switch to tight end, starting 10 games and playing in all 12. Earned honorable mention all-Big Ten by coaches and media. Had two TD catches against Miami (Ohio) and had seven receptions for 116 yards against Penn State.

2002 – Winner of John Mackey Award as nation’s top tight end. First team all-American by Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation, American Football Coaches Association and Football Writers Association of America. First team all-Big Ten. Big Ten offensive player of the week after Purdue game when he caught three passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns (a 95-yarder and the game-winner in the closing seconds).

Iowa's Devyn Marble (4) looks to pass the ball around Illinois' D.J. Richardson (1) and Meyers Leonard (12) during their first-round game in the 2012 Big Ten men's basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

Big Ten basketball lacks the schedule intrigue of its football counterpart partly because all league schools play one another at least once during the season. But clearly there are basketball rivalries that rise above the rest, and there are questions as to whether they automatically are played twice each year.

Purdue and Indiana come to mind immediately, followed closely by Michigan-Michigan State. After those two, there are a handful that receive consideration as important but not necessarily vital to the basketball program.

With a 12-team league, each school plays seven schools twice and four schools once. The schedule rotates every two seasons and there are no established home-and-home rivalries.

Last week at the Big Ten spring meetings in Chicago, Purdue Athletics Director Morgan Burke was asked if there was any discussion about changing that rule to include one special rivalry as a home-and-home every year. Burke said, “You bet that’s in the schedule for basketball. That’s changed. When we got into it … I’m not sure everybody has a natural rivalry. Michigan and Michigan State is a natural rivalry.

“I think we’re (Purdue-Indiana) home-and-away ad infinitum.”

Burke then backtracked slightly and told reporters to check with the Big Ten office. The league’s answer didn’t quite match Burke’s recollection.

View This Poll “We don’t have protected basketball rivals,” said Mark Rudner, the Big Ten’s senior associate commissioner for television administration and handles scheduling. “There will come a time when Purdue and Indiana will play only one time.

“Nothing has changed as I’ve been aware of, and I would have been made aware.”

Indiana and Purdue last played one time during the 2007-08 and 2008-2009 season. In 2002-03, another year when the schools were scheduled to play only once in the Big Ten, they decided to play a neutral site game at the RCA Dome and drew a crowd of more than 32,000.

Michigan and Michigan State also played just once per season in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Part of the reason permanent rivalries have not been established is after Indiana-Purdue and Michigan-Michigan State, there are plenty of good rivalries but none that scream out as “gotta plays.” I’m sure you could look at Wisconsin-Minnesota as a possibility or Illinois’ rivalries with either Iowa or Northwestern. But the response would be tepid to force rivalries between, say, Ohio State-Penn State or Iowa-Nebraska. But it’s something officials can suggest or implement into the future, Rudner said.

“They may, as directors, choose to change that, but that’s not going to happen this year,” Rudner said.

If permanent rivalries were established, here’s a guess on how they’d play out. Vote for yours in the above poll and we’ll post the results both here and in The Gazette at a later date.

• Indiana-Purdue — Duh. Best rivalry in the Big Ten and top five in the nation.
• Michigan-Michigan State — Now that the Wolverines are contenders, this rivalry will be fierce on the court and for recruits.
• Wisconsin-Minnesota — It’s a perfect rivalry between the states in college/pro sports and top fishing spots.
• Ohio State-Penn State — Location, location, location.
• Illinois-Northwestern — I’d prefer Iowa-Illinois, but the instate factor would earn the final nod.
• Iowa-Nebraska — Hardly a rivalry, but the Cornhuskers could use a permanent border foe, and Iowa fans in Council Bluffs/Omaha would stoke the fire a little bit before spring football starts.

— Scott Dochterman

LINK BLOTTER

— The Big Ten is learning an NFL trick. Which is, come out with news items at dead times of the year to keep your name in the public eye.

So on Monday, the conference announced its conference football games for 2015 and 2016. That’s three years and three months from now, but people reacted. For instance:

• Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes the 2013 Ohio State recruiting class that Urban Meyer is putting together right now will go through its time at Ohio State without playing Nebraska during the regular season. At least the Buckeyes who are around for only four seasons.

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Potrykus points out that Wisconsin and Michigan State — who met in two terrific games last season — won’t face each other from 2013 through 2016. They will meet this Oct. 27 in Madison.

• Nebraska has what could be a pretty formidable schedule in 2015. Rich Kaipust of the Omaha World-Herald points out the Huskers play Southern Mississippi and BYU at home and Miami on the road, so that’s a better-than-average nonconference collection of opponents (the other is South Alabama). In league play, Nebraska travels to Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin.

• We don’t know who will be great, good, and godawful in 2015 and 2016, but Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune knows this: Northwestern won’t play Ohio State, Penn State or Wisconsin in either of those regular-seasons.

Plan your weddings accordingly.

— Should my child play football?

It’s a question more and more parents are asking as concussions in football become a hotter and hotter topic. This story by Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gets a lot of feedback in this story.

Football isn’t the only dangerous organized activity for youths.

Dr. Steve Kroll of Georgia Sports Medicine estimates that he has seen more than 1,000 concussion cases in the past two years. Maybe 20 percent of those involve football. Other sources may surprise you.

“One in particular is cheerleading,” he said. “They don’t have pads. They don’t have helmets. And they actually suffer quite a few concussions.”

— I’ve seen show-stopping shots on NBA playoff telecasts the last two nights. Now, so can you.

First up is Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday in the Clips’ swansong, a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Next is Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder in OC’s series close-out win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. (The reaction of the gentleman at the scorer’s table at the :32 mark of the clip is appropriate and wonderful.)

 Compiled by Mike Hlas

LSU Coach Les Miles, right, poses for a picture with Alabama Coach Nick Saban during a news conferemce for the BCS National Championship college football game Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The “On Iowa” podcast with Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman breaks down the intense debate surrounding college football’s postseason, the current bowl structure and the potential for additional conference realignment with Gazette columnist Mike Hlas. We also answer your Twitter questions.

To listen to this podcast, click on the side or below icon or download it at iTunes

Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki celebrates as he crosses the goal line for a touchdown during the first half of their game against Illinois at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006, in Champaign, Ill. Iowa won, 24-7. (Gazette file)

The Big Ten released football schedules for the 2015-16 seasons today.

Here’s the release from Iowa with some thoughts following:

2015-16 BIG TEN FOOTBALL SCHEDULES ANNOUNCED

IOWA CITY, IA – The University of Iowa’s Big Ten Conference football schedules have been announced for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Schedules for all 12 league schools were release today by the Big Ten Conference.

The league slate has Iowa opening conference play with a home game in each of the two seasons. The Hawkeyes will not play Indiana, Ohio State or Wisconsin either year. Iowa does not play Ohio State, Illinois and Wisconsin this year and won’t play Illinois, Indiana or Penn State in 2013-14.

Iowa opens the 2015 league schedule Oct. 3 and 10 with successive home games against Northwestern and Michigan State. Road contests at Purdue and Minnesota follow. Illinois and Michigan are the other Big Ten home games in 2015. Other league road contests are Penn State and Nebraska. The open week is Nov. 14.

The Hawkeyes open at home against Minnesota on Oct. 1, 2016. Other home games that year include Purdue, Penn State and Nebraska. League road games include Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan. The bye week is Nov. 12.

The Nebraska games are currently set for Saturday dates, following Thanksgiving, in the 2013-16 time frame. That could change. The Iowa and Nebraska athletic directors will meet following this year’s game at Kinnick Stadium to determine if a Friday game, following Thanksgiving, is still in the best interests of both schools.

Iowa’s football schedules for the 2013-16 time frame are listed below.

2013

Aug. 31 Northern Illinois

Sept. 7 Missouri State

Sept. 14 at Iowa State

Sept. 21 Western Michigan

Sept. 28 at Minnesota

Oct. 5 Michigan State (HC)

Oct. 12 Open

Oct. 19 at Ohio State

Oct. 26 Northwestern

Nov. 2 Wisconsin

Nov. 9 at Purdue

Nov. 16 Open

Nov. 23 Michigan

Nov. 30 at Nebraska

2014

Aug. 30 Northern Iowa

Sept. 6 Ball State

Sept. 13 Iowa State

Sept. 20 at Pittsburgh

Sept. 27 Open

Oct. 4 at Wisconsin

Oct. 11 Open

Oct. 18 Ohio State

Oct. 25 Purdue

Nov. 1 at Michigan

Nov. 8 at Northwestern

Nov. 15 Minnesota

Nov. 22 at Michigan State

Nov. 29 Nebraska

2015

Sept. 5 Illinois State

Sept. 12 at Iowa State

Sept. 19 Pittsburgh

Sept. 26 North Texas

Oct. 3 Northwestern

Oct. 10 Michigan State

Oct. 17 at Purdue

Oct. 24 at Minnesota

Oct. 31 Illinois

Nov. 7 at Penn State

Nov. 14 Open

Nov. 21 Michigan

Nov. 28 at Nebraska

2016

Sept. 3 North Dakota State

Sept. 10 Iowa State

Sept. 17 Central Michigan

Sept. 24 TBA

Oct. 1 Minnesota

Oct. 8 at Michigan State

Oct. 15 Purdue

Oct. 22 at Northwestern

Oct. 29 at Illinois

Nov. 5 Penn State

Nov. 12 Open

Nov. 19 at Michigan

Nov. 26 Nebraska

__________________________________

 – The “TBA” in 2016 is a BCS date, I believe. Could Iowa jump into the Pac-12 derby a year early? Why not? Just do it, says that one Pac-12 school. My predictions for that are an Arizona school or Washington (where Iowa AD Gary Barta once worked).

– Iowa’s Black Friday game with Nebraska comes up for discussion after this season. Will it stick on Black Friday? I think so, but I also think Iowa has to beat Nebraska to keep the slot. It’s a featured position and the league is going to want a competitive rivalry to showcase. Ball’s in Iowa’s court.

– I vote to take all FCS schools except for Northern Iowa off the schedule. That’s just me crazy talking, though.

– The only other neutral site opportunity I see is Northern Illinois again at Soldier Field in ’13. I don’t see that happening.

– Let me just register my complaint on no Wisconsin-Iowa for 2015-16. Losing battle. Decision’s been made. Still sucks.

– It’s about damn time for an Iowa-Illinois game. At least there’s no talk of a traveling trophy for this border war, which will be renewed, finally, in 2015, a six-year stretch with no Iowa-Illinois. Now, no one really has made any noise about the absence. Logistics don’t seem to mean a thing in the NU-Big Ten, either. (Wisconsin is about three hours from Iowa City, and Illinois is around five-ish. Doable drives.)

We’re left to scratch our heads, and that’s really it. The league has changed and will remain changing. There will be some breakage. Everything is different and remains dynamic.

The helmet comes off Illinois defensive lineman Will Davis (81) as Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi (12) is tackled for a loss of four to bring up 2nd and 14 during the fourth quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. (Jonathan D. Woods/The Gazette)

Ten things that have happened since Iowa played Illinois on Nov. 1, 2008:

1) Obama elected — Coincidentally, the renewal (six years after) will be played the Saturday before the next presidential election.

2) The economy crashed — Mainly, the housing bubble burst. Who knew, right?

3) The Chicago Blackhawks won a Stanley Cup — Hey, it was 49 years of darkness. (Yes, this list somewhat self-serving.)

4) A TV show called “Jersey Shore” burst on the scene — We now know about Snooki and the Situation and all that jazz. And we are not the better for it.

5) Tiger Woods’ balloon popped — Remember that odd newsflash on Thanksgiving weekend in 2009? Who knew we’d be still feeling that today. I still think Tiger will be great again, but I’m looking at my watch and wondering when. Well, he’s made for great Howard Stern fodder since then. Sigh.

6) Craft beer became a thing — Place your ad here, Stone. (Stone is coming to Iowa, you know.)

7) Hot Doug’s — It’s a restaurant in Chicago that I’ve discovered since 2008. Maybe I’ll be able to hit it prior to the Soldier Field game this fall. I highly recommend. Here’s Hot Doug’s special menu for today. Mmmmmm. Yes, I would try a yak sausage.

The Bubble has tumbled — OK, this is pretty recent. The UI has released a few pics of the new place today. Here’s one:

The new indoor facility. (UI photo from the Twitter feed)

9) Conan O’Brien canceled, re-issued — Remember all that Conan stuff? Team Coco and all that? Late Night with Conan O’Brien was canceled in 2008 and then brought back to life a year or so later on TBS. I watch very little late-night Talk TV outside of Letterman and that Ferguson guy, but I did watch some Conan. I don’t watch Conan on TBS. I’ve never watched a second of anything Leno. It’s not that I don’t like him, it’s his show.

10) Stanzi rises– Remember Ricky Stanzi in the 2008 Illinois game?

Stanzi finished 11 of 29 for 191 yards and a touchdown. He threw two interceptions, one leading to an Illinois field goal and a 10-6 halftime lead, and the other ending the game.

Stanzi fumbled on a sack by cornerback Dere Hicks, who returned the fumble 7 yards for a 24-9 lead with 13:56 left in the game.

After the sack, fumble recovery and TD, Stanzi zipped Iowa downfield, completing 3 of 3 and finishing with a 29-yard TD pass to wide receiver Andy Brodell. Stanzi finished the fourth quarter 4 of 10 for 91 yards with a TD and interception.

The next week, Stanzi helped beat No. 3 Penn State. The Hawkeyes went on to win 13 straight games between the end of ’08 and ’09. That was Iowa’s longest winning streak since 20 straight in 1920 through ’23.

Stanzi also talked about America.

– Marc Morehouse

POTIONS, LOTIONS, LINKS

– I covered an NCAA basketball tournament in Worcester, Mass., in 1992. On Sunday evening, hours after Rick Pitino’s Kentucky team beat Johnny Orr’s Iowa State squad 106-98 in a real dinger of a second-round game, a snow descended on downtown Worcester. It was pretty. It felt like being in a postcard as I trudged through the snow under the street lights of a quiet downtown.

There was a doughnut shop across the street from the Hampton Inn that was my home for five nights. But this is no time to get sentimental.

Anyway, a prep school in Worcester brought together Kirk Ferentz, Ken O’Keefe, Joe Philbin and Mike Sherman as football coaches. Ferentz was the defensive coordinator. O’Keefe was the head coach. Sherman was an assistant coach. Philbin was a tight end. That was in 1979. A long time ago.

Ferentz went on to employ O’Keefe and Philbin at Iowa. Philbin went on to employ O’Keefe and Sherman with the Miami Dolphins.

Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post had a story this weekend about the Worcester Academy days of the three new Dolphins coaches.

By the way, Christian Laettner broke Kentucky’s heart six days after the Wildcats eliminated Iowa State. Twenty years later, I was in Louisville for an Iowa State-Kentucky NCAA tournament game. Unlike Ferentz and O’Keefe, I’m doing the exact same thing I was 20 years ago.

Well, I wasn’t blogging back then. Or tweeting. Or writing about Nebraska in the Big Ten, Missouri in the SEC, West Virginia in the Big 12, and Colorado in the Pac-12.

– There was so much weekend commentary written about the big-picture, grand-scheme meaning of the announcement the Big 12 and SEC will have their own New Year’s, prime-time wingding of a bowl game. Here are a few assorted essays on the topic, and subjects related to the topic:

Let’s start with a juicy piece of gossip. Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com says “sources say (Texas Athletic Director DeLoss) Dodds is telling some in the Big 12 he thinks Notre Dame is seriously looking at the Big 12.”

Brown says Dodds has been courting Notre Dame to join it in the Big 12 since 2010.

If perception is reality, the Big 12 is about to blow the ACC’s doors off. Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the creation of the SEC-Big 12 Champions Bowl will further the perception that the top football conferences — the Pac-12, the SEC, the Big Ten and the Big 12 — have further distanced themselves from everyone else.

Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle agrees, suggesting “the four most powerful conferences seem to be running an end around and creating their own bracket and backups at the exclusion of everybody else.”

In the land of the Capital One Bowl, an annual pairing of Big Ten and SEC teams, Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel warns locals the playoff system-to-be could cause the Cap One Bowl to be on shaky ground.

The Omaha World-Herald’s Tom Shatel asks Nebraska fans this: If you knew the Big 12 would not only survive but be in position to become an SEC partner and bring in Florida State, Miami and others, would you still want to be there?

Shatel’s answer: No.

However, Shatel did add this: The plodding style of Big Ten football had Nebraskans looking for their remote control. The lack of urgency often shown toward the national title race was a cold splash of water. The Rose Bowl mentality.

 Compiled by Mike Hlas

Bob Bowlsby, left, outgoing University of Iowa athletic director, congratulates his replacement and longtime friend, Gary Barta, after a news conference Friday, June 23, 2006, in Iowa City, Iowa, where Barta was named Bowlsby's replacement. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Harry Baumert)

Bob Bowlsby still isn’t quite in his new job as Big 12 commissioner, but the league made a move Friday that will shape Bowlsby’s tenure.

The Big 12 and SEC announced that it would pit the two teams in a New Year’s Day Bowl beginning in 2015. The initial deal is for five seasons. Maybe let’s think of it as Rose Bowl South, with a probably landing point being the Sugar Bowl. (Sound the sad trombone for the Fiesta Bowl.)

“I am very excited by the prospects for a game between our champion and the champion of the Southeastern Conference,” Bowlsby said.

The Big 12 still only has 10 teams, although the Florida State trial balloon has been floated within the last week. It still has a mish-mash of a TV deal. Yet the league made a power move Friday when it aligned with the SEC.

Now, the Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12 and SEC have marked their New Year’s Day territory. (Sound the sad trombone for the ACC and Big East, which will, after all, welcome Boise State eventually for some reason.)

The league was near death just last summer. Now, this from current commissioner Chuck Neinas: “We may not be Facebook but the Big 12 would get a strong ‘buy’ rating on Wall Street today.” (Remember, Texas and Oklahoma reside in the Big 12. Mostly Texas, and that’s a hammer.)

There’s a possibility we could see Bowlsby back in the Kinnick Stadium press box this fall. Iowa State will carry the newly reinvigorated Big 12 flag into Kinnick this fall when the Cyclones try to snap a four-game losing streak in Iowa City. (Go ahead and try to put a spread on this game. I think even or ISU maybe -1 right now.)

Bowlsby fired up the donor base and fandom to raise $90 million for a Kinnick renovation project that was completed the season after he left for Stanford.

Bowlsby has seen a game at Kinnick. Now, it could be in an official capacity.

“At Stanford he had a home that was part of his package, so I joked with him he’s going to have to be a property tax payer again,” said Iowa athletics director Gary Barta, who worked for Bowlsby 20 years ago when they were at the University of Northern Iowa.

“He’ll be a great leader for the Big 12,” Barta said. “It seems like the right time, the right fit. He’s familiar with the commissioner’s role from his time in the Big Ten and his time with Jim Delany. It makes sense. I think it’s good for college athletics.”

During the Big Ten meetings in Chicago this week, Delany said about Bowlsby, “An old friend in a new position.”

Barta doesn’t know if Bowlsby will make the trip with the Big 12 contingent on Sept. 8, but the invitation has always been there.

“He and Candy (Bowlsby’s wife) came to a game at Kinnick a few years ago,” Barta said. “He always has an open invitation.”

Barta’s make-no-mistake stance on a playoff

Barta has said this before, just as he stated his stance on seven-win bowl teams in February, but he is not a playoff guy.

“My preference would be to not have a playoff,” Barta said. “My preference would be to have an ‘and one.’ Keep the BCS, keep the bowl system intact. I love college football and I love the bowls. I think it’s a unique part of that sport that makes it so popular and so special.

“Every week when we go out to play, I view it as a de facto playoff game. I like the system we have a lot.”

But Barta isn’t naive. It’s coming and he knows it. The Big Ten knows it and that’s what the majority of Chicago was about.

“It sure appears to me there’s a lot of momentum and sentiment and maybe a tipping point to have a four-team playoff,” he said. “If that’s the case, my preference would be to keep it within the bowl system.”

That’s the Big Ten’s preference, too. On the day the Big Ten stated this position, Texas AD DeLoss Dodds had another thought.

“This entity needs to be separate,” Dodds said of the final grouping of four. “It needs to be their own bowls, their own TV, their own sponsors. Those four selected would not play in the bowls.

“And I’d have them bid it out to cities and stadiums for the three games, and I favor neutral sites for the games because using the campuses would be too much of an advantage.”

So much for harmony. Barta sees the popularity of the game at an “all-time high,” and he wants to protect that. (For the record, the Big Ten ADs didn’t vote on which playoff scenario the league would favor. But the four-team semifinal model was the one they all talked about. Except for Penn State and Indiana. Those ADs skipped Chicago.)

“We all want to make sure that whatever we do, we don’t damage the game,” Barta said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m hesitant toward a playoff. I think potentially, you could damage the regular season. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

2015-16 Big Ten schedules

Barta was coy on this, saying he didn’t see Illinois on the schedule.

If Illinois isn’t on the Hawkeyes’ schedule those two seasons, then tear up the league. The last time Iowa played Illinois was 2008 (a great game at Champaign that saw the Illini pull out a 27-24 win). By the 2015 season, it will have been six years between meetings.

Look for Illinois and Penn State to be on Iowa’s schedule. Ohio State and Wisconsin will likely drop off.

Phase III?

Someday, maybe.

Iowa will have Phase I (the indoor practice facility) finished for use this season. Phase II has been approved by the Board of Regents and is a go. It includes new locker, equipment and meeting rooms, strength and conditioning center, medical facility, coaches’ offices and a public entryway. Phase II has a targeted completion date of 2014.

The cost of Phase I and II is $55 million. Iowa has $20 million raised for the project.

So, Phase III?

“You know, someday there may be a Phase III, but there’s not one on the books,” Barta said. “In terms of ‘what’s the next thing,’ someday we’ll have to do some new things to Kinnick Stadium, whether it’s scoreboards or sound systems, but those aren’t hard and fast right now.”

What’s the deal with the lights at Kinnick?

The ones that have been installed are permanent and will be used for practice this fall. The Hawkeyes will be pushed into Kinnick for outdoor practices on FieldTurf. That light system is designed to complement a permanent system for games “if we ever go that route,” Barta said.

Before that happens — if it happens, remember the TV pays for the lights at least for now — Musco Lighting out of Muscatine will continue to light up Kinnick for TV.

Iowa players hoist the Heartland Trophy into the air as they celebrate their 20-10 win over Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, in Madison, Wis. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The Big Ten’s realignment process produced one key casualty among the league’s football rivalries: Iowa-Wisconsin.

The schools had played 72 of 74 years before the Big Ten added Nebraska as its 12th member for the 2011 school year. When the league split into two divisions based not on geography but competitive equality, the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry was doomed. In the 17-year evaluation period the league used to determine the divisions, Wisconsin ranked fifth and Iowa sixth in winning percentage. Based on realignment’s primary tenet, the schools had to go to opposite divisions.

When the league established a permanent cross-divisional rivalry, Iowa-Wisconsin was outranked by the nation’s oldest major-conference rivalry: Wisconsin-Minnesota. There was no way to keep Iowa-Wisconsin as an annual rivalry without completely gerrymandering the league schedule.

In 2010, the final year the schools were slated to meet as annual rivals, the teams reached an epic conclusion to an under-the-radar  rivalry. Wisconsin outlasted Iowa 31-30, and the series stands tied at 42-42-2. The schools rotated off one another’s schedule in 2011 and 2012, will play again in 2013 (Iowa City) and 2014 (Madison), then go back on hiatus in 2015-16, as The Gazette first reported Wednesday.

Members of the Wisconsin Badgers hoist the Heartland Trophy after beating Iowa 31-30 in their Big Ten game Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez fought hard to preserve the rivalry during the realignment process. Alvarez coached under Iowa’s Hayden Fry and became a Hall of Fame coach for the Badgers, winning three Rose Bowls. Even when it was a foregone conclusion the rivalry wasn’t making the cut, Alvarez forced the league’s athletics directors to consider it one more time.

“I feel for our fans and I feel the Iowa fans because it’s such a natural rivalry,” Alvarez said Wednesday at the Big Ten spring meetings. “It’s an easy trip for both schools. But it is what it is, and  you just move on. That decision was made over a year ago. We stated our case, and I knew the criteria going in, what it was. We’ll just live with it.”

Unless the Big Ten expands, revamps the divisions or adds a ninth game to the league schedule, Iowa and Wisconsin will play just four times over a 10-year period. Is there any possibility the schools would line up for a non-conference game in the years they don’t play?

“I really haven’t thought of that,” Alvarez said. “I think that would be a little awkward.”

Maybe so, but it sure would add something to the non-conference schedule.

 – Scott Dochterman

SMOKIE LINKS

– Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News is used to covering national-championship football teams. So maybe he has reason to have a short tolerance level for Big Ten folks who have their complaints about the SEC. Solomon writes:

No more cracks at the SEC’s weak history of traveling out of the South.

No more rants at how the SEC avoids playing in the cold.

No more pining for a significant SEC-Big Ten game in Big Ten country instead of Florida, New Orleans or Dallas.

You lost that right this week. Your conference favors the warmth and brand of the Rose Bowl for semifinal playoff games instead of campus sites — the very idea your own commissioner was championing in February.

Mike Slive continues to beat Jim Delany, on the field and in the conference rooms. Sometimes Delany even does the job for Slive, who enjoys the advantage of being on the right side of history with his failed plus-one proposal in 2008.

– Add Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to those who don’t want the bowls or the BCS to have anything to do with the coming four-team major-college football playoff. He wrote:

It makes no sense that the NCAA, which runs a successful basketball tournament, would allow outside contractors to stage potentially its most profitable venture. Imagine the NFL going through the regular season and then telling a start-up company, “OK, you take it from here. See if you can make the Super Bowl work.”

The Big Ten disagrees. The Big Ten loves the bowls. The Big Ten really, really loves the Rose Bowl.

I’ll say it again. The upcoming battle to determine the playoff format is going to be awesome.

– The Big Ten Network is cutting air time for shows about academics from its programming schedule.

Which begs an obvious question: Does anyone ever actually watch one of those shows?

The BTN is choosing to live in the real world. All networks do at some point. History network’s biggest hits are “Pawn Stars, “American Pickers,” and “Swamp People.” History, they ain’t. Given a choice between watching a program about history and one about alligator-hunting, Americans side with the reptiles.

– Are transfers an epidemic in college basketball? Well, two guards Kentucky will rely on two former North Carolina State guards next season. One, Julius Mays, transferred from North Carolina State to Wright State before transferring to Kentucky.

Texas Tech, meanwhile, has had six players leave its program since the end of the season. Six. Four are freshmen.

But four of Tech’s five top scorers are returning, so the Red Raiders should improve on their 1-17 Big 12 record of last season. After typing that, I realize it’s not saying a whole lot, is it?

– The first quarterback to commit to Iowa football’s recruiting class of 2013 likes to kick bulldogs. Nic Shimonek’s Mildred High Eagles of Corsicana, Texas, beat the Wortham Bulldogs and Edgewood Bulldogs last season by a combined score of 125-6.

 – Compiled by Mike Hlas

Corsicana (Texas) Mildred quarterback Nic Shimonek (No. 9) committed to the Hawkeyes on Thursday. (Corsicana Daily Sun)

Score one for Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis and his Texas connections.

When the former University of Texas OC was hired at Iowa in February, he immediately heard from around 20 Texas prep coaches interested in his new ties.

That appears to have helped the Hawkeyes land Corsicana (Texas) Mildred quarterback Nic Shimonek, who committed to the Hawkeyes on Thursday. Shimonek is Iowa’s eighth recruit for the 2013 class. According to Rivals.com, Shimonek (6-4, 205) didn’t have any FBS offers but did have interest from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and SMU. Rivals also lists Davis as Iowa’s primary recruiter for Shimonek.

The Corsicana Daily Sun reported that Shimonek did have an offer from Lamar, an FCS school, and that he’s planning to visit Iowa City this summer.

As a junior, Shimonek completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 2,939 yards, 37 TDs and just three intereceptions, one of which came in “Hail Mary” mode at the end of a game. Mildred finished with a 13-1 record last season.

Davis called Shimonek’s coach today and said Iowa was ready to offer. Shimonek, who has family ties in Iowa, didn’t mess around and pulled the trigger without a visit.

“Iowa has been showing a lot of interest as far as mail and all of that good stuff and then today, when I was on my way to school, I got the news that they had called my head coach and told him they were going to offer,” Shimonek told HawkeyeReport.com. “Obviously I was super excited, so I called coach Davis as soon as I could and verbally accepted.”

Shimonek, who started for Mildred (a Class 2A school) as a sophomore and also started several games as a freshman, is considered as a “pro-style” quarterback, which fits his 6-4, 205-pound frame. Since Iowa started showing serious interest, Shimonek started research on the Hawkeyes and likes Davis’ offense.

“Coach Davis is a real good guy and a good coach, and obviously he’s got a good track record,” Shimonek told HR.com. “Personally, I really like the pro-style offense that they run and the fact they are balanced offensively. Plus they’ve always got those 300-pound linemen. I’m definitely not going to complain about that.”

Shimonek has family in the Des Moines area and his mom, Tresa, also is from Iowa.

Shimonek is Iowa’s eighth recruit for the 2013 class, but will he be the lone QB?

Iowa has seniors in James Vandenberg and John Wienke (who’s probably more of a punter now). In 2013, Jake Ruddock will be a sophomore along with Cody Sokol, who’ll be a junior in ’13 if he redshirts this season (that’s the plan) and C.J. Beathard will be a redshirt freshman. Shimonek would be the fourth QB, unless Iowa takes another in this class.

“I’m just super excited,” Shimonek said. “I wish I could start now actually. I’ve got another year of high school left, but I can’t wait to get up there. I don’t think it’s really dawned on me yet just how big this really is, but as soon as it does, it’s going to be a great feeling.”

_______________________________________

David Kenney, DE, 6-2, 250 Pike High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) ****

Derrick Willies, WR, 6-3, 190 Rock Island (Ill.) High School ***

Delano Hill, FS, 6-1, 190 Cass Tech High School (Detroit, Mich.) ***

Colin Goebel, OL 6-4, 275 Naperville (Ill.) North High School ***

Nathan Bazata, DT, 6-2, 270 Howells (Neb.) High School ***

Brant Gressel, DT, 6-2, 283 Centerville (Ohio) High School ***

John Kenny, LB, 6-2, 210 Caramel (Ind.) High School ***

Nic Shimonek, QB, 6-4, 205 Mildred (Corsicana, Texas) High School (no Rivals.com rating as of yet)

* = Rivals.com’s star rating

No YouTubes of Shimonek, but you can catch a HUDL highlight reel by following this link.

Here’s an NCSA video:

12/30/87 A happy Hayden Fry hugs a Wyoming coach with a Hawks victory in the Holiday Bowl 20 to 19. (Gazette file)

Day 1 of the Big Ten spring meetings: Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith said he didn’t think a national semifinal played in Columbus, Ohio, in 5-degree weather in December was good for college football. He said college isn’t pro.

OK, fair opinion.

Day 2 of the Big Ten spring meetings: Conference commissioner Jim Delany said he’ll talk with the Pinstripe Bowl, which is played in NYC, Yankee Stadium in late December.

“New York City is the financial sports capital of the world,” Delany said Wednesday. “It’s a global city like Chicago. We’ll have conversations with them.”

Not OK for national semifinal, but OK for piddly mid-tier bowl game. Got it.

The Big Ten is just coming out of year 2 of its four-year bowl cycle. (Iowa fans can count this easily, just keep track of the Insight Bowls.) The Pinstripe was the only one specifically mentioned this week, but the Big Ten and Pac-12 are becoming really, really tight, like blood brothers or something.

So, probably expect a Florida or Texas bowl to bite the dust (I’d kick the Gator and TicketCity Bowls out right now, without even blinking) and say hello to a California bowl with a PAc-12 team.

Which brings us to sunny . . . San Diego!

Yes, the Holiday Bowl, basically built by Hayden Fry (three Hayden teams played in the Holiday), would be a perfect marriage between the Big Ten and the Pac-12. It also would give Big Ten fans some variety. Since 2003, Iowa has played in six Florida bowls. Granted, two of those were Orange Bowls, and you will make exceptions for Miami. Tampa? I guess so, but it’s not Miami.

Of course, the Hawkeyes have played in the two Insight Bowls. There are others. Wisconsin has played in Orlando or Tampa in six consecutive years (2004-09). Michigan State has played in Orlando or Tampa in four of the past five seasons.

So, goodbye TicketCity (in Dallas, blah) and Gator (no one really likes you, Gator) and hello Holiday (San Diego is the nation’s craft beer capital) and illogical but still pretty cool Pinstripe Bowl.

That said, who knows what it’ll look like with a possible national final four on the horizon in 2014 (maybe, perhaps).

– Marc Morehouse

LINKIN’ BLINKIN’, AND NOD

Let’s start with tweets, not links. Miles and miles of tweets about all the news and speculation from the Big Ten Conference meetings and elsewhere regarding the possible format for a four-team college football playoff, and other stuff in general. Like:

‏@dirkchatelain 3 reasons I favor conf champs model 1) Adds value to title games 2) Decreases penalty of losing non-con 3) Reduces role of polls/committee

‏@McMurphyCBS (ACC Commissioner John) Swofford did say ACC favors conference champ model, but champs should reach certain standard (ranked among top 5 or 6)

‏@slmandel  Prediction at this point: Top 3 champs, 1 wild-card.

@MrCFB  Big Ten wants conf. champs only and wants to strength of schedule to be more important. Only one way to do both: Selection Committee.

@BTNTomDienhart Just because you win a conference doesn’t mean you are a good team. Am I missing something?

‏@DeWittCBS The best example of the regular season still matters in college football even with a playoff is Division II. And they let 24 teams in.

‏@Ianfitzespn I hate that the higher seed in the new 4 team playoff in college football will not host semi-final game. Fans can’t afford to travel twice.

@tommydeas College football seems on course to use “playoff” as code for locking out best teams from championship

@schadjoe What about BCS Final Four that simply limits any conference to maximum of two participants?

@MilesFomby @schadjoe Anything besides the top 4 overall teams is stupid.

@MatthewDTTWLN ESPN College Football Live wants to know the best format for a 4 team playoff? Easy! Expand it to 8 teams!

@TDAlabama Coach Saban announced in his most recent Crimson Caravan stop that Bama will open 2014 season against W. Virginia in ATL.

OK, on with the links:

– The Big 12 is on board with this “protect the regular season” theme that is getting rattled around these days. The Oklahoman reports that’s what Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione says.

“Every Saturday matters,” Castiglione said. “The idea that when we host football games on our campuses, it’s important. We don’t have that in college basketball right now. Whether that is a fair or an unfair comparison …

“The games need to matter in the minds of the stakeholders in college football. That’s what draws television ratings and ticket-holders. That’s what draws attention to the sport in general.”

A little explanation would be helpful. How would the regular-season be diminished if two more teams made it into the national-title postseason picture and even more teams thus became legitimate contenders? If it were a 68-team tournament like men’s college basketball, yes, the regular-season would lose its juice. Four is a long way from 68. Eight would be, too.

– Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer says the current system isn’t broken, and a playoff wouldn’t be a good thing according to this Columbus Dispatch story.

“You play in one of the bowl games, No.4 vs. 1, 2 vs. 3, then you go play in the championship game — I can only imagine the workload that’s going to be on that coaching staff and their players,” Meyer said.

Taking into account the travel back from the semifinals and then the travel to the champ game site, and saying it happens in a one-week window as some have proposed, “I can’t even fathom trying to get ready for a championship game in two days, and that’s what you’ve got,” Meyer said.

But Urban, we’re told the reason the Big Ten didn’t want the national semifinals played on campus sites is because the players do so enjoy the “bowl experience.”

Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis said the following this week: “And from the kids’ perspective, the bowl experience is the one thing they want to keep in the equation. With campus sites, it becomes like a regular-season game.”

Yeah, sure, a national-championship semifinal will seem like a regular-season game. And that “bowl experience” at a national semifinal would involve nothing but visits to theme parks and eating contests at steakhouses.

Give us a break!

– Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and Big Ten folks will not be holding hands and singing “Kumbayah” when this four-team playoff deal gets hammered out according Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman.

“This entity needs to be separate,” Dodds said of the final grouping of four. “It needs to be their own bowls, their own TV, their own sponsors. Those four selected would not play in the bowls.”

Oh, dear. Nebraska AD Tom Osborne said the following this week:

” … the bowls have been good to us. If you took them out of the playoff, it would pretty much destroy the bowl system.”

It’s incredible, but true. Nebraska and Texas are in disagreement about something.

A four-team playoff might be interesting. The upcoming battle to decide on the playoff format will be awesome.

– Compiled by Mike Hlas

The Hawkeye flag is waved over Kinnick Stadium after an Iowa field goal in the third quarter of Iowa's 45-24 homecoming win against Indiana at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Iowa City. Iowa won 45-24. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

CHICAGO — Don’t get too comfortable in your seat at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said Wednesday that Kinnick will once again be re-seated in 2014. The stadium was re-seated after a $90 million renovation project in 2006. Barta said Iowa told fans in ’06 that the process would happen again in five years.

So, here it comes again in 2014. It should be less jarring than in 2006, when seniority seating was replaced by a points system based on donation.

“By the time this goes into effect, it will be eight years, giving fans a two-year heads up to prepare for the process,” Barta said at the Big Ten spring meetings.

In ’06, Iowa introduced a priority seating system that ran on “points,” accumulated for everything from the yearly $7,500 donation for membership in the Kinnick Society worth 50 points to the 10 points ticketholders get for being an Iowa graduate.

Barta didn’t go into details on how the ’14 re-seating will be prioritized. He said it’s a chance to grow revenue — “find more contributors” — and, potentially, give fans a shot at a better seat.

“It becomes an opportunity to grow our fan base and donor base, but it’s also about fairness,” Barta said. “If people are sitting in a seat and they want to improve it and they’ve had ‘X’ number of years as a season-ticket purchaser and they’ve been contributing, they want to see their seats improve.”

In 2006, 15,000 fans bought their way into the “priority seating system.” The Iowa ticket office made 150 phone calls a day, starting with fans who had the highest number of point, and handed out seats. There also was a website that allowed fans to choose seats in near real-time.

Before ’06, Iowa’s seating system leaned toward seniority. Donations weren’t taken into consideration. When Iowa put together its priority seating system, school officials researched what other Big Ten schools did and took what they thought fit at Iowa.

Caption: (from left) Iowa's Lebron Daniel, Kyle Haganman, Broderick Binns and Karl Klug head toward Northwestern during a kick off return during the first half at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, September 27, 2008. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

CHICAGO — The kickoff, as we know it, is in its final days.

Since 2010, the NCAA has twice changed kickoff rules in an effort to improve player safety. The NFL has talked about some form of punting with a tighter space between teams as a replacement for the kickoff, which has been proven to be the most dangerous play in the game.

“I think we have to keep changing the kickoff,” Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith said during the Big Ten spring meetings. “With today’s kids, who are faster, stronger and more explosive, we’re taking a lot of risks for concussions and neck injuries.

“It’s something we have to look at every year. It’s one of the most dangerous plays.”

One year after the NFL banned wedge blocking on kickoffs because of safety concerns, the NCAA followed the lead in ’10 with a rule that says when the team receiving a kickoff has more than two players standing within two yards of one another, shoulder to shoulder, it will be assessed a 15-yard penalty — even if there is no contact between the teams.

This season, teams will kick off at the 35-yard line instead of the 30. Also, players on the kicking team can’t line up for the play behind the 30-yard line, which is intended to limit the running start kicking teams used to have during the play. Also, touchbacks on free kicks will be moved to the 25-yard line instead of the 20 to encourage more touchbacks.

The recommended changes came from the Football Rules Committee after that group examined NCAA data showing that injuries during kickoffs occur more often than in other phases of the game.

Not all Big Ten athletics directors want the kickoff eliminated.

Nebraska’s Tom Osborne sees the danger, but also said it would change the face of the game. It is, after all, the first play of every game. It sets field position and, in some cases, tone.

“If two teams have a good run at each other, no question, you’re going to have more concussions and more violent collisions, and so there may be some who want to eliminate the kickoff,” Osborne said. “Personally, I think that would be unfortunate. If you start at the 35- or 40-yard line, your chances of scoring about double over starting at your own 20.

“I think it’s an important part of the game. . . . Personally, I would hate to see the kickoff taken out of the game.”

Smith has a different perspective. From 1977 to 1981, Smith coached special teams at Notre Dame, his alma mater. He picked the “kamikazes,” a player whose job was to break through the “wedge.”

“I looked for the guys who could bust that wedge,” Smith said. “Now I look back at it and feel guilty. I think the kickoff is one of the most dangerous plays we have. We have to constantly look at how we can protect the kids.”

The 35-yard line rule is a significant change. When the NFL moved its kickoff point to the 35 last season, returns fell from 2,033 in 2010 to 1,375. In 2010, 80.1 percent of kickoffs were returned. Last year, the percentage of kickoffs returns was 53.5 percent, the lowest in NFL history. The average yards per kickoff return was 23.8, the highest in history (the previous high was 23.7 in 1962).

Touchbacks rose to 1,120 (43.6 percent) in 2011 from 416 (16.4 percent) the year before. The residual effect health-wise was a 40 percent drop in concussions, according to the NFL.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta played quarterback for North Dakota State teams that won national titles in 1983, ’85 and ’86. Barta isn’t willing to go as far to say that kickoff is on death row, but he acknowledges the risk of the game and favors a safe approach on kickoffs.

“Football is a contact sport and there is inherent danger to that,” Barta said. “I know that, I played the game, I’ve had surgeries, I’ve had issues related to that. And yet, I smile and say it was one of the great periods of my life, it’s a great sport and I’m glad I played it.

“That being said, if there are things we can do to lessen the chance of a violent injury, then we need to do that.”

Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez won three Rose Bowls as the Badgers’ head coach. He made his football bones as a defensive coach, coaching linebackers at Iowa from 1979-86 and then moving to defensive coordinator at Notre Dame before accepting the UW job in 1990.

He pointed to the percentage of injuries on kickoffs and is open to anything. Of course, as a defensive coach, he’s good with touchbacks.

“The more touchbacks, the better, as far as I’m concerned,” Alvarez said.

So, here lie kickoffs. How much time does it have?

“That’s a very good question,” Smith said. “If it were up to me, it would be short lived.”

Iowa's Brett Morse is tackled by Mitchell Evans of Indiana before he can reach the end zone during the first half at semi-empty Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., on Saturday, November 6, 2010. (Cliff Jette/Sourcemedia Group News)

As the Big Ten meetings wind down today (and playoff talk around the country ramps up), it’s important to look at what’s most important to the league and its member institutions: money.

Every public Big Ten athletics department (11 schools) achieved the gold standard of college sports by equaling revenue and expenses in fiscal year 2011. Those schools submitted that information to The Gazette this spring through each state’s open-records laws.

The bottom line for Big Ten schools has three major power surges helping it achieve and sustain financial success: league/NCAA revenue (TV, etc.), contributions and football revenue. Each school earns roughly the same amount in league/NCAA revenue depending on tournament reimbursements and other issues. Contributions will vary among the schools, soaring if there’s a facility drive, slipping if there’s not. Football, however, is the driving force for on-campus, athletics department revenue, so let’s look at this a little more closely.

In fiscal year 2011, Ohio State ($79.3 million) and Michigan ($70.3 million) blazed past their Big Ten brethren in football revenue. Trailing way behind are Illinois ($28.3 million), Indiana ($24.4 million) and Purdue ($18.3 million). We in the media endlessly have discussed and written about the financial disparity among Big 12 and other conferences, but this is just as real in Big Ten country. The only difference is the league/NCAA revenue-sharing structure enacted by the Big Ten.

Those numbers won’t fall for the league powerhouses and maybe the bottom ones will climb if any of the three schools gain some football traction and consistency. But don’t expect the gap to close too soon between the heavyweights and welterweights.

Football revenues and expenses for the 2011 fiscal year:

• Ohio State: $79,339,962/$39,217,983
• Michigan: $70,300,676/$23,552,233
• Penn State: $58,893,006/$15,049,592
• Nebraska: $54,748,156/$20,147,302
• Michigan State: $45,041,806/$18,913,908
• Iowa: $44,506,833/$20,510,805
• Wisconsin: $43,296,598/$23,662,925
• Minnesota: $30,524,946/$16,985,183
• Illinois: $28,353,822/$14,146,821
• Indiana: $24,379,333/$16,175,386
• Purdue: $18,359,413/$12,420,742
• Northwestern N/A

Ohio State fans fill the field after their overtime victory over Iowa at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, November 14, 2009. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Perhaps even more telling are football ticket sales. Nothing shows a fan base’s commitment to their program quite like how they purchase tickets and fill their stadiums. It doesn’t take Christopher Columbus to discover a sold-out 105,000-seat stadium (ironically in Columbus) generates more revenue than one in Indiana (where people literally wonder, “Who’s here?”). But the disparity still is somewhat staggering.

Big Ten’s ticket sales for 2011 fiscal year:

• Ohio State $41,885,216
• Michigan $35,747,432
• Penn State $34,232,483
• Nebraska $27,378,667
• Iowa $20,272,653
• Wisconsin $18,285,170
• Michigan State $16,877139
• Minnesota $10,787,667
• Purdue $10,239,049
• Illinois $9,426,634
• Indiana $4,711,558
• Northwestern N/A-

– Scott Dochterman

CHAIN LINKS

– Incoming freshman running back Barkley Hill of Cedar Falls is built to come in and make the transition both mentally and physically.

Sez who? Sez his soon-to-be Iowa football coach, Kirk Ferentz. Those were Ferentz’s exact words at the I-Club event in Waterloo Monday night.

– Flying in the face of the wishes of Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta and some of his Big Ten peers, Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads said he strongly favors bowl-eligibility not being changed from six to seven wins.

The guess here is Rhoads speaks for a lot of coaches.

– Andrew Sweat started at linebacker for Ohio State the last two years. He signed as an undrafted free agent and went to rookie camp with the Cleveland Browns last month, but then bid the gridiron adieu. His Monday tweet at @asweat42:

“Concussion symptoms didn’t want to risk it.. Thanks to the browns for the opportunity. Health trumps football any day”

– Buzz Bissinger wrote one of the great sports books of any time two decades ago. It is called “Friday Night Lights.”

Bissinger has what sounds like another terrific read in “Father’s Day,” a story of his relationship with his son Zach, now in his 20s, whose brain was deprived of oxygen at birth and who has an IQ of about 70. The two went on a cross-country trip together, including a stop back in Odessa, Texas, where “Friday Night Lights” was set.

It does not sound anything close to overly sentimental, but rather, painfully honest. I look forward to reading it.

– Dochterman and Morehouse were in Chicago this week for the Big Ten meetings. (Well, they weren’t in the actual meetings, but you know what I mean). They may not have heard this while they’ve been there:

Wrigley Field must be destroyed.

 – Compiled by Mike Hlas

To listen to this podcast, click on side or below icon or download it at iTunes

Caption: Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz is carried off the field after Iowa beat Minnesota 45-21 clinching a share of the Big Ten title at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002.(AP Photo/Andy King)

CHICAGO — The Big Ten’s relationship with the Rose Bowl is “critical.” It’s also “sensitive.” It has “sticking points.” It comes with “value.”

As the college football world careens toward a playoff — be it a three-plus one or a two-two, whatever form it takes — the Big Ten’s relationship with the Rose Bowl will exist, Big Ten athletics directors agreed in lockstep on Tuesday at the Big Ten spring meetings.

That relationship, however, is completely unformed. It’s stated, but there aren’t any guarantees going into the playoff age.

“I don’t know, that’s a good question,” Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith said when asked if a Big Ten semifinalist would be locked into the Rose Bowl as part of a playoff. “We haven’t gotten into that. I think that having it in the [playoff] system allows the Rose Bowl to be in the rotation for a hosting situation.

“Off the cuff, if the Big Ten or Pac-12 team is in the top four, then you have to have some form on who goes where. We haven’t discussed that. We’re not that far.”

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has stated the conference’s relationship with the Rose Bowl is hugely important. Tuesday, Big Ten athletics directors discussed yielding the “campus site” possibility in playoff scenarios to protect the Rose Bowl.

“Yeah, I think so,” Michigan State AD Mark Hollis said when asked about the campus sites element. “For us, it’s critical to keep the Rose Bowl in the equation. There’s a lot of historical value and there’s a lot of future value in having the Rose Bowl connected to Michigan State, Michigan, with the Big Ten conference. The ‘home’ takes that out.”

Let’s face facts, the Big Ten has pitted itself against the Southeastern Conference, which has won the last six national championships. Maybe the Big Ten evens the field with semifinals played at campus sites. Big Ten weather isn’t SEC weather. Much of the national sentiment runs away from campus sites, and so maybe the Big Ten sees that as unwinnable.

Since 1990, the Big Ten and SEC are closer than you might think in head-to-head bowl matchup, with the SEC owning a 31-26 advantage. The numbers aren’t as even recently. The SEC swept the Big Ten in its three 2011 bowl games, winning by a combined margin of 138-45. Last season, Michigan State tripped Georgia in double OT while Ohio State (Florida) and Nebraska (South Carolina) fell.

“Recent history might taint a lot of peoples’ views and think that dominance will continue,” Smith said, “and maybe it will, because of industry and population and things of that nature, but I don’t think you can let that get into your minds.”

Smith pointed to the importance of the Big Ten championship game and every Big Ten team striving to get better.

“I’m a huge believer in conference championships,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s way we play. I think our industry has built up the national championship so much that we forget these young people win valuable conference championships that they will have for the rest of their lives.”

So, basically, is the Rose Bowl a truly big deal or is it a big deal because the Big Ten says it is?

Nebraska is headed into its second year in the conference. The Huskers don’t have the Rose Bowl history, but AD Tom Osborne said that’s what the school bought into when it agreed to join.

“I do know that the Rose Bowl is very important to the Big Ten,” Osborne said. “I think that’s why the Big Ten people would like to keep the playoff within the bowls to keep the Rose Bowl alive and viable.

“Whether the Rose Bowl would be one of the semifinal games, in some years it would and in some years it wouldn’t, but at least we’d still have a representative from the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl and the Pac-12 would always be in the Rose Bowl. I think that would be very important to this league, and we certainly accept that.”

So, let’s break it down this way: It sounds as though the Big Ten has given up the chance to play host to a Florida or Alabama or an LSU in, say, Columbus in December for the possibility of playing a national semifinal at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. If the Big Ten doesn’t have a team in the semi and the Rose Bowl isn’t in the semifinal rotation, then Big Ten/Pac-12 Rose Bowl like the good ol’ days.

If the Rose Bowl is in the semi rotation and a Big Ten team isn’t in the top four, then maybe the Big Ten gets tapped for another BCS bowl, a la Iowa’s Orange Bowl seasons in ’02 and ’09. (At one point after the 2002 regular season ended, Iowa thought it was headed to the Rose Bowl.)

Tuesday afternoon, Delany listed the Big Ten’s primary interests as 1) keeping the regular season as relevant as possible, 2) the bowl system and the Rose Bowl and 3) transparency, as in having the public understand the decisions on the mechanisms to choose a final four and what goes into those decisions.

Delany believes if the playoff is rooted in the bowl system, it won’t grow from four to eight, 16, 24 or 32.

“We understand that the games on campus could benefit us competitively,” he said, “and it’s not like I don’t like the competitive advantage imbued by a home field, but in a larger sense, we think the slope is far less slippery in a bowl system than outside of a bowl system.”

Will the Big Ten have a guaranteed BCS bid? Will there still be BCS bowls? Or would the Capital One be the Big Ten’s pinnacle during a down season with a 9-3 conference champion.

The Capital One as the Big Ten pinnacle, that can’t happen. That doesn’t make sense.

Welcome to the age of the college football playoff, where fifth in the country is worth fourth in the Olympics.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks with the media during a news conference, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in Chicago. Delany addressed questions about conference expansion, sticking with the time frame he laid out in December when he said the league would explore its option over the next 12 to 18 months. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

CHICAGO — The Big Ten wants to own the Rose Bowl, and so it will, along with their buddies from the Pac-12. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has made this clear since college football has veered into serious talk about a playoff last month.

What can Delany and the league expect to gain from playing the Rose Bowl chip? Probably not much.

The playoff models are a major topic of discussion for the Big Ten’s illuminati, which meets today and Wednesday in Chicago. The Big Ten is in with the playoff state of mind, but it does want some stickiness with the Rose. Makes sense, of course, but is it viable? Is it that big of a deal? Do players who’ve grown up in the Big Ten footprint identify with the Rose as the ultimate prize anymore?

If I’m the Big Ten, my play is from home playoff games. That is a game changer. Rather than play an SEC team in a national semifinal at a sunny place in Florida, get the SEC team at, say, Ann Arbor in December. Weather could be the great equalizer, although the way Nick Saban builds teams at Alabama, it probably won’t mean a whole lot. Saban’s teams are armadillos, weather-proof, defense-first armadillos.

The Big Ten is going to want to “get something” out of the playoff discussions. Will it be protecting the Rose Bowl, which hasn’t been the sole domain of Big Ten/Pac-12 since 2002, be it? It’s a thought, but it’s sunk by sentiment and the fact that TCU, Oklahoma and Texas have played in Rose Bowls more recently than a lot of Big Ten teams (Iowa’s last appearance was 1991).

Everything is on sale here, let’s stop pretending it isn’t. Tradition wears a Nike swoosh. The Rose Bowl isn’t and hasn’t been the top of the mountain in college football for a long time. The crystal football is the thing, and a playoff gets the Big Ten to the table.

Let’s do the playoffs and let’s do them the way the NFL does, home sites. If Lambeau Field can host an NFC title game, then Ann Arbor, Columbus, Madison, East Lansing, Lincoln and Iowa City can host national semifinals.

The Rose Bowl will fit in somewhere. It’s not going to vanish, but the Big Ten needs to elevate its thinking to the crystal football. That is the thing.

[Coverage note: Scott Doctherman and I are in Chicago for the Big Ten spring meetings. We'll see what we see and post some stuff.]

– Marc Morehouse

LINKIN CONTINENTAL

– There is virtually no off-season for major-college football players, as this article by none other than the university’s athletics Web site illustrates.

But a short break is currently in progress. Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg is headed to Canada to do some hunting, and cornerback Micah Hyde is going home to Ohio and will see some baseball games in Cleveland.

Hyde is from Fostoria, Ohio. It’s also the home of WFOB-AM.

– Who is Barrett Kelpin? He’s a University of Iowa golfer. And on Monday he advanced from a U.S. Open local qualifier to sectional play in a few weeks. If he advances out of the sectional, he joins golf’s elite at the Olympic Club in San Francisco next month for our national Open.

Also among the five players out of a field of 71 who advanced from the local qualifier in Davenport was Sean McCarty, a former Hawkeye golfer. McCarty qualified for the 2003 Open and is the club pro at Brown Deer Golf Club in Coralville. He has long had PGA Tour-type talent.

– Another day, another team changing conferences.

Virginia Commonwealth to the Atlantic 10? Well, at least Virginia actually borders the Atlantic Ocean. Colorado and Utah joining the then-Pacific-10 didn’t quite ring true.

Nor did Houston and SMU and Boise State and San Diego State joining the Big East for football.

Nor did … well, we could go on and on, couldn’t we?

– Afghanistan has its first bowling alley. It is very popular.

Compiled by Mike Hlas

Minnesota Vikings football players Chad Greenway John Sullivan, speak to the media as they leave the Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., after an unannounced visit, Wednesday, April 25, 2012. The athletes came to do some lobbying for the stadium bill now passing through committees. (AP Photo/The Star-Tribune, Glen Stubbe)

Minnesota’s legislature passed a bill last week to help build a new $975 million stadium for the Vikings. The stadium should open by 2016 at the latest.

The structure will have a roof, but it’s undetermined if it’s retractable or fixed. The Vikings will spend $477 million, the state kicks in $348 million and Minneapolis contributes $150 million. The new stadium will overlap a portion of the current Metrodome.

The Vikings will play at least one and up to four seasons at the Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium. The agreement calls for the Vikings to pay $250,000 a game and up to $3 million per season. Because TCF Bank Stadium seats just 50,000, the Vikings will bring in temporary seating and install heating coils under the turf for those December games.

Many of you might ask what this has to do with Iowa. Well, aside from a sizable amount of Iowa fans who also follow the Vikings and four current members of the roster once played for the Hawkeyes (Chad Greenway, Allen Reisner, Christian Ballard, Tyler Nielsen), maybe the stadium situation could help Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium (70,585 seats) snag a preseason game.

This is pure speculation, but it’s not entirely foreign for the state to stage a preseason game. In fact, as unlikely as it seems, Cedar Rapids played host to a preseason game back in 1961.

On Sept. 2, 1961, the Vikings and Chicago Bears played at Cedar Rapids’ Kingston Stadium (seriously) before 12,500 people. The Bears won 30-7. It was the Vikings’ fourth preseason game in their inaugural season.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta has experience accommodating the NFL. When Barta worked at the University of Washington in the 1990s, the Seattle Seahawks had to play two seasons at Husky Stadium. Barta, a Minnesota native, also was a Vikings’ season-ticket holder when the team played at Metropolitan Stadium. Of course that’s just anecdotal information.

NFL preseason games are lightly attended and generate little buzz. If the Vikings are given a home preseason game against, say, the St. Louis Rams, and play it Kinnick Stadium (Avenue of the Saints Bowl?), you could generate a decent crowd midway between the metro areas. If a preseason game is scheduled in early August 2014 or 2015 before Iowa students are on campus, maybe it brings a crowd to Iowa City, fills a few hotels and restaurants and gets some decent publicity for the region.

All of this is speculative. But once in a while it’s fun to think about something like this.

— Scott Dochterman

ON THE LINKS

– Rob Gronkowski had 90 receptions for the New England Patriots last season. Aaron Hernandez had 79.

They are both tight ends.

Brad Herman caught eight passes for Iowa in 2011. He is trying to make the Patriots’ roster as their third tight end and as an undrafted free agent.

“I can develop in all areas — that’s the important thing,” Herman said. “Compared to these guys, I’m nothing. I’m just trying to learn from them, get better, and get to the level that the coaches want me at, and what I need to be at to play to my best abilities. …

“You’re at the same level as they are,” he continued. “They are just men, like you, at the end of the day just trying to have a job. That’s how you have to treat it. You can’t be star struck.”

– Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press has an interesting column entitled “Risks won’t deter the NFL dreams of rookies like Lions’ Riley Reiff”

Excerpts:

He might achieve fame and glory in his chosen profession. And the uncomfortable truth is that 30 years from now, he might not remember it. He might end up, like other great NFL players, with knees that don’t work, arms he can’t lift and, worst of all, a brain that won’t function properly. If the NFL, doctors, equipment makers and scientists don’t solve the concussion crisis, then Reiff, or others in his draft class, will end up in the worst kind of headlines. …

“I just hope I’m alive when I’m 55,” Reiff told me this weekend. “I don’t look that far ahead. I love playing. If I’m stumbling around or something, I’ll take it with pride, because I worked hard and it was fun.”

– If the Big 12 should happen to call Florida State, FSU Board of Trustees chairman Andy Haggard said the school should listen.

“We have to listen to how much more money may be out there,” Haggard said. “There are other issues that need to be considered. My only point is to listen to anybody who wants to talk – especially in these economic times.”

– Alabama football coach Nick Saban feels the suggestion from Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany that the upcoming four-team national playoff in BCS football is, well, absurd.

“The people want to see the best teams play,” Saban said. “They don’t want a bunch of conference champions to end up playing in the championship game.”

Oh by the way, Bama didn’t even play in the SEC Championship last season before it won the BCS title game.

– Adam C., Biggers of Yahoo Sports believes in Mark Dantonio.

The headline kind of says it all for Biggers’ essay: Mark Dantonio Will Do for Michigan State Spartans Football What Tom Izzo Has Done for Spartans Basketball

– Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says that if NCAA President Mark Emmert is delusional if he’s serious about being an academic-reformist. Mushnick wrote:

In just the case of football, “student-athletes” lost the first semester to football. Now, while the rest of the student body preps for and takes second semester finals, the schools’ football players had better show up trained and ready to compete in April and May for starting positions early next semester!

Round and round it goes. If we logically were to conclude that recruited Division I football and basketball players are among the minimal academic qualifiers for full scholarships, the mere notion that these enrollees are pursuing — or even able to pursue — legit college educations defies the most rationalized applications of practicality and just plain common sense.

– And here’s how to get into trouble in Kentucky: Publish a cartoon that ridicules John Calipari:

Compiled by Mike Hlas

– Rookie cornerback Shaun Prater of Iowa signed a four-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday.

That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed four years, or even one, with Cincinnati, but it’s better than trying to be a holdout as the 156th player selected in the NFL draft. Prater will make that team, and he’ll be making more money than we will. Well, me for sure.

Shaun Prater returns a pick for a TD vs. Tennessee Tech as Micah Hyde runs interference (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

Prater picked off a pass and returned it 89 yards for a touchdown in Iowa’s season-opening 34-7 victory over Tennessee Tech.

“I need 13 (interceptions),” Prater said after the game, though no major-college player has had that many INTs in a season in the last 50 years.

“It’s a pretty big goal,” he said. “But I just want to focus on setting goals for myself.

“Everything’s possible.”

That was Prater’s only pick of the season.

– The NCAA has released 2011-2012 men’s basketball attendance figures for all of its schools. For the second straight season, Iowa is 31st, but with an increase of 234 fans per game from the season before.

– Iowa will face Edinboro in a dual wrestling meet at Carver-Hawkeye Arena next Feb. 15. Iowa will repay the visit in one of the two following seasons.

Edinboro’s nickname is the Scots. Edinburgh is in Scotland. Edinboro is in Pennsylvania.

The Hamilton Hawkeyes' mascot

– The Hawkeyes have a huge baseball double-header tonight.

That would be the Hamilton (Mich.) Hawkeyes, who wear Iowa Hawkeyes colors, and have a twin-bill this evening at Holland Christian.

Both teams are 8-1 and tied atop the OK-Green Conference. The Hawkeyes are going for their fourth-straight OK-Green title.

It’s great to be a Hamilton Hawkeye!

– Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany thinks a team that doesn’t win its conference division shouldn’t be part of the four-team playoff that is on the verge of coming to FBS football in 2014,

That would have kept national-champ Alabama out of last year’s playoff, had one been in effect.

Be careful what you want. What if Michigan goes 11-1 some season, but its only loss is to a Big Ten Legends Division team that wins that division?

Ahhh, Delany knows that kind of scenario is far more likely in the SEC than his own league.

I don’t get this. Delany is an extremely intelligent person who knows this isn’t going to fly. Is he just saying things like this to needle the SEC? That league has six straight BCS titles. Are its supporters supposed to get flustered by someone else’s suggestion that won’t ever come to fruition?

Or maybe it will get a certain football team from Tuscaloosa fired up when it plays Michigan on Sept. 1. Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News thinks it could.

Well, it makes good copy for a day and keeps the Big Ten in the news. Maybe I just answered my own question.

– Compiled by Mike Hlas

Iowa Corn Growers Association CEO Craig Floss speaks during a news conference, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, in Urbandale, Iowa. Less than a week after introducing a new trophy for the winner of the football game between Iowa and Iowa State the Iowa Corn Growers Association announced they will create a replacement trophy after receiving negative feedback from fans. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

HEADLONG HAWKEYE (AND CYCLONE)

It kind of flew under my radar because I’ve been in and out of town the last few weeks. There is a new Cy-Hawk football trophy and it’s not bad.

Here it is:

Obviously, it’s the one on the top.

It’s fine. It’s not the grotesque stereotype the “Family of the Corn” was. The whole “larger concept” than just a football game rang extremely hollow statewide.

Huge credit to Iowa Corn Growers Association CEO Craig Floss who took the temperature of the reaction and came back with singed eyebrows to pull the plug on the Family of the Corn after sinking $40,000 into it. That took fortitude, a completely unheralded Iowa quality. The schools were entered into the endorsement. The trophy could’ve been pig testicles and they would’ve been cool with it.

Once the wheels are in motion on something like this, it never seems to stop. No one at Coca-Cola said, wait a minute, New Coke? Get outta here. No one tranq’d George Lucas when he was putting out three unnecessary Star Wars (desecration). Jim Belushi still gets gigs.

So, for Craig Floss to stand up and drastically change streams in the midst of a PR disaster, well done, sir.

Now, the new one? It’s nice. It’s OK. It’s a trophy with some design to it. It doesn’t look like, as Kirk Ferentz called the old old Cy-Hawk, a soap box racer project. This trophy will become outdated quickly when Iowa State changes logos again. I State will cave to something at some point. ISU logos are made to be broken. But hey, that’s a quick fix.

I would’ve liked to have seen a nod to Nile Kinnick and Jack Trice. They do, after all, have their names on the stadiums. The football that Cy and Herky will be holding is slated to be big and bronze.

OK.

I still like my idea for the football.

The schools’ Army ROTC programs have been running the game ball from Ames to Iowa City as part of a tradition that started in 1986. I would’ve loved to have seen a a bronzed corn scene cradle the ROTC game ball.

Winning team runs out and grabs the big, bronze trophy. Later, when it goes into the school’s trophy case, the team and coaches sign the ROTC game ball and place it in the bronze corn cradle. Maybe emblazon the football with “ROTC” in the school’s colors.

On the Monday of the next season’s game week, take the autographed ball and auction it off. Proceeds go to a food shelter somewhere in Iowa.

That’s a higher concept. But hey, the Family of the Corn is sitting in someone’s office or den somewhere and it’s a helluva conversation piece.

– Marc Morehouse

Recruiting note — According to Rivals.com, West Des Moines Valley OL Jake Campos has committed to Missouri, which, as you know, is now in the SEC.

So, strike one for Iowa on the West Des Moines Big Three. Iowa remains in the hunt for West Des Moines Valley’s Sam Raridon, a 6-2, 256-pound D-lineman with an Iowa offer and interest from Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Also, Dowling Catholic tight end Jon Wisnieski has offers from Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, and Iowa State with Oklahoma showing strong interest. At the end of last month, he didn’t appear close to a decision.

– Marc Morehouse

DIEZ DE MAYO LINKS

– Did former Iowa/current New England Patriots offensive lineman Robert Gallery get a haircut? For the first time in a decade, maybe, you can see his ears.

Here is the link to his question-and-answer audio with New England media on Thursday.

– The road from undrafted free agent to making an NFL team is a hard one, but rookie punter Eric Guthrie of Iowa has survived the first obstacle: Getting a contract after participating in last weekend’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.

The team, by the way, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

– Former star Hawkeye defensive tackle Andre Tippett is entering the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Saturday. He is a Birmingham native.

Tippett entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He was inducted into the National Iowa Varsity Club Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

– Kirk Ferentz is Big Ten football’s youngest elder statesman since Hayden Fry in 1985.

– Purdue has had a bit of a drought when it comes to winning Big Ten baseball titles. The last one came in 1909.

“The Titanic sank after we won our last Big Ten championship,” Purdue second baseman Eric Charles said. “You’d think we could have squeaked one out in all that time.”

At 14-4, the Boilermakers have a 3-game lead with six conference games remaining. The final three are at Iowa May 17-19.

The last time the Hawkeyes had the Big Ten’s best regular-season league record was 1990. The last time they got a piece of the conference’s championship was 1974.

That’s a drought, too. It doesn’t bring the Titanic to mind, but it’s a drought.

– It isn’t every day when you hear a commissioner of a major conference say “It’s probably time for a commercialized kind of perspective. Clearly the collegiate model is dead.”

Make that ex-commissioner of a major conference. John Marinatto resigned as the Big East’s commissioner on Monday.

And what does this have to do with new Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby? Let’s ask Pete Thamel of the New York Times. He wrote:

The Big East is a bit like the game Jenga, a stack of wooden blocks haphazardly arranged atop one another. The most likely piece to be removed is Louisville. It is not a matter of whether it wants to go to the Big 12 as much as if it will be invited. If the Big 12, which has 10 teams, decides to expand to 12, would it invite Cincinnati to go with Louisville?

– The lead paragraph of this Charlotte News & Observer story says plenty:

Football and basketball players accounted for nearly four out of every 10 students enrolled in 54 classes at the heart of an academic fraud investigation at UNC-Chapel Hill, according to figures released Monday.

Don’t get too mock-y toward North Carolina. This 2011 story by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that several university football programs — at some excellent universities — have players who tend to congregate in the same fields of study.

Lost Letterman is a pretty good college football/basketball site. It just listed its 10 football coaches on the proverbial hot seat, and none work in the Big Ten.

Of course, Ron Zook went from hot seat to ejection button last year at Illinois, and Purdue’s Danny Hope got his chair cooled down by leading the Boilermakers to a bowl win, even if it was the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

– Compiled by Mike Hlas

Iowa fans having fun before the Hawkeyes' 2007 opener against Northern Illinois at Solider Field in Chicago. (Gazette file)

Here are the details for tickets on the Hawkeyes’ game at Soldier Field against Northern Illinois. We might know about TV for this game by the end of the month or the first week of June. It’s a home game for Northern, so the TV rights belong to the Mid-American Conference, which hasn’t announced its TV plans for ’12.

NIU has the longest winning streak in the nation, which includes the MAC title game and the International Bowl from last season.

Here’s the release from Iowa sports info:

TICKETS ON SALE FOR OPENING FOOTBALL GAME

IOWA CITY, Iowa – - Tickets for the University of Iowa’s opening football game of the season, vs. Northern Illinois at Chicago’s Soldier Field, are now on sale to the general public. The Hawkeyes and Huskies meet for the eighth time Saturday, Sept. 1. Television information and start time have not yet been determined.

Tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster, either online (Ticketmaster.com) by telephone (1-800-745-3000) or in person at any Ticketmaster outlet. Ticket prices are $80 (club seats), $70 (lower level and midfield) and $60 (upper level). Fans will be able to designate their team affiliation to be seated on the appropriate side of the stadium.

UI football season tickets holders had the opportunity to order tickets for the opening game when ordering their Hawkeye season tickets. A limited number of 200 level end zone seats are available to UI season ticketholders and I-Club members and can be purchased at hawkeyesports.com. UI season ticket holders have ordered over 14,600 tickets to see the Hawkeyes open the 2012 campaign.

Fans in the Chicago area for the Labor Day weekend football game can also see Iowa head basketball coach Fran McCaffery throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field on Friday, Aug. 31, as the Cubs host San Francisco. Tickets to Friday’s baseball game can be purchased through Bravo Sports Marketing at bravosportsmarketing.com.

Iowa and Northern Illinois last met in 2007, with Iowa taking a 16-3 decision, also at Soldier Field on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. That event attracted a sell-out crowd of 61,500. Iowa has won all seven previous meetings with the Huskies.

Iowa returns 12 starters from a year ago, when the Hawkeyes posted a 7-6 overall record and were bowl eligible for the 11th straight season. The appearance in the 2011 Insight Bowl marked Iowa’s fourth straight postseason appearance.

The Huskies enter the 2012 season with the longest winning streak in the nation. Northern Illinois won its final nine games a year ago, including victories in the Mid-American Conference championship game and the GoDaddy.com Bowl. NIU returns 19 starters and will be playing a home game at Soldier Field for the second straight season (NIU lost to Wisconsin last season).

Following the opening game in Chicago, Iowa will host Iowa State in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series game, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan before opening conference action at home against Minnesota.

Camp Courageous campers along with their friends and family tour the Iowa football team's locker room during the Annual Hawkeye Day for Camp Courageous at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, May 5, 2012. The group joined the seventeen senior football players and head coach Kirk Ferentz for lunch and an autograph signing session followed by tours of the locker rooms, press box and football field. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG)

These videos were taken pretty quickly, so I apologize in advance for the cinéma vérité “Blair Witch Project” feel. (OK, it’s not that bad, but it was kind of quick.)

Thought you might enjoy a look inside the lockerrooms, Iowa’s and the visitors’ famous pink lockerrooms, which were introduced by Hayden Fry back in the ’80s. The pink lockerroom had a distinct “lockerroom” smell to it. Seriously, eyes watering. Having seen some of the opposing lockerrooms around the Big Ten, I’d say Big Pink isn’t awful. It’s no frills, but there is plenty of space. The worst I’ve seen is the little house outside of the field at Purdue. Just no room at all.

I don’t know about you, but I always — ALWAYS — do a double take when I see an Iowa uniform with No. 24 on it. (Notice, I didn’t step on the Tiger Hawk logo. That comes from years of hockey training. Never step on the team logo in the carpet. They hate that.)

Camp Courageous campers along with their friends and family walk out on the field at the end of a tour with Iowa football players during the Annual Hawkeye Day for Camp Courageous at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, May 5, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG)

The “On Iowa” podcast with Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman discusses football and basketball recruiting with Hawkeye Report publisher Tom Kakert.

To listen to this report, click on the below or side icon or download it from iTunes

Doug Dewolf of Cedar Rapids poses for a photo with Iowa's Keenan Davis at the conclusion of the Annual Hawkeye Day for Camp Courageous at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, May 5, 2012. Camp Courageous campers along with their friends and family joined the seventeen senior football players and head coach Kirk Ferentz for lunch and an autograph signing session followed by tours of the locker rooms, press box and football field. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG)

Gazette photographer Cliff Jette put in a full day’s work covering the Camp Courageous Day event with Iowa football on Saturday.

Here’s a slide show he put together from the day along with some videos I took.

Uplifting event all the way around.

Cornberback Micah Hyde

Center James Ferentz

QB James Vandenberg

DL Steve Bigach

Six-year-old Owen Thilges of Cedar Rapids meets Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz during the Annual Hawkeye Day for Camp Courageous at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, May 5, 2012. Camp Courageous campers along with their friends and family joined the seventeen senior football players and head coach Kirk Ferentz for lunch and an autograph signing session followed by tours of the locker rooms, press box and football field. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG)

College basketball generates muted buzz with non-conference matches. With a 30-plus game schedule, most fans simply nod when it’s released. But heads turn every so slightly with the Big Ten-ACC Challenge announcement.

The leagues will co-release the annual showdown’s match-ups and dates in mid-May as they have the last two seasons. This is the second (and probably last) season both leagues contain 12 teams, and there’s an agreement to simply flip the locations and shuffle the opponents from last year. With the ACC going to 14 schools as early as 2013, locations then will shuffle to accommodate top match-ups.

The Big Ten dominated the Challenge 8-4 last year, the third consecutive series win for the league. Of course it’s more of a momentum shift than a true pendulum swing. The ACC did win the first 10 installments after all.

Iowa's Melsahn Basabe (1, right) shoots over Clemson's Devin Booker (31) in the first half of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, in Iowa City. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Iowa has been no help to the Big Ten when it comes to the Challenge. In fact, the Hawkeyes easily have been the worst team in Challenge history, losing 9 of 11 games. Iowa has lost six straight in the series. Equally as strange Wake Forest has provided the ACC with a huge lift, winning 10 of 12 in the Challenge. The Demon Deacons have beaten Iowa twice in the Challenge.

I look for Iowa to play at Miami this fall, which would be the first meeting between the teams. The schools were supposed to play last year, but there was a late schedule revamp which placed the Hurricanes at Purdue and Clemson at Iowa.

Iowa and Miami each had winning records and won one NIT game last year. Both return the core of their roster but lose one key contributor. Other possible Challenge competitors for Miami would include Purdue and Minnesota, but the Hurricanes played both (and lost to both) last year. Other possibilities for Iowa include Clemson (which beat Iowa last year), Wake Forest (which beat Iowa in 2010 and 2007) and Virginia Tech (which beat Iowa in 2009 and 2006).

Because the Challenge are made-for-TV games, at times it’s fairly predictable to project at least a few of the match-ups. That’s especially true this year with the home/away flip. So here’s a stab at possible games this fall, provided that there won’t be any Challenge repeats from 2011:

Michigan State at Duke

• The teams met early last season in neutral New York; would be teams’ fourth Challenge meeting

North Carolina at Indiana

• The defending ACC champion traveling to the potential preseason No. 1? No way this doesn’t happen

Ohio State at Florida State

• Teams won either share of leagues’ regular-season or tournament title and return stars from last year’s NCAA squads

North Carolina State at Michigan

• The 24-win Wolfpack’s top four players (and 24-win Michigan’s top three) were underclassmen last year

Virginia at Wisconsin

• Could this be the reason Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan initially restricted Jarrod Uthoff from the Cavaliers (and the ACC)?

Iowa at Miami

• Iowa’s last Challenge win came in 2005 against N.C. State; Miami beat Minnesota in 2009 for its only Challenge win

Georgia Tech at Illinois

• Former mid-major coaches in Ohio square off at Champaign

Boston College at Northwestern

• BC was only team in either league to register single-digit victories; Northwestern lost all-time leading scorer John Shurna

Minnesota at Clemson

• Teams were mediocre in league play last year, although the Gophers were sterling in NIT

Purdue at Wake Forest

• Uneven game based on last year’s standings, but Purdue loses top two scorers, rebounders

Nebraska at Virginia Tech

• New coaches square off in Blacksburg to add intrigue

Maryland at Penn State

• Maybe Penn State will get a needed attendance bump from a regional rival if this happens

Here are the team records in the 131-game series. Remember the ACC had nine teams until 2005 and Challenge didn’t go to 12 games until 2011:

• ACC (76-55) — Duke 11-2; Wake Forest 10-2; Maryland 9-4; Clemson 9-4; Virginia 7-5; North Carolina 7-6; Florida State 6-7; Boston College 5-1; North Carolina State 5-7; Georgia Tech 4-8; Virginia Tech 2-5; Miami 1-4
• Big Ten (55-76) — Ohio State 6-5; Michigan State 6-6; Illinois 6-7; Northwestern 6-7; Wisconsin 6-7; Purdue 5-6; Penn State 5-6; Minnesota 5-8; Michigan 4-7;  Indiana 4-7; Iowa 2-9; Nebraska 0-1

– Scott Dochterman

LINKS-A-LUJAH

– T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times doesn’t gush about much. But the Times’ Page 2 sports columnist is enjoying how the Los Angeles Clippers have opened a 2-1 NBA playoff series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies, and the reserve power forward from Iowa who has helped them to that edge.

Simers wrote: (Chris) Paul is the best player on the court and he’s wearing a Clippers uniform. The Clippers really are making history.

But the fans are understandably confused. Who is most deserving of their attention when (Blake) Griffin, Paul and Reggie Evans are in the game at the same time?

So far Evans is winning out, and you have to be here. He comes off the bench and the fans start yelling, “Reggie, Reggie,” and who cheers for someone in the entertainment capital who can’t score?

“If I wasn’t in the game I’d be chanting his name, too,” Paul says.

Evans argues later he can score, so he’s a dreamer as well as a gifted rebounder.

Evans had 11 rebounds in Saturday’s 87-86 win. Game 4 is tonight in Los Angeles.

Evans said he slept wrong Friday night and woke up with neck pain Saturday. Then … you can see this one coming down Main Street … he was a pain in the Grizzlies’ necks.

Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register wrote “Evans, who, in a twist on a familiar home-court theme, plays with such passion that the crowd feeds off him.”

– How many players in Division I basketball transfer? Try one in every 10.

Iowa's Devyn Marble pass the ball behind him as he gets tangled up with Drake's Rayvonte Rice during the second half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at Iowa City, Iowa on December 17, 2011. Rice will transfer to Illinois and be eligible to play in 2013-14. (Cliff Jette/SourceMedia Group)

New Illinois coach John Groce is going the Fred Hoiberg route. Start snapping up transfers to fill in gaps as you begin the process of stocking your program with high school players.

Groce has landed guard Rayvonte Rice from Drake and forward Sam McLaurin from Coastal Carolina. Rice had a team-high 16.8 points per game at Drake. He has two years of eligibility left, which begin after he sits out a season.

“We’re blessed and fortunate the timing of him transferring coincided with us coming to Champaign,” Groce said.

McLaurin is a senior who will be eligible this season under the NCAA rule that allows him to transfer if he has already graduated college and enrolls as a graduate student in a program not offered at the school he is leaving. He will enter Illinois’ one-year master’s programming in sports management, which he can complete online.

McLaurin averaged 10 points and 7.5 rebounds last season.

– Buzz Bissinger likes football. He wrote “Friday Night Lights.” Not the movie, not the TV series. He wrote the great book about high school football in Odessa, Texas.

But he thinks college football should be banned, and explains why in this essay for the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:

A radical solution, yes. But necessary in today’s times.

Football only provides the thickest layer of distraction in an atmosphere in which colleges and universities these days are all about distraction, nursing an obsession with the social well-being of students as opposed to the obsession that they are there for the vital and single purpose of learning as much as they can to compete in the brutal realities of the global economy.

Banning college football would throw a wrinkle into the career paths of the contributors to On Iowa Daily Briefing. But if it’s for the good of American academics, we’ll happily shelve our selfish concerns.

– Oh, but college football success translates into more money for universities. That may not be so, indicates this piece by Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News.

A University of Arkansas doctoral student in sport management and his professor have examined 10-year data from 2000 to 2009 at 29 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. They haven’t drawn firm conclusions yet, but say there could be a negative impact on academic giving based on football triumphs.

– Junior Seau’s suicide has confused many people. This terrific column by Chris McCosky of the Detroit News said Seau wasn’t being a coward and he wasn’t being selfish.

He was sick.

– Without demonizing Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown for his anti-homosexuality beliefs, Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald has a fine piece suggesting it would behoove Brown to take a gentler tone.

This is Brown’s letter to the Lincoln Journal Star, which was published Sunday:

I wholeheartedly agree with UNL’s Non-Discrimination Policy.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, and a UNL employee for twenty-two years, I haven’t, nor will I violate this policy.

In 1979 I realized Christ’s death and resurrection freed me from the many sins I am guilty of.  I received Christ’s forgiveness then and the Bible became my source of truth for every phase of life.  God offers His grace to all of us. WOW!

Not all of my players have agreed with the Bible’s views. One example, of many, would be those choosing heterosexual sex outside of marriage. Though the Bible teaches this as sin, I haven’t penalized them with playing time or discrimination of any sort.  Because I love them, I’ve invested in them even outside of football and gently asked them to consider God’s view on it.

If I coached a gay player, because the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, I would do the same. If he didn’t agree, I wouldn’t penalize him with playing time or any form of discrimination.

I have and will embrace every player I coach, gay or straight … but I won’t embrace a legal policy that supports a lifestyle that God calls sin.

– Ron Brown, private citizen of Nebraska

Brown said a media frenzy will deter him from speaking today at a Lincoln City Council public hearing that will be held on a proposal to add gender identity and sexual orientation to the classes of people specifically protected against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

There was a similar hearing in Omaha on March 6, and Brown spoke for three minutes, challenging council members to remember the Bible doesn’t condone homosexuality.

– Compiled by Mike Hlas

Kirk Ferentz and Iowa football players signed autographs for members of Camp Courageous on Saturday.

IOWA CITY — Allen from Washington walked right up to Kirk Ferentz and smiled.

Allen had a Hawkeyes cap on with an Iowa T-shirt that had No. 47 on it. The conversation ranged from the Hawkeyes, of course, to lunch to cookies. The won-loss record never came up, just Allen’s smile. That stayed the whole time.

Saturday was the Camp Courageous visit to Kinnick Stadium. Camp Courageous is a year-round recreational and respite care facility for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities, brain injuries, hearing and visual impairments, autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder and special needs.

It’s life and 17 Iowa seniors greeted campers with autographs and connections.

“Mark was the best,” cornerback Micah Hyde said. “We were up in the press box looking over at the hospital (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics). He said how he’s always in the hospital. He always pulls his IVs out and the nurses come in and he tells them, he’s sexy and he knows it.

“He was a really funny guy. I definitely connected with a bunch of campers.”

Iowa football has an active community outreach. Over the last three years, Iowa football players have put in 3,430 community service hours. From May 2008 (when major flooding hit Iowa City) through last year, UI football participated in 59 service projects and averaged more than 1,143. After spring practice ended in April, players have put in time in reading programs at area schools and Saturday’s visit with Camp Courageous.

Some of the little moments Saturday were incredibly precious.

“This day is always funs,” Ferentz said. “The pure enthusiasm, the pure enjoyment, it’s pretty special. It’s unfiltered. This is an unfiltered experience right here.”

Iowa football’s relationship with Camp Courageous started in 2005, when a group of Hawkeyes jumped into couple of vans and trucked out to the camp in Monticello. Charlie Becker, the camp’s executive director, asked if it’d be OK for campers to visit Kinnick. The last seven years, Iowa has played host to a lunch, autograph session, tours of the lockerrooms and press box and some time on the field.

“It’s pure,” Becker said. “There are no hidden agendas, this is as pure as it gets. In talking to the parents, they almost all tell me the kids lay their Hawkeye gear out and can’t sleep the night before. It’s almost Christmas for the kids.”

None of the players wore those giant white headphones or texted their girlfriends. There was true engagement and interaction.

Defensive lineman Steve Bigach met a young man who wanted to play linebacker.

“It just impresses you how excited they are about everything in life. It’s pretty awesome,” Bigach said. “You get put into a position by your athletic ability to reach out to people, this is a really good thing.

“If you get put on that pedastal and you’re not helping the people around you, it’s not worth it. If you see a smile on a kid’s face because you shake his hand or sign an autograph, that’s a big deal.”

Quarterback James Vandenberg met a little running back named Owen.

“He was flying through the press box halls up there,” he said. “We got to meet a lot of really good people. A lot of folks really wanted me to walk them down the tunnel, that was something we all thought was cool.”

Iowa football players have finals in front of them next week. No one looked at their watch and wondered if they shouldn’t have a book in front of them.

“I met a kid named Donald,” center James Ferentz said. “We were up in the press box and he said it was one of the best days he’s ever had. That was really rewarding. Just to hear that, it really makes it worth it.”

Iowa's Brandon Scherff (center) pushes back Indiana's Chase Hoobler (left) and Jeff Thomas (right) as Marcus Coker (obscured by Hoobler and Scherff) dives for a touchdown during the second quarter of their game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Iowa City, Iowa. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

IOWA CITY — Brandon Scherff threw for 1,200 yards as a sophomore at Denison High School. Friday, he attempted to break an Iowa weight room record.

The lift and the weight are unclear, but Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle tweeted a picture of Scherff with the caption, “Scherff getting set to break a record!” Scherff is shown with a bar at his waist and four big plates on it.

Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg has seen tape of Scherff dropping back to pass.

“He can throw,” Vandenberg said. “He looks like he might be able to pop the ball in his hand.”

Credit someone at Denison, either his coach, Dave Wiebers, or his mom and dad, Cindy and Bob. Someone saw the big picture and suggested offensive line. Then again, when Iowa came calling during recruiting, it wasn’t because they saw a future quarterback.

“I was getting recruited here for O-line and I didn’t want to come in here and not know what I was doing,” Scherff said. “Thought it was a pretty good choice to move there. I liked the whole concept, just going out there and hitting people.”

The move appears to be paying off, from the weightroom success to Scherff’s ascension to the top spot at left tackle, which came open in early January when Riley Reiff passed on his senior season and declared for the NFL draft (he went No. 23 to the Detroit Lions).

The left tackle position at Iowa is a goldmine. You know the names, Robert Gallery, Bryan Bulaga and Reiff. The contracts are in the millions.

Again, someone saw the big picture and the light is on. Maybe it was Scherff himself, who declared his candidacy for left tackle last fall.

“Yes,” Scherff said when asked if he’d want the job after Iowa’s victory over Indiana. “Absolutely.”

Why not?

The 6-foot-5, 310-pounder worked on changing his body this winter. He’s noticeably leaner, but he’s still 310.

“I cut some body fat, I’m eating better,” he said this spring. “Changing the body around. There are big shoes to fill at both tackle spots.”

A lot has been written about the new offense and how it’s affected the passing game. The O-line has changed, too. In the no-huddle, the playcalls have been stripped to numbers. The O-line is working on getting that down.

After spring, head coach Kirk Ferentz said Scherff and right tackle Brett Van Sloten had done a “pretty good job overall,” but there was still some ground to cover. Late last season, Ferentz said this about Scherff:

“We’re really high on Brandon,” Ferentz said. “I think he’s going to be a good player here. He’s done a lot of good things, but he’s moving up on that progression right now. He needs more time.”

It’s easy to crown all-Americans in May, but the Doyle tweet on the weightroom record, the commitment to diet, Scherff time seems to have arrived.

Iowa Strength and Conditioning coach Chris Doyle on the Hawkeyes sideline during the third quarter of their NCAA football game against Nebraska at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in Lincoln, Neb. (SourceMedia Group News/Jim Slosiarek)

Huge honor for Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle announced yesterday.

Bill Maxwell, Iowa’s strength and conditioning coordinator for Olympic sports, also is a masters strength coach.

Here’s the release from Iowa sports info:

Doyle Named Master Strength & Conditioning Coach

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle will be named Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association (CSCCa). This honor is the highest given in the strength and conditioning coaching profession.

Master Strength and Conditioning Coach Jerry Schmidt from the University of Oklahoma will present Doyle with the blue MSCC Jacket on Thursday evening, May 10, 2012, at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, Fla.

“This is an incredible honor for Chris,” says CSCCa Executive Director, Dr. Chuck Stiggins. “Being named a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach signifies a commitment to the student-athlete, the University of Iowa athletic program, and the strength and conditioning profession. We are honored to have coach Doyle as a member of our association and to have him join the ranks of the Master Strength and Conditioning Coaches. He is truly a model of an outstanding strength and conditioning professional.”

In order to receive this certification and corresponding title of distinction, an individual must first meet the following criteria: hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree; be a currently practicing, full-time strength & conditioning coach on the collegiate or professional level; hold current membership in the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches association (CSCCa); hold the CSCCa Certification – SCCC (Strength & Conditioning Coach Certified); and have a minimum of 12 years experience as a full-time strength and conditioning coach on the collegiate and/or professional level.

Doyle will be one of 15 collegiate strength and conditioning coaches to receive the prestigious certification of Master Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Iowa tight end Allen Reisner (82) is taken down by Illinois defensive back Dere Hicks (28) during the third quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. (Jonathan D. Woods/The Gazette)

The Big Ten will release the football schedules for 2015-16 later this month. Considering we don’t have the times set for most of this year’s match-ups or dates for any basketball games, it might be premature to circle the calendar and wait with anticipation for the football announcement.

But football drives the train for college athletics in terms of prestige, economics and interest. And in the new-look, 12-member Big Ten, it matters who you play as much as when you play them.

Each team already knows six opponents — five in divisional play, one protected in non-divisional play — on an annual basis. The intrigue comes with the combination of picking two opponents among the other six for an eight-game league schedule.

It’s likely Iowa finally will play Illinois in 2015-16. The teams last met in 2008 in Champaign, and they’re at six seasons and counting without playing. It’s the longest gap among Big Ten schools since Iowa and Illinois skipped each other’s schedules for 14 consecutive seasons until playing again in 1967 after a 1952 apple-throwing incident at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa running back Shonn Greene (23) stiff arms Illinois defensive back Vontae Davis (1) as he steps into the end zone for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. (Jonathan D. Woods/The Gazette)

The reason this time around was simply scheduling. When the Big Ten stood at 11 schools, each team designated two opponents as annual rivals and played the league’s other schools six times over an eight-year period. In 2009-10, Illinois and Iowa rotated off one another’s schedule for two years as scheduled. When the league added Nebraska in 2011 and split into two football divisions, Iowa and Illinois were placed into opposite divisions. After all the time and effort league officials spent determining divisions and selecting priority match-ups, Iowa’s non-protected, non-divisional opponents (Indiana, Penn State) were picked randomly for 2011-12. No big deal. It was a busy time.

Cross-divisional scheduling was more calculated for 2013-14. The league placed long-time rival Wisconsin back on Iowa’s schedule, which was in motion once the divisions were set. The other choice was between Ohio State and Illinois, and the league tapped Ohio State. If it had been the Illini, that would have meant four straight years — and six of eight years — without Ohio State-Iowa. There’s no winner either way.

Should the league select Iowa-Illinois in 2015-16, Iowa will face one of four possible opponents — Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana or Penn State. It’s unlikely (and unfortunate) Iowa will play Wisconsin or Ohio State four consecutive years as non-divisional opponents. Iowa facing both Illinois and Indiana (and Purdue) for two straight years without playing Wisconsin, Ohio State or Penn State will be met with jeers around the league and possibly the country if Iowa is a national contender. My guess is Penn State is Iowa’s other opponent.

Iowa Hawkeyes Adam Shada (19) gets his head tweaked by Illinois Fighting Illini Joe Morgan during the second half of their game at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007.(JONATHAN D. WOODS/THE GAZETTE)

But to me, Big Ten non-divisional scheduling is a mess that takes away from the conference’s best attributes, which includes its proximity, longevity and history. It’s a problem when teams from the same conference fail to play one another for more than two consecutive years. Rivalries dissipate and interest wanes unless something is at stake. I applauded Commissioner Jim Delany in 2010 when he advocated for a nine-game league schedule beginning in 2015. He told reporters multiple times, “We want to play each other more, not less.”

Of course scheduling issues — primarily most schools’ desire for seven home games — made 2015 a bit ambitious. So Delany modified the proposed nine-game league schedule to begin in 2017, and that policy was announced on Aug. 4, 2011. Then on Dec. 28, 2011, the nine-game plan fizzled as Big Ten officials announced an all-sports partnership with the Pac-12. By 2017, Big Ten schools strongly are encouraged to play at least one annual football game against a Pac-12 opponent. It’s an alliance that includes the leagues’ mutual affection for the Rose Bowl and shared academic values.

While the alliance sounds interesting on the surface, it’s going to create more headaches than cartwheels the deeper you go. For every USC-Ohio State football game, there’s an Indiana-Washington State match-up. For every Indiana-UCLA men’s basketball game, there’s a Penn State-Oregon State showdown. Let’s not even start with the Olympic sports.

For all the scheduling and travel issues associated with traveling halfway across the nation (Nebraska/Iowa/Minnesota) or all the way across the country (Penn State/Ohio State) and at times eye-rolling rhetoric associated with student-athlete welfare, let’s consider the biggest focus of all: cost.

One administrator at a Big Ten school told me his first thought about the Big Ten-Pac-12 challenge was “how expensive it was going to be.” In 2010, Iowa football paid $93,700 for a flight to Tucson, Ariz., to play Arizona. When flying to other Big Ten locales, Iowa spends about $59,000. When riding by bus to Evanston, Ill., or Madison, Wis., the football program spends about $6,000. Of course with inflation, all of those costs will soar in the future, even the bus trips.

So when the 2015-16 schedules are unveiled, fans and media will look intently at who plays whom when and where. Then we’ll all remember who isn’t playing whom and wonder when they’ll play again. That’s worst part of realignment — until Iowa and its Big Ten brethren spend more than $100,000 in chartered flights to play a night game 2,000 miles away and eschew a $7,000 bus trip to a neighboring state. Then it becomes personal.

– Scott Dochterman

LINKIN PARK

– What is the nation saying about former Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby becoming commissioner of the Big 12 this morning? Click on the links to get their complete takes.

Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com: Bowlsby has been in the room when a lot of deals have been made and has a very measured personality. He’s also got such a strong background in college athletics that he would have strong ideas about what college athletics should look like in the next 25 years. I think it’s a good fit.

Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News: If Bob Bowlsby is leaving his job as Stanford’s athletic director to become commissioner of the Big 12, more power to him. That’s a rugged, punishing job.

Kirk Ferentz (left) listens to Iowa Athletics Director Bob Bowlsby talk during Ferentz's introductory press conference. (The Gazette)

If you want to know why, listen to this from a longtime college sports administrator I trust: “I think the Big 12 job is probably the toughest of the BCS commissionerships other than the Big East. They’ve taken a lot of hits in the past year and nearly collapsed. They lost Nebraska and Texas A&M and then had to give in to Texas’ television demands to keep the league together. But Bob has stature and clout in the industry. If anyone can build the Big 12 back up, he’d be the guy.”

Burns Hargis, president of Oklahoma State: “The institutions of the Big 12 wanted a commissioner that could take us to the next era as a conference. The search committee looked for a candidate that has a vision for the next generation of college athletics, and his credentials and ideas exceeded this.”

– He is Steve Greenberg of The Sporting News, and he ranks Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz as the fifth-best Big Ten football coach.

Greenberg writes: Ferentz will win his 100th game at Iowa this season, but a first-place finish in the Legends Division seems out of the question. That’s where Ferentz is at right now, in a nutshell. He’s very respected, based on a fine 13-year body of work at Iowa, but he’s no longer one of the very best (if he ever was).

Greenberg’s top four are Urban Meyer of Ohio State, Bret Bielema of Wisconsin, Mark Dantonio of Michigan State and Brady Hoke of Michigan.

– Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass flies in the face of his Big Ten colleagues when it comes to an opinion on the league’s policy on denying scholarship football and basketball players to transfer directly from one league school to another.

“I think if a kid wants to stay in our conference, and he’s a quality kid and a good player,” Glass said, “why should we force him to help make some other conference famous?”

 – Compiled by Mike Hlas

Kinnick Stadium, home of Iowa Hawkeyes football, as seen from the air. Aerial photo is looking southwest. Melrose Avenue (Melrose Ave.) is seen at top left. August 31, 2006.

Summary: Iowa now has five start times set in stone.

Penn State was set for 7 a few weeks ago. Today, Kinnick games against Nebraska and Minnesota were set for 11 a.m. Road games at Michigan State and Northwestern also were set for 11 a.m.

Nebraska will be on ABC. Penn State is on the Big Ten Network. No specific TV announced for the other times, but they’re headed toward either ESPN, ESPN2 or BTN. The MAC hasn’t had its TV dates decided, so the NIU opener at Soldier Field hasn’t been slated for TV. It could, just hasn’t yet. It probably won’t be at night. Iowa has said Penn State is the only night game this season.

The Big Ten will announce start times for the first three weeks of the season soon.

Here’s the release from Iowa:

START TIMES SET FOR SELECTED IOWA FOOTBALL GAMES

IOWA CITY, Iowa – - University of Iowa home football games against Minnesota (Sept. 29) and Nebraska (Nov. 23) will start at 11 a.m. CT. In addition, Iowa games at Michigan State (Oct. 13) and Northwestern (Oct. 27) will also start at 11 a.m. CT. The Big Ten Conference announced start times of selected games Thursday, with the majority of those games serving as Homecoming for the host institution.

Minnesota will serve as Iowa’s homecoming opponent as the Golden Gophers and Hawkeyes meet in Kinnick Stadium in the first Big Ten game of the season for both teams. Iowa holds an all-time homecoming record of 54-41-5, including a 6-9 mark vs. Minnesota. Iowa defeated Indiana, 45-24, in its 2011 homecoming game.

The Hawkeyes will host Nebraska on Friday, Nov. 23, as the teams meet the day after Thanksgiving for the second straight year. That game will be televised nationally by ABC for a second straight year as well. The Cornhuskers defeated Iowa 20-7 last November in the first annual “Heroes Game”.

Iowa will be the homecoming opponent when it visits both East Lansing and Evanston. Iowa games against Minnesota, Michigan State and Northwestern will be televised by ESPN, ESPN2 or BTN.

It was announced earlier that Iowa’s Oct. 20 home game against Penn State will be a prime time event, beginning at 7 p.m. CT in Kinnick Stadium. That game will be televised by BTN and marks Iowa’s only night game of the season.

Start times and television information for Iowa’s remaining games has not yet been released. The Big Ten Conference is expected to announce start times for the first three weeks of the season in the near future.

The Hawkeyes open the season Sept. 1, meeting Northern Illinois at Soldier Field in Chicago. Iowa then hosts Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan before opening conference action against Minnesota.

University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, left, is greeted by Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, right, following a news conference about Iowa playing the University of Southern California in the Orange Bowl, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 8, 2002, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Bob Bowlsby to Big 12 commissioner makes sense. Let’s roll his resume.

He was the athletics director at the University of Northern Iowa from 1984 to 1991, where he hired Eldon Miller and Earle Bruce (not all that glitters is gold) and staged a men’s basketball game in the UNI-Dome against the Iowa Hawkeyes that drew a crazy 22,797 fans. (Panthers won, I was a student in the crowd.)

Bowlsby served as Iowa’s AD from 1991 through 2006, where he hired Kirk Ferentz and Steve Alford (not all that glitters is gold) and spearheaded the major renovation project at Kinnick Stadium (nearly $90 mill), among other endeavors. He left for Stanford in 2006, seeking a new challenge.

The Bowlsby-Bob Stoops thingie has reached mythical proportions. Who knows what happened. My theory is, yes, Stoops was interested in coming back to coach his alma mater. Maybe the search committee soured him. I don’t know that. Then, Oklahoma got heavily involved and that made a lot of sense, both with the tradition and the financials.

The Tom Davis thingie remains a clear misstep. I don’t remember anyone — ANYONE — standing up and saying that Alford was a bad idea. It clearly didn’t work. Not all that glitters is gold. Sometimes, you go the hard road to figure that out.

Bowlsby also worked as a national leader on various NCAA committees that required an enormous commitment. Most notably, he served as chairman of the NCAA wrestling committee and also spent five years on the NCAA men’s basketball committee, including two years as chairman in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Bowlsby takes control of the situation, no matter what it might be. The Big 12 situation is nutty, to say the least. Bowlsby’s football acumen is unquestioned. Jim Harbaugh, two BCS bowls at Stanford. Kirk Ferentz, Kinnick renovation, ’02 and ’04 Big Ten titles.

Nutty Big 12, meet a football AD. Bowlsby wouldn’t be Texas AD DeLoss Dodds caddie. Texas will swing a mighty big stick. Will the league allow itself to be hostage to the Burnt Orange’s TV whims? I don’t think that would sit well with Bowlsby.

Remember that it took nearly two years before Ferentz signed his first contract with Iowa. That was super agent Neil Cornrich vs. Bowlsby. The cover was “separation language,” but who knows what it really was. That was the first time Iowa administration dealt with a real sports agent. Since, Ferentz’s deal has become as favorable for a coach as any. A happy coach is a coach who goes into his 14th season at the same school.

The Big 12 also contains Oklahoma, the Texas nemesis with a lot to say. It also welcomes TCU and West Virginia this season. It needs a strong hand. That’s Bowlsby.

The Big 12 is a gold mine of interesting football. Maybe a centralized network would help unlock that? TV would be job 1 for Bowlsby. No. 2 would be giving the league an air of stability.

But here we are nearly 11:30 a.m. Thursday with an offer on the table. The Big 12 needs Bowlsby more than he needs it.

– Marc Morehouse

LINKED IN

– Former Iowa walk-on point guard Branden Stubbs will play for Division II Augustana (S.D.) University, the school announced.

Stubbs (6-foot-2) played in 16 games over two seasons with the Hawkeyes and was a productive walk-on and sometimes entered the game in crucial situations. He scored 26 points in two seasons but largely was asked to take care of the ball when he entered the game with Iowa.

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery told The Gazette in March he wanted to help Stubbs earn a scholarship and get some playing time.

“Branden is a very smart player who has spent the last two years playing and practicing against some outstanding competition,” Billeter said.  “He has been well coached and brings an overall toughness along with experience to a position we did not have a great deal of depth at.”

Stubbs will compete against former Iowa point guard Anthony Tucker next year. Tucker sat out this season but will play next season with Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead, which is coached by former Iowa assistant Chad Walthall.

— Former Iowa linebacker Tyler Nielsen was touted as one of the top sleepers by NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, Nielsen, who went undrafted and picked the Minnesota Vikings over the Miami Dolphins and about 14 other teams, has an opportunity to start, Mayock said.

“Nielsen is very undervalued,” Mayock said, according to The Viking Age. “He played through some injuries this year. If you didn’t know that, you might not like him. But I think he’s one of the better special teams players in this draft who ultimately might be a starting SAM (strong side) ‘backer in this league.”

– The Green Bay Packers expect fourth-round pick Mike Daniels of Iowa to re-energize the Packers’ defense despite his physical limitations.

— Big Ten teams will have the chance to play against one another earlier in the football season in 2015 and 2016, but the league still will leave the first four weeks open for non-conference games, according to ESPN. It’s up to the teams to move up their games into early September.

The Big Ten should consider starting the season the fourth week of September. Every year it’s a weekend wasteland as teams schedule non-conference cupcakes before entering Big Ten season. Michigan this year plays at Notre Dame that weekend but makes up for it by not playing the following week. Minnesota is the only other Big Ten school playing a BCS competitor on Sept. 22, facing Syracuse.

From 2010-2012, Big Ten opponents have scheduled just three BCS opponents (counting this year) on the final weekend before conference play. Over that three-year period, the combined records of those opponents from the previous year are 148-216.

– Also in that ESPN story, Big Ten senior associate commissioner Mark Rudner said the league’s 2015-16 schedules will be released later this month. Iowa has six Big Ten games already earmarked: permanent non-divisional opponent Purdue and Legends Division brethren Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. Of the other two possibilities, it’s expected Iowa and Illinois will finally play again after a six-year hiatus. Iowa’s other opponent likely will be either Penn State or Indiana. My guess is Penn State.

– Compiled by Scott Dochterman

Iowa wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley (11) catches a ball during the team's open practice Saturday, April 14, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — This is a good time to be an Iowa wide receiver. It looks as though your work order will be filled top to bottom, game in and game out.

Quarterback James Vanderberg’s 404 attempts last season were second most in Iowa history. Iowa goes into 2012 with a running back situation that ranges from inexperienced to incoming freshmen. Head coach Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Greg Davis promise Iowa will do what Iowa’s players do best.

With a returning starter at QB and solid experience at receiver and tight end, that fits with a continued focus on the air. But, as with everything Iowa at this point of the year with two new coordinators, we’ll see.

If you’re an Iowa receiver, rest assured that you are in the playbook and the game plan. It just sets up that way.

This is terrific for sophomore Kevonte Martin-Manley.

Martin-Manley caught 30 passes for 323 yards and three TDs last season, mostly out of the slot receiver position. As a redshirt freshman last season, he was Iowa’s No. 3 receiver. It was the best performance for a freshman receiver at Iowa since 2007, when Derrell Johnson-Kouliano caught 38 passes and James Cleveland had 36.

His 2011 production earned a few mentions from coaches this spring.

“Kevonte Martin‑Manley, who last year got his feet wet as a redshirt freshman, playing the first time,” wide receivers coach Erik Campbell said when asked if any receiver raised his profile during the spring. “Now you can see that experience pay off. You can see him looking like a veteran receiver, doing things that a guy with that kind of experience has shown.”

Davis likes Martin-Manley right where he is, playing slot receiver.

“Kevonte will end up playing in the slot most of the time for us,” Davis said. “The slot receiver is an extremely important position. It’s a position with a lot of flexibility, has to do various things according to the coverage you see.

“So, I kind of see him settling in there when we’re in one back. When we’re in two backs, obviously, he would be one of the wide receivers.”

See, good deal for Martin-Manley. Oh, there’s more.

“It’ll be a lot more three-receiver looks and a little bit more spread out, so it’s a lot of fun for us as receivers,” Martin-Manley said when asked about his thoughts on what Iowa’s offense learned about Davis’ plans this spring.

Is Iowa going to lean pass-oriented next fall?

“Coach Davis told us he’d go by game plan,” Martin-Manley said. “Whoever we play, whoever is healthy, that’s how he said he’s going to play. We’ll see.”

The slot receiver notion isn’t a change for Martin-Manley, but the mental part of the game apparently is.

“I have a little bit more freedom now. I get to read the defenses more. That’s the biggest change,” Martin-Manley said. “It is a lot of freedom. It is. It allows us to open up a little bit and hopefully catch more balls this season.”

It would likely work out this way no matter what football team we’re talking about, but Iowa’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3 receivers were uniformly stratified during Ken O’Keefe’s 13 seasons as coordinator. A clear-cut No. 1 got the majority of the targets. It might not work that way next season.

Senior Keenan Davis is a potential No. 1. He had a break-out junior season with 50 catches for 713 yards and four TDs, a receptions total that would’ve led everyone not named Marvin McNutt in Iowa’s last five seasons.

Campbell’s comments this spring made it sound as though No. 1 touches are up in the air. He wants sharp receivers who value every target, every rep.

“I think there’s always competition,” Campbell said. “Also there’s competition to stay on the field, because there are young guys behind them who are going to push them and try to take that spot.

“You never can relax here because there’s always competition, even with having great tight ends. Everybody is competing to get the ball. The better you play, the more opportunities you going to have it versus giving it to another position or another player.”

That doesn’t extend exclusively to Martin-Manley. That’s everyone. Davis talked about junior Jordan Cotton this spring, a name that hasn’t been heard from much (one career reception).

“Cotton has done some things through eight days that are encouraging,” Davis said. “We’ve just got consistency is the term I keep using with him. You know, we’ll just say consistency is the term I keep using with him.

“But he flashes some things that you really like. It’s been a little bit unfair to him because we’ve moved him around and hopefully when we get back to all of this, we’ll be in position to get all the nuances of that position out.”

(Hmm, nuance. That would take more than the 15 allotted spring practices.)

So, no assumptions, not even for a receiver with Martin-Manley’s resume, which is still forming. The 6-0, 205-pounder averaged 3.4 receptions through five games last season. Then, the passing game swung strongly to senior Marvin McNutt. Martin-Manley averaged 1.6 receptions over the final eight games.

After Iowa’s spring scrimmage, Martin-Manley preached patience, with the passing game, with the changing offense.

“That’s something that comes with the territory,” he said. “That’s why you do spring ball, that’s why you do camp. You learn and you move on.”

And we’ll see.

Minnesota Vikings football players Adrian Peterson, left, John Sullivan, right, and Chad Greenway, background, show up unannounced to lobby for the stadium bill now passing through committees at the Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)

Most NFL athletes have philanthropic ventures written into their contract, but Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway always was the exception. He goes above and beyond expectations for charitable organizations, much like he does on the football field.

Greenway, a former Iowa linebacker, donated $100,000 to a Sioux Falls children’s hospital for cancer patients and their families in 2008. In July 2008, he convinced Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to fly personnel on the team plane to Iowa City to help with post-flood recovery efforts in City Park. He hosts a draft party every year in South Dakota to benefit his “Lead The Way Foundation,” which enhances health and education for children. He also donated money to build a new track at his high school in Mount Vernon, S.D.

Last week, Greenway was stumping for his team at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. Greenway, All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson and center John Sullivan stopped by the legislature lending support to a proposal to build the Vikings a new stadium. It would be located near the current Metrodome location and force the Vikings to play one season at the Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium.

Minnesota Vikings teammates defensive end Jared Allen (69), and outside linebacker Chad Greenway (52) pose with Hawaiian models Aureana Tseu, left, and U'ilani LaBoy, during the NFC team photos at NFL football's Pro Bowl, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that those fans and the people who comes our games are going to get to enjoy a better experience, and we want to give that to them,” said Greenway, according to KARE11.com.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Vikings are slated to put up $427 million toward the $1 billion stadium, which would contain a roof of some sort. The state of Minnesota “would add $398 million and Minneapolis would contribute $150 million to the stadium’s construction. The team would also add $327 million over time to the stadium’s operating costs, and the city would add $189 million,” as reported by the Star Tribune.

The Vikings’ lease at the Metrodome expired after the 2011 season but they are committed to playing Minnesota in 2012. Without a lease, the team could relocate as early as next year, which NFL officials suggested (but not threatened) to state officials two weeks ago. Tuesday afternoon some Minnesota Republicans tossed out the idea of a roofless stadium — at least temporarily — to keep down the costs. But with the legislative session already in overtime, Democrats and Republicans are playing political football that could result in the state’s most popular team exiting for somewhere like … Los Angeles.

Greenway, by the way, earned his first Pro Bowl berth after last season and was tabbed the Vikings’ Defensive Player of the Year in 2010. As a South Dakota native, Iowa graduate, Pro Bowl athlete and charitable person, the Vikings have no better role model to sell the team on the field and to lawmakers at the Capitol. But if legislators aren’t careful, he just might take his talents to Long Beach.

– Scott Dochterman

LINK-IN LOGS

Three most recent Cy-Hawk trophies, from Aug. 19 through the announcement on Tuesday.

– Here’s the new Cy-Hawk. It will be forever linked to

The old Cy-Hawk Trophy

the old Cy-Hawk, you know, the “larger concept” that was “more than a football game.” Back out of the committee, people, and don’t overthink it. (I’m smelling a Cy-Hawk post at some point today).

– How much contrition is it going to take for Penn State? Who knows what the math is on that. Here’s what we know: Penn State is still allowed to field a football team and it has donated $1.1 million (its bowl revenue) to an abuse research center. Penn State is an institution that should have bright light forced into ever matter that comes across the university’s collective desk from here to the end of time.

– From the absurd to the glorious: Are you a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan? No? Do you now have a little love in your heart for the Bucs after they signed Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand? LeGrand is the Scarlet Knight who suffered paralysis in 2010 after a hit during a kickoff return against Army. Former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is now the Bucs coach. Schiano said the signing was “small gesture … to recognize his character, spirit and perseverance.” Bravo!

– This one is kind of weird. Central Florida QB Jeff Godfrey leaves UCF. Dad calls coach racist. Godfrey returns to UCF as WR. College football is whack, flat-out whack.

– Wanna watch the Hawkeyes grunt and sweat? You know you do.

– Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas went pro. Problem was the pros didn’t notice. He’s gone from Oregon’s starter to tryouts with the Steelers and Browns. A tryout is not a roster spot. This was a roll of the dice. No judgment. We don’t know what triggers these decisions. Good luck to the young man.

– A Big Ten-SEC bowl in St. Louis? Maybe it won’t be another 100 years before Iowa and Missouri play. On second thought, there are plenty of bowls. On third thought, I could drive to St. Louis on the day of the game. Fourth thought, no, I’d be down there for nine days. Fifth thought, there are too many bowls.

Compiled by Marc Morehouse

Iowa Quarterback James Vandenberg (16) tosses a pass during the team's open practice Saturday, April 15, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — James Vandenberg has faced down something far more daunting than a new playbook.

The Iowa quarterback and pre-physical therapy major who’s harboring medical school hopes took organic chemistry II last fall. One of the stated goals of that class is to help students understand the physical and chemical properties of aromatic compounds, carbonyl compounds, carboxylic acid derivatives, amines, and selected di-and polyfunctional organic compounds.

It probably sounds harder than it is (no, it doesn’t and can’t possibly).

This spring, Vandenberg put offensive coordinator Greg Davis’ new offense through the spectroscopy (organic chemistry term) and believes he can translate it.

“He really has worked hard at it, that’s including spring break,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I know he knocked on Greg’s door during that time. I don’t know if he was here the entire week, but I know he was in and out of the building a couple of times. He’s going into his senior year. He wants to be good. He’s always been built that way.

“It’s a new challenge for him and he’s one of those guys who really relishes challenges, whether it’s academically or football. That’s part of the reason why he’s a good quarterback. You hope quarterbacks are built that way.”

Vandenberg is just one of three fifth-year seniors in this offense, which is undergoing a considerable overhaul, in the passing game, surely, and in tempo and approach, potentially. Spring had the Hawkeyes in a hurry-up, no-huddle mode at times. Running backs activated in the passing game. Tight ends lined up in the slot. There was more single running back than we’re used to with Iowa.

Who knows what the final product will look like on Sept. 1 against Northern Illinois at Soldier Field, but Vandenberg isn’t flinching. He feels the Hawkeyes’ offense is on schedule, considering the freshly minted playbook and inexperience.

“I don’t think I’m nervous, I think I understand the personnel we have,” Vandenberg said. “We have a lot of guys who really want to do well, but they’re just young. Mistakes are going to come with those guys. It’s something where I might get on them a little bit, but I totally understand what they’re going through. Their heads are spinning a little bit.”

Two players who could make this a lot easier are junior tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz and sophomore wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley. If Iowa’s offense is going to go, they could have a big say and they’re relatively new performers.

Fiedorowicz saw mostly special teams two years ago as a true freshman and caught 16 passes last season. Now, he’s been touted as a major contributor by Ferentz and Davis, nonetheless. Martin-Manley caught 30 passes as a redshirt freshman last season.

So far, they like what they’ve seen.

“I have a little more freedom now,” Martin-Manley said. “I get to read defenses a little bit. That’s the biggest change. It allows us to open up a little bit and hopefully catch more balls this season.”

Dig a little deeper with Iowa’s skill positions and they get younger. No. 3 receiver, which will come with a higher profile apparently, will be young and inexperienced. Senior wide receiver Keenan Davis, who caught 50 passes last season, will have his first and only shot at the No. 1. He also missed some spring with an undisclosed injury. Tight end will be new after Fiedorowicz and senior Zach Derby.

You know about running back. That’ll either be a true sophomore (Damon Bullock), redshirt sophomore (De’Andre Johnson) or incoming freshmen (Greg Garmon, Barkley Hill).

Pair that relative inexperience with three new starters on the O-line, and yes, Iowa is fresh-faced on offense.

“They were young in our old offense. Now, they’re really young in our new offense,” Vandenberg said. “That’s something that comes with being a younger team and having younger skill guys, but for the most part, they’ve been extremely upbeat and positive. They’ve corrected most of their mistakes and that’s the best you can ask for.”

Vandenberg picked up on this early. That’s why his spring break was spent partying with Greg Davis in the Iowa football complex.

Someone will need to have all the answers and it better be the fifth-year senior QB.

“I feel like it was a lot easier transition for me than I could’ve imagined,” Vandenberg said. “Now, it’s getting to where I can get myself out of a bad situation and into a good play. A lot of it is having seen so many looks that you know what’s good and what’s bad.”

Your quarterback has tackled organic chemistry II. No one blitzes in a lecture hall, but grey matter is never a bad foundation.

Since Iowa begins its 2012 football season four months from today, let’s talk football preseason rankings. And basketball preseason rankings.

Things are cyclical in both sports. Sure, the SEC has won six straight BCS championships. That isn’t cyclic, that’s dynastic. But this is On Iowa Daily Briefing, not On Arkansas Daily Briefing. We’re focused on the Big Ten here.

(If it were On Arkansas Daily Briefing, we wouldn’t be obsessed with much else but Bobby Petrino, the man, the myth, the motorcycle.)

If this baby had been born today, this is what it look like in four months

The point is, ESPN has preseason Top 25s for football (College Football Live) in 2012 and men’s basketball (Andy Katz) in 2012-13. And while things don’t look quite as promising in football for the conference as it has in some years, it looks really good in men’s basketball. And hey, what’s the SEC done lately in men’s basketball? Oh, yeah. Kentucky. Never mind.

College Football Live has five Big Ten teams ranked in its 2012 preseason rankings, and five is a lot. However, the SEC has five teams among the top nine. The Big Ten’s highest team is No. 10 Michigan. Then come No. 12 Michigan State, No. 16 Wisconsin, No. 17 Nebraska and No. 20 Ohio State.

Wisconsin was the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the final Associated Press poll for the 2011 season, at No. 10. Michigan State was 11th, Michigan 12th, and Nebraska 24th.

It had been 10 years since the last time no Big Ten was ranked higher than 10th in the AP postseason rankings.

Going from a postseason with no team ranked above 10th to a preseason with no team ranked above 10th … that’s not glorious for the Big Ten.

Men’s basketball, however, is a different story.

Katz’s most-recent preseason Top 25 paints the Big Ten as a league that will be killer in the winter ahead, and the nation will agree if it doesn’t already. At No. 1, Katz has Indiana. At No. 5, Michigan. At No. 8, Ohio State. And at No. 9, Michigan State. Throw in No. 22 Wisconsin and No. 25 Minnesota, and you have quite the hoops haven.

Any league with Cody Zeller and Trey Burke and Deshaun Thomas and Christian Watford and Aaron Craft and Tim Hardaway Jr. and Adreian Payne, to name but a few, has players.

Cody Zeller: Not a baby (AP photo)

Compare that to AP’s preseason Top 25 last October, when the Big Ten had just three teams ranked, and only one (No. 3 Ohio State) among the top 14.

So what about Iowa? Well, teams that go 7-6 and 18-17 generally don’t get a lot of national bounce for the upcoming season. But that’s why they play the games, eh?

If it’s any consolation to you Hawkeyes in the audience, seven teams that finished last season in the football Top 25 didn’t start there, including Michigan, which went 11-2.

As Mark Twain, Jane Austen and Plato all said, that’s why they play the games.

– Mike Hlas

LOOK AT HIM NOW

– An astute poster on HawkeyeReport.com picked up on a quick moment in a segment on the Green Bay Packers during the draft last weekend.

The name Richey Williams was heard. He’s now Richmond Williams, but he was the Richey Williams who lettered for the Hawkeyes in 2005, a defensive back recruit from South Carolina.

He got his first taste of behind the scenes with the Hawkeyes as a volunteer assistant with Iowa in 2007. He’s also former Iowa DT Colin Cole’s brother-in-law and is the director of football ops for the Cole Group, an organization formed by Colin and his wife, Kay, that provides consultation services to high school student-athletes.

Williams is based in Dallas and has been with the Packers for four seasons. Good pick up!

– Marc Morehouse

LINKIN’

– I don’t know if our friends at the Detroit Free Press paid attention to Riley Reiff when he was an Iowa offensive tackle, but now that Reiff is the Detroit Lions’ first-round draftee, the Freep has zeroed in on the life and times of young Riley.

Actually, Dave Birkett of the Freep put together a good feature on Reiff and his roots in a short period of time.

Bill O'Brien: Coming to a town near you. Or to a town near someone you know.

– Most college football coaches have to go on tub-thumping caravans in late spring. You give your stump speech at a dozen or two stops, and shake some hands and money trees. Iowa has its I-Club circuit for that purpose.

It’s great to be here, the coaches and athletic department people say a thousand times and a thousand more times after that. Great to be here.

Penn State hasn’t done much of that lately. Hasn’t had to. It was a program that pretty much sold itself, with Joe Paterno.

But with a need to restore its image and get Nittany Lion fans excited about new head coach Bill O’Brien, it’s caravan time. And what a caravan O’Brien began Monday in Philadelphia. Nine days on the road, and 18 stops that include events in Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.

“Joe was a living legend, and the head football coach for nearly 50 years. I’m not sure how many caravans he had to do,” O’Brien said recently. “I think I have to reach out to make sure people get to know me.”

– Should college football be banned?

Slate.com is hosting a forum on May 8 to debate that question. “Friday Night Lights” author and Twitter legend Buzz Bissinger will be on the side arguing for college football’s demise.

Will college football be banned?

Uh, no.

Compiled by Mike Hlas

Long-time Detroit Lions fan Keith O'Neill, left, of Warren, Mich, shakes hands with the Detroit Lions' first-round draft pick Riley Reiff, an offensive tackle from Iowa, moments after Reiff arrived by limousine at the team's NFL football training facility in Allen Park, Mich, Friday, April 27, 2012. (AP Photo/John T. Greilick)

The “On Iowa” podcast with Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman recaps Iowa’s six NFL draft picks and five free agents and breaks down their chances of making a team. We also discuss Iowa’s latest football recruit and answer your Twitter questions.

To listen to this podcast, click on the below or side icon or download it from iTunes.

ONIOWA430

Carmel (Ind.) linebacker John Kenny picked the Hawkeyes over the weekend. Iowa now has seven commitments. Who's next? (Rivals.com)

Iowa told Caramel (Ind.) linebacker John Kenny he was one of their top linebacker prospects. Kenny visited Arizona, but had already locked in on the Hawkeyes and that was that.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder announced his commitment Friday, choosing Iowa over the Wildcats, Boise State, Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern. He is Iowa’s seventh commitment for the 2013 class, a unprecedented early hot streak for an Iowa recruiting class that should be in the range of 17 to 20.

Recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson was the primary recruiter with an assist from linebackers coach LeVar Woods.

“I feel really comfortable with coach Woods,” Kenny told HawkeyeReport.com. “The first time that we met, l loved the way he ran the meetings and worked at practice. He is a good guy off the field and easy to talk to and he can get after it a bit in the meetings and on the field. He tells you what you need to hear and I appreciate that from a coach.”

Iowa wasn’t kidding when it said Kenny was its top linebacker prospect. Iowa coaches told Kenny he would start out at outside linebacker (Leo in Iowa’s system), but could grow into an inside linebacker. Iowa offered just two inside linebackers, Kenny and Missouri’s Nick Ramirez, who has committed to the Tigers. So, this was a strategic strike for Iowa, which goes into 2012 with three junior starters at linebacker.

Iowa has only two other linebacker offers out to players who haven’t committed, Fort Wayne, Ind., Jaylon Smith and Mike Mitchell of Plano, Texas.

Kenny is the second Indiana prep to commit to the Hawkeyes for 2013. He joins Pike (Indianapolis) defensive end David Kenney.

‘We have been texting back and forth for a while and I know he loves Iowa,” Kenny said. “He’s visited there four or five times. He has been helping me in terms of talking back and forth, but he didn’t really pressure me to come to Iowa. It will be awesome to have someone that I know and feel comfortable with going there with me.”

Next:  Could be Mike Rogers, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound wide receiver from Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Luers. He told HawkeyeReport.com that Iowa is at the top of his list and he’s planning a visit soon. His best offer after Iowa is Bowling Green. Iowa also was his first offer.

_____________________________________

David Kenney, DE, 6-2, 250 Pike High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) ****

Derrick Willies, WR, 6-3, 190 Rock Island (Ill.) High School ***

Delano Hill, FS, 6-1, 190 Cass Tech High School (Detroit, Mich.) ***

Colin Goebel, OL 6-4, 275 Naperville (Ill.) North High School ***

Nathan Bazata, DT, 6-2, 270 Howells (Neb.) High School ***

Brant Gressel, DT, 6-2, 283 Centerville (Ohio) High School ***

John Kenny, LB, 6-2, 210 Caramel (Ind.) High School ***

* = Rivals.com’s star rating

Iowa's Marvin McNutt (7) pulls in a one-handed catch in front of Michigan State's Darqueze Denard (31) during their Big Ten Conference college football game Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

Iowa extended its pipeline to the NFL by 11 players, including six draft picks this weekend. The Hawkeyes have had 18 drafted players in the last three years, four more than any other Big Ten team.

Joy and celebration was fleeting in Eastern Iowa, however, for most of the draft. Tackle Riley Reiff, once projected as a top-10 pick, fell to No. 23 before he was selected by the Detroit Lions. Marvin McNutt, Iowa’s all-time leading receiver in virtually every category, sat undrafted until the late sixth round when Philadelphia scooped him up.

Most of the interaction among Iowa fans Saturday was consternation and disbelief that McNutt could fall so far. Fans who had watched him make some of the school’s most important catches (last-second TD vs. Michigan State in 2009) and unbelievable catches (one-handed haul-in against Michigan State in 2011) thought he was among the best entering the league. Instead, NFL evaluators determined he was the 26th-best wide receiver in the draft.

But that all means little now for McNutt. The real question for him — and all Iowa draft picks and free agents — is can he stick? Here’s a look at every situation facing Iowa’s players entering training camp this summer:

McNUTT — Despite his low draft status, McNutt has a nice chance of making the Eagles as the team’s fourth wide receiver. Philadelphia has three established receivers in Jeremy Maclin (63 catches), Desean Jackson (58 catches) and Jason Avant (52). McNutt’s primary training camp battle will come against Riley Cooper, a Florida product who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. Cooper, who like McNutt stands about 6-foot-3, had 16 catches last year for 315 yards and a score. Philly has other decent receivers who are better special teams prospects than McNutt, so he has to win this one-on-one match-up to make the team.

Detroit Lions' first-round draft pick Riley Reiff, right an offensive tackle from the University of Iowa, shakes hands with team president Tom Lewand after arriving at the team's NFL football training facility in Allen Park, Mich., Friday, April 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

REIFF — Other than a hit to the wallet, falling to this spot was almost perfect for Reiff. Detroit returns all five starters up front for a playoff team with a top-shelf quarterback and the league’s best wide receiver. There’s little pressure for Reiff, other than to contribute right away. He’s not going to be forced in as a day-one starter at left tackle, although that’s his ultimate destination. But he likely will start somewhere (right tackle, guard, maybe left tackle) this year.

MIKE DANIELS, DT — The Green Bay Packers picked Daniels in the fourth round and will ask him to contribute right away in their nickel defense, in which he’ll line up over the guard on passing downs. It’s an odd pairing, primarily because Daniels isn’t big enough to anchor a traditional 3-4 defensive line spot. But Daniels brings tenacity, which should help the porous Packers defense. He’ll have every opportunity to make the squad as a situational player.

SHAUN PRATER, CB — Special teams play is critical for Prater’s chances with the Cincinnati Bengals, and that’s where he excelled at Iowa. Prater, a fifth-round pick, was a special teams ace his sophomore year, then helped out when asked as a starting cornerback his junior and senior year. If he can play special teams up to Cincinnati’s standards, he’ll make journeymen vets Terence Newman, Adam “Pac-Man” Jones and Nate Clements somewhat expendable and contribute as a fourth cornerback.

ADAM GETTIS, G — Washington picked up Gettis in the fifth round, and the Redskins have issues along the interior offensive line. Two players — center Will Montgomery and guard Kory Lichtensteiger — are solid and dependable, although Lichtensteiger suffered a torn ACL last year. Coach Mike Shanahan likes to run a quick-trap, zone-style of attack, of which Gettis is familiar. The Redskins also drafted SMU guard Josh LeRiebus in the third round, so Gettis will have every shot at contribute right away.

JORDAN BERNSTINE, S — The Redskins’ secondary is filled with journeymen. Bernstine, a seventh-round pick, has all the ability in the world, as shown by his unofficial 4.38 40-yard dash time. The Redskins will try him first at cornerback and on special teams. If he stays healthy and competes in training camp, he’ll make the team.

As for the free agents:

TYLER NIELSEN, LB — Nielsen agreed to terms with his boyhood favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings. He’s a natural strong-side linebacker, which places him directly behind former Hawkeye and Pro Bowler Chad Greenway. But Minnesota needs help at linebacker and drafted only one (North Carolina State’s Audie Cole) and that was in the seventh round. Nielsen’s experience playing multiple linebacker positions and special teams are crucial and could aid him in battling for a roster spot.

Iowa's Markus Zusevics (56) recovers a fumble by teammate Adam Robinson (32) on the last play of the first half of their Big Ten Conference college football game against Ohio State Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

MARKUS ZUSEVICS, T — A torn pectoral muscle at the NFL Scouting Combine sent Zusevics free-falling from third or fourth round to street free agent. He heads to New England, which has invested three major draft picks at tackle since 2009. It will be a challenge making the roster, but he might land on the practice team.

BRAD HERMAN, TE — Herman landed in New England, which immediately sounds daunting. The Patriots boast the best tight-end tandem in NFL history with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. But former NE tight ends coach and current Iowa offensive line coach Brian Ferentz might have helped Herman land in New England. Herman’s versatility — he came to Iowa as a linebacker — could aid him in training camp and help him fight for a practice team spot.

BRODERICK BINNS, OLB/DE — With the Arizona Cardinals, Binns may have found the best home for him as a street free agent. The Cardinals have shuffled out veterans Clark Haggans and Joey Porter but didn’t invest at rush linebacker/end in the draft. He’ll battle former Wisconsin defensive end O’Brien Schofield and ex-Texas DE Sam Acho along with a pair of street free agents Antonio Coleman and Brandon Williams for a roster spot. If Binns can show a quick first step, he’s got a chance.

ERIC GUTHRIE, P — Guthrie faces a similar situation as former Hawkeye Ryan Donahue last year but faces a tougher road. Guthrie will try to unseat established Michael Koenen, who put up 45.3 yards per punt and 40.3 net (eighth in the NFL). Donahue beat out Nick Harris in Detroit last year in part because of the salary cap. If Guthrie is close to Koenen in training camp and in preseason games, the salary cap may play into Guthrie’s favor.

– Scott Dochterman

NFL DRAFT AND OTHER LINKAGE

– Iowa’s Riley Reiff stayed home in Parkston, S.D., for the NFL draft instead of accepting the league’s invitation to be among other premier players in New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

The story was he was more at ease in the sticks. Which was true. But there was a more-important reason. Reiff wanted to be near his 92-year-old grandpa, Lloyd Reiff, who was more excited about Reiff’s status than perhaps anyone in Parkston, Riley included.

– Former Hawkeye running back Jewel Hampton has an NFL team.

Hampton, who transferred from Iowa to Southern Illinois for his senior season, signed a contract as an undrafted free agent with the San Francisco 49ers.

The Niners have Frank Gore, recent free agent signee Brandon Jacobs, and draftee LaMichael James of Oregon at running back, among others.

Former Iowa linebacker Dezman Moses, who left the team after the 2008 season, agreed to terms with the Green Bay Packers. Moses had 9.5 sacks and was a second-team all-Conference USA defensive end at Tulane.

Report: Concussion ends DiBona’s career

– Iowa linebacker Shane DiBona had multiple injuries during his four years in Iowa City, including rhabomyolysis. The Boston Herald reported over the weekend that a concussion, during a non-contact drill, ended the junior linebacker’s career.

– Marc Morehouse

 – Nebraska lost a running back on Sunday.

Sophomore Aaron Green said he wants to play closer to his Texas home.  Nebraska has released him from his scholarship. As a true freshman last year, he rushed 24 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Green went through spring football with the Cornhuskers. He certainly wasn’t going to win the starting spot from incumbent Rex Burkhead, and sophomore Ameer Abdullah is the clear No. 2 RB. Green’s brother, Andrew, may start for Nebraska at cornerback this fall.

Michigan State's B.J. Cunningham (3) runs away from Wisconsin's Shelton Johnson (24) for a touchdown during the inaugural B1G Ten Championship game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Cunningham was drafted in the sixth round by the Miami Dolphins on Saturday, ahead of Iowa wide receiver Marvin McNutt. Former Iowa offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe is the Dolphins' wide receivers coach.. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

– Michigan State, 2012 national-championship contender? In football?

Spartan linebacker Denicos Allen says yes.

Said Allen: “We know what we have on this team. We know what kind of talent, we know the possibilities. This team can go to the national championship. … Our expectations shouldn’t be Rose Bowl. It should be national champs. Because we can do it.”

That’s after six MSU players went in the NFL draft, including quarterback Kirk Cousins, defensive end Jerel Worthy, and receivers Keshawn Martin and B.J. Cunningham.

Interestingly, the Miami Dolphins took Cunningham in the sixth round when Iowa’s Marvin McNutt was still on the board. Miami’s wide receivers coach is Ken O’Keefe.

There is no sentimentality in pro football.

– Here’s another item from college sports that makes the Bo Ryan-Jarrod Uthoff episode seem like small potatoes:

Larry Brown, who has changed jobs in his sleep over the years, got hired as SMU’s men’s basketball coach. He promptly got rid of four players on the team, including the starting point guard, Jeremiah Samarrippas. None were in any apparent trouble academically or as citizens.

“He basically told me that I wasn’t good enough to play for him,” Samarrippas said.

“I’ve established two years of relationships with people and that’s going to be the hardest part about leaving,”

The four can stay on scholarship. They just can’t play with the team.

Isn’t that special? We hear how players aren’t honoring commitments with schools when they choose to transfer. But these four were honoring their commitments and are getting kicked to the curb.

Oh, but SMU does have $700,000 a year for Tim Jankovich to become Brown’s top assistant.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher, left, tries to knock the ball away from Los Angeles Clippers forward Reggie Evans (30) in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

– Roy Williams knows his way around Iowa.

He worked the state hard to get Raef LaFrentz. And Nick Collison. And Kirk Hinrich.

That was when he was Kansas’ men’s basketball coach. At North Carolina he wooed Harrison Barnes from Ames and Marcus Paige from Marion.

At a recent Tar Heel Tour event, someone in the crowd asked Williams if he stopped recruiting current Duke player Mason Plumlee because he didn’t want to go head-to-head with Mike Krzyzewski.

This CBSsports,com item contains this response:

“I went to freaking Ames, Iowa eleven times and his [rear end] went twice,” Williams said, in reference to the recruitment of Harrison Barnes. “Don’t tell me I’m not going to go head-to-head.”

– Finally, the University of Iowa has just one former player in the NBA. And according to poll of 118 of his peers, he is the dirtiest player in the league.

His name is Reggie Evans. And he got 37 percent of the vote. World Metta Peace had a mere 9 percent.

But what a game Evans (13 rebounds) and his Los Angeles Clippers teammates had Sunday night, rallying from 27 points behind to win the opener of their playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-98.

– Compiled by Mike Hlas

This is how it goes for University of Iowa offensive tackles who leave for the NFL draft after their junior seasons:

Be a consensus upper first-round projection in mock drafts, don’t get taken until the 23rd pick, and go to an NFC Central team that’s in pretty good shape. Oh, and have a few wise guys say your arms are too short to be an effective NFL tackle.

So it was for Bryan Bulaga in 2010 when he went to the Green Bay Packers, and so it is for Riley Reiff in going to the Detroit Lions Thursday night. The “short arms” thing that was said about Bulaga two years ago hasn’t been heard much about him ever since for some strange reason.

Riley Reiff (AP photo)

Bulaga was in a lot of draftniks’ Top 10 — even top 6 — for much of the time leading up to the draft, and was a popular mock draft choice at No. 14 to Seattle on the day before the draft. But he lasted, and lasted. Then Green Bay grabbed him. And he had a Super Bowl ring a little more than nine months later.

If the Lions win the Super Bowl this coming season, well, that would certainly be something. But they aren’t the Detroit Lions we’ve known and laughed at for decades. Reiff goes to a team with a terrific quarterback in Matthew Stafford, and a world-class wide receiver in Calvin Johnson, and a lot of other parts that work.

I scoured the Web and found 28 mock drafts by people of repute, or who work for publications of repute. Only three had Reiff going to Detroit at No. 23. Let’s give them a shout-out: Don Banks of SportsIllustrated.com, Dane Brugler of CBSSports.com, and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times.

Far more folks had Reiff going either 10th to Buffalo or 13th to Arizona. No shout-outs for them. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., said Reiff would go 13th. No shout-out for Mel.

It’s hard to enough to come to terms with the fact I just gave and denied shout-outs, period.

Look, there’s no foolproof way to know if the Lions got a steal or a slug in Reiff. My money would be on Reiff being a success, but hey, the guy’s a first-round draft pick. Of course he should be expected to prosper.

But Mike Mayock of NFL Network, who knows a little — make that a whole, whole, whole, whole lot — more than I do when it comes to this stuff, immediately blurted “That’s a good pick,” when the Lions announced they had taken Reiff.

Mayock, unlike ESPN’s Jon Gruden, doesn’t like every single draft pick.

“Tell you right now,” Mayock said. “(Starting Lions tackle) Jeff Backus is 35 years old (34, actually), coming off elbow surgery. They need help on the offensive line. (Reiff) can play left or right tackle. I think he should start on the right side. But let’s remember their quarterback Matthew Stafford has had some injury history. You’ve got to protect the franchise.”

Kiper, when he got time to squeeze in a few words around Gruden, offered this about Reiff:

“I like the fact he’s played left tackle, right tackle and guard. I like the fact he’s started 34 consecutive games. Durable, well-coached, good football player.”

This was my first draft with NFL Network, by the way. I only flipped over to ESPN once in a while to see how many seconds it would take Chris Berman to say something absurd.

Jeff Backus: The Lion in Winter? (AP photo)

It certainly seems like there were content Lions fans after the selection. An unofficial Detroit Lions blog called “Pride of Detroit” polled its readers to ask if they approved the choice of Reiff. As of 10:15 p.m., Thursday, 92 percent of the 848 people who had voted said “Yes.”

Backus is the Lions’ left tackle. The incumbent right tackle is 27-year-old Gosder Cherilus, a 2008 first-rounder and the last offensive lineman Detroit had taken in Round 1. The other starting offensive linemen (thanks to the Detroit Free Press for this easily found info) are 33-year-old center Dominic Raiola, 30-year-old guard Stephen Peterman and 28-year-old guard Rob Sims.

So Reiff won’t be with a bunch of fellow kids. That’s a good thing for him.

“We have five quality starters, but it is good to have a young guy in the pipeline,” said Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew.

“It’s not very often that the second offensive lineman goes 23rd overall,” Detroit Coach Jim Schwartz said.

This is how things have changed with the Lions. Instead of wasting their first pick on a wide receiver every year (with the exception of the gifted Johnson), they now draft what they feel is the best player available.

Oh by the way, Reiff was the first Big Ten player taken in the draft. Eight players from the SEC, five from the Big 12, three from the Big East, two from the Pac-12, and one each from the ACC, Mountain West, Conference USA and Notre Dame were picked before Reiff broke the Big Ten’s drought.

This marked the first time Iowa has had a first-rounder in three straight drafts (Bulaga, Adrian Clayborn, Reiff). — Mike Hlas

REIFF LINKS AND THINGS

– Where was Reiff when he got the news that he had been drafted? In a barn, of course.

He hung out in his family’s barn in Parkston, S.D. (population 1,508).

“I didn’t really care to watch the TV,” he said.

After getting the call from Detroit, Reiff did a conference call with Detroit media. He said “Words can’t describe how happy I am right now. I’m super excited to be a Lion.”

Reiff then headed to Boogs and Co., a Parkston restaurant/bar where 100 or more locals had gathered to watch the draft on TV. He told people there that he was leaving Sioux Falls for Detroit on a 6:30 a.m. flight on Friday.

– Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp says the Lions’ selection of Reiff  “reflects the team’s unwavering commitment to help its most valuable asset — quarterback Matthew Stafford — shine as brightly as possible.”

Sharp added this: “Who knows if he’s going to be any good? Iowa was home to one of the biggest offensive line busts in draft history when one-time second overall pick Robert Gallery went from couldn’t miss to couldn’t play very quickly.”

– Reiff will wear No. 71 with the Lions. That’s the same number legendary Detroit defensive tackle Alex Karras had. Karras played at Iowa, too.

– For the audio of Reiff’s conference call with media Thursday night, click here.

Compiled by Mike Hlas

Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema, center, speaks during a news conference at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. Wisconsin and Oregon are scheduled to play in the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and SEC counterpart Mike Slive are the most powerful men in college sports. They are to the world of college football what Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun were to American politics in the 1830s and 1840s. When they walk into the room, everybody listens. And more often than not, they get their own way — unless they argue with one another.

So when Delany and Slive find agreement, it’s rare. It’s powerful. It’s thought-provoking and change is in the air. The men are on the same page regarding an extended postseason in college football. It’s simply historical.

It’s not yet called a playoff, or the recent meetings involving Delany, Slive, other conference commissioners, Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick and BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock would end it all. They’d leave the room, close their eyes and pretend it was all a rumor. But change is coming to college football’s postseason, and it’s inevitable.

“The status quo is off the table,” Hancock told reporters Wednesday after meetings in Hollywood, Fla.

Even more telling was Delany’s remark. “I would say there is an expectation that there will be significant change,” Delany said.

Delany previously was the staunchest defender of college football’s status quo. He prolonged the current bowl system and stood in the way of modifying the postseason in order to protect the Rose Bowl. In Big Ten (and Pac-12) country, the Rose Bowl is the ultimate destination, even more than the BCS title game. The Rose Bowl’s history and tradition are unparalleled. Bowl games are fun, national championships are important but the Rose Bowl is majestic.

But Delany knows the critical mass is for a playoff or four-team event. He openly has discussed seeding four teams in a mini-tournament where the top two teams host semifinals. The rich thought of Ohio State or Wisconsin hosting Alabama or Florida in a semifinal brings a smile to many a Big Ten fan, especially if it’s 20 degrees and snowy. Delany also has floated the idea of using the Rose Bowl as a pseudo semifinal, which has not been well-received.

Why the sudden change? That’s for Delany to say. But a few facts regarding Big Ten bowldom indicate the schools are getting played by their hosts. Eight different Big Ten schools submitted 2011-12 bowl reports to the NCAA, which were acquired by The Gazette via the Freedom of Information Act. Those eight schools were required to sell 102,898 tickets. More than 35 percent — 36,409 — went unsold. Many of the tickets were in upper decks and stadium end zones.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany

Breaking it down even more, if you remove Rose Bowl-bound Wisconsin (which sold 24,750 tickets) from the mix, the other six schools were given 78,001 tickets. About 47 percent — 36,262 — were unsold. The costs of unsold tickets syndicate to every Big Ten school and is subtracted from everyone’s bottom line. The number likely is worse considering the Big Ten’s two schools that have yet to submit numbers to The Gazette were Penn State and Northwestern, which were dispersed 18,000 tickets for low-level bowls.

But the bowl tickets aren’t the reason for Delany’s change, just another factor in the aggravation of bowl politics. Delany wants a better postseason, not a complete overhaul.

“I just want to make sure that the changes that we make are evolutionary,” Delany told reporters. “That they support the regular season. That they’re from a Rose Bowl perspective, that they sustain that tradition. That we’re also able to produce something that the public appreciates and supports.

“You want to control change. You want to have evolution, not revolution because you don’t know that the unintended consequences will be.”

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive

Delany will keep the changes modest, and Slive will steer the course so his top-shelf football conference can have more than one qualifier on a regular basis (which, based on recent history, the SEC deserves). The changes are undecided and won’t take effect until 2014. But in the context of college athletics, this week provides a watershed moment as the postseason takes a historical turn. We can thank the college athletics’ top two power brokers for building a college football bridge from the days of Webster and Calhoun to the 21st century.

– Scott Dochterman

NATIONAL LINKAGE

– The Orlando Sentinel is doing a daily college football countdown, ranking FBS teams from No. 120 to No. 1. The countdown began last week. It got to No. 110 on Wednesday, and it marked two straight days a 2012 Iowa opponent was listed.

First came Indiana at No. 111. Which was fitting because the Hoosiers were 1-11 last year in Kevin Wilson’s first season as head coach. Iowa is at Indiana on Nov. 3.

Then followed Central Michigan at No. 110. The Chippewas were 12-2 in 2009, but have had two successive 3-9 seasons since. They play at Iowa on Sept. 22.

On Thursday night, Aug. 30, Minnesota plays at No. 118, UNLV. If you happen to be in Las Vegas that night … gamble responsibly.

– The University of Minnesota doesn’t have a specific basketball facility.

Sound familiar, Iowa fans? While the Hawkeyes have had that problem rectified to their satisfaction, Gophers Coach Tubby Smith said “We shouldn’t be the last school in the Big Ten with a practice facility. If anything we should have been the first.”

But we all know how this goes. The clarion call wasn’t heard as loudly at Iowa when Todd Lickliter was on the trumpet because Lickliter didn’t win. Ancient history, that. Well, it’s history, anyhow.

Smith is 38-52 in the Big Ten over five years at Minnesota. But he says he is “fired up.”

“I’m very secure with who I am, and I am very secure with where I am in my career,” he said. “I like where I am.”

— Compiled by Mike Hlas

Centerville (Ohio) High School defensive tackle Brant Gressel picked the Hawkeyes on Monday night. He's No. 72 here leading his team out of the tunnel.

Brant Gressel wears a Michigan-looking football helmet and uniform and is from the heart of Ohio State country, Centerville.

But he’s going to play football at the University of Iowa.

Gressel committed to the Hawkeyes on Monday night, becoming Iowa’s sixth commitment before the end of April, a record in head coach Kirk Ferentz’s era. The 6-foot-2, 283-pounder joins Howells (Neb.) High School’s Nate Bazata as defensive tackle recruits for the 2013 class. Indianapolis (Ind.) Pike’s David Kenney, Iowa’s first commit in this class, is a defensive end.

After 2012, Iowa will have lost eight defensive linemen, so the re-stocking of the front four was and remains job No. 1 for this class.

What is Iowa looking for in D-linemen?

“For us, it’s like drafting the third, fourth, fifth rounds,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Who really projects, has upside, that type of thing? Quite often, that’s how our recruiting goes at that position. It’s just a hard position to recruit, and the obvious prospects tend to disappear pretty quickly. There are things we look for.”

Ferentz was asked exactly what it is Iowa looks for.

“It’s hard to play defense if you can’t move, I know that,” he said. “. . . Depending on what you do and what our guys do, you’re going to have to be able to move a little bit. They’ve got to be tough, and they’ve got to be fairly smart. I think there are some commonalities there. If a guy’s got pride, then we’ll work hard enough.

“The work part, we can give him that, but there are certain things we can’t teach.”

Gressel seems to have the work part down.

According to a post at the Dayton Daily News, Gressel won a letter as a freshman defensive tackle at Centerville High. Then, as a sophomore, he switched to center as a sophomore and started one game. Last season, he switched back to tackle. Monday, he accepted a Big Ten football scholarship to play the position.

Gressel thanked his coach, Ron Ullery, for staying confident in him.

“I just needed to hear that,” Gressel told The News. “I calmed down and I had a great junior year because I had to. I couldn’t afford to mess up.”

Gressel, who ended up being the first recruit O-line coach Brian Ferentz has landed for the Hawkeyes, held more than a dozen scholarship offers when he committed to the Hawkeyes, including Cincinnati, Louisville, Minnesota, N.C. State, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Gressel, who made 54 tackles, 11 TFL, and five sacks last season, committed not long after visiting Iowa City.

“He is an extremely physical player,” Ullery told HawkeyeReport.com. “He’s very strong and gets off the ball really well. He used to play offensive line, so he can get off the ball quickly and uses his hands really well. He has a great motor and plays hard on every snap.”

Ullery doesn’t believe Ohio State will swoop in on Gressel, who holds a 3.75 GPA and will pursue engineering. Ohio State has scouted Centerville and has secured a commitment from O-lineman Evan Lisle.

___________________________________

David Kenney, DE, 6-2, 250 Pike High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) ****

Derrick Willies, WR, 6-3, 190 Rock Island (Ill.) High School ***

Delano Hill, FS, 6-1, 190 Cass Tech High School (Detroit, Mich.) ***

Colin Goebel, OL 6-4, 275 Naperville (Ill.) North High School ***

Nathan Bazata, DT, 6-2, 270 Howells (Neb.) High School ***

Brant Gressel, DT, 6-2, 283 Centerville (Ohio) High School ***

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