Iowa Football: Floyd Leaves Hawks, and Top 25
Following additional investigation, the Iowa Hawkeyes were determined to be an invalid top-25 team.
Outside of Iowa, it appears that more college football was played on Saturday. Maybe. After what happened inside Kinnick Stadium yesterday afternoon, it was difficult to conjure any enthusiasm for further football. SirNicholas33 created an excellent Morning. Following that pretty much expresses my identical views, however, please let me a few words to voice a few opinions (read: complain).
Cooper DeJean’s non-touchdown now joins Jack Campbell’s pick-six against the Gophers last year and Chad Greenway’s “offsides” in the 2006 Outback Bowl as the most infamous officiating gaffes in Hawkeye history. It was one of the most electrifying, incredible, phenomenal returns you’ll ever witness, and a replay jockey in Pittsburgh thought it was the ideal opportunity to educate everyone on what constitutes a proper fair catch signal. Sure, under the wording of the law, DeJean’s left hand move might be ruled illegal. However, it is rarely named so since it is clear that the returner is not attempting to gain an edge over the kicking team.
Good authorities recognize this and comprehend the goal. How is Coop meant to know not to do that if it isn’t called 99.9% of the time? It should not be up to the players to enforce it. I truly feel awful for him.
I have a lot less tolerance for Kirk and Brian for bringing out this stale excuse for an offensive and expecting us to be pleased because “well, at least we’re winning games.” For the previous three years, Iowa’s defense and special teams have had to clean up the offensive’s projectile vomit while Kirk & Son, Inc. continues to feed it raw meat.
Even after Coop’s comeback was ruled out, the Iowa offense just needed to gain 25-30 yards in a minute and a half to get into field goal range, and they failed spectacularly. This offense is a coaching disaster on every level. It’s a failure of recruiting, strategizing, play calling, and development, and it’s all on Kirk Ferentz’s shoulders for allowing it to get this far. He has also let down his players by placing them in this predicament in the first place.
Whew…anyway. The AP released their new top 25. You don’t need me to tell you Iowa dropped out after this egregiously terrible performance against the Gophers but let’s take a quick peek at what else went down.
Teams Dropping Out: Iowa
New Teams In: JMU
Biggest Mover: North Carolina (-7)
Big Ten Teams: #2 Michigan, #3 Ohio State, #10 Penn State
Ohio State and Penn State finally had their long anticipated clash and it did not go great for the fighting Franklins. Sure, the final score was 20-12 but in real time the Buckeyes had complete control over this game from start to finish. Ohio State stands pat at #3 due to the immovable objects of Georgia and Michigan ahead of them, but Penn State tumbles to #10. This also allowed for Alabama to jump back into the top ten at #9. It seems like each week they look ripe for the upset in the first half, only for them to remember that they’re Alabama and cruse to a mostly comfortable victory. Their path to the CFP remains open if they continue winning. If they get by LSU next Saturday they should cruise to the SEC championship. Win and you’re in.
The biggest story of the weekend is out of Chapel Hill where Virginia upset the Tar Heels 31-27. The loss knocked the Heels down to #17. Although the rest of their schedule is mostly favorable, outside a date with Duke on November 11, they’ll need to not slip up elsewhere if they want to play for a conference title.
Those Blue Devils put up a good fight against Florida State but just couldn’t hold up against the Seminoles in the second half, losing 38-20. It doesn’t help that Duke lost their star quarterback Riley Leonard to injury in the third quarter, but Florida State took a page out of Bama’s book and stopped playing with their dinner late in the game to win comfortably. Duke was one of a pair of teams dropping 4 spots (the other being Tennessee) and now finds itself at #20.
USC had a chance to exorcise its own demons against Utah but stellar play by walk on Ute backup quarterback Bryson Barnes allowed them to kick a game winning field goal. That’s the third time in two seasons the Utes have bested the Trojans. I’m starting to get a sense of the real reason USC is making the move to the Big Ten.
Finally, James Madison, which is 7-0 after beating Marshall last Thursday night, is a newcomer to the poll. The score was 3-2 heading into the third quarter. The Dukes have only been in the FBS for a little more than a year and a half, and this is their second appearance in the AP poll.
We are now in the lengthy dark of a bye week following a defeat. There is plenty of time to collect every single tape of an invalid fair catch that is not called and send it to the league office.
