Caven

Kind of a long walk but definitely do-able. Monica's a few buildings down from there is a really good Italian place - somewhat similar in meu to Grisantis. Around the corner and a few blocks down First Ave is Iowa River Power - steak and seafood - and a decent sports bar. Don't remember the name of the sports bar but it is in the same building as Iowa River Power.

http://www.hawkeyesports.com/gameday/parking-2011.html Lot K is probably the best general parking tailgate area - it will fill up early. Lot S on the other side of the river also usually has a large amount of tailgating. The green and gold areas right around the stadium will be packed with parties going on - but as you can see those are the reserved lots. I make no guarantees given the way that many Iowa fans feel about Husker fans - but generally if you are polite and friendly you can walk up to a tailgate and start talking to people and end up with an invite to join in. Unfortunately, the tailgating lots close 3 hours after the game ends and you have to start packing up your tailgating 2 hours after the game ends. Also - you can have open containers at a tailgating site but don't try walking with one. If you step out of the lot you are in, even if it is just to cross to a different lot, they will ticket you. Right across from lot N is a Heartland Inn. It is where I always used to stay before my friends bought a house big enough for me to crash with them when I go to games. Nice easy walk up to the stadium. The Hawkeye Express is a pretty cool way to get to the stadium also. I believe there is even some tailgating that happens in the parking lot for the train. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my knowledge and if I have no clue I will do my best to find out for you.

That is just a horrible shirt and I will probably have words with anyone that I see wearing it to a game. Absolutely uncalled for.

You are just trying to make me cry aren't you NUance.

I am kind of surprised Minnesota didn't get more votes after what happened the past couple of years in that game and given that they are our oldest trophy game.

I don't think anyone really thinks of basketball as a sport around here Blue.

The Nebraska and Iowa State games are already sold out and there are a limited amount of tickets available for the other games as of this morning.

So going 8-0 in conference play isn't legitimate?

That's smart, wish our university would consider it. I definitely agree. Our student section is always an embarrassment for Thanksgiving games. i agree, the kids should skip going back home to spend thanksgiving with their families... They can go home, eat Thanksgiving breakfast, head back to school, party all night and be good for the game Just head home on Friday after the game and have the Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Has the added bonus of having college football to watch instead of the Lions and Cowboys while waiting for the turkey to be done.

Wow KJ and Moiraine, you are misreading that badly. Iowa has sold out their allotment of season tickets for years - this year there was just more DEMAND than they have ever had. Iowa doesn't actually allot the entire stadium to season tickets and so even though many season ticket requests are turned away there are always some single game tickets to some games. They keep blocks of tickets available for homecoming and parents weekend which means those tickets can't be sold as season tickets, leaving those seats to be sold as single game tickets. In the past few years, they have started to do 3 game packages to those that applied for full season tickets but didn't have enough priority to actually receive full season tickets. I believe that they are going to offer student tickets this year both with and without the NE game option so that will affect what is available for NE. They have been sending out emails to Iowa season ticket holders to get in requests for additional single game tickets before they go on sale later this month. I have almost no priority so I didn't bother sending the form back in, but I would be very surprised if there is much left available for the NE game when they go on sale. Here is the full schedule of when tickets go on sale at Iowa: On-Sale schedule for single game tickets Monday, July 23 - Kinnick Society and Champion Hawk I-Club Membership Levels Tuesday, July 24 - Golden Hawk I-Club Membership Level Wednesday, July 25 - All remaining I-Club Membership Levels Thursday, July 26 - Season ticket (Full and Mini) holders who are not members of the National I-Club. Friday, July 27 - General Public so I will be able to check on the 25th and see what the availability is and will let you know where it stands on that day at least.

The longest tenured coach in the Big 10 combined with 2 brand new coordinators and a couple of first time assistants and it is easy to see why Iowa has the gap that it does between HC and assistants.

I should be at the Michigan game as it is the only conference game that doesn't conflict with Iowa home games - and of course the Iowa game.

Fro - I wasn't saying that the SEC does it and others don't. I am saying the SEC knows how to game the system with their scheduling. By playing the weak teams at the end of the year it give the SEC a 10-2 week at the end of November so they have 10 teams moving up in the polls and braindead pollsters going - wow look at how awesome the SEC is, they are winning 80% of their games this week while the Big 10 and Big 12 can only seem to wint 50% of their games. The SEC is so good. We must move all of their teams to the top of the polls even though we have absolultely no basis for comparison this year since the current poll based set up discourages top teams from playing each other. I mean 80% in the month of November. Sure the Big 10 and Big 12 can pull off 80% in September - but the mighty SEC can do it in November! It is a fact that losses at the end of the season hurt more than losses at the beginning of the season so your argument about the SEC playing conference games in those first 4 weeks actually stregthens my arguemnt that the SEC knows how to game the poll system. Play some of your big games early so that the team that gets the loss isn't crippled by it. Yes - the SEC has brings their A game to the title game. But last year was the perfect example of SEC homerism by the media in not even letting another conference team attempt to beat them even though there were several deserving teams (none from the Big 10 unfortunately). If there was a conference champion provision can you imagine the non-con schedule we might start to see? It could be amazing.

I am with you on this one chris. And too me its not even close. The conferences that push this the hardest are just telling me they know they cant compete with the best and they know their champions are not as good as the 2nd or even 3rd place finishers in others. Frankly I feel like had this been brought up when NE was still in the big12 there is no question people would want the best teams in alone. Now as a part of the big10 i truely am surprised to see the number folks that are behind a conference champion only format. Maybe thats because in the big12 you could lose the big12 championship game and still be ranked just as high or higher than other conference winners. The big10 is all about just conference winners. Probably because over the last few year they would be shut out without it. But confence champs alone are the best team according to Delany...Lord knows everyone here thinks that the 96 Texas team that was 8-5 deserved to be in a final 4 championship playoff.... I can just see it now. For the first time in a while the big10 will have multiple top level dominant teams and a one loss 11-1 team will be left out for a 2 or 3 or 5 loss team who won a weak conference or had a once in a million game and Deleny will poop his pants in outrage. Take the best 4 that way you atleast know you got the best four teams. And counter points to the"If you're not the best team in your conference, you're not the best team in the country" 1. It doest mean you not one of the 4 best teams in the country though. 2. Just because you won your conference as a 2 or 3 loss team doest mean you better than a number of other teams in better conference. If you want your conference winner to be guarenteed a spot....QUIT HAVING 2 & 3 LOSS CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!!! Quit playing low end schedules, quit lining up and playing rounds of pansy noncons if you know you have 2 of the worst BCS conference team in your conference as opponents. Quit playing low end schedules is the exact reason why top 4 in the polls doesn't work. While the rest of the country is balls deep in massive conference matchups and rivalry games, the SEC is playing teams like Middle Tennessee, UMass, New Mexico State, Troy, LA-Lafayette. And then of course there is this powerhouse week at the end of November: TBD Alabama A&M @ Auburn Tickets » TBD Jacksonville State @ Florida Tickets » TBD Georgia Southern @ Georgia Tickets » TBD Samford @ Kentucky Tickets » TBD Ole Miss @ LSU Tickets » TBD Syracuse @ Missouri Tickets » TBD Tennessee @ Vanderbilt Tickets » TBD Sam Houston State @ Texas A&M Tickets » TBD Western Carolina @ Alabama Tickets » TBD Arkansas @ Mississippi State Tickets » TBD Wofford @ South Carolina The SEC knows how to game the rankings system. Yes they have had a good run of winning the 1 game that matters - but they have consistently put themselves in position to have a team in that game because they schedule to the rankings. If you want the ranking to be meaningful then power teams need to play other power teams more than 5 times in a season outside of conference play. The B10/P12 challenge starting in 2015 is a start. Set up a weekend in late October between the SEC and the B10 or B12. See which conference is truly the best top to bottom. Once you start doing those kinds of things then you can make the argument that the polls matter - but as it stands with college football right now the polls are just a glorified beauty pageant where some of the contestants are pretty and know how to game the system and others just go out and do their thing. The Big 10 has been down for almost a decade now - but that doesn't mean that we should accept an unlevel playing field. Our teams will bounce back - some possibly soon - and it would be nice if when they do they don't find that they don't have access to the party because of the black eye they got clawing their way there. In a world where a 2 loss LSU makes it to the title game over a BCS conference team with 1 loss simply because they are from the SEC and a rematch was denied to Michigan/Ohio State because, well, we already saw how that game would end, but when it was the SEC that was in that position the polls gladly put the teams in the game - I can see why Delaney is reluctant to trust the polls to be making the decisions.

I see you have found blackheartgoldpants. They have a great mix of making fun of our own team and making fun of everyone else.

For those wanting Nebraska to reschedule: http://www.ehow.com/list_6926711_ncaa-spring-football-practice-rules.html The final practice must be within 34 days of the first practice so I believe that means Sunday was the last available day that they could have had it without trying to get some kind of NCAA waiver.

I thought that with the new agreement with the Pac 12 they were staying with 8 since they can't lock in 10 of the 12 games for a team without starting to run into financial issues due to number of home games. There was also concern that is would cause the teams to be completely locked out of ever realistically playing anyone of note from outside those 2 conferences.

It all depends on if Ohio State or Wisconsin is your "A" team. First two years you get A and B. Then C and D (2013 and 2014). Then for 2015 and 2016 you will get E and A and for 2017 and 2018 you get B and C followed by D and E and then it starts over again. Just look at it as a 10 year rotating schedule where the only thing you know for sure is that Indiana is your E team. You never know when things will change but that is the way it is set up for now.

I am just trying to get over the fact that we have a Buckeye fan defending something that Michigan did

Not entirely, I'm sure each team has their own conference they like to grab non-cons from. Ohio State usually schedules a lot of MAC schools. tSEC usually schedules a lot of Sun Belt teams as well. Nothing really odd about it. yeah, I guess you are right. So for us, there's a fascination with the Sun Belt. Maybe not odd, just interesting. I wouldn't actually mind some variety, playing some MAC schools, playing other places...but you know, the Sun Belt is not a bad region at all to get some exposure. So it can be a pretty smart choice. Now that you are in the Big 10, expect to start seeing MAC teams on your schedule more often as the Big 10 has a scheduling agreement with them that I presume you will be phased into as the scheduling allows. Also - don't forget the new B10/P12 agreement that will have a P12 team on our schedules every year starting in 2017. I am not sure what that will mean to the future of the MAC agreement - but assuming the MAC agreement stays in place that means you will end up with a MAC team at home 3/4 years and alternating home and away with a P12 team which still leaves room for another major team most years on the oppositve home/away that the P12 team is.

90,000 * $56 = 5 MILLION dollars. That is just ticket sales. Add in parking and concession stand sales and there is a LOT of money you will need to account for if you don't play your 1 and done home game cupcakes each year. A good team is going to require a return trip to their stadium so to get even 3 good teams on your non-con schedule means a loss of millions.

I wasn't referring to where they grew up - I was referring to the fact that some college coaches put a little more emphasis on personal responsibility and teaching life lessons in addition to the football. You do something stupid at Nebraska or Iowa you are likely going to be sititng out a game or two. This teaches them responsibility for their actions. You do something stupid at some places and it is swept under the rug because the football team needs you out there playing on Saturday. This teaches that they can do whatever the heck they want with no personal responsibility whatsoever. It does make a difference.

That is what I thought had happened - although I am too lazy to actually go look.

You never see stories like this about the NFL players from places like Iowa and Nebraska. There is something to be said for teaching them life lessons in addition to the football.

For most Iowa fans it would be a close call between Biels and Dantonio. At least Biels doesn't coach his guys to take a dive on every other play at the end of games to work the clock to his advantage. For me Dantonio is the lowest of the low after he actually accused an Iowa player of faking an injury in order to get a penalty flag called on his guy. Never mind our guy was laying on the field having a seizure with the Michigan State guy standing over him taunting him - as he was having the seizure. Sure - he was faking it. So yeah - there are plenty of others that would put Dantonio #1.