Tag: Hawkeyes

Top 10 College Football Helmets

What are the 10 best college football helmets today and why? Look no further than right here for an answer.

This piece was originally written during the pandemic when no games were taking place and various outlets were filling their airtime by showing old games.

It turns out that when there are no sports to actually watch, we go to either watching old games or debating uniforms, both of which have been hot topics on almost all outlets of late.

With the Notre Dame media choosing to re-show the 1998 win over LSU on Saturday it got me thinking about the Tigers helmet that I had just seen getting big-time love in a “Ten Best Helmets” piece on Rivals.

There is a lot I can debate.

How is the Princeton/Delaware knockoff seen as the best?  Kidding, of course, the Michigan helmet is iconic.  Even if they stole it.

How does Oregon qualify if the Ducks never wear the same helmet two weeks in a row?

There is a team from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, that has a case to be No. 1 and it not being top 10 is laughable.

Instead, I want to focus on LSU at No. 5 for a moment.

What do you notice about the LSU headgear compared to literally everyone else on this list and if you’re familiar enough, with almost all the rest of college football?

 John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Do they really need to write out both the school name and have a logo of their mascot in the same helmet? The colors are fantastic together but let’s think about this for a second.

Would Notre Dame’s gold helmet be better if either “Notre Dame” or “ND” was written out and a shamrock or a leprechaun showed up below?

Or would the Alabama lid be better if they had “ALABAMA” written out and an elephant or their cursive “A” below?

Heck no to both questions.  If you made a list of the 10 worst helmets in college football, LSU would have a very strong case for number one.  How they don’t use the Tiger eye from their fifty-yard line, an iconic look in the college football world, is beyond me.

There are a lot of great helmets in college football, there really are.  It just happens that LSU doesn’t have one of them.

So how do I rank the top 10 list of best helmets???

NEXT: MY TOP 10 HELMET COUNTDOWN

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11

USA TODAY mock draft sends Iowa Hawkeyes defensive lineman to the Saints

The latest USA TODAY mock draft from columnist Nate Davis sent Iowa Hawkeyes defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness to the Saints:

Rebuilding the defensive line should be a major priority for the New Orleans Saints this offseason. Sure, they have bigger fires to put out at quarterback and maybe running back, but they badly need to revitalize a defensive line that could be losing a lot of players to free agency next month.

Here’s the latest from USA TODAY Sports columnist Nate Davis on what the Saints should do with the No. 29 overall draft pick, which they got from the Broncos (who received it from the Dolphins, who acquired it from the 49ers, before it was sent to New Orleans). He likes the look of Iowa Hawkeyes defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness in black and gold:

“New Orleans picked up this peripatetic pick by letting Payton go to Denver. Van Ness should be an every-down player who can line up outside or in depending on the situation. And with this D-line set to lose David Onyemata, Marcus Davenport and Shy Tuttle, a versatile replacement who can get to the quarterback – Van Ness has 13 sacks and 17 TFLs over the past two seasons – would provide welcome support to aging DE Cam Jordan, 33.”

Van Ness is certainly built like a Saints defensive end at a listed 6-foot-5 and 264 pounds with long arms and a frame that suggests he can get even bigger. He’s made plays inside and outside for the Hawkeyes, having started his career along the defensive interior before moving outside in recent years, and his natural functional strength makes him a powerful run defender. He’s still working on shedding blocks and keeping alert through contact to read the flow of the play, but he’s on the right track to developing into an all-around asset.

But doesn’t that sound a lot like Davenport and Payton Turner? A talented prospect with a high ceiling but some questions about what he can do to help out right away? Van Ness’s detractors will point out that he’s never started a game for Iowa’s defense and that’s prone to making mistakes in knowing when to plug a gap and when to funnel the ball-carrier towards his help. He’s not all the way there yet and he’d probably continue to be a backup in New Orleans. Still, maybe he’s more pro-ready than his scouting report lets on.

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Iowa Hawkeyes ranked No. 21 in 247Sports’ preseason college basketball rankings

It’s almost time to tip off the 2022-23 men’s college basketball season. According to 247Sports, Iowa starts as the nation’s No. 21 team.

You can tell a season is right around the corner when the market becomes flooded with preseason rankings. Everyone loves a good set of rankings, especially as they try to get a gauge on teams before they step on the court. Nothing boosts your self worth quite like correctly predicting who the top teams will be in advance!

247Sports’ Kevin Flaherty and Isaac Trotter recently took their hand at predicting the field, releasing their college basketball preseason rankings. Coming in as the 21st ranked team in the country is the reigning Big Ten Tournament champion in Iowa.

This could be one of Fran McCaffery’s better defensive teams, and if Kris Murray makes the expected leap to All-Big Ten caliber player, the scoring will be there as well. Patrick McCaffery, Tony Perkins and Payton Sandfort can all put the ball in the basket. – 247Sports.

Iowa is one of only three Big Ten schools featured on the list, Illinois ranked 15th with Indiana a place behind.

The Associated Press also only ranked three Big Ten teams in their initial top 25, notably leaving Iowa on the outside looking in. According to the AP voters, Indiana is the highest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 13, followed by No. 22 Michigan and No. 23 Illinois.

It will once again be a tough competition for the conference crown, but it seems the national media is not expecting a national champion to come from the Big Ten this season.

There is a lot of projection in regards to Iowa this upcoming season, making it understandable why they are a bubble top-25 team heading into the season. Of course, the notable departure is All-American forward Keegan Murray. The fourth overall pick by the Sacramento Kings, Murray would’ve been a National Player of the Year most other seasons.

A lot of pundits are projecting twin brother Kris Murray to fill his brother’s shoes as the star of the team, but, of course, that is still just a projection for now. Murray is following a similar career arc to his brother Keegan, performing really well when given a chance at extended playing time last season. We will have to see if he can handle the limelight as the true No. 1 option for Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery.

The other biggest projection, as Kevin Flaherty breaks down for Hawkeye Insider and 247Sports, is the team’s defense.

Fran McCaffery’s bunch lost All-American Keegan Murray, who likely would have been National Player of the Year in a number of other seasons. But he brings back an experienced roster from a team that appeared to figure things out defensively as the season went on, something that could make this 2022-23 bunch better than its predecessors.

Iowa has not had a top 70 defense in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency since the 2015-16 season, and if the Hawkeyes can find a way to keep the offensive train rolling while buffing up on the defensive end, Iowa could compete for a Big Ten title. Iowa certainly appears to boast plenty of firepower. – Flaherty, 247Sports.

That progression on the defensive side of the court is probably the biggest key for Iowa in 2022. While the team loses Keegan Murray, they still return a lot of experienced players who can put the ball in the hoop. Fourth-year forward Patrick McCaffery averaged a hair over 10 points per game last year, and is getting some breakout buzz in his own right ahead of the season.

Payton Sandfort showed a lot of scoring potential off the bench last year, especially as a shooter hitting 36% of his 3-point attempts. You can go down the roster list and find potential breakout candidates: Kris Murray, Patrick McCaffery, Dasonte Bowen, etcetera.

There are a lot of things to be excited about with this team, but a ton to prove as well. They’ll have plenty of opportunities to show why they’re a top team right away, with Seton Hall, Clemson, and Duke scheduled early in the season.

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Notre Dame bowl projections following Stanford stunner

You can only have one: Duke’s Mayo or Tony the Tiger?

Monday we looked over what one of the computers had to say about Notre Dame as we examined how their loss against lowly Stanford impacted how ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) graded them.  In a not-surprising move, significantly worse is the best way to describe what FPI found.

What may be surprising however is where Notre Dame is now projected by the major prognosticators to end up this bowl season.  Remember, at 1-2 a few weeks back the USA TODAY Sports bowl projections had Notre Dame staying in South Bend for the winter.

After what one could argue was just as bad of a loss as Marshall, all of the outlets we track still have the Irish bowling.  Here are the latest places they’re sending them:

Iowa’s defense somehow out-scored both South Dakota State and its own offense in a 7-3 win without a scoring single touchdown

Iowa’s defense is somehow its best offense. Wow.

Iowa football is always going to be Iowa football. You know exactly what that looks like. Bad offense.

It doesn’t matter what the year is, who is playing quarterback, who is coaching, or what the weather is. None of it matters. If there’s an Iowa football game you better take the under.

We all witnessed peak Iowa football this Saturday against South Dakota State.

The Hawkeyes somehow won 7-3. To the naked eye, it looks like Iowa actually scored a touchdown. That’d be reasonable to assume. But it’d also be wrong.

Its defense somehow found a way to outscore its offense and South Dakota State in the same game without actually scoring a single touchdown.

Iowa’s offense wasn’t just stuck in the mud — it actually was the mud. The Hawkeyes gave us so many examples on this glorious Saturday. Just take a look.

South Dakota State shanked this punt right here and got it to the 22-yard line.

It’s just 22 yards to go to goal. This is the red zone, basically. You’d think they’d score an easy touchdown here.

NOPE. Take a look at the scoring drive.

Yikes. Don’t worry, folks. The defense came to the rescue. They managed actually to score…with a safety though.

Thank goodness for Jack Campbell, who might be Iowa’s best offensive player right now.

The Hawkeyes did get themselves in scoring position one time later at the end of the 3rd quarter. But a fumble took it all away.

We were this close to having another 5-3 Iowa game for the second time in *checks watch* 42 years, but another safety from the defense saved the day.

https://twitter.com/MrMatthewCFB/status/1566145072353116164?s=20&t=7ilcRdcwXQocZUR2FnnELA

And with that, the Hawkeyes’ defense officially outscored both its own offense and the opponent.

Y’all already know the jokes were flying in from across the internet. Rightfully so. This was comically bad.

Before The Snap: Bold College Football Playoff predictions
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A Big Ten transfer for Notre Dame to kick tires on

Are you on board?

Notre Dame’s lack of depth at wide receiver is well documented.  All even the least informed fan had to do understand this was to watch the [autotag]Fiesta Bowl[/autotag] when just three scholarship receivers were targeted while quarterback Jack Coan threw 68 passes.

One of those three is gone to the NFL as [autotag]Kevin Austin[/autotag], Jr. had 105 receiving yards that game and led Notre Dame in receiving yardage for the year.  Former walk-on returner [autotag]Matt Salerno[/autotag] received a scholarship this off-season but Notre Dame’s outlook at receiver still lacks any sort of depth whatsoever.

It just so happens a graduate student who received all Big Ten honors a year ago entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, and that player is from just outside Chicago.

[autotag]Charlie Jones[/autotag] began his collegiate career at Buffalo where he hauled in 18 receptions for 395 yards (21.9 ypr) and three touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2018.  He then transferred to Iowa where he played the last two seasons, hauling in 21 receptions for 323 yards (15.4 ypr) and three more scores last season.

Jones was also Iowa’s primary returner on both punts (7.7 ypr) and kickoffs (25.4 ypr) last season and was named the Big Ten’s Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year.

Jones attended Deerfield High School in Illinois, located just north of Chicago.

One would assume that [autotag]Chasni Stuckey[/autotag], [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag], and the rest of the Notre Dame staff are already reaching out to try and patchwork some of the receiver issues ahead of the 2022 season.

To my understanding this Charlie Jones is in no way related to the Charlie Jones whose golden pipes played at least a small part in me becoming a Notre Dame fan at a young age.

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Nations top safety recruit chooses to stay home

Xavier Nwankpa is rated as the nation’s top safety in the 2022 recruiting class and will be remaining close to home to play college football

Xavier Nwankpa is rated as the nation’s top safety recruit in the 2022 cycle and the high school senior is staying home.  Nwankpa, an Altoon, Iowa native announced on Wednesday that he’d be attending college at the University of Iowa.

Nwankpa chose the Hawkeyes out of an offer list that included over 30 programs.  Iowa was his choice after he listed Notre Dame and Ohio State as his other finalists.  He is ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s top safety recruit and the 11th overall prospect nationally.

We predicted today that Notre Dame was unlikely to win his services like anyone else, I always find myself holding out even a little hope whenever there is a Notre Dame hat on such an elite players table of finalists.

Related: Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class commitments

Purdue knocks off No. 2 Iowa

Down goes No. 2!

Back on September 18 Notre Dame improved to 3-0 on the then young season with a 27-13 victory over Purdue in South Bend.  It wasn’t the prettiest or most impressive of performances but it was a win nonetheless.

Right now Iowa is wishing they had an unimpressive win against the Boilermakers instead of what actually happened as Purdue walked into Kinnick Stadium on Saturday and handed No. 2 Iowa a 24-7 defeat, Iowa’s first of the year.

Aidan O’Connell threw for 375 yards and two scores for Purdue while wide receiver David Bell hauled in 11 receptions for 240 yards and a touchdown.

The Boilermakers are now 4-2 on the year while Iowa falls to 6-1.

Related:

Four changes Notre Dame should make this bye week

Kirk Herbstreit releases his new top-six

What is your current top six?

After what was perhaps the most compelling weekend of college football to date so far this fall Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN’s College Gameday updated his weekly top-six rankings.

Related: Cincinnati silences Notre Dame – 5 instant takeaways

You may recall Herbstreit had Cincinnati but not Notre Dame in his top-six a week ago and was also the only “Gameday” staffer to pick Cincinnati to win at Notre Dame Stadium this past weekend.  The man knows his stuff whether you like him and ESPN or not.

Here is how Herbstreit’s rankings look after week five:

  1. Alabama
  2. Georgia
  3. Iowa
  4. Cincinnati
  5. Penn State
  6. Oklahoma

Related:

Notre Dame releases depth chart for Virginia Tech week

Stop overthinking things and start Drew Pyne

Best photos from Notre Dame-Cincinnati

Iowa to Play in Front of Capacity Crowds? Not So Fast

Are the Iowa Hawkeyes about to play football in front of full home stadiums or are they just not committing to cutting ticket sales yet?

We’ve heard from most different levels when it comes to the amount of fans in the stands for college football games in 2020.

Early on we were going to be lucky to get college football played at all in 2020, something that we’re certainly not out of the woods on yet.

Then it was very limited crowds reserved for perhaps the closest family members only.

Then it was said to include at least students.

Then it was Iowa State unveiling a plan to sell roughly 30,000 season tickets and no single game sales for their 61,000 seat stadium.

Now the state of Iowa has a university that isn’t ruling out playing in front of a full house just yet as University of Iowa Gary Barta met with reporters this week and says they’re planning on opening up Kinnick Stadium this fall.

“We have 100 more days (until Iowa kick off) and by then, my guess is we’re going to learn a lot between now and then,” Barta said. “My staff and I are still planning for several different scenarios and the scenarios we plan for, can change by the day, by the hour, by the week, but as of today, we are still planning to open Kinnick up and have as many fans that want to join us, join us.” – Iowa AD Gary Barta

It sounds great and optimistic but the more Barta spoke the less likely it seemed that Iowa will actually be playing in front of capacity crowds, either.

“We’re having to plan for something less that that,” Barta said. “Whether it’s 75 percent or 50 percent or something less than 100. We haven’t at all let go the possibility of 100 percent. We’re realistic. We’re not expecting to have sellouts for every game by any stretch. But as of right now, that’s still one of the models that we’re planning. It’s all going to be based on health and safety of our student athletes, coaches and our staff that will be working the game or playing the game. We’ll make sure that they’re ready to go from a safety standpoint and then for our fans.” – Barta

So there, the University of Iowa isn’t ruling out playing in front of a capacity crowd at some point this season.

They just don’t exactly sound very optimistic about the possibilities of it, either.

Stay tuned, the only sure thing I know about anything this year is that it will probably only get crazier and more confusing before we get any actual resolution.