Ian's Take on Life: Thursday September 8, 2011

Here is the view from our seats of the new video board. I do have to say, it is pretty impressive, even when watching an awful game for the first 55 minutes. The quote of the night was Kristy's dad getting up to leave with about 10 minutes to go. "Well, at least we can watch them suck in HD!". That was shortly after an ISU turnover I believe. Turns out he missed the best part of the game!

UNI gave Iowa State all they could handle, and really should have won the game. UNI forced three turnovers and only scored three points off of them. That was the difference. UNI is a very good team and my guess is they have a very good shot at winning most of the games remaining on their schedule. I would have to say the two games that could trip them up is Southern Illinois at home, followed by a road game at North Dakota State. Those are back to back weeks in late October, but they very easily should win them both and march toward the playoffs. The good thing about Saturdays game is, it does not affect the outcome of UNI's season. If they win, that's great, they beat a school a level above them. If they lose close like they did, they jump up in the rankings. FCS football has it right, playoff football is a good things.

Now ISU looked awful until the fourth quarter. Their offense finally fell into place and they looked like a team that could move the ball. It very well could be the fact that the lack of depth for UNI caught up to them. But, that was the slight view of hope for the remainder of the season for the Cyclones. I am still a believer that since this game was so close, the rest of the year could be rough. If for some reason ISU comes out and keeps up with Iowa and makes some big plays and pulls off a win, then its a whole new ball game for the rest of the year and a bowl game is back in the picture.

This year we have the luxury of being in a paved donor lot for our RV, so we do not have to be in Ames by 4 AM. Two years ago it was brutal, but we managed to make it to roughly midnight, I think. To be honest, we have no idea when everything ended, but in the middle there was a tank involved.

Unfortunately, our seats are near the Hillside and Section that houses the visiting teams. Two years ago we had some real jerks that were Iowa fans and that did not make things pleasant, especially since the game was ugly. I understand that this is a big game, and for the most part, the fans do not like the other school. Why cant we all just agree to have a few drinks and enjoy the game and revel in the fact that we both dislike Nebraska? That may be the saving grace this weekend. If we get some guy being a jerk, all we have to do is tell him to tone it down and save it for Nebraska.

Its been a rough few years in this rivalry, but I have to say Iowa continues the trend. There was nothing last week to show that ISU can make a game of it, even though before the season started, I thought they had a chance. For some reason the point spread is around 7.5 in favor of Iowa, and I will have to say this is a safe bet.

My prediction:

My record his season: 1-0