Tuesday November 22, 2011 - The View From Section EE

This weeks view is a little different. The south endzone has great seats, but this times its from somewhere on the 20 yard line near the ISU sideline!

The best game to be played in the history of Jack Trice Stadium took place last Friday. Iowa State did about everything they could have done to beat one of the best teams in the country this year. ISU gained more yardage on offense than OSU. ISU had more first downs than OSU. ISU had a greater time of possession than OSU. And most importantly, ISU scored six more points than ISU. When the second overtime started and Jake Knott tipped the ball to Te'Ran Benton the feeling was the game was over, but we are Iowa State fans and a millions things that can go wrong, usually will. This time Paul Rhoads decides to take the Achilles Heel out of play, the kicking game, and give the ball to Jeff Woody who rumbles into the endzone for the touchdown on the third straight run of the second overtime. The whole place went crazy, much like the Iowa game earlier this year, but this win put ISU into a bowl game for the second time in three years, gave ISU their third straight Big 12 win, and knocked OSU out of the National Championship picture, temporarily. Nothing beats an underdog story, and this was definitely it.

Now off of football for a second, today was Brianna's Grandparent's Day at school. She has been so excited for this since her Grandpa Chris was going to be able to go. She had been practicing songs for the longest time that they were going to sing at a program. When I called her today to see how things went, she was very excited, but it was not very easy to understand her. Something about a house full of girls that made the phone call not so pleasant to listen to. Lots of yelling and screaming. Just another sign of things to come in the future.

One other huge note, unless the doctors take forever with their discharge papers, they seemed to take HOURS when Kristy and the kids were being released from the hospital, our good friend Brooke is getting released from the hospital today from her bone marrow transplant. We are so excited for them, but I bet they are a million times more excited to actually see a real bed and be in their own home! It has only been close to a month.

My prediction (5-5 for the season):

I have said this before, I have no problem being wrong on my predictions when I pick ISU to lose. This week Vegas has again decided to put the Cyclones at a four touchdown favorite, that's 28 points to the non football fans. Oklahoma is one of the most talented teams in the country, much like Oklahoma State. But OU is missing two key persons due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball. The ISU defense is playing lights out right now and I believe they can keep games close against a lot of schools right now. With this being on the road and OU coming off a last second loss at Baylor, they will not be too happy. If the ISU defense plays like they did against OSU, they have a shot. ISU needs to minimize turnovers and win the time of possession stat by running the ball well and getting first downs. ISU ran 106 plays against OSU. If the offense can continue that pace, anything can happen.

With that being said, I still have to go with OU. Its on the road, ISU has to recover form a monumental win, and OU is going to be playing very unhappy due to coming off the loss at Baylor. I say OU wins, but Vegas has it wrong again. I think ISU can keep it within 10 points, but lets hope I am wrong and they pull off the upset two weeks in a row.

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Thursday November 17, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Two weeks ago ISU played a bad Kansas team. ISU let Kansas look pretty good, especially running the ball. Luckily, Kansas made just enough mistakes late in the game, including an odd punt call by the Kansas coach down late in the game. A win is a win, and we will take it.

The past two weeks went pretty fast, but not a whole lot happened. Since we have Paige with us for a while now, we tend to barricade the dogs in the basement with us so they do not get into things throughout the house. Both dog kennels are set up side by side and Bri and Emma have been playing "dogs". It works perfect for me. They are quiet and surprisingly do not fight. So Reagan has been going into his kennel just to hang out. His door is left open and he just walks in and lays down. While doing this, Emily decides to crawl in with him. I had to remove both Bri and Emma out of the kennel over the weekend because I did not know if Reagan would freak out and start kicking and scratching his way out. He just laid there and let Emma sit with him. Here is the picture.

My Prediction: (5-4 on the season)

Tomorrows game could be an interesting. The second ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys come into Ames for a Friday night game on national television. This OSU team has been destroying everyone. There are about eight million stars that have to align for this upset to happen. The ISU offense is set to be a fast pace offence that runs a lot of plays and runs them very quickly. In order for ISU to even compete in this game, they have to take care of the ball, and continue to get first downs and keep offensive drives alive. Even if they do not score, they need to get to mid field, and if forced to punt, punt it deep into OSU territory and make them have to use the whole field to score. On the defensive side of the ball they need to keep the key wide receivers in front of them and hold OSU to field goals. They will score, there is no doubt about it, but if they hold them to field goals or make them gamble on fourth down conversions, then there could be a chance. Vegas has this game pegged as a four touchdown blow out in the Cowboy favor. It very well could happen. ISU has nothing to lose, so why not throw out every trick, unconventional play possible to shock a Cowboy team looking at a potential National Championship.

I will say that Vegas knows what they are talking about with these spreads, but I think ISU covers. I still think they will lose, but I think they hang early but OSU pulls away late and wins by 17.

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Wednesday November 2, 2011 - The View From Section EE

So last Saturday I was sitting in the basement with Bri and Emma and a couple boxer dogs preparing for what I thought was going to be another ugly Iowa State football game. Turns out, me and a ton of other people were completely wrong. Iowa State completely dominated a ranked Texas Tech team that won at Oklahoma the previous week. The Oklahoma that is considered one of the best in the country. This goes to prove what we at our tailgate have been talking about all year. When the offense is not turning the ball over so much, the defense is on the sidelines resting and preparing for the next drive, rather than running back on the field. Its a team game, and when both sides of the ball are working together, good things can happen.

With our different work schedules, this year both Kristy and I had to work on Halloween. Thankfully, Trick or Treating in Harlan was on Sunday, a day we were both off, so we took the girls, and Paige to Harlan for the night. It was a lot of fun minus a little cold. Emma was dressed as a cow in a warm costume. Bri was a Fairy, in a not so good costume. She has since decided she would like to be a dog next year in a warm costume like Emilys. Here are a couple pictures of them our and about. We took Paige, because Reagan is a jerk around others, if not everyone. Paige was funny because she was shaking scared as we walked into my parents house and she even more frightened when she saw a Frankenstein walking toward her. She definitely is lacking in the guard dog department.

Bri really enjoyed it this year. She was pretty helpful with Emily too. She would help her up some steps and even ask for a piece of candy for her when Emma was left behind. But things can change quickly. Our arrangement was going to be she was going to pass out candy in Omaha since we both had to work and my Dad was going to be watching them. Once she saw her friends going out, she had a meltdown. Since things tend to go in her favor, her friends' mothers said they would take her around our neighborhood. About an hour and a half later, she is back with her Hello Kitty bag pictured above almost completely full. She will be on a sugar high for a very long time.

Beginning last Friday, we have a new member to our family for a while, Paige, Tim and Brooke's boxer dog. Brooke is in the process of going through a bone marrow transplant, so we will be looking after Paige for the time being. So far, her and Reagan have behaved very well. The initial excitement wore off in roughly 30 minutes. Now they are content with sleeping on separate couches in between short bouts of fighting over a bone or being picked on by two kids. All of our thoughts and prayers are headed Brooke's way as she begins her bone marrow treatment this evening.

Here is a picture of Paige and Reagan I submitted to Iowa State to hopefully be featured on Cy's Pets of the Week on the video board at Jack Trice Stadium this weekend. It took a some Pupperroni treats and a few smacks to the face, yes that's you Paige, but it worked. Kristy thinks Reagan looks tough in the too tight jersey, but I think he looks like he needs a few less scoops of food a day. Anyway, these two have to be chosen for this Saturday. I guess we will wait and see.

My Prediction: (4-4 on the season)

This week, on paper, looks like it should be a gimme for ISU, but Cyclone fans only need to look a few hours east to realize there are no gimmes in college sports. See Minnesota's win over Iowa last weekend. Kansas will be coming in to Ames looking really bad. They have arguably the worst defense in FBS football and last week the offense only notched three first downs and less than 50 yards of total offense. Stats like that will not go very far for the Jayhawks. I think ISU runs away with this one and wins by more than 20 points.

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