Friday October 28, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Last week saw an ISU quarterback throw an interception on the very first play of the game. Not long after, he was pulled, and a new quarterback is now in place. Barnett looked pretty good, but some crucial dropped passes stalled a few drives and Texas A&M was able to do just enough to maintain a solid lead. Even though A&M won easy, it seemed ISU had some new life with a new quarterback into place.

Last Wednesday, my sister Teresa and her husband Juan Luis, and my brother Paddy flew in from Seattle. It was a real good time filled with way too much food, as usual. We got to watch a couple World Series games, showed Paddy what keeps people returning to casinos (A $50 plus winnings on the strangest slot machine I have ever seen).

Bri and Emma had an outstanding time! Teresa and Juan Luis spoiled Brianna with another awesome pair of shoes, her Sketcher Twinkle Toes. Last summer Bri got a Twinkle Toes toy from a happy meal somewhere. She had been asking us for them, and we just blew her off hoping she would forget. To all of our surprise, Teresa came to the rescue for Bri's new fancy shoes! Emma got a pair of cowboy boots and she look hilarious trying to walk. It was a good relaxing few days with them. It was unfortunate that their trip was not very long, since Kristy and I went to Ames for some football a day before they had to leave.

Tomorrow Iowa State travels to beautiful Lubbock, TX to take on Texas Tech. Before the season started, Texas Tech looked like a winnable road game. Then Texas Tech won at Oklahoma last week. With a new quarterback starting for the Cyclones, its hard to tell what is going to happen. Last year ISU beat Texas Tech 52-38 in a wild game in Ames that included an onside kick that ISU returned for a touchdown. The second time that happened to Texas Tech last year. Vegas has Texas Tech somewhere near a two touchdown favorite. My guess is that is pretty accurate and Tech wins easily.

My Prediction: (4-2 This Season)

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Thursday October 20, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Last week ISU's game at Missouri was a disaster. I believe Iowa State either forgot to get on the bus to Columbia or just gave up. Halfway through the season and they sit at 3 wins and 3 losses. Most did not think 3 wins were possible and now they are 3 wins away from a bowl game. With 6 games to go, 3 more wins are looking like a huge obstacle the way they are playing.

If this blog seems a little disorganized, its because I am writing on my phone. I do have to say, the mobile blogspot is a lot better than a year ago.

We are currently sitting at my parents because my brother Paddy and my sister Teresa and her husband Juan Luis flew in from Seattle. Last night we moved the basement couch so we could make some room for a bed. What do we find that is pictured below, some blonde locks of hair. Today when we got to my parents I asked Brianna about it. She immediately asked "how did you find that?" Turns out, she cut her hair on purpose because I would not let her play on the computer or watch her shows on TV.

We also just got back from Bri's first parent/teacher conference. We had to reaffirm with her teacher that we are talking about the same girl. They said how good she is and how she is the girl who likes to answer questions in class. She even told her teacher how she was going to make it a point to talk to Bo in school. The teachers said he is the really shy kid in class and it was really nice that Bri was going to make it a point to talk to him. Makes us proud, but I still think they had the notes of another girl.

The second picture is one of Emily at the airport. She game a warm Omaha welcome to everyone on 3 different planes as exited their plane and walked through the terminal. She had a lot of people wave and smile!

This Saturday is Homecoming in Ames and Texas A&M comes into town. My gut feeling says it will be a lot smaller crowd than the three almost sellouts the first 3 games, and that will reflect on the score too. The Cyclone Defense has disappeared and the Offense, well, is this same offense that has looked awful for 3 straight games. There could be an upset special brewing for the Cyclones, but I don't see it this Saturday.

Texas A&M: 42

Iowa State: 17

Thursday October 13, 2011 - The View From Section EE

I take no comfort in having a pretty close score in last weeks Iowa State at Baylor game. ISU kept it close early, but a horrible fumble call, reversed for Baylor was the game changer and the game was over at that point in the second quarter.

This week has been pretty uneventful. It is getting comical watching Bri in the bus line. She definitely has no issues sticking up for herself. Today she was third in line. Then as the other girls lined up, she left the line for some reason and the next girl in line took her spot. She did not like that! She basically forced her way back to her spot. When I talked to her about it, she believes that once you leave your spot in line, it cant be taken away. I told her she shouldn't have left or she should place her backpack in her spot. She doesn't like those rules.

Em has taken up hitting as a hobby recently. Both Kristy and I, and I imagine her Grandpa too, have been the victims of this. Oh yeah, cant forget Reagan, more on him later. Today we were getting her ready to leave and she loses her patience after her first shoe is put on. After she rolls over, we turn her back around, and she hits us. This will be interesting to see how long this trend will go.

Now back to Reagan. He continues to eat socks. On Monday I found a pair of Emily's socks. They were still rolled up! He has made our house a disaster. It took him a couple days to clear whatever else he had in his system, but he is very fortunate he was not kicked to the curb.

My Prediction (Season: 3-2):

Something has to give. Both Iowa State and Missouri are 0-2 in Big 12 play. If ISU is going to get the three more needed wins to qualify for a bowl game, this one seems to be a road win they must have, along with the one at Texas Tech. If the last two years trend is going to continue with a solid road win, this may be the last chance. (Missouri's record does not show it, but I believe they are a better team than Texas Tech.) I say something gives, and ISU finally plays a near complete game, minus the kicking game, and pulls off the win and reclaims the Telephone Trophy for quite possibly the last time.

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Wednesday October 5, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Thankfully, last weekends game is over. Leave it up to Iowa State to come into a big game, undefeated at home, on national television, and lay an egg as bad as they did. First half turnovers and unexcused penalties did them in against a slightly above average Texas team. Nothing is more frustrating then seeing ISU players taunting and yelling after a play. That has been a common theme the past three years, especially for the Defensive Backs. Football is suppose to be a team game with a lot of discipline. The prime example was at the beginning of the second quarter. ISU was already down 13-0 but had a huge stop to force a Texas punt. Instead of getting off the ground and running back to the sideline, Leonard Johnson decides to headbutt the Texas receiver. Subsequently, Johnson is pulled and on the very next play, his replacement was burned for a 50 some yard touchdown pass. That was the ball game right there. The first three games they flirted with disaster with penalties and turnovers, but now that conference play has begun, they will not win another game again if they continue to walk that tight rope all year.

Its a good thing ISU football fans have adapted to this tailgating thing that happens before, during, and after Cyclone football games. There is no better way to get over a football game then good food and cold beverages! This weekend was Family Weekend and the Lil' Cyclone Members could go onto the field before the game, so I decided to take Bri. Kristy's sister, Morgan also went to the game, but did not go on the field with us. To my surprise, they were really good. That probably had to do with the game being so bad we left early. While tailgating, Bri got to take another picture with Cy! She continues to be over her fear of mascots. Here is the picture of Bri and Morgan with Cy while the adults were at the Lottery tent.

The first two games of the year it took us forever to get into the Stadium. Those crowds were just as large, so we decided to leave a little earlier to get lined up. We walked in with absolutely no issue and were were about 50 minutes early. So after that lengthy wait, Bri and I walked onto the field. Here is a picture of Bri and I on the midfield log and the view of the massive video board.

Here is a picture of Bri and Morgan as they wait, very patiently, as we sat before they would let us onto the field.

And finally, one of the big highlights for Brianna, a dog that walked by our tailgate. A huge Saint Bernard walked by that was available for adoption. He was a very good looking dog. The conversation the ensued after this was about the difference between adopting and buying. Bri kept associating how you can adopt toys from a store and buy a dog. I still have a headache from trying to explain that.

My Prediction: (2-2 This Season)

Whatever happened to the Baylor Bears of the past where it was a shoe-in for win every year? This is not quite the case anymore, especially with one of the best quarterbacks in college football this year, Robert Griffin III. Baylor was also undefeated until they lost at Kansas State last week. I am sure they are looking for a huge win, and with a banged up Iowa State team coming to Waco, it very well could happen. In each of the last two years, ISU has had a huge road win, at Texas in 2010 and at Nebraska in 2009. Between Baylor, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the three biggest conference road games this season, I find it hard to believe this is the one they win. I say Baylor wins this one easy by going ahead early and ISU scores some late garbage points. I would not put it past Paul Rhoads to get this team ready to play and ISU pulls off a shocker, but I am not going to predict it.

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Wednesday September 28, 2011 - The View From Section EE

In the past couple weeks, I have learned that Brianna and her friends at the bus stop are an interesting group. They are all girls from Kindergarten to probably fourth grade. They play line tag in some guys driveway, but I still have no idea what the rules are. For the most part, they get along well, but a couple weeks ago there was drama between them all. Someone may have had their feelings hurt for some odd reason or another and they may be going to the Principal. Every other day someone didn't like what another girl did or something to that effect. All I know is if this stuff is going on in Kindergarten, I can only imagine what the next 13 years will be like. It doesn't help that two of the girls are sisters and are one grade apart. It sounds like they argue like all siblings do on about everything imaginable on a school bus, and somehow Bri is there in the middle of it.

Last weekend we finally attended Vala's Pumpkin Patch southwest of Omaha. For the past five years, we have been too cheap to go and opted out for the more realistically priced pumpkin patches. We figured out what we were missing the past five years. That place may be work the $13 or so it cost per individual, including kids. Kristy's cousin Ashley and her husband Rick came out that weekend with their daughter Luci. Kristy had purchased a couple discounted passes, so we made the trip. That place has so many things for kids to do, it could very well take two trips to see it all. Bri and Luci had a great time running around feeding animals, riding the ponies, etc. I suppose that means the other patches are now obsolete. Go figure, kids like the more expensive attractions. Here is a picture from Vala's of the girls and one of Bri at the zoo. I will post more pictures of Vala's at another time. (Too lazy to get them off the camera.) Oh, and a sad picture of Reagan and his new Halloween costume. Poor dog.

Back on the 16th, I thought ISU would win fairly easily at Connecticut. Turns out they can not play a first quarter for the life of them. Once the quarter ended, I thought it was over, but somehow this team continues to surprise us all. A 3-0 start by a combined 8 points. If they keep this up, there will be a lot of fans having heart attacks each week, if there havent been a couple already.

Last year ISU went to Texas a week after getting destroyed at Oklahoma. Last year Texas hosted ISU after winning at Nebraska. I thought It was going to be a disaster in Austin that turned out to be the complete opposite. ISU handled Texas well into the fourth quarter before Texas made a game out of it. This year, that gives ISU fans hope that a win against Texas is a realistic opportunity. These first quarter starts need to be cleaned up now that Big 12 play has started. These fourth quarter comebacks look good on the highlights, but they be hard to come by when they dig themselves a deep hole.

My Prediction: (2-1 This Season)

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Thursday September 15, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Its Thursday and its still hard to believe Iowa State pulled out the 44-41 overtime win against Iowa last weekend. The first drive of the game, ISU looked good and we had the feeling it could be a good day. Then all of a sudden, they fumbled the ball inside Iowa's 10 yard line. Once the first quarter ended, Iowa was up 10-0. At that point, we thought it was going to be as ugly as the last two years. At the end of the second quarter, it was tied at 10 and things started to look promising.

Things became very interesting toward the end of the regulation and overtime. The kicking game has been the most nerve wrecking part of ISU football for years. In the first overtime, ISU was down to a fourth and goal play to either tie the game or Iowa wins the game. ISU completed the pass and made the touchdown, but it was harder to watch the ISU kicking game kick an extra point to extend the game. Thankfully, no issues on the extra point this time around. It felt pretty good being on this side of the nail bitter of a game than the time of games ISU tends to be apart of. See last years Nebraska game and a thousand other games.

Turned out to be the second largest crowd to witness a game at Jack Trice Stadium, and it turned out to be one of the best games ever played there, in my opinion. I even would admit, if Iowa won the game, it was still a very good game to watch. Unfortunately, there are no good stories involving the Rhodes tank or anything like that. When the game last four hours and there are no beverages inside the stadium, it tends to calm things down. But, things definitely picked up after the game. Had to celebrate somehow! Below is a picture of us and the crowd rushing the field after the game.

Before I make my prediction for tomorrow, we went to Bri's open house at school. She was so excited to show us all the rooms she goes to at school. We finally got to take a picture of her at her desk. She was so excited to show us everything, we didn't even get a chance talk to her teacher. I guess that is what conferences are for in a couple weeks.

This week ISU is breaking out an all white uniform for the Friday night showdown at Connecticut. There are pictures floating around the internet of a white ISU helmet, but the reports are saying they will stick with the standard cardinal helmet. I guess we will find out on ESPN tomorrow night. After last weeks performance, I feel this is a very winnable game. ISU's spread offense finally showed the progress the coaches talked about three years ago. The wide receivers are making plays, the running backs are picking up the needed yards, and Jantz at quarterback is completing the throws ISU fans have been desperately waiting to see.

My prediction:

My record this season: 1-1

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Thursday September 8, 2011 - The View From Section EE

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

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But my off the record prediction: (I suppose I can do what I want here, right?)

ISU: 24 Iowa: 17