Sports
This is the calm before the storm. OK, this is the less stormy part of the storm. Or maybe the most stormy? COVID-19 will continue to tear at our collective long-term view of the world. If you can deal with existential, then you can semi-enjoy a football season. Or maybe not. Football is coming and it’s time to start to figure out what that might look like. The #oniowapod didn’t do the full Hawkeye breakdown. There’s time for that. Today we kind of darted around and took a stab at answering some loose ends. Yes, Purdue has WR Rondale Moore back. Does that change Purdue’s defense? Give it a running game? Probably no on both counts, but Moore puts the “fun” in “Purdue.” If Iowa and Iowa State are ever going to be paired in a bowl game, this is probably the year to do it. So, let’s make the Poulan Weed Eater Bowl in Shreveport the “Busch Light Ass Kicker” and get the Hawkeyes and Cyclones together in 2020. Why not? (We did talk about bowls, because it looks like college football wants those to happen, too.) Normally, I wouldn’t sign off on this, but I think this would sell to TV and maybe bring some life to a quiet bowl venue. Yes, the Big Ten and Big 12 do only have one bowl tie-in. But really, you’d drive to Nashville for an Iowa-Iowa State Music City Bowl. The Pac-12 and MAC seem to be returning to play. Let’s stop right there and leave the spring to the FCS. Yes, there would be interference with the NFL draft, but I think the FCS needs to examine a spring model for viability. Take a chance on a potential payday during the football wasteland that is March-April-May. We also talk Scott’s piece for The Athletic in tandem with The Athletic’s Nebraska beat writer Mitch Sherman, comparing the Iowa-Nebraska recruiting classes. On paper, the Huskers are the winner. On the field, Iowa has won five straight. Development matters. Still does. Always will.