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Hawkeye Nerd's Big Ten Power Rankings - Preseason

With the 2010 season approaching, and with the new site mostly launched, it seemed a good time to post the first Big Ten Conference Power Ranking of the year. As the season progresses, a conference power ranking will be posted each week.

These rankings will be based on the performance of teams over the last week. In the case of the preseason ranking, the ranking is based on performance in spring and summer. No real science or nerdery goes into the rankings...yet. However, like the rest of the site, these rankings will evolve over time.

Ohio State Buckeyes

1. Ohio State Buckeyes: Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes return a ton of talent on both sides of the ball for the 2010 season and are most people's preseason favorite to win the Big Ten. In order to do so, they'll have to win in Iowa City, something defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and quarterback Terrelle Pryor look forward to trying. Pryor completed 57 percent of his passes last season for 2,094 yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also ran for almost 800 yards. If Pryor can figure out a bit more of his passing attack, the Buckeyes could be unstoppable this year.

Iowa Hawkeyes

2. Iowa Hawkeyes: Coming off a solid spring performance, Kirk Ferentz's Iowa Hawkeyes are ready compete for the Big Ten title. The Hawkeyes return one of the best defenses in the country, have a deep stock of running backs, and return a veteran quarterback in Ricky Stanzi. As Phil Steele points out, Stanzi has an outstanding 67 percent passing completion in the fourth quarter of play for a pass efficiency rating of 200.2. If Stanzi can maintain that fourth-quarter consistency, Iowa will have no problem returning to a BCS bowl game.

A Few Big Ten Coaches on Phil Steele's Hot Seat

Phil Steele has a habit of being right about college football coaches on the hot seat.

Steele is a sportswriter and football analyst that produces a widely-respected annual preseason magazine Phil Steele's College Football Preview . His magazine, full of statistics and information has been the most accurate preseason magazine for the last 11 years.

Along with his magazine, he publishes daily blog posts covering the entire spectrum of the gridiron.

In 2008, he started an annual Coaches on the Hot Seat list as part of his blog. Seven out of the 12 coaches on Steele's first Hot Seat lost their jobs.

Three of the remaining five names were on the hot seat again in 2009. All three were fired during or after the 2009 season, as were several others.

Being on Steele's hot seat list is not where a head coach wants to be.

Thirteen coaches made 2010's Hot Seat. Of those 13, four are coaches from the Big Ten Conference.

Michigan's Rich Rodriguez (No. 1), Illinois' Ron Zook (No. 2), Minnesota's Tim Brewster (No. 5) and Indiana's Bill Lynch (No. 8) all make an appearance on the list.

Fuller has career game, but Iowa still loses

Well, there is good news and there's bad news in Iowa Hawkeyes basketball.

First, the good news.

The Iowa men's basketball team is idle for the next eight days. That means they can go a whole eight days without losing another conference game, something all Hawkeye fans, writers, bloggers, and tweeters will appreciate.

The good news doesn't stop there, though.

Fans can now follow the progress on the revitalization of the award-winning Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as the university now provides video on a website for all to see. Hawkeye nation can watch the construction happen and hope the Iowa basketball program has rebuilt itself by the time the doors open.

Now for the bad news.

First attempt at a Big Ten Power Rankings for Basketball

This was an experiement on Big Ten Power Rankings for Basketball. I am more of a Football and Wrestling nerd, but I do like basketball and listen to every Hawkeyes game.

As the 2010 season begins to wind down, Big Ten fans begin to prepare for conference championships on the horizon. As it stands now, the Big Ten will likely send 5 teams to the NCAA tournament...assuming one of the scrappy guys at the bottom don't pull off some sort of voodoo magic to win the Big Ten Tournament.

1. Purdue - 21-3 (9-3)
The Biolermakers are the team to beat, riding a seven game win streak. They have the talent to pull off a No. 1 seed in the tournament and go all the way to the title game. E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson and Robbie Hummel make it look so easy.

2. Ohio State - 20-6 (10-3)
The Buckeyes have their own little win streak of six games going. Evan Turner has been on fire lately, and that doesn't look to change anytime soon if he has anything to say about it.

3. Michigan State - 20-6 (10-3)
It is hard to know what to make of the Spartans. They are good, but they still aren't playing to maximum potential. They have lost 4 out of 6 to teams in the AP Top 25. But, this is Izzo's favorite time of year.

Big Ten Basketball About to Begin Its Conference Schedule

Big Ten basketball begins conference action today, but unfortunately the conference's football bowl games might overshadow a lot of great match-ups.

The league won the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, and appear to be stronger this year than they have in the recent past. Teams have only played a dozen games against uneven competition, so there are still a few unanswered questions for teams.

There have been a few surprises, like the great early-season play by Northwestern. There have also been some disappointments, like Ohio State's Evan Turner breaking bones in his back.

As conference play begins, teams look to fully establish their identities.

Hawkeye Bitchmade Anthology: Tate Forcier

Video: Iowa vs. Michigan Highlights

Iowa-Michigan: A Hawkeye Nerd's Homecoming Insanity

Homecoming in Iowa City is pure craziness.

Normal pregame celebrations for home games are crazy by themselves, but add in several thousand UI alumni, an official blackout during a night game featured on ABC, and an honorary captain named Chuck Long, and things can get insane in a hurry!

Don't believe me? Well, here is a glimpse at how I spent Homecoming in Iowa City. I'll let you be the judge...

FRIDAY

3:12 PM - Meet up with an old dorm floor buddy from the college days, Bob, whom I haven't seen for years. After the formal greetings, he asks for a beer.

3:19 PM - Bob asks for another beer. Uh oh.

6:00 PM - We head to a sports bar called The Edge and belly up to the bar. I nearly propose to the breathtakingly gorgeous hostess.

7:42 PM - Several drinks and a large pizza later, we call a cab to head downtown to the pedestrian mall, aka Bar Central.

8:36 PM - The cabbie drops us off and conveniently doesn't have change for my $20. Apparently he thought his Borat impression warranted a $9 tip. Very nice....NOT!

8:45 PM - Belly up to the bar at Quinton's. Bob orders everyone with us a shot of Patron along with his thirteenth beer.

9:30 PM - A few of Bob's friends meet up with us. Knuckle bumps galore. More alcohol is consumed.

10:43 PM - Bob orders a round of Jager Bombs for everyone.

10:47 PM - Bob's friend pukes his Jager Bomb on three random people next to us. Security boots him. I buy the puke victims a round of drinks to defuse the situation.

12:02 AM - Everyone has finally made their way through the line at Joe's Place and Bob has started hitting on the Jello Shot girl. It fails, but he does get us a discount on shots.

12:34 AM - Someone decides it's a good idea for another round of Jager Bombs. "None for the puker!" shouts Bob, which causes three-fourths of the bar to turns our way and stare. I hide in a booth.

2:02 AM - The search for a cab gets serious. Bob stumbles for three blocks and nearly gets us into three fights. He is shouting everything minus "I AM A GOLDEN GOD" at the young women passing by. Miraculously, his belligerence pays off and we crowbar our way into a cab.

2:16 AM - After arguing with the cab driver about not going the right way, Bob yells for the cabbie to pull over so we can walk. We are 10 miles from where we were and 10 miles from where we need to be. I smack Bob in the back of the head, tell the cab driver my friend is mentally handicapped and I promise 100% tip. Cab driver agrees to the impossible...ignoring Bob.

2:28 AM - Back to where we need to be. I verbally command Bob to pass out and point him to a spot to do so. 15 seconds later, he obeys command...and the snoring begins.

4:06 AM - I wake up to the sound of water hitting something. I notice Bob is using the coffee table as a toilet. It's college all over again.

Monday Morning Hawkeye News: Oct 12 2009

President Mason's Budget Update

Professor to talk about black holes - The University of Iowa series of free, public talks celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009 will continue with a free, public talk, "Black Holes of All Sizes," by Philip Kaaret, professor in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Lecture Room 1 of Van Allen Hall.

Hawkeyes fans brave cold conditions [QC Times] - Paul Mowery, a freshman from Clarinda, Iowa, and Joe Haddad, his classmate from Cedar Rapids, were among a quartet of Iowa students sporting only black shoes, black shorts and black acrylic body paint to Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night, where the game starting temperature was 37 degrees.

No. 11 Iowa shows knack for winning close games [AP] - For much of last season, Iowa often seemed to do just enough to lose. Then the Hawkeyes beat Penn State in the final seconds, and they've been masters of the close win ever since.

Undefeated Hawkeyes have clear view of AP top 10 [DM Register] - The Hawkeyes won their 10th straight game, dating to last season's close victory over Penn State, after Saturday's 30-28 victory against visiting Michigan.

Fans hope Magic Bus will live on [Press Citizen] - Some say this is the last season the Magic Bus will provide beer, music and a fun atmosphere for the Hawkeye faithful. Others say the party bus might just move or even stay at its current location. So far, nothing has been settled.