ISU got a couple of commitments from two Sam Richardsons earlier this week. One a QB, the other a DB. Old news, but hopefully they rock their middle initial on their jersey when they play.  It's pretty cool to see the commitment list up to 10 players now, before we even play our first game. In the past, we'd be lucky to see anybody at this point.

The coveted race for the #2 and #3 RB continues on. For those of you who love Jeff Woody, there's good news for ya'll too. Woody no longer has to pay to go to school, which also means he's going to get some clock this year. 

In other football-related stuff, the CBS Blogpoll has now moved to SB Nation. Over here it can get a lot more exposure. I'll post my preseason poll on Monday just for fun. From there, I'll refrain from voting for the first four weeks out of principle, and make a new poll based entirely on what has happened during the season, and NOT based on my previous preseason poll.

With flooding-related news as it pertains to athletics, it sounds like Hilton will be ready to go in some fashion for basketball season, but women's volleyball will be playing at Ames High.

We're less than two weeks away from the first game. The fun fest is still on as far as I know, this Sunday. Get there, buy some gear, and snatch up some of those $10 tickets to the Northern Illinois game if you don't have a season ticket plan. The week of August 30th, we get into previewing Northern Illinois, and get back into the swing of things. One more "dead" week, and the fun begins. 

It may be natural, but when people talk about fall camp, they want to get into the two deeps, see what the position battles are, and things of that nature. Football teams post depth charts throughout the camp, and fans get all excited. Thing is, it doesn't really mean jack in the scheme of things. Want to know where A-Rob was on the depth chart that came out right before the Kent State game in 2007? Not frickin' listed. For real. He didn't really take over until the end of that year, but still.

Below are some things that get kind of annoying:

People mentioning the wide receivers are deep. Guess what? That means NOTHING. All "deep" means in this case is either a) there are a lot of bodies and/or b) the next guy they put in there has similar abilities to the guys out there currently. Neither really say much about what level the guys are performing at. Last year, this unit was probably the worst in the Big 12. In terms of what was expected vs. production on the field, they were the biggest disappointment on the team.

What I do want to know about the wide receivers are: Did they hit the weights? Did they work on getting off of press coverage? Did they improve their downfield blocking?

I haven't seen any discussion about that at all. Wide Receivers are supposed to be crazy athletic. It's the Big 12; dime a dozen in that department.Who cares if we have 8 mediocre guys? Can we trade some of them for 1-2 better than average guys, please?

People wanting to know who the #2 RB will be.  I'm guessing it will be a person, and they will play RB. I don't get why so much talk is spent in this area. On offense, it's our best skill position area in terms of quality and depth. I love A-Rob. Even back in the day when he was on the come-up and people didn't know what he could do. At the same time, he's not Barry Sanders either. If the O-Line can make holes, and if the QB and WRs are improved, all you need is a guy that gets 4-5 yards a carry. Last year it hurt so much when A-Rob went down because we didn't have any backs that fit the system that well, and our QB and WR play sucked to the point where teams could stack 8-9 in the box, because they knew all we could do is run it

People wanting to know who the starters on the D-Line are. Guess what again? This unit was THE WORST in the conference, and barring a miracle, they are going to be towards the bottom again. I'd expect to see 8-10 guys all rotating. When you aren't that good, you just have to give everyone experience, and try to stay fresh. Who cares who starts? Most of these guys are going to get snaps anyhow. I'm not about to sit there and take notes of who's in when though. Just hopefully 1-2 guys standout and surprise in that area. If they do well, we'll see it.

Like I've said, I'm behind on the coverage, but I'm just tired of hearing about things we already know that give us no clue regarding how the team will fare this year.

I'm just ready to get this season crack-a-lackin', so we don't have to spend time guessing what could be happening on the practice field, and reading between the lines on depth chart updates.

I've been horribly behind with football coverage, and it's not really the best time of year to do that. With everything, there's a reason. I decided to be the headcoach of a 5th/6th grade youth football team, and it has been eating a lot of my time. I'm really excited to help teach these kids the game of football and show them the fundamentals of the game. I'm going to be involved with this through mid-October, and could really use the help with football coverage. I can help provide input, but simply do not always have the time to do full writeups.

Contact me at kieffer.mark@gmail.com if you are interested.

To the readers, I'm sorry I've been slow with stuff. Coaching these kids is where my heart is right now. 

Unreal. Just moved from Ames just under a month ago. Sad to hear about people displaced from their homes. I really puts into perspective stuff like Hilton having 8-9 feet of water and things like that. When I was just hearing about this from people I know, I thought it was only by the athletic facilities, and thought no biggie. Now I see the issue is so much more than just that. My thoughts are with everyone in the Ames community. Don't have much to add, just not in the greatest mood with this.

Check out some of the pictures here.

More photos » Charlie Neibergall - AP

about 1 month ago: Iowa State running back Alexander Robinson speaks to reporters during his team's annual NCAA college football media day, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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ISU media day in Ames was yesterday. It's a chance for the local media to interview the players and coaches, and dig a little deeper (but only a little) than what gets talked about at Big 12 media day.

I think we did get to pick up some tidbits of information that previously weren't mentioned:

• David Sims is suspended for the Northern Illinois game. Not a big shocker there.
• T.J. McCullough (ATH, 3 star), Dentrell Pate (LB, 2 star), and Jevoury Wedderburn (ATH, 2 star) did not qualify academically.
• Bo Williams had knee surgery and will not participate in fall camp. Doesn't bode well for the Bo Williams Fan Base - Cyclonefanatic chapter.... But neither did signing RBs that will be ahead of him on the depth chart as well.
• From Wally Burnham, he talked about the linebacking corps having some freshmen that may go in and contribute (namely, Jeremiah George), and talked about the defense being more aggressive than they were last year.
• Although Paul Rhoads has said Arnaud has been the most improved guy from the offseason, I'm expecting LJ to make a run for that. From all accounts, this guy is ready to take the next step, be the shut-down corner he's capable of being, and hopefully we see him on an All-Big 12 list before his career is done at ISU. The tough part is when your D-Line can't get pressure on the QB, it screws over your secondary.

As far as players go, guys are more relaxed at these things and kind of goofy. You get interviews like "who's the better roommate" and things like that.  Shows a little bit of their personalities more, and you get reminded these are college kids, not professional athletes, with a lot of maturing to do. In this state, I think people lose sight of that sometimes since we don't have an NFL team. 

Today is the first day of fall camp, and later I'll post some thoughts on it.

Hope everyone out there had a good weekend, and is getting their week off to a good start! I've been a little slow with writing here the past few weeks, mostly because I was moving. Even though I'm resting my head in Urbandale these days, not too far away from Ames, it feels kind of weird not living in Ames anymore. To be honest, I didn't expect to have much emotional feelings about it, but when I dropped off the keys to my apartment, I was a bit overwhelmed with different emotions.

Ames is where I've spent my entire adult life. I'm 26 now, and spent the last 8 years going to Iowa State, and then working in Des Moines after graduation. Big reason why we stayed in Ames was because my wife was in grad school, and also because it's close to Hilton and Jack Trice. Ames is a great place to live, and it will be missed. The good news is that I'm not too far away, and will be able to make Cyclone games and things like that.

Moving onto the Cyclones, there are a few things on my mind:

1. Is it just me, or does it feel weird that so many Cyclone fans will say that Northern Illinois is going to be a tough game, but at the same time exude confidence in beating Nebraska?

2. As older players leave the program, it's funny to hear about the new internet/radio legends being built up. Specifically I'm talking about Shontrelle Johnson,Rony Nelson, etc., etc., etc.. Who could forget last year with Bo Williams: the greatest 44 yard run in Cyclone history! Every sensation we've had has disappointed, and since I'm going able to go to the practices and be there from day-to-day, I have to continue the wait and see approach. It's hard to be great at college football and most aren't going to be.

3. David "I Be Loving Some Footlocker" Sims. $400+ on some shoes? For real? I'd sympathize a little bit of he actually bought stuff he needed with the card. That way this could jump into the ongoing debate about athletes getting paid, and how it's difficult to pay the bills, food, etc., but for shoes? One pair, OK. Maybe two if they have one of those 2 for $89.99, but with $400, that's gotta be at least 3 pairs of shoes, right? I get that you gotta stay up on the fashion and you gotta have shoes with varying colors to match your outfits* but I wouldn't jeopardize my future over it.

4.  ISU Men's Basketball Schedule Was Released. Non-conference is pretty terrible, as expected. We've obviously got the in-state schools + Creighton+ Cal for the Pac10/Big 12 Series. We do play at Virginia at least there's an out of state BCS conference school we weren't contractually obligated to play. I get you want to stack the wins, and we're going to stink, but some of these games I'm easily overpaying for. I can't wait until we get to a point where we can schedule some solid teams in the non-conference. We did that last year, but it's mostly because McDermott was smoking something, or Jamie Pollard believed too much in his abilities, or both.

* Really I don't get it, as I have better ways to spend my money, but I know this is a prority in life for some people.

We are 30 days away from opening kick off, and this site will be a lot more interesting to check out very soon!

Every year I try to get excited for Media Days, because we know fall camp is right around the corner, but somehow, someway, Media Days leaves a lot to be desired. There is so much "coach speak", and you never really get the answers to the questions, and to be fair, the media often does horribly asking questions. You get guys like Steven M. Sipple, along with Matt Perrault down there, and you just aren't going to get a lot of value.

So what do we get? We get blah blah blah.

You get questions to the effect of "Austen Arnaud says that more familiarity with the system will translate into more success. Have you seen that?"

I mean, come on. What's a guy supposed to say? Even if Arnaud didn't improve (which would be borderline impossible knowing what his personality is like), Coach isn't going to throw him under the bus.

Anyhow, it's just 3 days of crap like that. These guys need to take a page from SEC media days where the coaches slam each other and at least make something out of it.

All is not lost though. There are some new tidbits; you just have to sift through all the junk:

• David Sims is expected to be a member of the team in the fall, as there is some kind of an update with the credit card investigation expected in the next day or two. We're going to need as much help as we can get in the secondary, especially when we don't know what our pass rush is going to be like (but it likely won't be good)
• Rhoads confirmed Austin Alburtis graduated and is going to forego his senior year on the football field. It's hard to blame the guy. Football is such a grind, and it's clear he wasn't going to do this professionally anyhow.
• I also find it kind of amusing how Rashawn Parker took exception to Adrian Clayborn's comments about the Hawks being the only team in the state, while Coach, Arnuad, and A-Rob all downplayed it. If it motivates Parker to have a career game (which we'd need), then whatever works.
• And while this isn't breaking news, as I think it was well documented in the spring, Coach did talk about Arnaud improving his mechanics and how it's helped with his accuracy thus far.

To me, that's the only valuable stuff, unless there is something I'm missing. The rest is the typical "We're going to try to win every game" from Coach Rhoads regarding ISU's schedule, or "The Big 12 is a great conference" kind of talk from Bo Pelini (as if anyone believes he's being honest there).

On the plus side, all of this means that college football is right around the corner. I'm ready for it to be here now.

My original intent of this part was to touch on a few things about the Big 12 and talk a little bit about the landscape of college football, because I follow the sport outside of the Big 12 and Iowa State. This was going to include predictions like "A-Rob will rush for over 1700 yards" and stuff like that.

But then I realized that this is kind of stupid. For the most part, all of my "predictions" are implicit. I mean, you know which guys I think are going to be pretty good, as I listed them on my All-Big 12 team. You know which teams I think are going to have good records, as I went through their schedule.

At the end of the day, if ISU only wins 4 games, who cares if A-Rob rushes for over 1700 yards? Or if A&M wins 10 games, or CU wins 8 games, how both of those coaches will be in the running for coach of the year. That stuff is obvious, and I don't think I really need to explicitly state these things, when you can come to your own conclusions based on what I wrote.

I will say, that if Mangino and Leach were still coaches in this league, I'd be more inclined to do something like this. A post like this could be pretty fun.

What I've decided to do instead of this, is mislead all the readers with this post!

You THINK this is Big 12 Predictions, but instead these are going to be College Football Predictions from a National Perspective.

I'm going to my prediction of conference champ in each of the BCS conferences, my preseason Top 25, my Heisman Trophy watchlist, and the now trendy "what games I'd attend if I could roadtrip the entire season" list.

So, if you want to see my craziness continue with some of these predictions, we'll continue it on the next page. If you just threw up a little in your mouth from reading my preview to this article, you have been forewarned.

Continue reading this post »

I went out of town this weekend, a trip that I forgot about completley. My bad. Part 3 is finally here, and Part 4 is coming this afternoon/evening.

In just a sec, the Clone Chronicles Preseason All-Big 12 team will be unveiled below. Before I get into it, I'm only picking 1 team (1 QB, 2 OTs, 2 OGs, 1 C, 1 RB, 3 WRs, 1 TE on offense, 2 DTs, 2 DEs, 3 LBs, 2 CBs, and 2 Safeties on defense), and then including an honorable mention of a handful of guys. I will also select a KR, PR, P, and K too.

The "Official" Clone Chronicles 2010 Preseason All-Big 12 Team:

Offense:

QB Jerrod Johnson, Texas A&M, JR
RB DeMarco Murray, OU, SR
WR Ryan Broyles, OU, JR
WR Scotty McKnight, CU, SR
WR Alexander Torres, Texas Tech, SR
TE Mike McNeill, Nebraska, SR
OT Nate Solder, CU, SR
OT Kyle Hix, Texas, SR
OG Ryan Miller, CU, SR
OG Stephen Good, OU, JR
C Ben Lamaak, ISU, SR

Defense:

DE Jeremy Beal, OU, SR
DE Sam Acho, Texas, SR
DT Adrian Taylor, OU, SR
DT Jared "Husker Fans Think I'm Better Than Suh, That We Will Be Better Without Suh, That I'll Still Flourish Like I Did Last Year Being Double Teamed Every Snap" Crick, Nebraska, JR
LB Von Miller, Texas A&M, SR
LB Emannuel Acho, Texas, JR
LB Travis Lewis, OU, JR
CB Carl Gettis, Mizzou, SR
CB Prince Amukamara, Nebraska, SR
S Blake Gideon, Texas, JR
S Quinton Carter, OU, SR

Special Teams:

K Alex Henery, Nebraska, SR
P Derek Epperson, Baylor, SR
KR Cyrus Gray, Texas A&M, JR
PR Ryan Broyles, OU, JR

Honorable Mention:

C Tim Barnes, Missouri, SR
WR Kendall Wright, Baylor
RB Daniel Thomas, K-State, SR
QB Blaine Gabbert, Missouri, JR
OT Tanner Hawkinson, KU, SO
LB Keenan Robinson, Texas, JR
LB Brian Duncan, Texas Tech, SR
LB Huldon Tharp, KU, SO
DT Phil Taylor, Baylor, SR
DE Aldon Smith, Mizzou, SO

Pretty straightforward list for the most part. I did use media guides and also what others were choosing for help with this. I only get to watch so much and there are only so many stats I can look at. If I've seen a guy play, and was impressed, I'm probably a little more biased.

Later this evening, I will conclude with Part 4 in this series

Part Two of a four-part series where we count down to Big 12 Media Days.

In Part One, I gave you my power rankings, projected standings, and bowl predictions for the Big 12. Today, I wanted to jump into each team and explain what games I have them winning or losing. I'll touch on some games, but we can always discuss more in depth in the comments about specific ones where you maybe see things differently.

I'll start with Iowa State, and then go down in my projected order of how the teams will finish. Starred games are tossups, and could go opposite of what I'm projecting

Iowa State (4-8):

Wins:  Northern Illinois*, Kansas State*, UNI, Kansas*
Losses: @Iowa, Texas Tech*, Utah*, @Oklahoma, @Texas, @Colorado*, Nebraska, Missouri

In all, I believe ISU has 6 toss-up games in a very tough schedule. Of those 6, I have ISU winning 3. I think of toss-ups as coin-flip kinds of games, and a coin flip is a 50-50 shot. At this point, I'd figure I'd go with statistics here.

Another way to think of it as worst case scenario is 1 win, best case is 7, and 4 is right in the middle. I hate the idea of having a MAC team as a tossup game. I really think we win this one, but I've looked at various sites that have Northern Illinois at an equal or slightly better skill set than Iowa State. Northern Illinois is a run-first, defensive oriented team. I think it's a lower scoring game, something like 21-17, or 17-14. With the way our offense struggled last year, I doubt it will be clicking on all cylinders, despite the notable improvement they've made in the spring.

Iowa is the best shot at beating a Top 10 team in the road, but the way we played them last year was rough. I think ISU plays much closer to them this year, but it's hard to project a win at this point. That said, I love the placement of this game in the schedule. The ISU staff gets a couple of extra days to prep for this game, while Iowa is coming off a ho-hum game against Eastern Illinois and likely looking forward to their Week 3 opponent, a potential Top 25 team, and a trip to Phoenix. I don't think ISU could ask for a better time to play Iowa.

Utah is a name now in college football, and it makes sense why people doubt ISU in this one. I think 2009 would have been the year to play them as they would have had a fairly young team. This year they return almost their entire OL, a QB just entering his sophomore season, and a team with an experienced D-Line. Both this game and Texas Tech are the ones I'm the most curious about probably because it consists of a team I don't get to see play much, and another one with a different identity than we're used to seeing.

Continue reading this post »