Got a lot of stuff around the interwebs today...

Doug Dedrick might be a bit crazy.

Ask Doug Dedrick about playing on the offensive line, and he'll break it down in brutish terms.

"It's like a fist," Iowa State's left tackle said. "You've got to bring all five fingers together, to bring pain with it."

Yeaaaa...

Really though, I've been impressed by the improvement that the defensive line has shown. They're really just a group of nobodies that probably wouldn't start most places, but they've held their own against admittedly not-that-good of competiton. The real task will be trying to contain Iwebema and King on Saturday. Both are better than our O-line has faced. Can they continue to open up holes for Bass? I hope so.

Sean Keeler feels this year's game will be strange without McCarney. That much is true. Mac made this back into a rivalry again. I'm sick of hearing about USF beating Auburn and how that somehow means we suck, but it's tough to forget some of the big wins Mac brought us.

"That's one of the main things I miss about being back in Iowa," says the Iowa City native, who bid an emotional farewell to Ames last November. "Being a part of that is one of the all-time great honors that I've ever had. When you're an Iowan, you really do miss that game and being a part of it."

The guys at Black Heart Gold Pants may also very well be crazy. But this gem from Hawkeye State had me chuckling.

Your frenzied dedication to this ridiculously pathetic cause forces us to pay attention.  And the sheer fact that I have to spend a week genuinely concerned with an 0-2 team that just LOST TO NORTHERN FUCKING IOWA and will lose every other game it plays this season, whether or not it's played in that half-full glorified high school stadium, pisses me off.  Your resentment turns your team from a worthless pile of overalls and discarded livestock parts into the 1985 New England Patriots.  It happened in 2002, when you ruined the Greatest Season Ever and sent me into a downward spiral of whiskey-soaked despair from which I have yet to recover.  It happened in 2005, when the inherent problems at Iowa were obvious to anyone watching but exploited to great effect by a team that subsequently lost to Baylor and Kansas.  And, at some point, it will surely happen again.

Iowa State finally wins at something, winning the fan for sale I mentioned a few weeks ago.

Want to know why there aren't names on the back of jerseys? The SAEN lets us know why.

Iowa State coach Gene Chizik has been adamant about a decision to keep his player’s names off the back of the Cyclones’ jerseys.

"Basically, this is a team game," Chizik said. "This isn’t a game about ‘look at me.’ If they play well enough and do well enough, people will know their names."

The Waterloo Courier has a really nice article on MIKE linebacker Jesse Smith.

"He just knows his stuff. He's very smart," said ISU weakside linebacker Alvin Bowen. "You look at Jesse and you think he's daydreaming. I mean, I really can't explain it. You look at him and you think he's not paying attention. You think he's not there. But you ask him something -- he's there."

"Jesse's like that. He's very cool, down to earth and all that good stuff."

Smith has performed better than I thought he would in the starting role. He's a sizeable dude, but let's see if he can hold his own against Iowa.

The men's basketball team is having another open scrimmage, Saturday, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Who might be there you ask....

Chris Williams has a breakdown of some of our men's basketball recruiting efforts. Here's who's been here and who should be here...

August 30:
G Wes Eikmeier (08 commit)
G Justin Hawkins (09 target)

September 8:
F Victor Davila (08 miss)

September 15:
F Clinton Mann (08 target)
G Trent Lockett (09 target)

Williams also goes on to mention the staff is in Utah today, scouting 6-11 '08 big man Justin Hamilton. ISU is in Hamilton's final three with Pepperdine and Weber State. The three-star prospect is sure flying under the radar, but this visit makes me feel like the staff is really worried about our '08 bigs situation.

Also, in the article, Chris speaks with Eikmeier - a guy that I've got a mancrush on because I think he'll be our next big 3-point threat along with Staiger - and Eikmeier really seems to enjoy it here.

"I think that the Iowa State atmosphere is really fun. I got to go around to all of the different tailgates going on," Eikmeier said. "It's a great atmosphere, but I'd have to say that I like the basketball atmosphere in Hilton a little better though."

He also mentions that Wes Johnson seems to be a big-time leader for the team.

"I figured that out right when I got on campus. You can tell that he's one of those guys who has been around for a while," Eikmeier said. "He's probably made the biggest impression on me."