All sorts of stories from the Des Moines Register today as I hear football season begins rather soon....
The offensive line is trying to block out negative thoughts, both from fan criticism and their offensive performance last year. Junior guard Tom Schmeling needs to become an anchor for the line, as he has the most experience out of any of the starters.
"I've heard it said we were the embarrassment," explained Schmeling, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound guard. "Stuff like that gets under my skin.
"Even if I don't know the person who said it, and I'm just passing by the conversation, that stuff sticks with you."
Statistics told much of the story.
The offense generated 4.9 yards per play, tying Colorado for the lowest average in the Big 12 Conference.
Iowa State's 18.8 points per game ranked 92nd nationally, out of 119 NCAA Division I programs.
Yeah, things were rather ugly. The group of Dedrick, Tibbs, Johnson, Schmeling and Lamaak has been set for quite a while. Let's hope that they've been working together and learning how to block. They can't get much worse than last year, can they?
The Register takes a look at Chizik's new assistants. I've got pretty good feelings about this group, though McFarland and Bolt need to prove that what they accomplished at UCF and Troy can be expanded on with what should be better talent.
Alvin Bowen is a tough guy. A tough guy that loves gymnastics. Let that image simmer in your head, Ace Bowen doing cartwheels and such...
Andrew Logue highlights seven things that could work out for the Clones this year. I agree that the newness of everything may very well be worth something. It seemed we were mighty predictable, especially on offense, last year. Plus, it's hard to see us getting much worse.
Logue also takes a look at the long-range vision for ISU football. How long are some of you guys giving Chizik to turn things around? We should be seeing something differenet with our eyes this year...hopefully something that translates to wins.
Head Coach Gene Chizik, Offensive Coordinator Robert McFarland, Defensive Coordinator Wayne Bolt and Director of Football Operations Barney Farrar once sunk a boat.
"I was in New York," Ford said. "We left the graduate assistants at home and they were taking care of the boat and everything."
Chizik and McFarland did a little cruising before docking at Lake Hartwell.
When Chizik went back a few hours later, the boat was hidden below the surface.
"I just got hired from being a high school coach, and it was my first week," Chizik said. "It wasn't a good start."
McFarland continues:
"Coach Chizik got in a panic. He called all of us, and we drove out there to see what was going on.
"We basically jumped in that water with gas and oil all over us," McFarland added. "We lifted it up. Barney was the lightest, so we put him inside and he was bailing water."
Let's hope the S.S. Cyclone stays afloat.