Surprise, Surprise

About 2pm Central on Sunday is when we get the update.  I know that is the time I can check ESPN.com or Yahoo sports to get the new AP football rankings.  But short of the annual final BCS poll, it is hard for me to remember a rankings I anticipated more than today's.  After 4 top 10 teams tumbled this weekend (and a 5th, LSU, really should have), I knew the polls would be different.  But with the stumble by Florida State, the embarrsment by Washington, and the resounding thud by Miami, the pollsters had their work cut out for them.  Incidentally, I won a bet with by co-workers in the ER then I predicted Iowa would debut around 12 - 14.   And to our faithful poolers in State College, I again apologize (sort of). 

Beaver Stadium with its intimidating "White Out" is certainly an impressive setting for College Game Day and I was very pleased to see Kirk, Lee, and Chris camping out in Paternoville and munching on Mrs. Paterno's cookies.  The Nitanny Lions opened the game with a brilliantly executed play-action fake on the first play, whipping the "White House" into a frenzy.  But credit Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes for not losing their composure and sticking to their slug-it-out, scrappy game plan.  The Hawkeye defense played lights-out, explifying Defensive Coordinator Norm Parker's philosophy of giving "six seconds of Hell" to their opponent on every down.  With the win, the undefeated Hawkeyes are suddenly legitimate Big-10 conference contenders.  Amazingly, they even look better than USC right now. 


Fight On,
Hans