Ham

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I love this time of year. Every team in the country is undefeated. Optimism is rampant, on the field and in the stands. I'm looking forward for a daily glimpse of the on field action to feed my optimism!

Big thanks to our beat reporters! I get the feeling that Boogie's attitude is pervasive with this team. I'm looking forward to this fall.

Thanks CK (& Dr Z). I've said it before; that 80%(attitude) is what will make the difference in the fall. With that kind of senior leadership, MAC, you better look out!

Thanks to CK & Dr Z, I think we are getting a great assessment of our team. It seems like we haven't missed a beat. The one thing that stands out to me from your observations is how Arth interjects himself in multiple position drills. Perhaps coming from FCS where you must be able to develop players to be successful is just what we need. Additionally, spending an hour with HC's and potential recruits really sends a message.

He meant we might bristle with pride!

Thanks CK. This just confirms for me what I expected. New coach/ new depth chart! One's and two's of old will crank it up to stay there; all others will see their chance to move up. I firmly believe that at this level performance is 20% ability/80% attitude. I expect some big surprises out of this group. Much can be accomplished with the proper attitude. We may not win the MAC, but I don't expect a down year. Save some vacation for December.

YSU and UNI are very comparable teams. UNI brings a lot of heart burn to Ames and Iowa City when they visit. Just sayen.

Fruit Jar Tech presents a great opportunity to get an important road win and build on last night's performance.

Yes, it was a great read, but it was quite revealing! We heard so much about the effort to recruit NE Ohio in the past. Some of the comments made it seem like we had no presence in the HS community in the very places we needed to be most. If nothing else, Arth can help change that dismissive attitude in our back yard. Winning players? Butts in the seats.

Thanks Kreed & Dr Z. That was the simple explanation I couldn't get from ESPN.

Kreed, please help a geezer. With ESPN+, do you get all ESPN content, including ESPN3? for $5?

Capt, I'm looking forward to your story. Your personal assessment along with Arth's recommendations from some pretty impressive football people should calm the "Nation". Zippy, I haven't seen where Arth has rescinded any offers, and Feb. isn't that far off. I think giving the commits a chance to look around will help us recruit in the future.

I haven't seen any mention of Arth meeting with the team. Were any players at the presser?

With all the pig skin championship games this weekend, that third goal should still be in the top 10 highlights! ESPN make room for it.

Being a diehard, I watched the OU game to the bitter end. I couldn't believe they didn't take a knee for the last play of the game. I hope all of our underclassmen remember those 7 points. Even more, I hope they have a chance to return the favor.

FearFULL Forecast: Once again, we play not to lose. No TD's in the game. Zips win with a field goal.

How do repeated 3 & out's help one win a game? If a D loads up on one area, they must leave other areas vulnerable. It's on the OC to exploit those vulnerabilities. We seem to put our O in a position to be exploited. RPO when there are more defenders than blockers, Roll out and then throw 50yds across the field. I can't believe that any reasonable person wouldn't see that we had no offense last week. I hope we don't see a repeat this week.

Hate to say it but, if Ramart starts, this is a loss. Not so fast. Ramart had a bad outing last game, but I think he will be able to step in and be the "next man up"! (FF)

I think Sands fumbled on his last carry. That may have kept him on the sideline. Taking care of the ball might also have an effect at QB; although I haven't seen anything to indicate TB's displeasure with Kato.

Dr Z nailed it. I hope an extra week of prep will help with execution. TB looks for the big plays. I think our men would be better served if they concentrated on the little things.

Cykron, I was only needling you about Canada. I should have referenced the DM Register concerning our D. Not only denigrating our D Sunday, they referenced us as an FCS opponent earlier in the week. Akron Zips, you think ABJ is bad, "The Paper Iowa Depends On" prints Friday night football results in their Sunday edition, nothing Saturday morning!

Even when we go to Canada? ( They have me worried.) Our running game needs to step it up! Kato's int obviously cost us points, but to say "he wasn't sharp all day" is an understatement. It's unfair to discount our D's performance when evaluating ISU offensive out put.

Rain may force us out of G7. If you come looking for us, send me a text at 515-822-6771 for an up date. On the way to Ames now. Should have first Irish coffee by 6:15!GO ZIPS!

Keys to the game: Contain Montgomery & Butler Our D has come up big so far. If they can continue that Sat, Zips win. For 5 min the Clones ran over the Jacks before lightning intervened. The above stats came against big time opponents. Can we match those numbers? I think we can come close enough to win. We did pretty good with Larken, a quality back. Our secondary looked real good at open field tackling. Butler got a lot of yards after broken tackles. In addition, I can see some hard hits producing "alligator arms", shrinking Hakeem's catch radius. The biggest question will be, can our O of the last 2 quarters show up for the next 4 quarters?