Harty: 2010 season finally here
Finally.
I don’t know about you, but I was starting to wonder if the 2010 Iowa football season would ever get here.
It seems like we’ve been salivating over this season since the moment last season ended Jan. 5 with a victory over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. It seems that way because we have been.
Many Iowa fans feel that Saturday’s season opener against Eastern Illinois will be the start of a historical journey to unprecedented success. They feel that way because they’ve been told it will be for almost nine months now.
As good as Iowa was last season while compiling an 11-2 record and winning the first BCS bowl game in school history, the 2010 team is supposed to be even better.
Some fans feel that Iowa will run the table if it can get past Ohio State in the 11th game. Never mind the other 11 teams on the schedule.
Fans have a tendency to get carried away, but even Skip Bayless from ESPN has climbed on the Iowa bandwagon. He predicted Friday that Iowa would finish 12-0 during the regular season and then defeat Boise State for the national title.
We can start judging for ourselves Saturday , but it’s important to remember that looks can be deceiving where Iowa is concerned.
Had somebody told you that last year’s team was headed for 11 victories after it struggled to defeat Northern Iowa 17-16 in the season opener, you might have responded by saying, “Yeah, right and the Iowa men’s basketball team also will make the NCAA Tournament next March.”
This isn’t to suggest that Eastern Illinois will put a scare into Iowa because this is the same program that laid out the red carpet for former Iowa quarterback Jake Christensen to be its starter last season.
Saturday’s game has mismatch written all over it, but so did last year’s games against Northern Iowa and Arkansas State, and yet Iowa only won both games by a combined four points at home.
Fans, and members of the media for that matter, shouldn’t put too much stock in Saturday’s game no matter what happens. It’s OK to expect that Iowa will prevail, but don’t get worried if the score isn’t 35-0 at halftime, and don’t start assuming that Iowa will be in another BCS bowl game if the score is 35-0 at halftime.
Follow the lead of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who is a master at not getting too high after an impressive victory or too low after an unimpressive loss.
Ferentz deals with whatever happens and then he moves on to the next challenge.
And speaking of Ferentz, you start to wonder if he’ll ever move on from Iowa now that his contract has been extended through the 2020 season and with him now being the highest paid football coach in the Big Ten. Ferentz would be 65 and in his 22nd season as the Iowa coach when the terms of his contract expire.
That’s so far in the future that all the road construction in and around Iowa City could be done by then.
The biggest concern for Iowa, besides, of course, winning Saturday’s game, will be staying healthy. Starting center Josh Koeppel isn’t expected to play after being involved in a traffic accident that looked much worse than it proved to be.
There also is a rumor that at least one more starter on the offensive line could miss Saturday’s game because of an injury.
The offensive line has three new starters and already was perhaps the biggest concern heading into the season.
And with Brandon Wegher still absent and Jewel Hampton suspended for Saturday’s game, Iowa will be shorthanded at running back. But that shouldn’t be a problem if starter Adam Robinson avoids getting injured Saturday because Hampton will return for next Saturday’s game against Iowa State.
As for avoiding things, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi needs to avoid throwing any interceptions Saturday. He’d be the first to say that he threw too many picks last season.
“It’s not OK to make a careless pass in practice and just think, `Oh, it’s just practice, it’s not a big deal because it’s going to show up and it did show up for our team and for me last year,” Stanzi said. “Practicing all those habits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday can definitely help what happens this Saturday.”
But enough with practice. It’s time to finally see the real thing.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
