Ben Patterson Sports

Welcome to Week 4, we began with 30 and now 8 remain. Here are this week's picks for Ben & Big City's Survivor League.

Here's the show in full.

Due to Chicago Cubs Baseball, the show was cut in half. Mason Edwards of BetUs.com was a guest. Have a sweet weekend, folks!

Yes, I know. I realize, you realize, uh huh...we're all aware. The UNI Panthers will wrap up the month of September with their fourth road game of the month tomorrow, this time by way of Normal, Illinois.

It started with the man-handling of Iowa State, continued in Brookings, SD with a victory over SDSU and recently made a stop behind a woodshed in Des Moines to dismantle the Drake Bulldogs.

During this stretch, the Panthers have ascended to #3 in the Division 1-AA (NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, if you've made the switch) Polls and really look unstoppable.

I say this team is better than the squad that fell to Appy St. in the 1-AA Final a couple years ago. To this point in the season, Eric Sanders has completed 80% of his passes. Corey Lewis is averaging 110 yards on the ground per game and 75 through the air. Not too shabby.

Speaking of Appy St., they lost last week so the #1 spot in the nation suddenly became wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open for consideration and I'm still scratching my head; how is UNI not #1 right now. Really though, they have a win over a BCS school in the Big 12 and a victory on the road at the #1 ranked Mid-major school in the country.

Sure, it makes sense in the shallow minds of many to move UNI up one rung from #4 to #3 but at what point does what you've done on the field start to speak? What has #1 Montana done? They haven't even left the state! UNI has 3 road games under its belt and Montana has been sucking down the sweet home cookin' and then eating cupcakes like Southern Utah, Fort Lewis and Albany.

At least #2 UMass has gone out on the road but Colgate has its success in the toothpaste aisle, not on the football field. The Minutemen have Boston College this weekend, so they'll be out of the way in no time.

Rankings talk aside, Saturday's game at Illinois State is by far the most important in the month of September. Sure, Drake knocked off the then #7 Redbirds in the first game of the season, but this is different; conference opponents don't take each other lightly. Especially in conference openers.

I fully expect the Panthers to go out tomorrow and get this thing done. And if they take care of business in a timely and orderly fashion, don't be surprised to see UNI leapfrog to #1 in the nation come next week.


Thanks to The Helmet Project for the helmet images.

Iowa State A.D. Jamie Pollard held a Media Conference today and unveiled ISU's new uniforms for the '08 football squad.

The new mark– a cardinal-colored capital “I” with a gold-colored “State” superimposed over it – earned a strong majority in an online vote of fans last month.

“More than 35,000 people voted for their preference on cyclones.com and the clear choice was the ‘Iowa State’ mark,” Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard said. “The winning margin for the logo was in double figures (percentage wise) in our online poll.”

Pollard also added that the department is not abandoning the use of Cy as the school mascot.

First off, it's good to know that Cy will not be forgotten. Secondly, I hope the Cyclones have thanked the USC Trojans for the uniform idea. Goodness gracious. Originally the department was going to go w/a white helmet design so the cardinal helmet hit me as a surprise. I think that the home uni's are kinda blah, but the road duds aren't that bad. I'm partial to the gold pants look. Coach Chizik was inspiration in flipping the uniforms, which is fine, but I think Cyclone fans would much rather see success on the field more than just well dressed losers.

New Look for Iowa State Athletics (Cyclones.com)

It was announced, stamped, sealed and official last week...the Iowa Barnstormers are on the rebound. This time around it is Arena Football 2 that will subject itself to the wonderful metropolis of Des Moines. And now, they have a head coach

John Gregory, former head coach for the Arena Football League Iowa Barnstormers, is returning to Iowa to assume the head coaching duties for the af2 version of the team. Gregory, who was named AFL Coach of the Year in 1996 and is credited with helping in the development of quarterback Kurt Warner prior to his playing in the NFL, also will be director of football operations.

Here's the thing, I really don't care about the freakin' Iowa Barnstormers. Even when they were losing Arena Bowls w/Kurt Warner it didn't matter. And how about the "this guy is credited for developing Kurt Warner" line? What garbage, yea, I'm sure Mike Martz and his genius of an offensive mind doesn't have anything to say about that. At any rate, woo hoo, we have football surrounded by walls! Yea, sure, it's a nice little thing to have but this af2 operation will cost too much for tickets, concessions and the like for the product received in return. Go watch the Panthers, Hawks or Cyclones and catch a real game. At least the starter-up Iowa Energy have the NBA affiliate.


Gregory will again coach the Iowa Barnstormers (DMR)

Here you go!

This is the full show right here.

The show was shortened by the Cubs, so it's about 20 minutes. Jason Powell of Fanballnews.com came on today and provided sterling Fantasy Football Analysis.

See ya.

Head Coach Kirk Ferentz held his weekly presser today, and what did we learn? The Hawks have a lot of injuries on their hands.

Wide-receiver Andy Brodell is lost for the season with a torn hamstring, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. Tight end Tony Moeaki also is out for a while after suffering a dislocated elbow and a broken hand.

Brutal. So, let's have a recap: Iowa has already lost their only playmaker on the outside, Dominique Douglas, and now it's their Alamo-Bowl-Record-Setting stud Brodell. What a bad time to be a Iowa receiver. Without a doubt though, the loss of Moeaki hurts the most because he was Christensen's #1 target. Just the sound of a dislocated elbow sends chills up the spine. Might be a little bit before he's back catching footballs.

Iowa's Brodell lost for season (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Here's yesterday's show:

Segment One
-What you watched this weekend

Segment Two

Segment Three

And here is the show in full.

Enjoy.

Here's your obligatory Sports Wrap post.

Right here is where you'll find Segment One
-Friday's w/Farley

Segment Two is here
-Mason Edwards of Betus.com
-Jay Rhymer

And this is Segment Three
-Jay Rhymer and his hilarious food joke

Thanks for stopping by.

Ex-Panther cage star Stout to have heart surgery (WCFCourier)
Photo via Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier File (WCFCourier.com)