I did just about everything I could to delay writing this, I just didn’t have the energy to revisit a second straight loss that could have, likely should have, been a win. It’s just tiring at this point.
I was going to write it Sunday evening, but decided that I’d rather spend a few hours running around a virtual Norse purgatory slaughtering a rather large dragon and many, many, goblinesque creatures called fulings (if you dig survival games and haven’t tried Valheim, I can’t recommend it highly enough). Then I was going to write it Monday evening, but Jr. had a friend over and we watched “Airplane!” and then highlights of a bunch of other football games. Then I was going to write it last night, but Jr. put on “The Sandlot” while I was making dinner, so we watched that. Then the wife came down and we fired up the new Ken Burns doc (which is fantastic btw) and I couldn’t bring myself to get off the couch to write.
So here I am, on my lunch break that occurs a few hours after this piece normally goes out, doing my best to figure out how I’m feeling about 96 hours after the end of Iowa’s hopes to do something with this season beyond playing in a upper-tier bowl game that doesn’t have any real importance beyond extra practice and a brief respite from the Iowa winter for the fans who can afford it. I’ll level with you, I don’t feel great.
I felt great about the game on Saturday over the first 30 minutes, I’d bet almost all of us did. 21 points in the first half of a game in Iowa’s least-favorite time zone and a downpour? Long passes and trick plays for touchdowns? That first half couldn’t have gone much better, and I even allowed myself to feel a little sorry for my buddy (a USC fan) who drove all the way across the Valley to watch the game from my couch (seriously, it’s like an hour drive, so…). I’ll give him this, he didn’t get anywhere near as effusive when USC slowly, methodically, fought their way back and was gracious in victory (plus he brought Carnitas, Lenguisa, and fresh homemade pork rinds, so just a winner all around).
As I watched the Trojans (and their insane WRs) move the ball down the field time after time after time against what was, at least in my estimation, pretty good (if not great) coverage, after half, I could feel whatever enthusiasm I had left slowly evaporating. Watching Iowa’s offense get stuck in the mud drive after drive, certainly didn’t help. I kept thinking, why have we gone almost completely away from what was working in the first half? Where was the creativity, the courage, the drive, that the offense showed in the first half? We couldn’t possibly be turtling already, not against the #2 offense in the country. There was no way that Kirk actually though 21 points would be enough to win this game, could he? Well, we got our answer.
I could spend a lot of time harping about the refs (and they were really, really bad), or the conditions (but USC played in the same weather we did), or the defense not putting pressure on Maiava enough (because even when they did he’d just throw up a prayer and somehow Lemon or Lane would manage to come down with it), but it all seems kind of pointless. The season isn’t over, but what’s left doesn’t really mean anything.
This week we’ll be big favorites against an MSU team that was in pretty bad shape to start the season and has only suffered more injuries, and I’d guess we’ll be roughly 3 point dogs against a Raiola-less Nebraska squad that is in the same position that we are, though they might be looking for their 9th win to keep the hope of a 10 win season alive (needless to say I’ll be rooting for Penn State this weekend) in a Heroes Game that will serve as little more than a way to kill 4 hours on Black Friday. I’ll watch both of these games, because that’s what we do, but it’s going to be hard to get myself to actually care too much about the outcome.
Saying Goodbye
“Anyone that argues about the number of human beings that died in the Holocaust should be kicked in the balls, both balls to be specific.” – Jay Allen Holstein
Before I go, I want to note that one of the truly great professors in the history of the University of Iowa passed away on November 14th. I don’t know how many of the folks that read BHGP actually went to school in Iowa City, but if you did, and happened to be a student anytime between 1970 and 2022, it’s almost certain that you were aware of Professor Jay Holstein.
To say that Professor Holstein is a legend is not hyperbole, and it’s likely impossible to count how many students he inspired, or pissed off, over his 52 years on staff, but he delivered some of the most memorable lectures of my time and used every ounce of his anger, forgiveness, understanding, and insight to change the way 10s, if not 100s, of thousands of kids between the ages of 18-22 looked at the world. Hell, I ended up with a Minor in religion because I took every class of his I could (aside from the one he was best known for, Quest for Human Destiny, it was always full by the time I tried to register for it).
He was a mountain of a human, but not a mountain measured in size (he was a rather short), and the world is both better for having had him in it, and worse for having lost his biting wit and hatred of yawning. So next time you light up a smoke, blow a little bit his way, because I’m sure he’s still missing it.
Goodbye Jay, you will be missed more than you ever would have fathomed.
