Forget the Maine

Crafty JackCosgrove and the Maine Black Bears are airborne as I write this, heading home to Orono to regroup and prepare to give the Monmouth Whoevers the beatings of their lives next Saturday.

Bring on Florida International. The Golden Panthers are getting ready to stun the Kansas Jayhawks tonight in Lawrence. And by stun, the Hlog means lose by less than 55 points.

Because the Hlog did such a thorough job scouting Maine the last month, Iowa undoubtedly was the best-prepared team in America this week. With a just a week to prep for Florida International, the Hlog can’t promise the same results.

Oh, sure it can. Another 46-3 type win is in the offing for Iowa, and you all know it. Then the real season begins.

By the way,  Utah over Michigan isn’t a true upset. The Utes are good. The Wolverines? Not so much.

More thoughts on the Saturday slate tomorrow after a little time to size up everything.

Remember the Maine – 10 Days Till Kickoff

People can change. Most don’t, but it is possible.

Let’s say you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Iowa Hawkeyes football fan. You can’t possibly ever switch allegiances, right? Well, maybe.

But let’s say you are so smitten with the gutty, gritty, savage performance of the Maine Black Bears in their game at Iowa on Aug. 30 that you fall wildly in love with them. How in the world will you afford all those road trips?

Not to worry, future Black Bears backers. The team is offering fans the chance to travel with it to three of its road games from Bangor to Monmouth, Richmond and Delaware.

The following is from the Maine football site at http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/081808aab.html

Join Maine Football on the road in 2008! Once again this season, Black Bear Club members can be a part of the action when the Maine football team travels. Members are eligible to purchase seats on the team charters and travel with the team, experiencing first-hand the excitement of Maine football. Spots on the team charter are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and include:

**Roundtrip transportation on the team charter.

**Ground transportation.

**Friday evening dinner.

**A ticket to the game.

The cost for each trip is $400 per person. Hotel arrangements are not included and must be booked separately. Flights will depart mid-morning from Bangor the Friday prior to each game and return immediately following the contest. For more information on joining a charter trip, please contact Pat McBride at patmcbride@maine.edu or 207-581-1099.

Available away games are as follows:

DATE … OPPONENT … LOCATION … GAME TIME

09/06/08 … at Monmouth … West Long Branch, N.J. … 1:00 p.m. ET

09/20/08 … at Richmond … Richmond, Va. … 3:00 p.m. ET

10/11/08 … at Delaware … Newark, Del. … 6:00 p.m. ET

Now I ask you, Hawkeye fans, has your team ever asked you to travel along with it to West Lafayette or East Lansing unless you are one of the super-super-super wealthy boosters of the program? No, the Hawkeyes (and all major-college teams) expect you to find your own way to road games. That often means dirty truck stop restrooms, fried fast-food off Interstate exits, and lots of fossil fuels burned.

You don’t get to sit next to a Hawkeye linebacker on a charter flight to Bloomington for the game against the Hoosiers. No, you have to pile seven or eight to an SUV and spend several hours looking out the window at … Illinois. It’s a price many of you are willing to pay, but it’s a steep one.

After Crafty Jack Cosgrove’s uncaged Black Bears bare their teeth in Iowa City, maybe some of you will say “You know what? I don’t really feel the need to come back here next week to see the Hawks play Florida International Airport. I think I’ll follow these doggone Bears to West Long Branch, New Jersey instead. Via Bangor, of course.”

Just 10 days till Maine-Iowa. Sleep is getting more difficult with each passing night.

Remember the Maine – 13 Days Till Kickoff

Who are these Black Bears of Maine  prepping to come into Kinnick Stadium Aug. 30 to try to take a massive chomp out of Iowa’s hopes and dreams for the 2008 season?

Well, they are defensive end Jordan Stevens, whose athletic claim to fame was downhill skiing before he came to Orono (the home of the U. of Maine). He was an excellent peformer for his high school ski team in Temple, Maine.

“Skiing taught me not to be afraid to go after something,” Stevens said.

He also said “It’s a big deal playing a team like Iowa. But it’s just another game.”

And: “My mind-set is, it’ll be like any other game.”

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/5304202.html

Everyone who believes that, stand on your head. These Bears have been frothing at the mouths for this game ever since it was scheduled. They’re silent but deadly in Maine. Sure, they only won four of their 11 games last year and are picked to finish fourth in the Northern division of the Colonial Athletic Association.

That’s just how they like it. You underestimate the Black Bears, you risk losing a limb or two.

A player contending to be Maine’s No. 1 placekicker was on the football team’s video crew last year. That’s the Black Bears. They can do it all.

“Even when they told me they didn’t have room for me. I like working out, so I worked out anyway. I’d come in here … 9:30, 10 o’clock, and I’d kick into those field goal posts,” John Moloney said.

Maine’s coach, Crafty Jack Cosgrove, invited Moloney to join the team as a walk-on.

Moloney and three freshmen are competing for the starting kicker’s job.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/5301277.html

“A lot of the things that are going to be somewhat new to whoever is going to be our first-string kicker won’t be new to John because he has at least traveled with us and been around our football operations,” Cosgrove said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s our kicker this year.”

Wouldn’t be surprised? That’s a good one. Crafty Jack probably knows Moloney can pop them in from 60 yards if asked.

Oh, the tricks Crafty Jack and his vicious Black Bears have in store for the Hawkeyes. Why couldn’t Iowa have scheduled a softer season-opener, like a game against Missouri. Oh right, they scheduled Mizzou several years ago for a series of games, and Mizzou backed out of the deal.

Many programs would have said to heck with it and filled that suddenly open date with a patsy. But not Iowa. No, the Hawkeyes are bringing in Maine.

It’s very brave. But is it wise?

Remember the Maine: 18 Days Till Kickoff (and the Hawkeyes Fire Back)

OK, so this is about the Maine Black Bears and Iowa Hawkeyes, not the California Golden Bears and Iowa Hawkeyes. Hey, you try to find an image of the Maine and Iowa logos together.

Maine, which has every intention of destroying Iowa’s Labor Day weekend with an Aug. 30 football victory over the Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium, has competition in the Hawkeyes in the propaganda department.

The Black Bears have been posting news from their practices on their football Web site – http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/main-m-footbl-spec-rel.html. Well, the Hawkeyes are fighting Internet fire with Internet fire.

The University of Iowa owes the Hlog big-time for this plug (since the UI is taking a $231 million hit from flood damage, consider this the Hlog’s gift to the school. Is it tax-deductible, by the way?). At the UI’s Hawkeyesports.com, a daily rundown of practice is available for you millions and millions of Hawkeye fans who crave football news but can’t get it because practice is closed to the media and public.

As you might imagine, since it is the school’s own site, the news is tremendously fabulous. All of it.

OK, so the Iowa people haven’t mentioned tight end Tony Moeaki’s foot injury on their updates, an injury strongly suspected but not confirmed in cyberspace. They’re trying to beat Maine here, folks, not be Anderson Cooper.

But what the Hawkeye people have revealed is clearly a campaign to throw the Black Bears off their feed. For instance, the following nuggets for the Black Bears to fear in the next two paragraphs here are courtesy of Hawkeyesports.com at http://hawkeyesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/iowa-m-footbl-spec-rel.html.

Preseason practice No. 11 for the Hawkeyes included several spectacular plays from players who are not only making an impact on the depth chart, but may soon become household names. Wide receiver Paul Chaney Jr., made a remarkable touchdown catch during a two-minute drill. Tight end Allen Reisner hauled in a diving reception in the end zone for another score. Then there was walk-on Steve Staggs from Oskaloosa, who concluded the scrimmage with a nice grab in traffic before he absorbed a big hit but held onto the ball.

“Colin Sandeman had a nice day and Andy Brodell made some nice catches as well,” said UI offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe following the scrimmage. “Sandeman has really been coming on strong and competing extremely hard the last four practices or so. We have a lot of good competition at the X position with Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and Colin at this stage. Brodell is a veteran guy and knows what he’s doing — he made the catches that came his way today which he needs to do. The tight ends — Brandon Myers and Allen Reisner — showed up and made some big plays as well today. Chaney did a nice job and he’s starting to play full speed. Some of the young guys who are making plays at the wide receiver position — Steve Staggs had a nice play at the end of practice, Nick Kuchel has really been competing hard, Ben Evans — those guys have all been pushing for their chances to show what they can do when the ball is thrown their way.”

See that, Maine? For much of last season, the Hawkeyes had nothing but freshmen receivers running routes O’Keefe probably couldn’t recognize. That wasn’t a good thing.

This year, it’s Randy Moss one one side, Terrell Owens on the other, Dallas Clark II and III at tight end, and a plethora of young Jerry Rices dotting the depth chart. Everywhere you look at practice there’s a future “household name” making a big-time catch or competing like heck.

Maine is savvy in the battle of words, however. It has countered with nuggets like this from its practice reports, knowing Iowa allowed 46 quarterback sacks last season and is sensitive about the subject:

DAILY NUMBER: 2 – Consecutive seasons that Maine has finished in the top 15 nationally in sacks.

But Hawkeyesports.com will surely have an offensive line report coming soon that will address that matter. Let’s see, five offensive line positions. The over/under on future “household names” there should be set at about 14.

Remember the Maine: 21 Days Till Kickoff

The Black Bears of Maine are loose.

While the entire state of Iowa is on edge waiting for the Aug. 30 Maine-Iowa football clash, the Black Bears are relaxed. Thursday afternoon, they enjoyed some paintball and going through their campus Army ROTC obstacle course.

Crafty Jack Cosgrove, Maine’s coach, clearly is a master of psychology. This will not be a team that pink locker rooms can subdue. This will be a team that will be razor-sharp mentally. And physically.

Those Bears, you see, have their first two-a-day practice today. They’ll have another two-a-day Monday, with the second practice featuring a scrimmage.

Crafty Jack keeps his Bears loose, but with their eyes on the prize. This outfit is coming to Iowa with a master plan. Beware of the Bears.

Remember the Maine – 23 Days Till Kickoff

 

Continue to take the vicious Maine Black Bears football team lightly, if you must, Iowa Hawkeye fans. But if you think those Bears aren’t going to bring Bad News to Kinnick Stadium, guess again.

Fact: Maine returns 94.7 percent of its rushing yards from last season. That would be 1,878 out of 1,984.

Fact: Iowa returns 2.2 percent of its rushing yards from last season. That would be 33 out of 1,515. The Hawkeyes’ leading returning rusher isn’t even a running back. It’s receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who had two carries for 19 yards. Reserve quarterback Ricky Stanzi is second with 13 yards on one carry.

Iowa, in fact, doesn’t have a running back who had a rushing attempt for the team a year ago. Maine, meanwhile, returns Jhamal Fluellen, who had 1,052 rushing yards in 2007.

Crafty Jack Cosgrove had a team with a 4-7 record last year, a team that lost to Stony Brook. But for years, he’s been nurturing a squad that could come together all at once on one big day. That day is Aug. 30. That place is Iowa City. The Maine Black Bears are approaching, and they may be the ones bringing the traps.

Remember the Maine – 24 Days Till Kickoff

Oh, the skullduggery that Maine is knee-deep in just to try to gain an upset football win at Iowa on Aug. 30.

It turns out that Crafty Jack Cosgrove, Maine’s head coach, was Kirk Ferentz’s top offensive assistant when Ferentz was Maine’s coach from 1990 through 1992. Cosgrove (above) was promoted to head coach in 1993 when Ferentz left Maine to join the Cleveland Browns’ coaching staff, and Cosgrove has waited patiently for the chance to show his old boss something.

Fifteen years later, Crafty Jack has that chance. He probably played the “old friends” card to get Maine the date at Iowa. Just for the infusion of money to the cash-strapped Maine program, you know. Yeah, right.

Crafty Jack may have used the same ploy to get his program a game at Mississippi State four years ago. He lulled the SEC’s Bulldogs to sleep with that poor-boy act, and his Black Bears came home with a stunning 9-7 victory.

This is what Maine does. It pretends to be a little boutique of a football program, but it plans carefully for years to make big impacts. It picks a perceived vulnerable target, sets up a seemingly innocent game, and then strikes with the ferocity of, well, a Black Bear.

If you doubt the lengths to which Maine will go to sink the Hawkeyes, know that Black Bears defensive coordinator Robb Smith was a graduate assistant on Ferentz’s Iowa staff from 1999 through 2001. Crafty Jack scooped him up, undoubtedly to learn everything he could learn about Ferentz’s Hawkeyes program as he drew closer to the day when he could bring his Black Bears to Iowa City.

Smith earned a masters degree in communications from Iowa in 2002. These are very smart, savvy people, folks. Disregard them at your own peril.

Remember the Maine – 30 Days Till Kickoff

Sometimes, we Iowans get sick of the corn references. There’s more to Iowa than corn, despite what the rest of the world thinks.

Like pigs. No, I don’t mean the world thinks like pigs. I meant Iowa also has pigs. And soybeans. And cows. And college football.

Iowa hosts the Maine Black Bears in football Aug. 30, which is 30 days from today, July 31. Thirty days until the Maine Black Bears bring their special brand of chaos and danger to the Kinnick Stadium turf. Hang on to something.

Like Iowans who weary of corn being the first thing associated with their home state, Maine citizens (Maineiacs?) have lobsters. You think Maine, you think lobsters.

But Maine has a lobster problem. People aren’t driving to Maine this summer like they once did to buy those lobsters, driving the prices down. Of the lobsters, that is, not the gasoline.

Lobster has fallen to the price of sliced turkey in parts of New England. Which is less than $6 a pound.

For lobster!

We’re not talking sliced turkey here, people. We’re talking about the crustacean half of surf and turf. We’re talking about something considered a delicacy in Iowa and Nebraska and Montana and New Mexico and Tennessee and, uh, I’ve run out of states that come to mind. Oh yeah, Illinois.

This doesn’t help us, because Maine’s summer lobsters are mostly soft-shelled and too fragile to ship very far. Prices are typically lower in summer, because you have to go to the top of the Northeast U.S. to get them. So current demand is as soft as the lobsters themselves, because who wants to go through tank after tank of expensive gas to save a few bucks on seafood?

Anyway, you’d think corn-fed Hawkeyes would maul lobster-eating Black Bears in the time it takes to put on a lobster bib. Which is just what Maine wants Iowa to think. Northern U.S. black bears mostly eat fruit, but 10 percent of their diet consists of small animals.

Don’t take this team picked to finish fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association Northern Division lightly, and DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!

Why would you, anyway? They can get cheap lobster.

Black Bears eat many different types of foods that people also eat, including fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, apples, and peaches. Black bears also eat small animals, but they account for only about 10% of a

Remember the Maine: 34 Days Till Kickoff

It’s 34 days until the Maine-Iowa football game, Aug. 31 in Iowa City.

The USS Maine, a second-class battleship built between 1888 and 1895, was sent to Havana in January 1898 to protect American interests during the long-standing revolt of the Cubans against the Spanish government. On Feb. 15, 1898, Maine sank when her forward gunpowder magazines exploded. Nearly three-quarters of the battleship’s crew, 260 in all, died as a result of the explosion.

Though it isn’t sure if internal or external foces caused the tragedy, American popular opinion blamed Spain. Yellow journalism stoked that opinion, and the Spanish-American War followed within a few months.

Now, in 2008, the Maine Black Bears are bringing their football team to Iowa City for the most-important season-opener in the history of the sport. The Hlog will monitor what Maine is up to in the time leading up to that big day. You have to keep an eye on the Black Bears. They’re hungry.

The Black Bears open camp Aug. 4. They’re picked to finish fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association’s six-team North Division, behind Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Hofstra.

Don’t be deceived by that. Repeat: Do not be deceived by that.