The mad bastards at Black Hearts Gold Pants and I did the blogger exchange. Adam Jacobi who also goes under the name “Oops Pow Surprise” is also a cohort at FanHouse and the creator of the awesome JoePa Chronicles. My responses to his questions can be found here.

So, what does Iowa have to offer other than corn, ethanol and every few years an infestation of pandering politicians?

Sir, our state is rich in many things. You neglect hogs, soybeans, and wine. Yes, wine. Sure, it’s totally unpotable, but you should pick up a bottle of the local Grigio anyway–I’ve never seen anything take the stain off a deck and kill the weeds underneath like that.

Is there any difference between Stanzi or Christensen at QB other than name length? Is there an Iowa fan preference?

Sure, there’s a difference. Christensen is more experienced, but a full year of getting beaten into submission–46 sacks in 2007–has turned him into a frightened rabbit under center. But all the same, he doesn’t throw picks. He doesn’t throw much of anything, really, not when there’s a defensive lineman in the same, uh, area code.

Chased by a bear

Or a bear.

Stanzi’s fresh, taller, and can put touch on a ball. He also throws severely ill-advised passes about 10-15% of the time and probably played his way right out of the starting lineup with a 5-14, 2-pick performance against ISU. Oh, and he left 11 points off the board on what should have been easy TD passes. You won’t really know who’s starting until Saturday morning; Stanzi started against FIU after Ferentz named Christensen his man earlier that week.

Any arrests or academic casualties in the last few days? Follow-up, has the strong start by Iowa alleviated some of the negativity towards Ferentz and the football team that seemed to be there prior to the start of the season?

Iowa has behaved very well, COED NAKED CAMPUS JOGGING aside, over the last 4-6 months or so. I think it’s that more than the strong start that’s soothing tensions; we all knew what Iowa would do in the first three weeks, but we could only pray discipline would follow suit. So far, it has. Oh wait, never mind, I just looked outside and the starting left tackle is running down the middle of the road shooting cars. I wish the GTA franchise had never been invented sometimes.

I understand Ferentz is from the Pittsburgh area? Have you heard anything about that?

Huh. You’d think the press would pick up on that.

So who is this Shonn Greene guy? Is he really this good or is it the O-line? Or simply the competition faced so far?

Yes, yes, yes. Greene is an absolute punisher, probably a biscuit away from 230 pounds. He doesn’t have that breakaway gear, but he’s quick and decisive enough to hit holes before they close. While pretty much anybody with two legs can run on FIU and Maine, Greene also managed 120 yards on 20 carries against Iowa State, and that’s even with several slips on a rain-slicked field without a defender near him. If we had to guess, Greene probably would have managed about 25 carries and 160 yards in good conditions.

And last, the offensive line really deserves credit, because it’s really easy to be a successful tailback when nobody touches you until you’re five yards past the LOS every time. This is where Pitt needs to step up in order to have a shot at winning.

The Iowa defense has dominated so far — against Maine, FIU and Iowa St. What is the strength of the defense? Is there a noticeable weakness so far?

The strength? That’s tough to say. Iowa’s loaded with high-end talent in their front four–while King and Kroul aren’t ideal NFL type guys, they’re very disruptive and both will have good shots at 1st Team All-BXI this year. The ends, Ballard and Clayborn, are rampaging beasts growing into starting roles. A wily coach (snicker) might be able to take advantage of their inexperience, but if Pitt’s tackles aren’t up to par, it might be a long afternoon for the Pitt offense.

Meanwhile, the big story behind the line is the athleticism and depth; Iowa goes two-deep with ease at *every* position except, like, free safety, leading to situations like a true freshman corner defending a pass in the end zone against ISU late in the fourth quarter. On fourth down. It’s really nice to have lots of fresh legs in crunch time.

While I looked at the roster before the season and saw a stout rush D, it’s Iowa’s pass coverage that deserves credit; they’re third in the NCAA in pass efficiency defense. Of course, that said, they have played two high schools, one of them full of deaf kids, and the second-worst program in the BXI, so Stull’s probably going to do better than the previous competition. Still weird.

If I had to pick a weakness, the corners aren’t great at playing the ball, and schematically you can attack them on the edges. But they’re both very sure tacklers, and ISU couldn’t do anything in the red zone through the air. I expect Pitt to top the eight points that Iowa’s given up so far this season, of course, but if there’s a big weakness, ISU sure wasn’t able to do anything about it.

What would the BHGP reaction be if Iowa loses to a Wannstedt-coached team? Are we talking apocalyptic?

Depends on how Iowa loses. It’s a road game, and Iowa’s never beaten anyone of significance on the road in September. Iowa’s best non-conference road win over the last 20 years is over a Roethlisberger-led Miami U team by 5. Literally.

We looked at the schedule before the season and said 3-1 was probably going to happen. Of course, your boys had to go and lay down a steamer in the second half against BGSU, so we’ll be a little more pissed at a loss than if Pitt were 2-0, but we don’t know how good this Iowa team is supposed to be yet–and I think you’re in the same boat with Pitt–so this is more of a bellwether game than a Prove Your Manhood/Defend Your Honor game.

That said, if Iowa fumbles it away or loses in an otherwise boneheaded fashion, we will be charging our anger lazers and shooping da woop without conscience. There’s no excuse for giving a game to the Wannstache. Look what happened to West Virginia. Rich-Rod was lucky not to be murdered.

What predictions will you make about this game?

Whoever loses is going to be very pissed off about it, thanks to a low score and frightening aerial displays on both sides. Stull should plan to be either very patient or very unproductive this weekend, and the Iowa passing game appears to be a mess once again.

The O/U is 41.5; take the under. Honestly, I give Pitt the slight edge here; while Iowa’s probably slightly better, home games are a lot easier to win, especially early in the year. 20-17? 14-13? It should be close.

Go ahead and take your best cheapshot at Pitt and thanks for playing.

Thanks for playing. Be sure to check out BHGP regularly for all of your Iowa Hawkeye needs.