*Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

[BCPanther]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

How exactly did ISU bend over for Texas?

Texas was gone unless they got their network. Iowa State helped facilitate that happening and made their competitive disadvantages even worse. It was the right move for them, but don't act like Texas used the lower revenue schools in the league to get everything they wanted.

[JackHilton]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

Texas was gone unless they got their network. Iowa State helped facilitate that happening and made their competitive disadvantages even worse. It was the right move for them, but don't act like Texas used the lower revenue schools in the league to get everything they wanted.

Actually Texas (and Nebraska) had been in the process of forming it's own network since at least 2008. They offered to split it with A&M but the Aggies passed. As it sits now, several of the schools have their own agreements to show tier 3 content: OU on FSW, KSUVision, KU with IMG, Cyclone.tv/Mediacom, etc... Every school is making more money and that is with OU and UT not being as strong as normal. Is Texas critical to the Big 12? Absolutely. Every league has one or two power brokers. See NDSU and Wichita State in the various Missouri Valley configurations.

[GonzoCat]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

They go hand in hand. ISU had to bend over for Texas to get to the point where they are self sufficient.

Well I guess they bent over to the same extent as the other 9 schools in the conference (are there 10 in the B12 now?), but Texas was driving the bus and the others all knew it. The option was to get on board and be very well rewarded for it, or everybody go their seperate ways. ISU probably had more to gain than any of the others, so in that respect they bent over the least of the little 9. That includes OK, which may have a decent fb team, but doesn't have much of a tv market, which is all that really counts anymore in college sports.

Well I guess OK does have oil money like our friends in ND, and that counts for something, but not much compared to tv.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

Our punter looked like a middle school punter....absolutely horrible....

This was the biggest factor in the game. And it allowed Lazard (who never returned a kick last year) to have great returns.

UNI average starting field position was the 12 yard line. ISU was the 48!

Good field position makes everything better. Bad field position makes everything worse.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

The new addition to Jack Trice looks pretty bad a$$. That facility went from looking very amateur 5 years ago to really quite impressive. Just about everything from the video boards to the concourse and sound system looks and feels brand new. Heck, even the concession stands had full grill menus.

The game day operations, however, are still very much amateur hour and wreak of the cheesy Cyclone game day atmosphere visiting fans are so familiar with. Tornado sirens, long drawn out intros, distorted and constantly clipping sound, and weather alert warnings should be left in the past with your old crappy stadium. You have come so far with the tools and resources available to you, why not upgrade everything else along with it?

Do ISU fans see and understand how the rest of the world views these things or is this sort of like explaining to your 62 year old Dad who just bought his first iPhone why he doesn't need to keep digging out the road atlas on family vacation?

To each his own.

I love the siren. As I walked up the stairs and into our front row seats in the new upper deck corner, the weather alert siren went off. It was awesome.

So, I guess I just proved your point.

I'll inform the other 60,000 that they shouldn't be enjoying it so much.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

The parking is also horrible, both in finding a spot and getting out. And we left with 6 minutes left.

I agree with everything else you said. That's not the same building at all anymore where I went to games as a kid. I wish they would allow the crowd and band to generate some of the noise instead of always cranking those speakers and artificial noise/music, though. It's pretty annoying.

Really. You gripe about the parking? Have you been to Iowa City for a game?

What did you expect at an event with 60,000 people and thousands more staying outside the stadium during the game?

I've been to a lot of games (Baylor at Texas, Alabama v. Missouri in the SEC championship last year). Parking in Ames is wonderful by comparison.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

Of all the things to pick on ISU about, this is a weird critique. I can't think of a FBS stadium that doesn't fly the other teams' flags or put the conference logo everywhere, including at your beloved Kinnick (and I've been to at least 30 across the country). Even Thursday night when I went to the Gopher game, their band trotted out all of the B10 flags...against a non-conference opponent (TCU). In fact I'd say the B10 schools lead in shameless conference promotion.

Agreed about the flags. It is quite common now. Some of you guys need to get out more.

For instance, the University of Texas displays an Iowa State flag on the field before each home game. That was fun to see . . . before the Baylor game!

I think the conferences are ratcheting this up in order to try to build brand identity. The "Big 12" logo is much more prominent now.

[GonzoCat]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

For those of you who don't quite understand how this works:

JagoffHilton == troll
Ban Basketball =/= troll

One only shows up here after his team defeats ours at something and only to cause trouble.

One is a true Panther fan who may have some differences of opinion from some other posters on some topics. For the record sometimes he's right and sometimes he's wrong, like every other poster. Even I was wrong once.

See the difference?

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

That place will look really strange in October and November with the sidelines half full and the endzone sold out.

I'm much more concerned about what the new south endzone section will look like when the weather gets bad or the game gets out of hand. Those are definitely seats for high-priced fair-weather fans. I think it is going to look horrible late in the season, even if the team does much better.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

which brings this full circle...if you are a UNI fan...you get the growl. If you are not, then you poke fun at it...like the clown siren. I think this stuff speaks volumes.

Exactly. I love the siren and the growl. In fact, I wish more was done with the growl.

For instance, let the crowd get quiet for a few seconds, then play the growl once, then the players start growling and beating on the door, then the fans start growling and going even more crazy as the door opens and the players run onto the field.

I think that would be awesome . . . and unique to UNI.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

The change in facilities at Jack Trice Stadium resulted in another big change . . . far fewer UNI fans in attendance.

Compared to 2 years ago:

- The UNI fans scattered around the stadium were similar in number (maybe a little more because of the availability of the $99 mini-packs for UNI, EIU, and one other game).

- The UNI fans in the Visitor's Section were significantly fewer (a few hundred of the $65 tickets were returned from the UNI Ticket Office). The front of the Visitor's section in the upper deck was largely wearing red.

- The UNI band was in the Visitor's Section. IIRC, they were on the field before (so that means there were even fewer fans in that section).

- There was no SW hillside packed with 2500 UNI fans (and no SE hillside at all). The remaining two hillsides on the north were reserved for Jr. Cyclone Club members and their parents. Not having these additional concentrations of UNI fans made a huge difference in the feel of the stadium.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

Did anybody correctly call the "touchback" on the Bundrage play that got reviewed? The call was out of bounds at the 4, but it got reviewed and they ruled him in-bounds. Therefore losing the ball and it hitting the pylon was a touchback by rule. One of the ISU fans near me correctly called it right away, even before the review. Everybody else was upset, but that was the correct call.

[Born-a-Panther]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

Did anybody correctly call the "touchback" on the Bundrage play that got reviewed? The call was out of bounds at the 4, but it got reviewed and they ruled him in-bounds. Therefore losing the ball and it hitting the pylon was a touchback by rule. One of the ISU fans near me correctly called it right away, even before the review. Everybody else was upset, but that was the correct call.

We watched from Pepper's and a friend of mine who was there with us called it correctly. I saw a number of people on Twitter call it correctly, too.

[UNIdad]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

We watched from Pepper's and a friend of mine who was there with us called it correctly. I saw a number of people on Twitter call it correctly, too.

I got it wrong. From our seats we could tell that he hadn't gone out of bounds, so we wanted the review. But I didn't know he fumbled until I saw the replay and even then I didn't know the rule.

The stupid things these guys do near the goal line drive me crazy. I hope the coaches go after Trevor Ryan for slowing up and putting an arm in the air on his TD. As a track guy, he should know to run through the finish line. He almost got caught.

[Kyle]

Re: *Game Thread* Iowa State 9/5

A bunch of people in out section called the touchback right away. They also happened to be the same group who shared the sentiments I expressed in my earlier post, so I must have been seated next to an exceptionally intelligent group of ISU fans.