From Chad Leistikow of HawkCentral.com:
Dave Revsine, Jerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith view Iowa as West contenders. No surprise there. But there wasn't a strong vibe that this had the makings of a special Iowa team. A day earlier on their show from Lincoln, the tone was considerably more bullish about Scott Frost's second season in Nebraska (with DiNardo reversing an earlier opinion that the West-favored Cornhuskers were being overhyped).
“This is a vastly improved league,” Revsine says, with stops at Illinois and Northwestern remaining. “Minnesota is way better on the line of scrimmage. Wisconsin is better, particularly on that defensive line. They’re way better. I think they’re better at quarterback. Purdue has improved.
“What is making the West interesting is that everyone we’ve seen so far, you could construct an argument for everyone being in the race.”
The BTN’s concerns (with Iowa) are in line with what I’ve mentioned a lot this offseason: The run game, defensive tackle and free safety. They seemed a tad more skeptical about Iowa’s passing game than I expected.
“They’re (Iowa) a good solid team that’s going to be capable of beating anybody on any given day,” Revsine says. “And then it’s just a matter of, do you win those close games?"
It’s clear throughout our conversation that Revsine was born for this job, as he details the fact that Iowa lost three straight games a year ago by 12 combined points. He knows the Hawkeyes, through and through, just like he knows the rest of the Big Ten.
As we parted ways, Revsine offered one final helpful tip, which perfectly summarized what he's seen so far on the BTN Bus Tour.
“You better know the tiebreaker formula," he says, "backward and forward in the West.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 24 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ntz-gerry-dinardo-howard-griffith/2055784001/
Dave Revsine, Jerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith view Iowa as West contenders. No surprise there. But there wasn't a strong vibe that this had the makings of a special Iowa team. A day earlier on their show from Lincoln, the tone was considerably more bullish about Scott Frost's second season in Nebraska (with DiNardo reversing an earlier opinion that the West-favored Cornhuskers were being overhyped).
“This is a vastly improved league,” Revsine says, with stops at Illinois and Northwestern remaining. “Minnesota is way better on the line of scrimmage. Wisconsin is better, particularly on that defensive line. They’re way better. I think they’re better at quarterback. Purdue has improved.
“What is making the West interesting is that everyone we’ve seen so far, you could construct an argument for everyone being in the race.”
The BTN’s concerns (with Iowa) are in line with what I’ve mentioned a lot this offseason: The run game, defensive tackle and free safety. They seemed a tad more skeptical about Iowa’s passing game than I expected.
“They’re (Iowa) a good solid team that’s going to be capable of beating anybody on any given day,” Revsine says. “And then it’s just a matter of, do you win those close games?"
It’s clear throughout our conversation that Revsine was born for this job, as he details the fact that Iowa lost three straight games a year ago by 12 combined points. He knows the Hawkeyes, through and through, just like he knows the rest of the Big Ten.
As we parted ways, Revsine offered one final helpful tip, which perfectly summarized what he's seen so far on the BTN Bus Tour.
“You better know the tiebreaker formula," he says, "backward and forward in the West.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 24 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ntz-gerry-dinardo-howard-griffith/2055784001/