House Passes Inspection, Hawks Found in Violation

What a great weekend. Felt like fall, with temps in the 60s and some needed rain. Spent Saturday morning and early afternoon watching the Hawks, most of Sunday with our church family, and lots of time to just relax. We received the good words, "Everything's great" Sunday afternoon, which means the house passed Friday's inspection. Our buyer didn't ask for anything to be done, which is the best news of all. Now we just wait for the next 61 days for our close on Nov. 28. It seems unlikely this date will change, as our sellers don't appear to be in a hurry to move. We'll likely move a truck of furniture on Saturday, Dec. 3. In between the 28th and the 3rd we'll get as many boxes as possible across town to limit the size and exertion of a big truck, Saturday move.

Thank God for taking care of this house business for us.

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Our house is in better shape than the Hawks house, that's for sure. Saturday's game was an out-and-out thrashing, even worse than the score of 31-6 indicates. Ohio State looked like a high school team that came down to the junior high and showed the little boys how to run, pass and score. Take away OSUs two turnovers inside Iowa's 10 yard line, and the punt return called back, and you got something closer to 50 points for the Buckos. Iowa never sniffed the end zone.

All of a sudden Iowa's schedule looks a lot more difficult than it did earlier in the season. Here's the breakdown:

• Illinois: They are more dreadful than Iowa (presumably after they got demolished by Michigan State). Iowa should win next week's homecoming game, but they do need to play well.
• Purdue: A game at Purdue that I thought would be an Iowa loss. I still think it will be.
• Michigan: Home game that I thought Iowa would win. Now, I think a win is unlikely without substantial improvement.
• Indiana: Still should be a home win, but Indiana has won some games this year.
• Northwestern: Road game, and Northwestern scored a few points on Penn State. This is a toss up at best now.
• Wisconsin: Barry Alvarez' last home game. An Iowa squeaker now looks like one for the "L" column.
• Minnesota: As of right now, there is no way Iowa can stop the Minnesota running game. None. Zip. Nada.

Add this all up and Iowa's 8-3 season (my prediction before the first kick-off) now looks like something between 4-7 and 6-5. I'll split the difference and predict a 5-6 finish for the Hawks, with wins coming against Indiana, Illinois, and Northwestern. 5-6 will be depressing going into the basketball season that always seems to be ready to underachieve.