Sun Tzu wrote:  If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  Being a maniacal supporter of the Hawkeye’s (you are at this site after all) we are going to assume you already know the Hawks.  The purpose of these postings is for you to get to know the bad guys for each week.  Also included will be match-ups, predictions, and of course, a couple one-liners for a few of you to get offended by.

As always, the Hawkeye football campaign begins with a cannon fodder team.  A Saturday where you can tailgate and do all the stuff you do every game, except at this game you leave at half time because the Hawks are already up by 40 and you have gotten a terrible sunburn.  This year, it’s the Montana Grizzlies, a 1AA team out of the Big Sky conference that will entertain us for the season opener.  Last year the Grizzlies went 8-4 (5-2 in conference) and had the best overall record in the Big Sky.  Not bad right?  Well, if you take a look at the schools in the Big Sky, you will notice that they would probably get their asses handed to them by some elite high school teams.  Weber State?  Sacramento State?  Portland State?  If Jim Rome was right about what he said about schools with “State” in the name, the Big Sky is the short bus conference of college football.  Last season, the Grizzlies biggest victory was against a school called Ft. Lewis, 55-0.  Apparently it’s a school, at first I thought it was a Montana militia football club that they played in a scrimmage and it got recorded on the regular schedule.  The Grizzlies had their biggest lost against the only familiar name opponent of that year, Oregon, 47-14.  In short, Montana gets it done against the Big Sky and other small schools.  Against the big boys, however, the Grizzlies find themselves out gunned big time.

Players to watch:  Montana RB Greg Coleman.  Not because he is talented, but because he used to be a Cyclone!  That’s right, you don’t have to wait another two weeks to watch some ISU thrashing. 

Hawkeye Strengths:  With a senior Drew and a recovered Albert, the Hawks should have no trouble putting up offensive fireworks against a slow and undersized small school defense.

Hawkeye Weaknesses:  None really.  Personally, I would like to see what cornerbacks Adam Shada and Charles Godfrey look like.  This has to be an area of concern this season for the Hawkeye’s.  Especially when you consider that Ted Ginn and Steve Breaston are on the radar screen.  Also, I’m curious to see how LB’s Mike Humpal and Mike Klinkenborg do in replacing two king-size bad asses by the names of Hodge and Greenway.

Other News:  Kenny “Write my damn paper for me” Iwebema and Herb Grigsby are suspended from this game for violating team rules. 

Prediction:  55-3 Hawkeyes.  Don’t be scared by how well Montana does in 1-AA, they might score in dead time against the subs.  

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