Soil Compilation

Sports
Around the Big Ten – Week Four

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Week three of college football was the final tune-up for the Big Ten before the conference schedule began. This week, we’ll talk about Iowa’s 55-0 victory over Northern Iowa, Northwestern’s final game before moving into Ryan Field, and the Southern California showdown between USC and Oregon.

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Sports

Hawkeyes Start the Season with a Win 

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IOWA CITY – As college football kicked off around the country on September 2nd, the Iowa Hawkeyes kicked off their season at Kinnick Stadium. It was a perfect, fall day in Iowa City to go along with the perfect result the fans of the black and gold were looking for as their Hawkeyes won their season opener by a score of 24-3 over the Wyoming Cowboys. It was a tale of two sides coming into the game as the Cowboys, and their preseason Maxwell Award candidate quarterback and maybe one of the best quarterbacks in the league, Josh Allen, was looking to air it out against the young … Continued

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OPS+, wOBA, FIP-, and ERA- leaders in the Big Ten Conference

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For the first part of this article, to learn about Park Factors, OPS+, and FIP-, click here. Digging into the park factors, other than Penn State, there were no large changes that caused a park to go from a pitcher’s park to a hitter’s park and vice versa. They went from a 97 park factor(slight pitcher’s park) to a 116 park factor(hitter-friendly). Nebraska is no longer the most hitter-friendly park and Purdue remains as an extreme pitcher’s park with a 63 park factor rating. There are seven teams who have a pitcher-friendly park and six teams who have a hitter-friendly … Continued

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The Bears are Ryan Pace’s Team and this Years Draft is the Proof

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Ryan Pace is not in the business of shooting for 9-7. He is in the business of taking calculated and measured risks in an attempt to build a roster full of players that have legitimate potential of one day belonging in the top tier of their position group. A blueprint exists for building the type of team Pace seems determined to build. Drafting players with conviction and signing free agents that project to be more valuable in the future, rather than paying players for what they have done in the past. So far Ryan Pace has been following this blueprint. … Continued

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Breaking Down the Hawkeyes Taken in the NFL Draft

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Iowa City, Iowa – Before the first pick in the draft rolled off in Philadelphia, many thought the talented Iowa seniors would hear their name called early. All but one fell past the first two days. Desmond King held a draft party Thursday night with hopes of being selected in the first round. Many others pictured him as a mid to late second round pick. King a former Thorpe Award winner for the nation’s best cornerback returned to school to improve his draft stock. Tight end George Kittle caught the eyes of scouts with his combine performance, particularly in the … Continued

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A “Short” Preview of the Weekend in Soccer: Weekend of April 29th

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(Disclaimer): Opinions expressed are my own   There’s a lot of soccer out there. Here’s an appetizer of some of the soccer you may hear about or catch on TV this weekend…   Four Point Difference, Five Games Left Chelsea maintains a four-point edge on Tottenham in the English Premier League as both teams have five games left. They both face formidable opponents this Sunday as Chelsea visits Goodison Park to play at Everton at 8 am central time, while Tottenham hosts Arsenal in the North London derby. Everything’s to play for in regard to all of those teams, as … Continued

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Introducing OPS+ and FIP- in the Big Ten

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NCAA Baseball can have sabermetrics, too. The “sabermetric revolution”, or the application of using objective methodology to determine and understand player performances, is swirling all around Major League Baseball. Statistics such as  On-Base Plus Slugging Plus(OPS+) for hitters and Fielding Independent Pitching Minus(FIP-) with pitchers, among many more sabermetrics. All these unique stats determining player performance are great ways to understand the game of baseball from a unique perspective. The MLB and everyone working with it/alongside it make these stats easily available. I thought to myself, why not do some digging and research to have these metrics present in NCAA … Continued

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Chicago Bears Mock Draft

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The NFL draft is now upon us, one of the oddest sports television phenomenons that our country annually celebrates. It’s a time that brings hope to all 32 franchises, but is often looked back on as a day where hopes and dreams turned into pain and anguish for fans across the country. As a Bears fan, the last decade or so of draft picks has produced little worth celebrating. The bears have only extended four draft picks since the 2007 draft, and right guard Kyle Long is the only current  Bear draft pick that is in his second contract with the team. … Continued

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Ronaldo, Real Madrid Down Bayern Munich

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    (Disclaimer): Opinions expressed are my own. For full coverage of the UEFA Champions League, visit http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/index.html   Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals in two games as defending champs move on   Surprises were abound in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals; an 18-year-old scored three goals in two games, and a man with no international goals netted two goals versus Barcelona. But the only surprise in Ronaldo scoring his 100th career Champions League goal was in how quickly it happened.   That’s because it indeed happened in the quarterfinals as Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich. The soccer celebrity scored … Continued

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Cristiano Ronaldo in a 2015 UEFA Champions League game vs. FC Schalke. Photo courtesy of Chris Deahr via Wikimedia Commons. Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Iowa Spring Game Leaves More to be Learned

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Changes to the Spring Game Don’t Change the Questions about the Hawks By Ben Colin Iowa City, Iowa – Not your typical Friday night lights. First off, it’s a mild spring evening, not a chilly fall night. Second, this was a Hawkeye football game of 16,500 people instead of a local high school. Third, the final score; Gold (defense) beat Black (offense) 63-47. The high scoring affair under the lights that combined to a grand total of 110 points. The missing detail, one team scored on nearly every play, in one way or another. The Hawkeyes spring game uses an … Continued

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Oh No! Colin Cowherd Missed an Important Point

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Iowa City, Iowa – Once again Iowa footballs scheduling tactics are under fire, this time after adding Middle Tennessee to the 2019 non-conference line-up. Well known Iowa football critic and FS1 personality Colin Cowherd joined the conversation yesterday on his show ‘The Herd’. Nothing new but Colin once again brought up his ideas of Kirk Ferentz’s speed dial. The first number he’d imagine, “1-800-CREAM-PUFF”. Each year Colin ridicules Ferentz for dialing up the Northern Illinois’ and Iowa States of the world. He has a point; Iowa hasn’t put much into its non-conference schedule in recent years. In addition to Iowa … Continued

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