Soil Compilation

Music
Interview: KRUI With The Plain White T’s

By

At When We Were Young 2025, fellow Chicago area natives Plain White T’s sat down with me as we discussed how the local scene has changed, their tour with We The Kings, and how Las Vegas scares us all the slightest bit. We started the conversation out by sharing a mutual love of Death Cab for Cutie:

Sports
Iowa

Big Ten Football in Full Swing

By

In the realm of college football, the Big Ten is often considered one of the best top-to-bottom conferences in the nation. It is home to 13 Heisman trophy winners, 22 national titles, six NFL starting quarterbacks and currently holds four of the top 11 teams in the AP Poll.   This storied conference is rich in past glory, but the teams continue to make history every year. All fourteen teams are in a constant battle for supremacy in the conference and the 2017 Big Ten season is just getting underway.   Rutgers – 0 AP Votes – Notable Wins: N/A … Continued

Keep reading...

An Unconventional Victory for the Hawkeyes

By

Akrum Wadley high-steps his way to a negated touchdown (HawkCentral)   IOWA CITY, Iowa – This was not your typical Iowa football game.   Iowa received the ball to begin the game and Nate Stanley led an initially impressive opening drive, capped off by a disappointing fumble into the back of the end zone by Nick Easley. This resulted in the Mean Green of North Texas getting the ball, leaving Iowa stunned with nothing to show for its 12-play, 77-yard effort.   On the sixth play of the ensuing drive, Jeffery Wilson of North Texas scampered for a 41-yard score with … Continued

Keep reading...

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

By

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

Keep reading...

Introducing OPS+ and FIP- in the Big Ten

By

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

Keep reading...

Oh No! Colin Cowherd Missed an Important Point

By

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

Keep reading...