Northern Iowa has been picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason poll. The Panthers finished 6-6 last season which ended with a loss at Eastern Washington in the FCS playoffs. They open September third at Air Force.

That’s UNI coach Mark Farley who says junior Theo Day and sophomore Matt Morrissey will compete for the job of starting quarterback.

Day played in 11 games last season after transferring from Michigan State and passed for more than 23 hundred yards and 16 touchdowns. Farley says that experience is a plus.

Former Utah State offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder has joined the staff and has made some changes to an offense that averaged just under 25 points per game.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa football’s regular season finale against Nebraska, scheduled for Nov. 25 at 3 p.m. (CT) on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium, is officially sold out. The announcement was made Wednesday by the UI Athletics Department.

All seven of Iowa’s home games are now sold out: South Dakota State (Sept. 3), Iowa State (Sept. 10), Nevada (Sept. 17), Michigan (Oct. 1), Northwestern (Oct. 29), Wisconsin (Nov. 12) and Nebraska (Nov. 25).

The last time Iowa sold out all seven home games in Kinnick Stadium was 2011.

There are a limited number of hospitality ticket packages available for select games. Ticket information is available at hawkeyesports.com/tickets.

Iowa has sold out season ticket orders, UI student tickets, Fight For Iowa Mobile Passes, and Mini Plans.

Tickets are only sold and issued by the UI Athletics Ticket Office and its authorized agents. Persons buying tickets from other entities do so at their own risk. Fans should use caution if buying tickets from unauthorized outlets and are strongly encouraged to use StubHub, the official fan to fan marketplace of Hawkeyes, for sold out events. The UI Athletic Ticket Office (hawkeyesports.com/tickets) is only able to service/support purchases made through that office, or on StubHub. Iowa Athletics reserves the right to cancel any ticket purchases, less fees, made for the purpose of resale without notification.

All tickets for University of Iowa athletic events are distributed electronically and should be downloaded to a smartphone device. If you do not have access to a smartphone, please contact the ticket office to make arrangements.

Tickets are distributed no earlier than three weeks prior to the start of a season. If applicable, season tickets and/or parking will not be released until all required contributions have been received and processed by the I-Club. For more information, please visit hawkeyesports.com/mobiletickets.

ST. LOUIS, MO., August 1, 2022 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced Monday night that they have acquired veteran left-handed pitcher José Quintana and right-handed reliever Chris Stratton from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right-handed pitcher Johan Oviedo and minor league infielder Malcom Nunez.

Quintana, 33, is a veteran of 11 Major League seasons, appearing with the White Sox (2012-17), Cubs (2017-20), Angels (2021), Giants (2021) and Pirates (2022).

The 6-1, 220-pound Colombia native owns a career mark of 86-85, 3.81 ERA in 303 games (277 starts) since debuting in 2012.

Quintana is 3-5 with a 3.50 ERA in his 20 starts for the Pirates this season, and ranks among N.L. pitching leaders in groundball pct. (45.6), WHIP (1.27) and fewest HR/9 IP (0.61).  His 103.0 innings pitched currently rank 10th among N.L. lefties.

Quintana’s 2016 season led to an American League All-Star selection and 10th place finish in A.L. Cy Young voting after going 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA for the White Sox.

Stratton, 31, has appeared in 40 games for the Pirates this season, going 5-4 in his 40.2 innings or work with two saves.  The 6-2, 200-pound Mississippi native has pitched in seven seasons with San Francisco (2016-18), Los Angeles Angels (2019) and Pirates (2020-22).

Stratton has a career mark of 30-23 with a 4.61 ERA and 11 saves in 218 games (42 starts).

The Cardinals also announced that they have designated catcher Austin Romine for assignment and will announce additional moves tomorrow.

ST. LOUIS, MO., August 2, 2022 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have acquired left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery from New York Yankees in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader.

Montgomery, 29, has gone 3-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 21 starts this season and owns a career 22-20 mark with a 3.94 ERA in 98 games, all with the Yankees.

The 6-6, 228-pound South Carolina native is ranked 9th in the American League with a 1.09 WHIP, walking just 1.8 batters per 9 IP, ranking 7th in the AL.

The Cardinals added four pitchers this past week in deals that brought Montgomery, Jose Quintana, Chris Stratton and JoJo Romero to the organization.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior linebacker Jack Campbell and senior tight end Sam LaPorta were named to the 2022 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List.

Campbell (6-5, 246 pounds) was a second-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Phil Steele in 2021. In addition, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was second in the Big Ten with 143 tackles – the fifth-most ever in a single season at Iowa. He earned Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors following a career best performance with 18 tackles in Iowa’s 24-14 win over Colorado State. A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Campbell was the recipient of Iowa’s Roy Carver Most Valuable Player (Defense) award last season and served as a permanent team captain.

Campbell has also been named to the Athlon Sports 2022 preseason All-Big Ten First Team, as well as earning preseason first-team All-America accolades by Phil Steele, Athlon Sports, and Sporting News. He has been named to the Butkus Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award watch lists.

LaPorta (6-4, 249 pounds) was voted second-team All-Big Ten by Phil Steele and third-team by league coaches in 2021. As a junior, LaPorta led the Hawkeyes in catches and yards, hauling in 53 receptions for 670 yards and three touchdowns. The Hawkeye tight end has been named to the Athlon Sports 2022 preseason All-Big Ten First Team, and third team on Phil Steele’s preseason All-America Team. He was also named to the 2022 John Mackey Award Watch List.

The Rotary Lombardi Award goes annually to the college football offensive or defensive lineman, who in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the character and discipline of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi. Tyler Linderbaum was a finalist for the award in 2021.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald IV and offensive lineman Trevor Downing have been named to the 2022 Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. The award goes annually to the college football offensive or defensive lineman, who in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the character and discipline of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi.

Iowa State is one of 10 teams in the country to have both an offensive and defensive player on the list.

McDonald, a redshirt senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, enters the season as one of the nation’s best pass rushers with 29.0 career sacks, which is an ISU record. He earned First Team All-America honors last season and is a two-time First Team All-Big 12 selection. McDonald has forced nine fumbles and has 34.5 tackles for a loss in his career.

Downing is a preseason All-Big 12 selection after earning All-Big 12 First-Team honors for his performance on the field last season. The Creston, Iowa native is making the move to center after playing mostly at right guard last season.

Downing has made 26 career starts on the Cyclone offensive line and in 2021 was an anchor in helping the Cyclones record their fourth-best scoring average (31.3) and fifth-best total offensive average (424.5) in school history.

A mid-season watch list will be released Oct. 15 with semifinalists announced Nov. 10 and finalists on Nov. 23. The winner of the Rotary Lombardi Award will be announced Dec. 7.

Iowa State opens the season Saturday, Sept. 3 against Southeast Missouri at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium.

Several new faces will be counted on as the Iowa State football team looks to continue a run of success this fall. At quarterback, redshirt sophomore Hunter Dekkers takes the reigns of the offense from four-year starter Brock Purdy who closed his Cyclone career with more than 12 thousand yards of passing and 81 touchdowns.

Dekkers says he learned a lot from Purdy.

The Cyclones have played in five straight bowl games and Dekkers expects that streak to continue.

Dekkers says he is looking forward to the challenge.

ISU coach Matt Campbell says there are similarities between Purdy and Dekkers in how they are viewed by their teammates.

Campbell says the limited action Dekkers has seen is a plus.

Campbell says fall camp will be about building an identity on offense.

Junior running back Jirehl) Brock says Purdy and Dekkers have different leadership styles.

The Cyclones open at home on September third against Southeast Missouri.

A struggling Iowa volleyball program looks to make strides this fall with a new coach. The Hawkeyes have posted only one winning season since 2001 and even ran afoul of the NCAA. Jim Barnes is leading the program after a six year run at Tulane.

Barnes calls the Iowa program a gold mine.

Barnes says his focus on the recruiting trail has been the state of Iowa.

The Hawkeyes open against Gonzaga on August 26th at the Oklahoma Invitational.

IAbaseball.com released their All-State Baseball Teams this week. Here is a look at area athletes that were honored.

Class 1A

First Team

Catcher
Colby Rich, CAM

First Base
Joe Kauffman, CAM

Utility
Lane Spieker, CAM

Second Team

Pitcher
Cory Bantam, Woodbine

Outfield
Easton Hays, Coon Rapids-Bayard

Third Team

First Base
Cal Heydon, Coon Rapids-Bayard

Infield
Jaixen Frost, Mount Ayr

Outfield
Justice Weers, Tri-Center
Michael Turner, Tri-Center
DJ Weilage, St. Albert

Honorable Mention

Gavin Smith, Audubon

Class 2A

First Team

Catcher
Jaxon Schumacher, Treynor

Second Team

Pitcher
Caelen DeVault, Nodaway Valley/O-M

Utility
Cooper Neal, Clarinda
Landon Couse, Red Oak

Class 3A

First Team

Pitcher
Justin Hackett, Winterset
JC Dermody, Lewis Central

Outfield
Aaron Harrington, Lewis Central

Second Team

Infield
Kayden Anderson, Glenwood

Third Team

Pitcher
Jake Porter, Winterset

Catcher
Britton Bond, Lewis Central

Outfield
Cade Sears, Harlan

The complete teams can be found HERE

(Radio Iowa) – The new fiscal year began in July for the state’s casinos and sports betting operations. Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko says this may be the first year we get a true read on the sports gambling market in the state. “Every year that we’ve had sports gambling, there has been some factor that we could say impacted the industry in some way. In 2019 the market had just opened, so we did not have very many sports books in the state,” he says. “In 2020 we had the pandemic, in ’21 there were still limited events taking place and schedules were still impacted by COVID.”

This past fiscal year saw double the amount of sports betting in the state compared to the previous year. Ohorilko says that happened as the number of sports books were still just getting launched. “I still think, you know, it will be interesting to see if it increases — one would think it would — because we have a full library of markets to wager on,” Ohorilko says. The rules changed so you didn’t have to sign up at a casino to bet online. Ohorilko says one thing that may impact sports gambling is the sports books aren’t as aggressive in seeking customers as they were when trying to get into the market. “We’re not seeing the marketing and advertising like we did last year. So, it’ll just be something to kind of keep an eye on. Once September, October and November hit, those are the busy times for the sports books, “Ohorilko says.

You are required to physically be in the state to place a sports bet using an Iowa application. Ohorilko says that has led to some cross-border betting. “We believe we see that in northern Iowa at the casino at Diamond Joe, we believe we see some of that in Osceola and definitely in western Iowa. That is something that we see at especially those casinos that are close to states that do not have legal sports betting,” he says.

Ohorilko reminds everyone though to keep the dollar brought in by sports betting in perspective. “Sports betting is very popular. People in Iowa love sports betting. But it really is just a small percentage of the overall casino revenue and taxable revenue,” he says. Sports betting in Iowa topped two-point-four BILLION dollars in the just-completed fiscal year. Ohorilko says 91 percent of the betting is done online.