The mythical state title is still up for grabs and UNI and Drake resume the battle tomorrow night in Des Moines. Both teams swept Iowa and Iowa State in December but with both in the midst of conference play the battle for state bragging rights has moved to the back burner.
UNI coach Ben Jacobson says they have not talked about it at all. He says after beating Iowa and ISU and Drake doing the same thing, some people talked about it, but Jacobson says he hasn’t talked about it since then. The Panthers are 6-3 and just off the pace in the Valley.
The veteran trio of Eric Coleman, Grant Stout and Brooks McKowen has led the way but some of the newer faces are having an impact. He says Jared Josten and Travis Brown, the new starters have done a good job and in some areas are farther along than the coaches thought they’d be.
After a 9-2 start to the season the Bulldogs are 2-8 in the Valley and coach Tom Davis says the in-state games are more of a focus during the month of December. Davis says at the beginning of the year those games are a focus, but once you get into the conference games, Davis says you can’t afford to look ahead.
Davis says the in-state games are always popular with the fans. He says it attracts some interest and draws in a lot of fans along with Iowa and Iowa State.