3 and Out: The yin and yang of Friday night football and the Big Ten

1. The yin and yang of Friday night football and the Big Ten

Before we get to the mitigating, I'm just going to say I flat out agree with the majority of you. The Big Ten shouldn't play Friday night football.

The Big Ten is supposed to be above this. This is the league that values values, if that makes sense. The Big Ten plays itself off as the tweed jacket in a college football world of bedazzled Members Only. Interviews with commissioner Jim Delany often have the feel of a rhetoric lecture. You take notes because it's all going to be on the final.

Friday night is for the 175-pound offensive lineman from Oelwein. The kid who put in the work and who'll never see a scholarship offer. The kid who plays because he loves it and loves his friends and values every second of the experience.

It's for the legion of high school coaches in our state who deserve much more than we could ever pay them. They have a say in young lives and that say might last a lifetime. They put cups of cold coffee into microwaves and come up with names for their personnel group — or, maybe, groups — and figure out what to do with the 5-11 QB who spent some of the week helping with the harvest and so hasn't had time to open the playbook.

This might pull a few people out of the bleachers in Kingston Stadium, but if you have someone you love on the field, you don't have a choice to make. You'll catch up with the Hawkeyes later and smartphones, man, they fill the gaps.

OK, I've poured on enough schmaltz.

You should hold this against the Big Ten, which has said repeatedly it didn't want to have anything to do with Friday nights and stealing the spotlight from prep football. And here we are with Delany blithely announcing Wednesday that the Big Ten will play six Friday night games next fall. (I know there are conversations we're not privy to and I'm sure views were exchanged, perhaps heatedly, but Wednesday's tone felt like, 'OK, here we go, piggy banks. Plan accordingly.')

Of course, this has everything to do with TV. We're still not sure how it'll all work, but the Big Ten and Fox are a thing starting in 2017. The Big Ten will be back with ESPN/ABC. The Big Ten Network also is in this. Potentially, we're talking Fox, FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and BTN dipping into the Big Ten's football inventory. That's a huge crush on Saturdays and so the solution is Friday. And hey, don't think you're out of the mix Thursday, sitting over there just begging for a prime-time Purdue-Indiana State matchup.

For me, Iowa athletics director Gary Barta started to deal these cards in May 2015. The Hawkeyes were coming off a bitterly disappointing 2014 football season and the UI projected a seismic drop in season ticket sales. It eventually came in at a 17 percent drop.

Barta dished out some numbers. In 2006, football ticket sales comprised 44 percent of Iowa's revenue. Barta expected that number to fall to the 26 to 30 percent range in 2016. More numbers: In 2006, Big Ten TV revenue was 23 percent of Iowa's budget. In 2016, it could be as much as 35 to 37 percent.

In 2017-18, the first year of the new TV deal, Iowa projects B1G money to reach nearly $44 million and total income to come in just less than $109 million.

'I think everyone knows there's a shift from ticket to TV,' Barta said at the time.

And there that is.

You are the piggy bank (and I'm sorry if that comes off as harsh, but 'revenue stream' is the same thing and this is the deal everyone who slips sports team colors over their heads and goes to games has made, it just is). TV is the money geyser.

When this TV deal ends in 2026, maybe the power shifts. Maybe the fragmentation of the market brings ... wait, this probably means B1G games will be on Fox, ESPN, BTN, Twitter, Google, Netflix and whatever else is out there in 2026.

Hey Tuesday, how do you feel about an Iowa game against a random MAC team?

Take solace in this, the next time the Big Ten tries to play the piety card on you, just turn your back, go to a high school football game on a Friday night and follow Iowa-Mountain West rando on Twitter.

2. HawkeyeReport.com's on the end of Iowa and Eno

HawkeyeReport.com publisher Tom Kakert gives us some of the names that have started to emerge as the Hawkeyes' recruiting class kind of, sort of reshapes itself. Of course, the big news there is Iowa and Texas running back Eno Benjamin parting ways.

Recruiting feels your pain, but it doesn't stop to heal the wound. It marches on, and so we have new running back names.

Here's Tom ...

Now, it's almost certain that a few new prospects will emerge between now and the first Wednesday in February (Feb. 1), but there's already a move to broaden the horizons of this class.

Iowa will certainly look to add another running back after they pulled their offer to 4-star running back Eno Benjamin. The hot name right now is Antwaun Branch

, a 6-0 and 200-pound running back from Tennessee. Branch still is committed to Purdue, but with the recent firing of head coach Darrell Hazell, he's starting to weigh his options and generating plenty of interest. Wisconsin was getting serious about him before they took a commitment from another back this week. Iowa went to see him in person last week and quickly extended a formal offer. Iowa State and North Carolina are also in the mix.

Kendrick Green

, a 6-4 and 270-pound defensive tackle from Peoria, Ill., recently picked up an offer from Iowa. It seems as if it's a battle between Iowa and Minnesota for Green, who has visited Iowa a couple of times this fall. He's planning a visit to Central Florida this weekend and then perhaps we could see a decision. On the surface, Iowa could be in the lead position for him. The Hawkeyes also have their eyes on a couple of long time targets who may be getting closer to making their decision.

Leading that list is 6-foot-2 wide receiver Oliver Martin

. The Iowa City West senior still is alive in the state 4A playoffs, but once those are concluded, he could make a decision. Depending on the day, the rumor mill churns out a new potential leader for the talented wide receiver. The best guess right now is it's either going to be Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State or Notre Dame.

Also on the most wanted list is Scott Nelson

, a 6-2, 180-pound safety from Michigan. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker went to see Nelson play during the bye week and then the prospect went to Wisconsin for an official visit. He may be making his official visit to Iowa next week and right now the Hawkeyes and the Badgers could be the top two choices.

3. Big Ten Love Tester

There are a few candidates. I think Minnesota has some life to it, so I'm not putting the Gophers and Purdue on this list. Also, I can't make Purdue the B1G Love Test every week. I mean, this isn't a cut-and-paste operation operation. The Gophers are 6-2.

I could put Rutgers here every week. Rutgers is the worst team in the Big Ten. It travels to Indiana. The Hoosiers are doing their annual white-knuckle, bowl-or-no-bowl ride and I kind of dig that gumption.

It's probably about time I acknowledge how terrible Michigan State is this year. The team that beat the Hawkeyes by an arm's length in the B1G title game last season is 2-6 and 0-5 in the Big Ten.

Can the Spartans and Mark Dantonio get their first league victory at Illinois this weekend? The Fighting Illini are a backyard tire fire. First-year coach Lovie Smith spent some of his week denying a report that said he was 'miserable' in Champaign-Urbana.

The Love Tester light is green and this is the cold fish.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com