Fun Facts: North Texas-Iowa, Flavor Flav!

I bought a 'smart TV” last week.

That's kind of like 'jumbo shrimp” and 'plastic silverware,” isn't it? Oxymorons, I believe they're called.

Oh, great. Now I'm craving shrimp. Anyway, here are this week's Fun Facts:

1. This is North Texas' 100th season of playing football, but it's the first time it's facing Iowa.

2. North Texas hasn't won a nonconference road game since 2009, and is 1-37 in them since 2001.

3. Iowa is one of four FBS teams that hasn't allowed a rushing touchdown.

4. North Texas has been in eight different football conferences.

5. Matt VandeBerg has a Big Ten-high 22 receptions for Iowa. That's the most an Iowa receiver has had in the first three games of a season in Kirk Ferentz's 17 seasons as coach.

6. The Mean Green are last in the nation in time of possession, with an average of just 21:10 per game. Iowa averages 32:51.

7. North Texas hasn't had a punt blocked in its last 61 games, the fourth-longest active streak in FBS. Iowa had a punt blocked in its last game.

8. Marshall Koehn's game-winning 57-yard field goal against Pittsburgh tied the Kinnick Stadium record set by Arizona's Lee Pistor in 1977. Pistor made just 7 of 22 field goals that season.

9. The last previous last-second field goal by a Hawkeye was Rob Houghtlin's 41-yarder to win the 1986 Holiday Bowl over San Diego State, 39-38.

10. Koehn has the longest field goal in FBS this season.

11. North Texas tight ends coach Nick Quartaro kicked seven field goals for Iowa in both 1975 and 1976,

12. North Texas (linebacker Jalen Montgomery and offensive lineman Elex Woodworth) and Iowa (freshman wide receiver Emmanuel Ogwo) have players from Mesquite, Texas.

13. Hayden Fry, who coached North Texas (then called North Texas State) and Iowa, lives in Mesquite, Nev.

14. Denton, the home of North Texas, was the 27th-largest Texas city in population as of the 2010 census. Were it in Iowa, it would have had the 3rd-most people.

15. This is the fourth-different starting time in four games for the Hawkeyes. (11 a.m., 3:45 p.m., 7 p.m., 2:30 p.m.)

16. Dan McCarney writes about the San Antonio Spurs for the San Antonio Express-News. No, not North Texas Coach Dan McCarney.

17. Iowa is 7-0 when playing on ESPNU, which will carry its game Saturday.

18. ESPNU's announcers will be Anish Shroff and Ahmad Brooks. They were the broadcast team for ESPNU's telecast of a high school game in Las Vegas last month, and welcomed Flavor Flav to their booth.