The Mid-Day Dump - 1/10/12

(CanAzn is on a week-long bender, so he asked me to fill in for him in the meantime.)

DONT BLAME ME, I VOTED FOR KODOS: Iowa State gets some love in the latest round of polls, managing to scrounge up exactly one vote in both the AP and Coaches' Top 25 Polls. The Cyclones' current RPI ranking is #42, and a win this week against either Mizzou or Kansas would probably bump them into "Bubble Team" territory.

CAN'T SPELL ROYCE WITHOUT "R.O.Y." - Royce White's game against Texas A&M earned him his second Big 12 Rookie of the Week honor, and an inside track on Big XII Rookie of the Year. Not too bad for a guy who was still suffering from a bout of stomach flu and threw up in a trash can shortly after throwing down a triple-double against A&M. Of course, if you really want to know just how much of a force the former Golden Gopher has been, just check out the Iowa State team page on CBS Sports:

DRAFT MOCKERY - Dane Brugler has the Steelers taking Kelechi Osemele with the 24th pick in the NFL draft. Expect this to change approximately 38 times between now and the actual NFL draft. Meanwhile, Leonard Johnson still has a shot as a second rounder, mostly thanks to his jaw-dropping performance against Justin Blackmon.

FAKE GRASS (NO, NOT THAT KIND) - Iowa State will be installing a "MONDOTURF" soccer field in the new Cyclone Sports Complex. We can only assume that the good people at "TUBULARTURF" and "RADGRASS" are inconsolable at this moment.

THIS AWARD NEEDS A BLOGGER CATEGORY: John Walters is your NSSA Iowa Sportscaster of the Year.

FROM THE MOTHERSHIP: Spencer Hall's eulogy to the CFB season will put you smack-dab in the heart of New Orleans for the final weekend of the college football season. Well worth reading, even if it's not Cyclone-related.