One exhibition game certainly doesn’t make a season, but I saw enough Saturday night in the Bulldogs’ 91-49 cakewalk past Grand View to think they’re going to win more games than some people think in Tom Davis’ first season.

There certainly are no superstars, and Drake will be in lots of trouble against teams with big front lines, but this is a young team that appears to be able to shoot (60 percent against hopelessly-outclassed Grand View). And, like all Davis squads, it’s one that can run.

The 64-year-old Davis was intense the entire game. He never sat down. He stood at or near the end of the bench all the way.

Just like when he coached at Iowa, Davis employed his revolving-door substitution plan to keep fresh bodies in the game. Sometimes two, sometimes three, occasionally four players went into the game at once.

Davis didn’t use his pressure defense. There was no need for it in this game. Heck, Drake scored 26 consecutive points in the first half.

All 16 Bulldogs who suited up got into the game. No starter played longer than 14 minutes.

Sophomore Joshua Robinson (13 points), freshman Nick Grant (11) and sophomore Chaun Brooks (10) were impressive.

A crowd of 4,469—a record for an exhibition at the Knapp Center—watched the game. The Bulldogs put on a strong enough show to indicate they’ll attract another sizable turnout for Wednesday night’s exhibition against Dream Builders.

Then it starts getting to be fun. Drake opens its regular season Nov. 21 against Simpson at the Knapp Center, then plays the highly-anticipated game Nov. 25 at Iowa—where Davis had a 269-140 record. He has not been in Carver-Hawkeye Arena since his final game with the Hawkeyes in 1999.

My guess is that Drake isn’t strong enough to give the Hawkeyes much of a challenge on their home court, but the crowd’s reaction—and the reaction of Davis, who was pressured out of the Iowa job—will be worth the price of admission.

E-mailer Michael Jackson of Winterset gave strong support to Dan McCarney after I wrote that the coach is the best thing to happen to Iowa State football since Earle Bruce’s teams had successive records of 8-3, 8-4 and 8-4 in the 1970s.

Jackson wrote:

"I wholeheartedly agree with your article regarding the good work Dan McCarney has done coaching Iowa State.

"Since ISU is known to be a coaching graveyard for coaches seeking to move up or more on, my concern is how long can ISU keep him there?

"The good news is that the practice facility is well under way and a good number of improvements in the athletic program have taken place since his arrival.

"Do I expect ISU to become a consistent contender in the Big 12? Looking at the players he has and the experience they’re receiving, I think he’s got a shot. This is a rebuilding year and he’s done an outstanding job.

"One other thought. I think Penn State will be looking closely at two coaches from our state, and not just Kirk Ferentz. ISU needs to watch out for that possibility."

[RON MALY’s response: Obviously, this is a very difficult season for McCarney and the Cyclones. Their five-game winning streak over Iowa ended and they’ve been faced with a murderer’s row of a Big 12 schedule that not even the Kansas City Chiefs would like to face. I think far too many Iowa State fans have forgotten that McCarney had successive records of 9-3, 7-5 and 7-7 and took all three teams to bowl games. If you ask me, Iowa State is fortunate McCarney didn’t seek greener pastures after the 9-3 season. If he ever wins nine games in any future season with the Cyclones, don’t bet he’ll be that loyal to the school—and I wouldn’t blame him].

Brooks spent 18 years as Oregon’s coach (91-108-4 record and a school-best four bowl games) and two as the St. Louis Rams’ coach (7-9 in 1995, 6-10 in 1996) and now is in his first year at Kentucky (4-5 after an NCAA-record seven-overtime loss, 71-63, to Arkansas).

Hellyer, a Des Moines native, is a former sportswriter and sports information director who has been on Brooks’ administrative staff at Oregon and Kentucky. His e-mail also was in response to my column supporting McCarney. Here it is:

"Just ask the people at Oregon who had a chance to dispose of Rich Brooks on many occasions. He gave the Ducks the impetus to where they have been in the late-1990s and early-2000s. You have to ask yourself, who could we get that is any better? Enough said. As they say, you can look it up!"

[RON MALY’s response: That’s my point. If Iowa State should suddenly do the unthinkable and fire McCarney, who could it get to replace him? Joe Whistlestop from Division I-AA Lower Vermont State? Somebody else’s 32-year-old offensive coordinator? Come on, give me a break. To a certain degree, Iowa State—despite some big-time improvements in facilities—still has the reputation of being a school that chews up football coaches (basketball coaches, too) and spits them out. Johnny Majors (the Cyclones’ coach from 1968-72) and Earle Bruce (1973-78) were smart enough to get out so they didn’t have to face a firing squad in Ames down the road. Jim Walden (canned in 1994 after going 0-10-1) wasn’t that smart].

"I read your article about Bob Stoops not being offered the Iowa job. Bob Stoops is the best coach in the country, in my opinion. I would love to see his brother get the Washington Huskies job. Mike Stoops’ defenses are superb and he motivates his people like few I’ve seen.

"Would Bob Stoops take the Penn State job when JoPa retires? He turned down Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida and Cleveland of the NFL, so I doubt it. He is a special kind of guy and seems content to stay in Norman.

"However, if I was the athletic director at Penn State, I’d give him a call when I began my search. State College is so special and that program is so unique he may just take it."

[RON MALY's response: Good makes some strong points. I agree that he’s certainly one of the best collegiate coaches in the nation—if not the best—but it helps to be drawing X’s and O’s in Norman, Okla., where Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer built coaching dynasties. I guess it has surprised me a bit that Stoops, obviously a hot coaching commodity, has remained at Oklahoma. I thought Iowa made a mistake in not hiring him when Hayden Fry retired, but the Hawkeyes would have been going through the same things that Oklahoma goes through every year—wondering if Stoops is jumping to another college job or the NFL. I really can’t see a scenario where Stoops would want to go to Penn State. If anything, that would be a lateral move at best. If he turned down Notre Dame and Ohio State, why would he go to State College? I’m more concerned that Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is going to get a strong look by the hierarchy at Penn State. He’s got Penn State ties, Stoops doesn’t. However, I can also see Ferentz being courted by several NFL teams in a couple of months, too. I guess I hope Stoops stays at Oklahoma a while longer because I enjoy being able to watch his teams play in this part of the country].

"I didn’t know anybody," Morgan said. "Then Dan Stamatelos came up to me and asked if I’d do the Chuck Shelton show for nothing. That’s how it all started."

Morgan is the versatile TV and radio announcer who will, as usual, be extremely busy during the basketball season.

"I’ll be doing the Iowa men’s basketball TV package for the 19^th or 20^th season," Morgan said. "I’ll also do 16 to 19 Drake women’s games on the radio, plus the Drake-Iowa State men’s game on TV. I’ll also host the Drake women’s TV show with Coach Amy Stephens."

By the way, the guys mentioned in the second paragraph—Chuck Shelton and the late Dan Stamatelos—were then connected with Drake. Shelton was the Bulldogs’ football coach and Stamatelos was one of the school’s biggest boosters.

By the way, I’m assuming Morgan no longer has to work for free.

"My friend and I are trying to figure out what happened after the 1969 season when Larry Lawrence and Tom Smith left Iowa to play at Miami.

"It is my understanding that his father, Ted Lawrence, who I think was the freshman coach, left around the same time. The timing seems curious since Lawrence finished his junior year as a very good quarterback on a mediocre Iowa team.

"At that time, I don’t think Miami had much of a program, either. Also, how did Lawrence do at Miami before he went to Canada for a few years and then with the Oakland Raiders?"

[Ron Maly’s response: From what I understand, only Larry Lawrence went to Miami. Tom Smith didn’t go, but my sources don’t seem to know where he did go. Larry Lawrence was one of the Iowa players leading the rebellion against Iowa Coach Ray Nagel. He supposedly was meeting regularly with Forest Evashevski, who then was the athletic director. By the way, Ted Lawrence (Larry’s dad), who had been on Nagel’s staff, resigned the year before. At first, Evashevski tried to get Larry Lawrence into Arizona, but that school finally said it wouldn’t take him as a transfer. Larry then tried to go to Colorado, but Colorado said it wouldn’t take a junior transfer. Consequently, he went to Miami, whose football program then was nothing like it is now. The people I talked with didn’t think Larry had an outstanding career either in Canada or Oakland].

George Wine of Solon sends me this e-mail:

"I thought you would find this interesting (amusing?) that the truck-load of Registers delivered to Iowa City this morning had no sports sections.

"Production problem," I was told."

"When I told my carrier I couldn’t go through a day without reading something by Randy Peterson, he said, ‘You better learn to deal with it.’

"I expected more sympathy."

I’m starting to like Page 2 of the sports section more and more. With that "Flashback" or "Rewind" stuff, I’ve been recognizing some of my stories from years ago.

I’m glad I can still help ‘em out. I still haven’t seen a freelance paycheck yet, though.