Jon Gruden fires up Kinnick before Iowa vs. Wisconsin

Big Cat went to Wisconsin, and Saturday morning started like any other Badgers game day for him.

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Less than an hour later the mood changed. Gruden had been talking about this trip all week. Earlier he posted that he was 'coming to Iowa City FRIDAY AND SATURDAY for the Iowa vs Wisconsin game,' asked Hawkeyes fans to tell him who to meet and what to see, and signed off with 'let's go Hawkeyes.' He kept his word. He was on the sideline in an Iowa cap and jacket, holding a microphone and working a packed black-and-gold crowd like he'd been on the staff for 10 years.

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Jon Gruden is the ULTIMATE FOOTBALL GUY

The building made it worse for Wisconsin. Iowa made this its Homecoming game and a Black Out, so the crowd Gruden was hyping was dressed in black, and it was Kinnick's 33rd straight sellout. FOX's Big Noon Kickoff set up in Iowa City for the 4th time, and both teams came in at 5-2. Gruden on the hype mic was the last thing a Badgers fan wanted to see.

Big Cat is joking, obviously. Nobody is filing a complaint with the Big Ten over a former Super Bowl coach clapping on the sideline. Still, anyone who has watched Gruden for 5 minutes knows this is exactly how he is. Give him a stadium and a microphone and he'll act like it's the 4th quarter of a playoff game. He didn't stop at the crowd, either. At one point he started directing the sideline.

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So the Badgers are one more thing on Gruden's college football tour, and Iowa now has a pregame hype man who doesn't need a reason to be fired up. The game will decide whether Big Cat's 'deep water' call was a joke or a prediction. Either way, Gruden made sure the Hawkeyes didn't come out to a quiet building, and Big Cat made sure everyone knew who to blame if Wisconsin's day goes sideways.