After a month of blowout losses, our Barnstormers come ever so close to victory only to fall short. Which is stronger: the feeling of progress, or the feeling of heartbreak? Let's find out, on...

OPERATION: BARNSTORM

DATE: JUNE 27, 2026

LOCATION: DES MOINES, IOWA

TARGET: TULSA OILERS

Last time on Operation: BarnStorm, I briefly interrupted my rant about the IFL website's inaccurate stats to attempt to recap a football game. I'll try to keep it about the football game this time, but it has to be said that this past week sucked to be a sports fan in Des Moines.

On Monday, the Missouri Valley Conference voted to change the Arch Madness format to protect the top seeds after Drake caught Belmont with their pants down in foolish hopes of a second NCAA Tournament bid, a move that seemed to piss off most of the people going to the tournament. Also, in a move that screams "we swear this past season was an anomaly," Drake reportedly voted for the change despite the old tournament format being the only reason we could end last season on a high note.

On Tuesday, the remnants of Iowa sports radio giant KXNO was among the many stations gutted by owner iHeartMedia as part of their "restructuring." The layoffs came on the eve of Ken Miller's final radio show before retirement, 30 years after Marty and Miller first went on the air. On Wednesday, Miller refused to do the show in solidarity with his fired colleagues. Miller's co-host and independent contractor Trent Condon (Marty's in prison) apparently showed too much empathy for his colleagues on this show and was suspended the next day (UPDATE: He's gone). In the span of a few days, local sports in the Des Moines area (and Iowa in general) lost a good chunk of their coverage, and for teams not named the Hawkeyes or Cyclones, they lost most of their coverage. Tell us how you really feel, Andy.

Throw in the Iowa Cubs losing a home series 2-4 to the Buffalo Bisons despite getting sluggers Kevin Alcantara and Moises Ballesteros back from the big leagues, and it's been a rough week, to say the least. All of this culminated in a trifecta of misery on Saturday, with the Des Moines Menace, Iowa Cubs, and of course the Iowa Barnstormers all playing home games at the same time, and all losing.

It's not all gloom and doom, though. The Barnstormers defense (in fact, the whole team) didn't lose anyone to injury last week. But it wouldn't be a proper Operation: BarnStorm episode without significant roster turnover between games, so the Barnstormers released both kickers Trevor Spaulding and Jonah Edwards. The latest rider on Iowa's Kicker Karousel is former Syracuse kicker Jan Bogdan. Bogdan had early season success on the Steamwheelers before injury put him on the shelf (boy, that team sure could've used consistent kicking over the past month), so maybe the Barnstormers have finally decided on their man. Or maybe he gets released after a week like Fedder or Neufeld. I don't know, I don't work in the front office.

With the Barnstormers eliminated from playoff contention, Iowa has only two things to play for: (1) completing the mission of making this season better than last and (2) playing spoiler. Well, the final two Eastern Conference teams Iowa faces have already qualified for the playoffs, and San Antonio may well already be eliminated by the time they come to Des Moines, so Tulsa is Iowa's only shot to play spoiler. By this point, Tulsa's left their rocky start to the season firmly in the past and are neck-and-neck with Orlando and Fishers to claim the two remaining Eastern Conference playoff spots.

One might look at the final score and assume that things have returned to normal for the Barnstormers in that the offense was cooking while the defense collapsed. Not quite. The game starts off normal enough with Tula QB TJ Edwards throwing a touchdown pass to Jerminic Smith Sr. and an Axel Perez PAT to put Tulsa up 7-0. One thing that got lost in last week's rant about the online stats was Iowa benching QB Dante Aviles-Santos for new backup QB Noah Bodden, who played for HBCU Edward Waters University in D2. The benching stuck, and Bodden is now the starting QB. As much as I've joked about Iowa burning through quarterbacks this season, I appreciate how much Andre Coles has been willing to change things up at quarterback when things aren't working (especially this late in the season when the playoffs are out of reach and there's no reason not to experiment) after enduring Dave "keep the QB in no matter how many picks he throws" Mogensen. Anyway, Bodden gets off to a decent start, but David Elder fumbles the ball a few plays in, setting up another Tulsa touchdown pass. Tulsa 14-0.

The following Iowa drive goes better than the first one, and Bodden rushes into the endzone off of a fake handoff followed by a Bogdan PAT to bring the score up to 14-7. The following Oilers drive is cut short by Jon Adams Jr.'s fifth interception of the season, setting the Barnstormers up within the Oilers' 10-yard line. Huh... One Demonte Martin touchdown later, and the game is tied 14-14. Tulsa rebound with a ... another interception, this time thrown to Iowa defensive back Trenton McGhee. Now this game is getting interesting. The following drive goes nowhere, but McGhee's interception set up the Barnstormers deep enough in Oiler territory for Bogdan to sink a field goal, and the Barnstormers are winning for what feels like the first time in ages, 14-17.

We next get the usual series of touchdowns. Ewards throws another touchdown to Smith, David Elder rushes for a touchdown, and Edwards throw HIS THIRD INTECEPTION OF THE HALF? This time, it's Trevon Pope with the pick. Unfortunately, it's in the end zone for a touchback, and the subsequent drive only loses yards in the face of Tulsa's relentless defense, setting up a 50-yard field goal attempt from Jan Bogdan ... that's returned for a touchdown. Thanks to a successful challenge from Andre Coles on the following drive, the Barnstormers are able to get into field goal range and drill one in before time expires, entering halftime trailing only 28-27. Unfortunately, this came at a cost. Noah Bodden went down with an injury on that last drive and did not return the rest of the game (no word on what it is or how serious it is this time, but the fact that the team is not thanking fans for their thoughts and prayers on Facebook is at least a good sign; hopefully he recovers fast in any case). It's up to Dante Aviles-Santos to try to bring this one home.

Second half resembles many of Iowa's best drives. Step 1: Put the ball in David Elder's hands. Step 2: Repeat as necessary, with Aviles-Santos occasionally rushing to mix things up. This drive ends with a touchdown pass to Jalal Dean to put the Barnstormers up 28-34. Fast forwarding through another Tulsa touchdown, and the Barnstormers stall on another drive an settle for another field goal. Oh wait, an Oiler dove into Bogdan's feet after he already made the kick, and Iowa got another set of downs. Ignore what the play-by-play says, this penalty set up a rushing touchdown from Aviles-Santos to put Iowa up 35-41. The two teams exchange touchdowns; Aviles-Santos scores another touchdown, while Tulsa RB Caleb Ramseur scores two. Tulsa 49-48.

But here's the thing: Tula left almost a full minute on the clock, and Iowa has a touchdown left. The Barnstormers just need to get into field goal range to seal this game away and complete the mission. Aaand the drive goes absolutely nowhere with two incomplete passes and a complete pass for six yards. Cue missed field goal from Iowa's nine-yard-line. Barnstormers lose.

MISSION FAILED

AFTER ACTION REPORT

The problem with close losses is that there are countless "single moments" where you can argue the game was lost. Maybe the Barnstormers would've won if Elder didn't fumble on the first drive. Maybe the Barnstormers would've won if Bodden didn't get injured (though as a Hawkeye fan that relentlessly mocked Penn State fans in 2021 for using this excuse, I don't like to blame losses on injuries on principle, not even when Gronowski got injured). Maybe the Barnstormers would've won if the defense had managed a stop in the second half. Maybe the Barnstormers would've won if Bogdan made either of the field goals that he missed. Maybe the Barnstormers would've won if the offense hadn't stalled on the drives that set up the missed field goals.

Instead of going crazy trying to blame the loss on a single person or position group, let's try to be optimistic. After a month of offensive impotence that would make Kirk Ferentz shake his head, the Barnstormers went back to scoring on nearly every drive. Neither Bodden nor Santos threw any picks, and the defense picked up three picks of their own. The special teams didn't allow any blocked field goals, though I'm not going to say that the kicker situation has stabilized, because that's just asking for another kicker change. With the Barnstormers heading into a bye week, hopefully they can get some players back from injury before the final three-game stretch. That's all good news. The bad news? A Blizzard's coming, next time, on Operation: BarnStorm...

- Barnstormers lost to Tulsa Oilers 49-48

- Menace lost to Peoria City 1-2

- Cubs lost to Buffalo Bison 9-3

Rough night for the hometown teams.

But forget about the company not being for sale! Those Anthrax execs must have TNAlzheimers if they think the company is worth anything!

What's that? We learned absolutely nothing from the "Punk's leaving WWE" rumor a couple weeks ago? Maybe taking every blue check mark's word as gospel isn't the smartest thing to do? Nonsense! The 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th time's a charm!

Anyway, why would TNA introduce another women's belt? Don't they know that they have no roster and are selling to the Dead Fed?

"You know what? Just for that, we're leaking your pick online during the commercial break."