Fans? What the hell is wrong with people?

[AirWalke]

The coaches have been saying it all along:

"We won't know what we have until we see them in actual game competition."

Now that the staff has learned a little more about their players, my guess is that we will see adjustments leading to improvement next week.

I think we saw a bit of what they were talking about. Scales was the starting RB going into this game, but as you saw, once Bass proved his mettle, he was clearly playing like the #1 RB on the team, in my mind.

Bear with me on my constant analogies, but the game I saw last night felt a bit like fighting to adjust the rabbit ears on a TV set. I saw a bit of what will make us great in the future, but I couldn't quite keep the picture on screen. Losing every game this season will be a disappointment, because I think there will be a point soon where this team will finally click.

 

[zmanzbo]

T But posting angry isn't the way to go - unless you want to help in making CF an unhappy place and perhaps end up on the outside looking in, if your posts are too far out of line.

So people cant come here to vent and if you do you may get banned? Never thought this place was going to start being censored...... pretty sad.

 

[Jeremy]

So people cant come here to vent and if you do you may get banned? Never thought this place was going to start being censored...... pretty sad.

That's absolutely not what was meant. This site lives and thrives for everybody coming here to vent and share ideas. The only problem can come from somebody going balistic with their rant and making it a personal attack on others.

Also, just to be clear, if a mod takes issue with the way things are said, they'll PM the person and ask for clarification. If that doesn't work and a problem goes on further, a warning may be issued. After that, either another warning would be issued or a 1-day ban. We don't just ban people and we definetly don't take issue with people voicing their opinion, whatever it may be. After 1/2 years of opporation, we have only banned a hand-ful of people and it's been for posting adult images or using very strong language in personal attacks multiple times.

 

[Cybone]

I was at ISU when Walden lead us to an 0-10-1 season. He never took responsibility for the losses, he blamed everything under the sun as to why we were losing.
Years later, McCarney did take us to some bowl games, but that was after some time. For fans to expect a quicker transformation this time.... it's woefully unreasonable and unfair.

I try to make it policy not to be too critical of coaches. It is pretty easy to be judgmental from the stands or from the easy chair. These coaches took jobs at Ames to the scoff and dismay of most of the media. The fact that they, players and coaches alike, came here to change the way ISU Football is perceived and are giving 100% to ISU......that deserves my respect and support. Yours too.

That said, I can't wait to get back to Ames for the Oklahoma game.

 

[bandit]

Hey Jeremy and others that bemoan "fair weather fans" for being angry about losing to KSU. Guess what, that season ticket counter you had most of the last year and the record season ticket sales didn't come from the die hard fans. They came from the fringe fans who were told over and over again that this was the begining of something great etc. etc. When we finally get them to pony up the $$ for season tickets they are treated to that last night? Our O picked up right where they left off from last year with the exception of Bass (three false starts, at home, in one half?most high school teams don't have that happen.) The D looked better though I don't think it really could've been any worse than last year. If not for the turnovers we forced inside the 5 this could've easily been a 37-14 a$$ pounding...from a MAC team in JT!?

Of course the fair weather fans that finally shelled out the cash for season tickets are dissappointed and I don't blame them. I've been going to games for over a decade and I'm dissappointed. With the constant bemoaning that you and other "die-hard's" throw at them for caring about the program it's no wonder we have such low attendance at games-YOU turn them away. For years you've been crying about them needing to pony up and buy season tickets, to support the team. When they do and are disappointed in a bad team performance you rip them again.

Personally, thank you to the new season ticket holders that packed Jack last night, and that brought the passion for ISU-even if Jeremy and others don't like it. I've never seen JTS that full of ISU fans outside a UI/UNI/NU game-and many of those fans aren't rooting for ISU anyway.

I dont' doubt that this is the start of a great era-in fact it damn well better be. But fans better be dissappointed with last night's performance and I would think self described "die-hard's" like you Jeremy should be disappointed as well. It is hard for me to listen to the same people over and over b!$&h about fringe fans that are dissappointed about losing saying we need to be "a true fan instead of a blowhard that just wants to talk smack." We better be dissappointed in losing to a MAC team regardless of how good they are supposed to be.

This will get better, but we need to allow the new fans to vent their frustration w/o ripping them and turning them away. Blasting new season ticket holders for voicing their opinon won't help anyone out.

 

[bos]

Did this actually happen?! :no:

I wasn't at the game last night (I will be at the next 2)... was there a significant amount of this behavior from ISU "fans" directed at Chizik and the team after the game?

These guys are going to experience some growing pains for a while. To behave like that would be extremely low-class, and potentially damaging to the players willingness to buy in to Chizik's staff's philosophies.

I wasnt there, but other posters in other threads mentioned this. I believe them since I have seen it at other games in other years. Its a sad state.

 

[Jeremy]

Hey Jeremy and others that bemoan "fair weather fans" for being angry about losing to KSU. Guess what, that season ticket counter you had most of the last year and the record season ticket sales didn't come from the die hard fans. They came from the fringe fans who were told over and over again that this was the begining of something great etc. etc. When we finally get them to pony up the $$ for season tickets they are treated to that last night? Our O picked up right where they left off from last year with the exception of Bass (three false starts, at home, in one half?most high school teams don't have that happen.) The D looked better though I don't think it really could've been any worse than last year. If not for the turnovers we forced inside the 5 this could've easily been a 37-14 a$$ pounding...from a MAC team in JT!?

Of course the fair weather fans that finally shelled out the cash for season tickets are dissappointed and I don't blame them. I've been going to games for over a decade and I'm dissappointed. With the constant bemoaning that you and other "die-hard's" throw at them for caring about the program it's no wonder we have such low attendance at games-YOU turn them away. For years you've been crying about them needing to pony up and buy season tickets, to support the team. When they do and are disappointed in a bad team performance you rip them again.

Personally, thank you to the new season ticket holders that packed Jack last night, and that brought the passion for ISU-even if Jeremy and others don't like it. I've never seen JTS that full of ISU fans outside a UI/UNI/NU game-and many of those fans aren't rooting for ISU anyway.

I dont' doubt that this is the start of a great era-in fact it damn well better be. But fans better be dissappointed with last night's performance and I would think self described "die-hard's" like you Jeremy should be disappointed as well. It is hard for me to listen to the same people over and over b!$&h about fringe fans that are dissappointed about losing saying we need to be "a true fan instead of a blowhard that just wants to talk smack." We better be dissappointed in losing to a MAC team regardless of how good they are supposed to be.

This will get better, but we need to allow the new fans to vent their frustration w/o ripping them and turning them away. Blasting new season ticket holders for voicing their opinon won't help anyone out.

You know, I do feel the same way as you. Yes I'm dissapointed that we lost but I'm not dissapointed to the extent that people feel the need to boo the players and coaches. There's a difference in feeling dissapointed because we lost yet another game that we should have won and feeling dissapointed because we'll continue to do so forever.

What I and many are trying to say is that for once things are going right behind the scenes, regardless of last night's play, to set us up for the long-distance marathon.

What I and many hated in the past was that we were told it was the year things were going to happen and it never came through, time and time again. Now we were told this is the START of a new ERA where things would be great and people are jumping ship and calling for heads because we didn't win one f'ing game with practicly the same team as last year. Wait for new blood and wait for the chemistry to set in before saying we were let down again.

 

[mark]

Bandit -- I think that was pretty well said. The thing that really disappointed me was the fact that we got wore down as the game went on. I thought we would be stronger physically -- hopefully this was just an aberration and our team will be one of those that makes it's greatest improvement between games one and two.

I still think we will beat UNI pretty decisively .... a week from Saturday we will be feeling a lot better about this team!

 

[ketelmeister]

I got the feeling we were watching Hoosiers last night. IF I-State would have passed on every down, we may just have won the game. But that is not Chizik's game, and he knows you have to have a running game to win in the Big 12. They have a plan, a system, but not all the players to carry it out-yet. Hopefully that will come with recruiting and time. Biggest glaring weakness is the D-Line. We simply don't have the size there to put on any kind of rush. No coach could take over this team and make up for that glaring lack of size and speed. We all have to be patient. This is gonna take so time, but we know the stakes. If we want a consistant winner, it has to be built from the ground up.

 

[ICCYFAN]

Hey Jeremy and others that bemoan "fair weather fans" for being angry about losing to KSU. Guess what, that season ticket counter you had most of the last year and the record season ticket sales didn't come from the die hard fans. They came from the fringe fans who were told over and over again that this was the begining of something great etc. etc. When we finally get them to pony up the $$ for season tickets they are treated to that last night? Our O picked up right where they left off from last year with the exception of Bass (three false starts, at home, in one half?most high school teams don't have that happen.) The D looked better though I don't think it really could've been any worse than last year. If not for the turnovers we forced inside the 5 this could've easily been a 37-14 a$$ pounding...from a MAC team in JT!?

Of course the fair weather fans that finally shelled out the cash for season tickets are dissappointed and I don't blame them. I've been going to games for over a decade and I'm dissappointed. With the constant bemoaning that you and other "die-hard's" throw at them for caring about the program it's no wonder we have such low attendance at games-YOU turn them away. For years you've been crying about them needing to pony up and buy season tickets, to support the team. When they do and are disappointed in a bad team performance you rip them again.

Personally, thank you to the new season ticket holders that packed Jack last night, and that brought the passion for ISU-even if Jeremy and others don't like it. I've never seen JTS that full of ISU fans outside a UI/UNI/NU game-and many of those fans aren't rooting for ISU anyway.

I dont' doubt that this is the start of a great era-in fact it damn well better be. But fans better be dissappointed with last night's performance and I would think self described "die-hard's" like you Jeremy should be disappointed as well. It is hard for me to listen to the same people over and over b!$&h about fringe fans that are dissappointed about losing saying we need to be "a true fan instead of a blowhard that just wants to talk smack." We better be dissappointed in losing to a MAC team regardless of how good they are supposed to be.

This will get better, but we need to allow the new fans to vent their frustration w/o ripping them and turning them away. Blasting new season ticket holders for voicing their opinon won't help anyone out.

Very well stated! We had 48K in the stands last night for a game that would have drawn 38K last season. We need those 10,000 fringe fans in the long-term and they have every right to voice their displeasure with last night's performance. Coach Chizik will either need to improve the product quickly or "say the right things" to keep them coming...

As if last night's result didn't sadden me enough, I picked up a speeding ticket in State Center on the way home to Iowa City. Yesterday, it just sucked to be me...:sad:

 

[zmanzbo]

Rep up bandit, exactly how I feel. God forbid people are upset today.

 

[ISUFan22]

There is a difference between being upset/disappointed and delusional/in a fit-of-rage.

Some of the posts last night were headed in the direction of the latter, Jeremy is just calling attention to it and reminding us that Iowa State has a long way to go and it won't be happening overnight.

 

[zmanzbo]

OK I stand corrected if that was the case. I didnt read anything from last night.

 

[superfan]

Pardon me if I'm frank about this.

I don't think anybody here is disputing that losing is unacceptable. I hate losing. Period. I don't care if we lose to USC, Purdue, Iowa, Kent State, or Division 2 South East Central Buttf*** State. I hate losing. What I think a lot of the "die hards" (including myself) are upset about is how are fans are giving up on the team after one loss. Yes, Kent State is a MAC team. So was that Miami (OH) team we beat by 3 in the Independence Bowl a couple of years ago. Just because Kent State isn't a perennial top 25 team doesn't mean they're not a good team. This was a team that was bowl-eligible last year even though they lost their starting QB midway through the season (the same QB who torched us last night). Even a lot of the sportswriters had them ranked ahead of us. Did we play poorly? Yes. Was Kent State the better team last night? Absolutely. Call them excuses if you like, but from where I was standing, Kent State is a better team right now, and they earned their win. Am I happy with that fact? Hell no. Should we be better than Kent State? Yes. Do I expect us to become better than Kent State? Hell yes.

Of everything that's being said, what really bothers me is how down on Chizik people already are. Was there a lot of hype put out by the athletic department? Yes. But Jesus, people seem to think Chizik was just going to come up here, put something in the water and BOOM, we'd go from a four-win team to winning the conference. I saw someone compare us to Florida last night. Are you kidding me? News flash. We're not Florida, we're not Miami, and we're not LSU. A new coach at Iowa State is not going to come in and have the NFL-quality talent at his disposal like he would at those schools.

If you want to compare Chizik to other coaches, here's a couple for you. Mack Brown took over a 5-6 North Carolina team in 1988. His first two seasons, he had one win apiece. Barry Alvarez took over at Wisconsin in 1990 and won one game that year. I don't think anybody would dispute that those two gentlemen are good coaches, or that we're certainly a lot more like North Carolina or Wisconsin (at that time) than we are like Florida. Don't sell the man short because of one game.

 

[mustangcy]

Pardon me if I'm frank about this.

I don't think anybody here is disputing that losing is unacceptable. I hate losing. Period. I don't care if we lose to USC, Purdue, Iowa, Kent State, or Division 2 South East Central Buttf*** State. I hate losing. What I think a lot of the "die hards" (including myself) are upset about is how are fans are giving up on the team after one loss. Yes, Kent State is a MAC team. So was that Miami (OH) team we beat by 3 in the Independence Bowl a couple of years ago. Just because Kent State isn't a perennial top 25 team doesn't mean they're not a good team. This was a team that was bowl-eligible last year even though they lost their starting QB midway through the season (the same QB who torched us last night). Even a lot of the sportswriters had them ranked ahead of us. Did we play poorly? Yes. Was Kent State the better team last night? Absolutely. Call them excuses if you like, but from where I was standing, Kent State is a better team right now, and they earned their win. Am I happy with that fact? Hell no. Should we be better than Kent State? Yes. Do I expect us to become better than Kent State? Hell yes.

Of everything that's being said, what really bothers me is how down on Chizik people already are. Was there a lot of hype put out by the athletic department? Yes. But Jesus, people seem to think Chizik was just going to come up here, put something in the water and BOOM, we'd go from a four-win team to winning the conference. I saw someone compare us to Florida last night. Are you kidding me? News flash. We're not Florida, we're not Miami, and we're not LSU. A new coach at Iowa State is not going to come in and have the NFL-quality talent at his disposal like he would at those schools.

If you want to compare Chizik to other coaches, here's a couple for you. Mack Brown took over a 5-6 North Carolina team in 1988. His first two seasons, he had one win apiece. Barry Alvarez took over at Wisconsin in 1990 and won one game that year. I don't think anybody would dispute that those two gentlemen are good coaches, or that we're certainly a lot more like North Carolina or Wisconsin (at that time) than we are like Florida. Don't sell the man short because of one game.

Dude, I'm sitting here reading all these post's just about pulling my hair out...but I needed that laugh. Good job out of you!

 

[jdoggivjc]

Now that I've had 12+ hours to settle down a little bit, I've come to a conclusion:

This is why the NFL plays 4 preseason games before the start of the season.

Yes, things looked/sounded great during practices/scrimmages, but that's not actual competition. Sure, some people may debate the competitveness of preseason games, but at least it's real game experience with real in-game decision-making, as opposed to the first team offense playing the first team defense. This is why Chizik said early on that he wasn't going to know exactly what he had until after the first game. You can't judge progress of a team in practice alone.

Chizik needed that game in order to make a final decision on the depth chart. Why do you think he rotated the lineups so much last night? He was getting a feel for who his dogs were. I guarantee you that after last night, barring injury or setback, Bass is the #1 running back for the rest of the season. It's also pretty clear who his starting defensive line is going to be - the ones that got in the QB's face last night.

The benefit to last night is Chizik also knows now what he needs to work on in practice this coming week. We all know that discipline is going to be one of his main focuses this coming week. There were way too many false starts at critical moments last night. There were way too many poor decisions made by Bret Meyer. The offense needs to learn ball control so they can keep the defense off the field longer. These are all things that I assume will be worked on this week. And then there's Culbertson, statistically the "most accurate kicker in ISU history." Well, he can keep that title - if he doesn't show some improvement we need to go in another direction.

As bad as things were last night, there was a lot of silver lining to this game:
1. For the first time since Ennis Haywood we have a legitimate chance at a running game. J.J. Bass looked like a stud last night. 100 yards of rushing in the first half, most of that in the second quarter. We haven't seen that kind of running in a long time. This was in part because...

2. The offensive line, when they weren't pissing drives down their legs with false start penalties, were opening holes and giving Meyer SOME protection last night. There's a great discrepancy to how people thought the O-line performed last night. It could have been a lot better, but people were expecting a lot worse.

3. The defense showed flashes early, especially in the first half. For 3 of 4 quarters they gave everything both the Kent St and Iowa St offenses threw at them and kept ISU in the game. The fourth quarter was a different story, as Kent St held the ball for 18 of the 30 minutes in the second half and 10 of the 15 minutes in the 4th quarter - they were dead tired. The offense HAS to keep the defense off the field, give them a chance to recover physically, or they will have no chance to compete. The offense also HAS to not turn the ball over in their own half of the field. I think by the end of the year, with the right coaching, the defense could be a team strength.

I think last night was a major wake-up call for a lot of us. I've been on the optimistic side of things - I thought 6-7 wins was possible. I've also been saying there are just too many unknowns to make a projection of total wins. I think that's still the case. Chizik was forced to do too much experimentation against a team that's been playing together in one system for many years. I thought we showed positive signs, but we also showed we have a lot of things to work on. Who knows how the game turns out last night without the two false start penalties and two ridiculous turnovers? Those of you at the game didn't get to hear the Chizik halftime interview on the radio, where it was obvious he was disgusted. All he really had to comment on was how the team looked "sloppy." He already knows the problem and you can guarantee he's already working on it. That's what impressed me most about Chizik - he's taking responsibility for the situation. Something Darts loves to remind us about (and I agree with him) is that if Mac was coaching us last night, he would have found every excuse under the sun as to why we were losing last night, and it would have been swept under the rug. Chizik's not doing that. He sees the problem, knows the problem, and you can guarantee the problem will be worked on this week. Trust me, even though this was an "experimental" game for him, the performance overall was not acceptable to him. I believe we'll see marked improvements overall for the UNI game next week. I think judgments need to be reserved for awhile while Chizik continues to install his system, and if need be, his own players. While I still cling to the hope that 6 wins is attainable, I now only hope to see improvement as this season goes along.

 

[Erik4Cy]

People are just emotional, our fanbase will be fine, it is just one game...you think colorado is throwing in the towel as fans and giving up on the buffs because Dan Hawkins era started off with a lot of struggling despite a lot of buzz, excitement? No. And neither is ISU...the world is still spinning people and Gene Chizik and company have a lot to do to improve this team, but we lost to a team that IS better than us even though they are in a slightly smaller conference. NOT THE END OF THE WORLD PEOPLE. The Cyclones will move on and you know we should too. This program has only up to go with Chizik. Rally around them and be REAL fans...do you really wanna act like hawkeye fans when they lose to someone they all thought they would beat? Let's Go Clones!

 

[uthaman]

Pardon me if I'm frank about this.
If you want to compare Chizik to other coaches, here's a couple for you. Mack Brown took over a 5-6 North Carolina team in 1988. His first two seasons, he had one win apiece. Barry Alvarez took over at Wisconsin in 1990 and won one game that year. I don't think anybody would dispute that those two gentlemen are good coaches, or that we're certainly a lot more like North Carolina or Wisconsin (at that time) than we are like Florida. Don't sell the man short because of one game.

A few other football turnarounds of note:

Ferentz (Iowa) 1-10, 3-9, 7-5, 11-2
McCartney (Colorado) 2-8-1, 4-7, 1-10, 7-5... Year 8: National Title
Schiano (Rutgers) 2-9, 1-11, 5-7, 4-7, 7-5, 11-2

There are many others... I picked those three because those schools are not all that different from Iowa State. What is the common theme? PATIENCE

 

[jdoggivjc]

A few other football turnarounds of note:

Ferentz (Iowa) 1-10, 3-9, 7-5, 11-2
McCartney (Colorado) 2-8-1, 4-7, 1-10, 7-5... Year 8: National Title
Schiano (Rutgers) 2-9, 1-11, 5-7, 4-7, 7-5, 11-2

There are many others... I picked those three because those schools are not all that different from Iowa State. What is the common theme? PATIENCE

Don't get me wrong, I'm in line with let Chizik build the program, and personally I think last night's loss will benefit our team (think of it as a "preseason" game). But to play devil's advocate, some people on this board are thinking "we gave Criner, Walden, and McCarney plenty of chances. Look where they took us."

Like I said, I'm not with these people, but I can just envision this going thru their minds.

 

[jberryma]

I posted this in another read but with all the negativity and hostility in this thread I felt it needed a second posting These were my thoughts from the day:

I think everyone just needs to calm down. You want to know what I thought of the day & night. Unbelievable atmosphere around the Jack again. What a day for tailgating and football. We could not have asked for a better day. The beer was flowing and the burgers were being eaten quicker than we could grill them. The people around seemed like they were really nice and everyone seemed to have a great time. The game didn't necessarily have the final result we wanted but there were some good things to take out of it just as there were some bad things the need corrected. Was I disappointed in the loss, yes, but you know what I'll be there again next week when the lots open. Again the beer will be flowing and the burgers will be grilled and again I'll go in a cheer my azz off for the Cardinal and Gold because I love my Cyclones and I love everything about college football from the tailgating to the game. We're all on the same side here so lets quit our ******** raise our cold one's in the air and just chill out.