I had family over for the past few days... It was fun, but after 3 straight days of having 15+ people in our house, I am ready for it to be back to normal today.
Iowa has turned the corner?
- Thread starter brianhos
- Start date
I had family over for the past few days... It was fun, but after 3 straight days of having 15+ people in our house, I am ready for it to be back to normal today.
Add WR's that can stay out of jail. They have no one that is any good at receiver.
I dunno, Brodell, Moeaki, Stross, and Meyer (two TEs) aren't bad receivers. Of course, 2 of them missed most of the season, one was a Freshman, and Stross came back the last half of the season.
They'll be healthy, and there will be a load of experience behind them now.
OK, how many of us heard the following last year (except for the home games against Wisc and PSU...of course, no mention of playing Illinois in Champaign and Indiana in Bloomington and MSU in East Lansing):
Is it a media Man Crush on Kirk Ferentz? I so don't get it. If they actually performed as well as their annual pre-season plaudits, they WOULD be as elite as they think they are.
Is it a media Man Crush on Kirk Ferentz? I so don't get it. If they actually performed as well as their annual pre-season plaudits, they WOULD be as elite as they think they are.
This is the same thing that everyone was saying about Iowa LAST year. Last year should have been MUCH better than it was. Promising WRs, proven, solid RBs, a small question mark at QB, but a highly touted guy. A lot of guys returning. A pretty soft schedule.
Before the season, the WRs mostly go bye bye. Injuries plague "playmakers" early (just like the year before in the backfield). The wheels fall off, before Iowa makes a stab at the soft underbelly of the Big 10.
Next year looks even worse, IMO. Unproven WRs, a backfield in disarray, a QB that nobody is all that high on, an o-line that looked like swiss cheese last year. Not to mention the issue with predictable play calling. A defense that loses 4 of it's top 6 tacklers from the year before. A predictable defense that can't defend the spread.
I don't mean to hate on the Hawks, but there really isn't a whole lot saying to me, at least, that next year's team has anything more to be hopeful for than last year's team. The Big 10 may have been down a bit last year, but it won't stay that way forever. You put Iowa in the Big 10 of 10 years ago, and they would have had 3 or maybe 4 wins.
Before the season, the WRs mostly go bye bye. Injuries plague "playmakers" early (just like the year before in the backfield). The wheels fall off, before Iowa makes a stab at the soft underbelly of the Big 10.
Next year looks even worse, IMO. Unproven WRs, a backfield in disarray, a QB that nobody is all that high on, an o-line that looked like swiss cheese last year. Not to mention the issue with predictable play calling. A defense that loses 4 of it's top 6 tacklers from the year before. A predictable defense that can't defend the spread.
I don't mean to hate on the Hawks, but there really isn't a whole lot saying to me, at least, that next year's team has anything more to be hopeful for than last year's team. The Big 10 may have been down a bit last year, but it won't stay that way forever. You put Iowa in the Big 10 of 10 years ago, and they would have had 3 or maybe 4 wins.
They arent bad recievers, but nothing great either. Again playing with the idea of being very mediocre
Different faces, same old KOK offense! (KOK offensive game plan,,,,,,, if its working, let go away from it......they'll never suspect that!)
Sorry SH, just fun'in ya:smile:
You're not making fun, you're telling the truth!
Unofortunately... :no:
I am psychic. SHawk talks about the receivers and mentions the tight ends. I say ya but who will be there in August? Now we find out that Myers gets arrested.
I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!
Not sure what his jersey reads, but he is number 12 on the arrest chart. How high will it go? I bet 15+ by August.
I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!
Not sure what his jersey reads, but he is number 12 on the arrest chart. How high will it go? I bet 15+ by August.
The Hawk schedule with PSU and WI at home is no great deal. This is what I have always thought about ISU playing TX or OU at home. Sure there is always that chance that ISU might beat them, but it is much better to have someone closer to you in terms of ability at your home games. Being at home can get you over the hill, but rarely gets you over the mountain. On the other hand, WI and PSU are not mountians, maybe foothills.
Iowa is 10-3 against UW and PSU in the last combined 13 games. I'm not sure I'd put them that much higher than Iowa, although they've had more recent success than the Hawks (past 2 years).
I really hope this'll be a turn around season for Iowa. They showed glimpses of being better until the WMU loss.
How I'd define the Big 10 in comparison to Iowa:
Mountains: Michigan, Ohio St
Bluffs: Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn St
Rolling Plains: Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan St
Molehills: Minnesota
Sorry, but '02, '03, '04 might as well be the hayden fry days for you guys. If KF is going to win the Big 11 again (or tie for it) he is going to have to RE-rebuild iowa. Iowa WAS a strong third team in the Big 11. Now they're more like 6th or 7th.
I'm going to have to disagree with '02, '03, and '04 belonging to Fry. By the time '97 rolled around he had pretty much driven the Buick (sorry, as good as Iowa football was in the '80s and '90s, I can't compare it to a Cadillac) into the wall. Ferentz rebuilt that program, not Fry. He might have been able to use the Fry legacy, but it was his work.
But absolutely, I agree with the rest. I think the problem at Iowa lies within the attitude that they are capable of just reloading in Michigan/OSU fashion, which they are not. They will always have to fight for every recruit they get, which it doesn't seem like they want to do. Fighting for recruits for them is even more critical now with the emergence of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa State.
Both of those teams have been mediocre as of late though. The last time Iowa beat Penn State, Penn State went 4-7. Iowa was beating Wisconsin through those years when they were really good (2002-2004), and then a close win in 05, despite Wisconsin having only 19 yards of rushing.
I don't disagree that Penn State and Wisconsin aren't that much better programs than Iowa at this point, but that doesn't really say much for any of them.
They showed glimpses of getting better in one miraculous come-from-behind, one regular come-from-behind, and one decent victory against arguably the 3 worst teams in the worst major conference, including one team that has a solid argument for being the worst BCS team in the nation, after getting manhandled by a team that just let Central freaking Michigan put up 48 points on it, disgraced by a mediocre Indiana team at home (that needed a last second field goal to beat the aforementioned team that manhandled Iowa), embarrassed by a Penn State team that looked like garbage the two weeks before Iowa came to town, and dominated, really, by a 3 win ISU team with a slipshod last-minute recruiting class put together by a first-time, first-year head coach, with an incredibly young O-line that didn't even score a touchdown in the whole game, and, the coupe de grace, losing AT HOME to a BAD MAC team on senior day, and never even really being in the game.
I mean really. Iowa's wins this year were over Northern Illinois, Syracuse, Minnesota, Northwestern, Michigan State and Illinois (ALL at home, save for Northern Illinois, who might as well have been a home game, and Northwestern, who had about as many fans in the stands as UI brings to home basketball games this year). That doesn't exactly inspire much confidence that next year will be much better, IMO.
It was a REALLY bad year for Iowa. The only saving grace was that the schedule was REALLY REALLY weak. The only saving grace for next year is that the schedule is REALLY weak (instead of REALLY REALLY).
Half way through the season, Iowa was playing with a team that was a shell of the already inexperienced team that started the year. Yet they still broke even.
While IMO some of the play calling was suspect, the fact that Iowa still defeated these teams was un-expected... especially with one of those teams being Rose Bowl bound Illinois, and Champ Sports bound Michigan State.
While Iowa may not have been world beaters, the fact that they competed with vastly more talented (and experienced) teams in MSU and Illinois (and won) shows that they improved immensely as the season went on.
And you can use the logic that CMU put 48 up on Purdue, and Iowa was dominated by Purdue (so therefore Iowa and the Big Ten are so very weak) is extremely flawed. And here is why.
While Purdue did barely squeak out a victory against CMU, let us not forget that earlier this season, the Boilers beat the Chippewas by a score of 45-22 (it was 38-0 at the half). So the example that since Iowa was dominated by Purdue, and Purdue almost slipped against a MAC team doesn't make sense in this case. I'll also mention the fact that the Big Ten was 17-2 agaisnt the MAC this season, while ISU alone was 0-2, so any example comparing the Big Ten being equal to the MAC is simply misinformed.
And finally, while I'm not going to argue that last season was a bust - because it was - that's a moot point. Next year, Iowa has a lot to prove, and a lot of ground to make up. But IMO, with a favorable schedule and a bunch of returning experience, anything less than 8 wins next season would be a major bust. Expectations like that may seem ridiculous after a season like this past one, but given everything Iowa has going for it (returning starters, great schedule, good coach, decent incoming recruiting class), there is no reason to expect otherwise.
Granted, they had a lot of injuries, but they had a lot of injuries the year before. That's part of the game. Everyone has injuries. Credit for breaking even, but looking at the season they had and saying they are ready to "turn the corner" is a stretch, IMO. They were struggling just to tread water.
Illinois was a good win, no doubt about it. It was aided by some shoddy play calling on behalf of Zooker, a "hangover" after beating Wisconsin the week before, and some pretty ugly weather. Michigan State may be going to the Champs Sports Bowl, but they are far from a "good" team. They went 7-5, and were only marginally better than a very mediocre Iowa. Those are the only two teams that Iowa beat that had winning records last year.
Vastly is hugely overstating the difference between those teams and Iowa. Those teams are playing with the same kind of talent that Iowa has been picking up. While they might be a bit more experienced, it's not as though Iowa was starting true Freshmen at every position. They had two GOOD senior running backs, and some good seniors on the D side of the ball too.
I'm not saying by any stretch that the MAC is better than the Big 10. The MAC is AWFUL this year. Simply awful. The Big 10 is better in every way. I was just pointing out that Purdue's D wasn't so great that they should have held another Big 10 team to two field goals when they are giving up double digits to teams from an AWFUL conference.
There are tons of reasons to expect otherwise. You can delude yourself all you want into believing that 8 wins is not only possible for Iowa, but mandatory for a successful season. The reality is, that it's probably going to be another 6 or 7 win season. I'd say that Iowa and ISU are probably largely in the same situation at this point, except ISU has momentum on it's side. I guess Iowa does too, it's just not in the right direction.
You make some excellent points. Some are hard to argue against - I guess I'm just going to hold out hope. That's really all it is - I'm not going to deny that I'm a homer and therefore my opinions are clouded. We'll just have to wait and see.