OK - who wins the game on Sept. 9th ?

[cyclonestans]

Just got the schedule for MFL (Marshalltown Football League) and my oldest plays Sep. 9 at 12. I mean I knew having kids I would have to make sacrifices and I get that, but why do people in this state schedule things on ISU vs Iowa Saturday??? (don't get me started on weddings!) Can we just make that day an in-state holiday? Sorry end of rant...33-24 ISU!

 

[HawkeyeMashup]

Iowa's DL is gonna be good, and the front 7 really good.

 

[tazclone]

Not a ton of trouble replacing Johnson. Will he be misssed? yeah he will but they have Lattimore and Bazata along with the Nelsons that will be in the middle. Nelsons, Hesse and Epenesa will be on he outside. DL will be a huge strength for Iowa this year. I think they will be better as they have 3 year starting LBS behind them and athletic young secondary players.

The Iowa defense is going to be very good this year. They lost 1 starter and gained a 4* recruit to take his place in Lattimore and now have a 5* DE in Epenesa to rotate guys along the line more.

C'mon man. The guy is on a NFL roster and you don't even know who is replacing him yet. If it is Lattimore then you are replacing an All Big Ten guy with a Sophomore with one tackle. Hell Johnson was higher rated than Lattimore as a recruit. If it is Nelson or Hesse then you are moving a DE inside because Lattimore isn't sufficient and you lack depth.

I am not saying iowa's DL won't be good but saying it won't be hard replacing Johnson...well you don't even know who is replacing him yet.

 

[CyTwins]

Is Coach Kilmer, I mean Coach Ferentz going to be fired if they don't win 7 games this year? I saw ESPN ranked his coaching stability at 20 out of 100 which is obviously really low. I was hoping it would be higher selfishly.

 

[tazclone]

Is this the biggest new ISU fan talking point? "Good thing you play us early in the year, we'll be much better late in the season." All you complained about last season was that 42-3 wouldn't have happened later in the year. This year, you're getting out in front of the ass kicking and making excuses for this year's loss. It'll be fun to hear it again next year when Park is a backup safety.

It is humor dude. For years we iSu fans heard about how iowa got better as the season went on after they lost to iSu. It was funny in 2001 when we played later and iSu won.

That lame excuse hasn't been used for a while. Kinda like "its your Superbowl" They both were lame excuses proven incorrect time and time again.So now iSu fans throw them out...for humor.

 

[tazclone]

Yeah I have not a clue where I got that from then. My bad! I thought he was a 4* guy. Maybe he was at one time but he most definitely was a lowly 3* at the end of the rankings. Even ESPN he was a 3*. I would include scout but I think you said they dont matter because they are scout so that doesnt count right? I am tryin to play by CyTwin rules. Hard to keep up here!

I found it! He as a top 300 player on the Scout data base. 4* on there. So he was a 4* just not according to 3 other recruiting sites. so I would say that would make hime a 3.25* composite guy. Any way you slice it he is not a player that is a scrub. Yes I include scout because they have been around a long time. 247 and ESPN are the new flavor but that comes with playing favorites too. It does with any database.

scout and 247 have combined. 247 combines all the ranking. Using Scout as as resource is like wearing a polyester snap up jacket with a hok logo...old school

 

[HawkeyeMashup]

C'mon man. The guy is on a NFL roster and you don't even know who is replacing him yet. If it is Lattimore then you are replacing an All Big Ten guy with a Sophomore with one tackle. Hell Johnson was higher rated than Lattimore as a recruit. If it is Nelson or Hesse then you are moving a DE inside because Lattimore isn't sufficient and you lack depth.

I am not saying iowa's DL won't be good but saying it won't be hard replacing Johnson...well you don't even know who is replacing him yet.

And a couple years before that we lost Carl Davis and Johnson stepped in, now Latimore is stepping in.

A DL isn't comprised of one guy. We have experience and talent all around him and he is gonna be good himself.

Our DL is gonna be good, and our front 7 will be really good.

 

[CyTwins]

And a couple years before that we lost Carl Davis and Johnson stepped in, now Latimore is stepping in.

A DL isn't comprised of one guy. We have experience and talent all around him and he is gonna be good himself.

Our DL is gonna be good, and our front 7 will be really good.

Johnson was a stud recruit though

 

[tazclone]

And a couple years before that we lost Carl Davis and Johnson stepped in, now Latimore is stepping in.

A DL isn't comprised of one guy. We have experience and talent all around him and he is gonna be good himself.

Our DL is gonna be good, and our front 7 will be really good.

Johnson was a RSSO when he saw his first real action and a RSJR when he became a starter. Lattimore will be a SO so will be starting two years earlier. Johnson was higher rated as well.

Yes, I know 1 guy does not make a whole unit. But he can make two of the guys next to him better. When you speak of experience...If Nelson and Hesse are playing inside...they have 0 snaps at that position. Epeneza has 0 experience. Lattimore has limited experience. Bazata very experienced.

I think they are going to be solid but that defense wasn't all that great when they faced real offenses anyway. 21 to Miami (ohio), 23 to NDSU, 38 to Northwestern, 35 to Purdue, 41 to Penn St, 30 to Florida...Just a very up and down defense.

It's like you build guys up and make it fact. Like you have done with Fant

 

[AmesHawk]

Johnson was a stud recruit though

Should be pretty easy to replace Jaleel, we might even be better off without the guy. He was pretty mediocre according to a pretty reliable source here.

What about TFL's? If the B1G is a run-first conference you should have plenty of chances to rack those up, unless you're just kind of mediocre like Johnson is

Sometimes you never know how they will turn out in recruiting. Johnson was a top 200 recruit and he was a bust. I just have more faith in this staff then the old one and like they're getting guys early

Tucker is better than Johnson. You can either agree with it or be wrong, it's your choice

Link? I didn't know they ranked college football players. I've never even heard an analyst speak about Johnson, I mean he couldn't even make an All B1G team. I honestly didn't know Hawk fans thought he was so good, usually when a fan base overhypes a player they have some production or numbers to back it up so this is just odd

 

[CyTwins]

Should be pretty easy to replace Jaleel, we might even be better off without the guy. He was pretty mediocre according to a pretty reliable source here.

I admitted I was way wrong about him a long time ago. You guys are really going to miss him.

 

[HawkeyeMashup]

Johnson was a RSSO when he saw his first real action and a RSJR when he became a starter. Lattimore will be a SO so will be starting two years earlier. Johnson was higher rated as well.

Yes, I know 1 guy does not make a whole unit. But he can make two of the guys next to him better. When you speak of experience...If Nelson and Hesse are playing inside...they have 0 snaps at that position. Epeneza has 0 experience. Lattimore has limited experience. Bazata very experienced.

I think they are going to be solid but that defense wasn't all that great when they faced real offenses anyway. 21 to Miami (ohio), 23 to NDSU, 38 to Northwestern, 35 to Purdue, 41 to Penn St, 30 to Florida...Just a very up and down defense.

It's like you build guys up and make it fact. Like you have done with Fant

Nelson was a Fr last year, he will improve. Nelson was a RS So last year he will improve. Hesse is gonna be a 3 year starting Sr. Bring in a 5* stud and the DE are gonna be much better this year. Bazata is a 3 year starter who was hurt last year, and is gonna be a Sr.

The only spot that will be weaker is Latimore, but everyone around him will be better.

Add in a AA MLB, and two other 3 year starters at LB and the front 7 is gonna be really good.

 

[HawkeyeMashup]

Should be pretty easy to replace Jaleel, we might even be better off without the guy. He was pretty mediocre according to a pretty reliable source here.

It is what they say every year. Funny thing is every year Iowa develops players, that is what they do.

I have also noticed Clone fans all of a sudden have been pointing to a players recruiting ratings in High school to say they won't be good. How does that hold up when looking at Jewell, Bowers, Newman, Snyder, Gervase, Nelson, Myers, Boetger, Wadley, Vandeberg. Players are developed at Iowa.

 

[ameslurker]

23-14 Iowa. Hawks use ground game to grind out a win and keep ISU offense off the field.

 

[TheJackWePack5]

It is what they say every year. Funny thing is every year Iowa develops players, that is what they do.

I have also noticed Clone fans all of a sudden have been pointing to a players recruiting ratings in High school to say they won't be good. How does that hold up when looking at Jewell, Bowers, Newman, Snyder, Gervase, Nelson, Myers, Boetger, Wadley, Vandeberg. Players are developed at Iowa.

Who....one, maybe two people?

Some of ISU's best players this year were also lowly rated recruits.

 

[tazclone]

It is what they say every year. Funny thing is every year Iowa develops players, that is what they do.

I have also noticed Clone fans all of a sudden have been pointing to a players recruiting ratings in High school to say they won't be good. How does that hold up when looking at Jewell, Bowers, Newman, Snyder, Gervase, Nelson, Myers, Boetger, Wadley, Vandeberg. Players are developed at Iowa.

They don't develop as much as they recruit well

 

[mikesright]

Lotta optimism from a program that counts 11 wins in the preceding 4 years.

I'll be brutally honest. Anyone predicting ISU to win are either not paying enough attention to the rosters, are on drugs, or are drinking the cyclone fan kool-aid.

Iowa has tremendous depth on the defensive line this year. Iowa goes legit 8 deep. Not the usual, "our backups won't get run over but won't stop anybody" type of depth teams usually say when they're deep. No, they have starters from last year (who stopped ISU cold) with a track record like Matt Nelson and Parker Hesse who will have to play as backups. At D tackle Iowa has a bunch of guys who have been groomed for the position - redshirt So and Jr types with the body types to play real football.

Iowa State admittedly looks like they could be ok at OL. But ISU is relying on Campos, coming back from a year long injury on the blind side, then a bunch of young players and one older guy who never started before. Holding the tide against the best/deepest collection of talent ISU might face this year on DL? No way.

Iowa will have an unbelievable running game this year, and has real depth at running back and offensive line. Iowa has 2 tackles, a true freshman who was recruited by Alabama in Tristan Wirfs 6'5" 315, and a redshirt freshman in Alaric Jackson 6'7" 335 who was recruited by Harbaugh/Michigan who will be rotating in or playing extensively this year. Iowa may also end up flipping Boettger, who played well at right tackle last year, to the blind side. There is real potential that this unit could end up this year as one of the best pass blocking units in Iowa memory. However as much as Iowa could improve pass protection, they have all 5 guys back that played against ISU.

Meanwhile Iowa State is relying on a couple of late-arriving JUCO players (1 of which missed fall camp) to shore up a defensive line that was perhaps the worst in power 5 football last year. All of the players on the defensive line are either new, or earned a negative playing grade. They'll face that Iowa line which was able to average 200 yards plus rushing per game against a cadre of teams where Iowa didn't average passing the ball for over a 100 yards per game. Iowa scored 40 points against Nebraska without any defensive touchdowns or devastating turnovers and 140 yards passing.

The lines are where the games are won. ISU is screwed.

 

[CyTwins]

Lotta optimism from a program that counts 11 wins in the preceding 4 years.

I'll be brutally honest. Anyone predicting ISU to win are either not paying enough attention to the rosters, are on drugs, or are drinking the cyclone fan kool-aid.

Iowa has tremendous depth on the defensive line this year. Iowa goes legit 8 deep. Not the usual, "our backups won't get run over but won't stop anybody" type of depth teams usually say when they're deep. No, they have starters from last year (who stopped ISU cold) with a track record like Matt Nelson and Parker Hesse who will have to play as backups. At D tackle Iowa has a bunch of guys who have been groomed for the position - redshirt So and Jr types with the body types to play real football.

Iowa State admittedly looks like they could be ok at OL. But ISU is relying on Campos, coming back from a year long injury on the blind side, then a bunch of young players and one older guy who never started before. Holding the tide against the best/deepest collection of talent ISU might face this year on DL? No way.

Iowa will have an unbelievable running game this year, and has real depth at running back and offensive line. Iowa has 2 tackles, a true freshman who was recruited by Alabama in Tristan Wirfs 6'5" 315, and a redshirt freshman in Alaric Jackson 6'7" 335 who was recruited by Harbaugh/Michigan who will be rotating in or playing extensively this year. Iowa may also end up flipping Boettger, who played well at right tackle last year, to the blind side. There is real potential that this unit could end up this year as one of the best pass blocking units in Iowa memory. However as much as Iowa could improve pass protection, they have all 5 guys back that played against ISU.

Meanwhile Iowa State is relying on a couple of late-arriving JUCO players (1 of which missed fall camp) to shore up a defensive line that was perhaps the worst in power 5 football last year. All of the players on the defensive line are either new, or earned a negative playing grade. They'll face that Iowa line which was able to average 200 yards plus rushing per game against a cadre of teams where Iowa didn't average passing the ball for over a 100 yards per game. Iowa scored 40 points against Nebraska without any defensive touchdowns or devastating turnovers and 140 yards passing.

The lines are where the games are won. ISU is screwed.

mikeswrong

 

[DodgerHawki]

Thank you! I am a person that feels a guy like Johnson makes everyone around him better. There is a reason there was no drop off when Ott went down.

Should be interesting to see how that unit plays the first game

Johnson was a good player no doubt. He will likely have a good career in the NFL. Perhaps never a great NFL player, but a good one. He was asked to play too many snaps and it showed later in the year.

In 2015, when Ott went out there was definitely a drop-off in terms of sacks and big plays. I'm not sure Iowa wins at Wisconsin if Ott doesn't play the first 2 quarters in that game. Before he had the ACL, he had a TFL, then a strip-sack which Iowa recovered and then scored its only TD of the game.

Start of each new season is good, get to see the improvement players have made and what new guys stand out.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Is Coach Kilmer, I mean Coach Ferentz going to be fired if they don't win 7 games this year? I saw ESPN ranked his coaching stability at 20 out of 100 which is obviously really low. I was hoping it would be higher selfishly.

That score of 20 for coaching stability was one of the funniest things I have ever seen from ESPN, which says a lot. The school that has had 2 coaches since 1979 and the current coach going has been there since 1999, with a contract that makes it extremely unlikely that he could be removed anytime before 2021, yes that is the school ESPN assigns a coaching stability rating of 20 to.