Can the football team live up to the hype? (not a poll)

[clonedude]

Yes, I'm loving all the preseason attention, all the accolades, all the various team, team units, and individual rankings, etc that this coming season's ISU football team is getting. It is well deserved IMO, and I'm glad that "lowly" ISU is finally getting the attention it deserves for once.

But with all that being said..... has the bar been set too high, and will it be near impossible for the team to match all the expectations and not disappoint the fans? Some on here will say I'm just the downer clonedude, blah, blah, blah..... and I get it, but the fact remains that the expectations have been set REALLY high.... at a level never achieved at ISU ever.

Some are predicting a Big 12 title and possible NCAA playoff team. 10+ wins for sure. Top 5 team.

Like I initially said... all of this attention is awesome and I wouldn't want it any other way.... but there will be tremendous pressure on this team to live up to the hype and not end up just being "pretenders".

I do think if any head coach could put everything in the proper perspective and not allow their players to get over confident or big heads...... CMC is definitely that person. So we do have that going for us.

Will people be disappointed if we win only 8 or 9 games?

 

[CyCrazy]

Ya I will probably be a little dissapointed, but such is life. I don't play and I don't coach so I can't control squadoosh. Hopefully its the season we all think it can be.

 

[Clonehomer]

I think they can live up to the national hype. But there's no way they'll live up to the hype and expectations of this fanbase. I predict this place will be a miserable cesspool of complaints if we don't win every game by 14 pts.

 

[qwerty]

Can they? YES
Will they? Remains to be seen, but I sure hope so.

 

[Brandon]

I'll let ya know after the UNI game.

 

[dualthreat]

If we only win 8 games that will definitely be a disappointment and will go down as Not Living up to the Hype.
With that said, it’s not some dog **** season. Especially if we land back in the Alamo or Camping World Bowls and beat Iowa. Who knows, Oklahoma Texas TCU and say West Virginia or OSU could wind up having outstanding seasons ranked in the top 20.

We go 8-4 with losses to those guys and still end the season ranked #20 I’d say that’s a good year.
Edit: not great but good

 

[3TrueFans]

Can the football team live up to the hype?

Yes

has the bar been set too high

Maybe

will it be near impossible for the team to match all the expectations and not disappoint the fans?

No

Will people be disappointed if we win only 8 or 9 games?

Some will

 

[qwerty]

Personally, I would put
8-4 at disappointing but still good
9-3 would be OK but is at a Meets Expectations level
10-2 is great
11-1 is outstanding (and Exceeds Expectations)
12-0 would be Un freaking believable

I think we end up 10-2 or 9-3, hopefully the 10-2.

 

[JM4CY]

Can we not start pissing on the season already??? Jfc

 

[jdoggivjc]

If there's ever a year for this team to live up to this kind of hype, it's this year. I think if we go 3-0 in the preseason and avoid injuries we easily live up to the hype.

 

[cytor]

I think 9-3 or 10-2 is likely. If it were the B1G West, 12-0 easily.

 

[NoCreativity]

If they have only 1 loss or are undefeated by Halloween ill start buying into it.

I'll be happy with a repeat of last year though. Finish 1st or 2nd in the Big 12, make the CCG and make another Fiesta Bowl type game. I don't know how anybody could be upset with that.

 

[NoCreativity]

I think 9-3 or 10-2 is likely. If it were the B1G West, 12-0 easily.

No way they could compete with Nebraska in that division.

 

[Cyched]

After last year, with the experience, the goal is a Big 12 championship. But Oklahoma is a big hurdle in achieving that this season.

I'd be happy with 9-3/10-2 and another NY6/high profile bowl appearance. Anything above that, I'd be ecstatic, but going 11-1/12-0 is freaking hard.

After last year that would make things finally feel sustainable.

 

[MeanDean]

I'm already telling myself NOT to be disappointed if we end up 9-3. That's historically a hugely successful season for ISU and I need to stay in the moment and not be pissed if it comes in at that record.

I'd say an 8-4 season would be disappointing as not meeting expectations and there'll be a lot of "what if" scenarios played out on here for the next 10-15 years. Still in the overall scheme of things that's very successful for ISU or most any team not named Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma or tOSU.

10-2 and a NY6 bowl would be at or above expectations. And I'd be extremely satisfied with that.

Anything above that would put us in the conversation for a playoff spot and that would be a dream season for ISU, this or any other year.

 

[Sousaclone]

If they have only 1 loss or are undefeated by Halloween ill start buying into it.

I'll be happy with a repeat of last year though. Finish 1st or 2nd in the Big 12, make the CCG and make another Fiesta Bowl type game. I don't know how anybody could be upset with that.

Is this your first time on CF?

The meltdowns on this board will be absolutely insane when we either a) don't beat a 'weak' opponent by 14+ b) have a close game against any team or c) have a bad loss to some team.

If c happens CW may as well just shutdown the board for a week because it'll be so radioactive that the government will try to see if we're storing WMDs on a server somewhere.

That said I'm preparing myself for 8-4 or 9-3. Anything less than that is probably disappointing, but I've seen ISU as a whole just take nut shots to many times to not prepare for the worst.

 

[CyCal]

This is the best team that Iowa State has had in my lifetime, so I'm glad they are getting the hype. The fact is, you need preseason hype in order to give yourself a punchers chance at a playoff birth in the current format. Would 8 wins be a disappointment? Sure because we are actually capable of doing substantially better. But how disappointing it is will depend on circumstances - do we lose a couple studs to injury? Are our losses coming in close games to good teams?

The more important question to me is: Will Iowa State fans still enjoy the season if we only win 8 or 9 games?

From my perspective, as an Iowa State fan growing up in the 90s who went to school in Ames during McCarny's last year through Rhoades' first - at the same time as the Greg McDermott-era - one of the things that makes Iowa State so special is we have 40 to 50,000 people showing up on Saturdays who are intent on having a hell of a time regardless of what the football team does or doesn't do on the field.

 

[dualthreat]

Since the formation of the Big 12 and the years with a CCG, there have been a lot of really elite teams that did not win the Big 12 Championship. Teams that were ranked #1 for many weeks. Teams that were 11-0 or 11-1 that haven't won it.

Off the top of my head

'98 11-0 K State didn't win it
'01 11-0 Nebraska didn't even make the CCG
'03 11-0 Oklahoma "The greatest team of all time" got blown out in the CCG
'07 12-1 Missouri didn't win it
'19 11-1 Baylor didn't win it

We had a taste of that last year by ending the regular season as stand-alone first place and still not getting to claim a championship

 

[JRE1975]

Two thoughts-

Beating Georgia or Florida in the Sugar Bowl would be a great season!

If we are 6-0 going into the Oklahoma State game odds are Clonedude will have a thread worrying about ending the year 6-6.

 

[Neptune78]

If the AA Cyclones go injury free, this a 10 win team.
Campbell will have them ready for the greatest season in the program's history.


Swirl on.