Ending Iowa's Dominance

Cyliam

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Sep 4, 2017
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What do we need to do to break Iowa's football Dominance? While we have been much more competitive over the last 15-20 we've never been able to get over the hump. What makes it more difficult to stomach is that Iowa has been able to accomplish what it has with a roster full of Iowa kids. Their two deeps and roster are both full of Iowa kids. These are kids who have grown up seeing a much more ISU competitive program (on a yearly basis) than the kids of 15-20 years ago. Yet year in year out Iowa gets their pick of the most talented in state kids. They also seem to have several key players each year that passed on scholarships at lower levels for an opportunity to walk on and end up being big time contributors. While no one can doubt this staffs activity level the jury is still out if they will effectively be able to bring in quality out of state talent on a regular basis. Would they be better served trying to take on Iowa for top in state talent? What needs to change to end Iowa's dominance on the field and regarding in state recruiting? Is it even possible in the current environment when they enjoy such a massive revenue advantage?
 
Being better than them and winning would be a good start.

If ISU comes out next week and at the least has a chance to win late, it will at least feel like things are maybe on track and recruits will be interested in a team that's competitive or beating top teams.

If ISU comes out next week and gets blasted I'm concerned it will feel like just another ISU football season. Which is sad considering there's legit talent at pretty much all spots except Oline. How in **** a midwestern school can't find some huge humans in the middle of rural farm country USA is kind of amazing.
 
The only thing that has really bothered me with CMC's tenure is how he has yet to build the O-line into a strength in terms of run blocking. I was impressed in year 1 and 2 with how they didn't give up a ton of sacks. However O-line was the forte at Toledo and we've yet to see it here.

When ISU won in 2011/2012 they out rushed iowa both games. 2012 was barely over 100 yard and Iowa had a rough day running the ball. Those teams had pretty decent O-lines. Not world beaters by anymeans, but capable of opening holes often enough, and a lot of experience/starts between them.

If ISU can shore that up in the coming years, they will be able to win more games vs Iowa. Stinks though as we saw a wasted performance out of the defense yesterday. Usually when Iowa's stretch run play isn't that effective for 4 qtrs, Iowa is usually in trouble. ISU has had 2 good scenarios play out for them the last 2 years vs Iowa but wasn't able to capitalize.
 
I really don't GAF if Iowa recruits more Iowa kids to their Football team. Everyone makes ****** decisions and if they want to be Hoks, let them be Hoks. Just recruit best talent available. It has worked for us in basketball and starting to get better in football. If we recruited the same athletes Iowa has, we wouldn't be competitive in the Big12. Their personnel is perfect for the B1G, but when playing outside of the conference they get Tennesseed/Stanforded.
 
One thing that's a little disconcerting to me is how we, along with a lot of other schools, offered Foster (a 4* kid I believe), and Iowa didn't.

Obviously when someone is a 4*, it's probably not a bad idea to offer him, but what did Iowa's coaches see on his film that we didn't? That's a little worrisome to me.
 
One thing that's a little disconcerting to me is how we, along with a lot of other schools, offered Foster (a 4* kid I believe), and Iowa didn't.

Obviously when someone is a 4*, it's probably not a bad idea to offer him, but what did Iowa's coaches see on his film that we didn't? That's a little worrisome to me.

Iowa has offered PLENTY of highly rated OL who didn’t work out.
 
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What do we need to do to break Iowa's football Dominance? While we have been much more competitive over the last 15-20 we've never been able to get over the hump. What makes it more difficult to stomach is that Iowa has been able to accomplish what it has with a roster full of Iowa kids. Their two deeps and roster are both full of Iowa kids. These are kids who have grown up seeing a much more ISU competitive program (on a yearly basis) than the kids of 15-20 years ago. Yet year in year out Iowa gets their pick of the most talented in state kids. They also seem to have several key players each year that passed on scholarships at lower levels for an opportunity to walk on and end up being big time contributors. While no one can doubt this staffs activity level the jury is still out if they will effectively be able to bring in quality out of state talent on a regular basis. Would they be better served trying to take on Iowa for top in state talent? What needs to change to end Iowa's dominance on the field and regarding in state recruiting? Is it even possible in the current environment when they enjoy such a massive revenue advantage?
Out of the last 20 years they've won 11. No capital D required. Quite frankly, we shouldn't give a damn where the athletes are from. They want to become Cyclones..that makes them "our kids", not some arbitrary boundary lines drawn up over 150 years ago and the accident of their birthplace or where they grew up. We should get the best players we can that fit our scheme...period!!!
 
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Out of the last 20 years they've won 11. No capital D required. Quite frankly, we shouldn't give a damn where the athletes are from. They want to become Cyclones..that makes them "our kids", not some arbitrary boundary lines drawn up over 150 years ago. We should get the best players we can that fit our scheme...period!!!

While thats true on paper it's hard to overlook 3-7 in the last ten and 5-10 in the last 15. Those numbers are certainly more relevant to recruits. I disagree whole heartedly about Iowa kids. We dont have to clean house with in state kids but we certainly need to be a little more competitive.
 
While thats true on paper it's hard to overlook 3-7 in the last ten and 5-10 in the last 15. Those numbers are certainly more relevant to recruits. I disagree whole heartedly about Iowa kids. We dont have to clean house with in state kids but we certainly need to be a little more competitive.
It doesn't matter where they come from...period!!!! As to streaks and such, those are primarily things for fans to fret about. I will give some credence to the fact that it sucks that we've lost 4 in a row to the TOE, but the recruiting rankings overall have not suffered one bit due to that.
 
One thing that's a little disconcerting to me is how we, along with a lot of other schools, offered Foster (a 4* kid I believe), and Iowa didn't.

Obviously when someone is a 4*, it's probably not a bad idea to offer him, but what did Iowa's coaches see on his film that we didn't? That's a little worrisome to me.

Not sure what Iowa coaches look for but they've always been good at taking dudes and making them into good lineman. I don't know what Gallery was rated but he wasn't really that good coming out of high school as in didn't really have a fit position, just happened to 6'8 with decent feet and a wide frame. From a town of maybe 800 people.
 
One thing that's a little disconcerting to me is how we, along with a lot of other schools, offered Foster (a 4* kid I believe), and Iowa didn't.

Obviously when someone is a 4*, it's probably not a bad idea to offer him, but what did Iowa's coaches see on his film that we didn't? That's a little worrisome to me.

I think you’re looking into it waaaay too much. Iowa’s OL requires a specific skill set, mainly due to the zone blocking scheme. They could pass on guys that would otherwise be road graders and excellent players in other systems. Foster is a 6-8 soph at the toughest position to learn on the OL. Give him time to grow into his body and gain experience.
 
It doesn't matter where they come from...period!!!! As to streaks and such, those are primarily things for fans to fret about. I will give some credence to the fact that it sucks that we've lost 4 in a row to the TOE, but the recruiting rankings overall have not suffered one bit due to that.

That's really naive on a couple of fronts. We absolutely have to start holding our own in state if we want to be on equal or better footing than Iowa. And remember in addition to being recruits they are also fans.
 
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The Big 10 has twice as many players on NFL rosters than the Big 12. Have a little perspective.
Nebraska lost at home to Colorado, NW lost badly at home to Duke, Purdue lost at home to Eastern Michigan, Iowa beat ISU but it wasnt a good game, and Iowa hasn't looked good for about 5 out of 8 quarters, Illinois and Minny play no one, and Wisconsin is good.

The B1G West is bad.
 

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