I classify a rivalry as a game that I circle on the calendar on a consistent basis, or a trophy game. Over the past 5-7 years, that would be ISU, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Jon Miller
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I classify a rivalry as a game that I circle on the calendar on a consistent basis, or a trophy game. Over the past 5-7 years, that would be ISU, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Actually, NW does. Walker and Fitzgerald admittedly put an emphasis on the iowa game. They did not/do not like iowa. I thought this was common knowledge but I guess not
kinda depends how you quantify "owned." Over the last five years, NW has more wins against iowa than tOSU and only one more loss. If you go back 10 years, NW has only lost to iowa 2 more times than tOSU and has beaten iowa as many times as tOSU. Pretty comparable series in recent history so It is hard to say tOSU has owned iowa more...at least when you are looking at recent history. But maybe you aren't looking at recent history.
I think this is exactly what TM is pointing out.
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I think the Iowa players feel pretty strongly about NW...
“The whole program brings (the Wildcats) up,†Iowa cornerback Shaun Prater said. “(The coaches) hang up pictures and posters of them, quotes that their players say about us.â€
“Basically, they say this is a statement game for them, for their whole season when they beat us,†Prater said. “As a team, we should think like that. This is a statement game for us because they beat us the past two years, they always play us tough and we have to win this game.â€
“Northwestern is certainly a team that motivates us,†Iowa offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde said. “It’s a respect thing. I think we feel they really don’t respect us and the way we play football. Everyone has a different style and our styles are very different, and for the most part, I think they think our style isn’t right, I guess. I can’t really think of a more appropriate word for it.â€
Vandervelde said it comes down to “wanting to gain that respect.â€
“They want to beat us to gain respect in the conference and nationally,†he said. “We want to beat them to gain respect from them.â€
agreed. I'm not sure I'd call it a rivalry, but it definately could become one.
Rivalries aren't really about players and coaches, it's about the fans. Players and coaches may emphasize different teams for various reasons, but if the fans don't care then it can't be a rivalry. Iowa fans are starting to care but I don't think they're there yet. As for Northwestern fans, it's hard to tell if they care about Northwestern football let alone Iowa football.
iowa fans still consider NW the same as the teams they played 20 yeears ago. I laugh every year when hok fans automatically state NW as a win. I joked with my hok friends, last year, that there was no way they could win the national title because they had to beat NW first. They all told me I was an idiot and they would destroy NW.
On the flip side, iowa owns PSU like NW owns iowa. Sad thing fo riowa is they will have to play NW every year and they don't get PSU every year
very true. Eventually the odds say that Iowa will beat Northwestern.:unsure:
I think both the PSU/Iowa and NU/Iowa series have been slight flukes in that they shouldn't be that one-sided, but if NU matches up very well with Iowa and Iowa matches up very well with Penn State.
And that's exactly it. Northwestern beats Iowa on a consistent basis because they tend to have the thing that Norm Parker's defense is designed to allow: the 5-10 yard passing game. They control the ball and just dink and dunk Iowa all day. Unlike other teams, they get it done in the red zone.
It isn't really rocket science, its a textbook "match-up" game.
Parker's defense is built to shut down a typical B10 defense. In this respect, it's pretty effective. Northwestern has had an unusual style for the B10 for close to a decade now, hence its given Iowa major fits.
Why does Miller see the need to write stuff like this? Its not like KF is fighting for his job. The fans follow him blindly. He should have saved that peice for after a 5-7 season, when Iowa fans want KF fired.
This. The vast majority of offenses in college football either run almost exclusively (see: Georgia Tech) or try to stretch the field vertically in the passing game in a more balanced offense. Going deep plays into our hands, as our safeties are allowed to play center field.
Most quarterbacks are either incapable or too impatient to stick with the underneath routes. A quarterback doesn't see the field for Northwestern if that description fits them.
Until we shake things up a bit (a little more press coverage, and maybe some nickel packages), we will always struggle with Northwestern. We might not always lose, but we'll always struggle.
You guys are both right and yet wrong at the same time.
Here's the total points scored by Northwestern in each game since 2000:
21 (NU win)
17 (NU win)
22 (NU win)
17
21 (NU win)
28 (NU win)
10
16
17
So Iowa's defense has given up an average of 19 points a game yet it's been the defenses fault that they have lost? The last three years Northwestern has done a remarkable job of not turning the ball over while getting turnovers from Iowa. In all three years if Iowa doesn't turn the ball over they win (Stanzi's late int last year, Stanzi's fumble in the endzone and Vany's multiple picks in 2009, Greene's fumble and Stanzi's 4 int's in 2008) So in the last three losses the TO ratio has been 10-3 and you blame the defense?
I'd like to see the stats on time of possession. Stanzi definitely played poorly against NW, but it seems like Northwestern has always done a good job of playing keep away by committing to the slant game.
The interesting thing is that several times Iowa has had a 2 and one of those games a 3 score lead late in the game. If the D could have just managed to get 1 stop it would have won the game for Iowa.... but they didn't. Kind of puzzling how the Iowa D can play great for 85% of the game and then self destruct late in the 4th quarter.
Last year was incredibly frustrating in that respect to say the least. We had the lead late against Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Minnesota, and managed to pee all of those games down our legs. The year before the defense stepped up in the 4th quarter in our close wins. I would guess this year will fall somewhere between those 2 "extremes".
2010: UI 29 NU 31
2009: UI 26 NU 34
2008: UI 30 NU 30
These numbers support your assumption and it's also why I said you and tm were partially right. Still, when you lose the turnover battle by 7 in three games you can't blame the defense.
Northwestern matches up well with Iowa because they are one of the few teams that play more disciplined than Iowa does. They don't tend to score a lot of points, but very seldom do they make a mistake to give Iowa easy points. That's also very similar to the Iowa - PSU matchup.
I was just about to post this. The offense DEFINITELY needs to step up against Northwestern/Indiana, but the reason NW/IU don't score that much is because they play keepaway. They're content to take 7-8 minutes in order to go 80 yards.
It still doesn't matter how long they hold on to the ball if Iowa doesn't turn the ball over an average of over 3 times a game compared to 1 for Northwestern. It's similar vs Indiana for that matter.
In fact Iowa had to play pretty damn good defense in order to even be close over the last three years. Seriously, how can you look at the 10-3 turnover differential and then point the finger at the defensive scheme?
On final drives do I want more press coverage? hell yes. Does it drive me crazy when a linebacker covers a wide receiver? you bet. Is the defense to blame for the losses to Northwestern the last three years? not a chance.
Getting over obsessive behavior always makes life better. Obsessing about stuff outside your control just makes life miserable. Control what you can control, and adjust the best way you can in response to what you can't, then vote. It's all one can do in life.
As a semi outsider, it wasn't surprising to see the late game meltdowns. You replaced two NFL caliber LBs with relative inexperience then you were decimated with injuries. The LB unit is the heart and soul of iowa's defense. Teams won late because teams went to dink and dunk and the LB corp couldn't cover it as well as Angerer and Edds. Minny ate your LBs alive. NW knows how to beat the iowa defense better than anyone. Wisconsin never went downfield in their last scoring drive, it was all small stuff. I think tOSU had one big pass play on their last scoring drive but Johnson was in coverage. In previous years, you have experienced NFL caliber LBs that had multiple years in the system that had very good coverage skills and an understanding of where to be and when. Last year you had two new starters and then when injuries hit, you had very inexperienced players. Those inexperienced LBs will always struggle in pass coverage. Especially when they are new in the system.
I know people want to point the finger at the DL but when the LB corp is allowing the short passes, the DL doesn't have time