No one said this would be easy....

[ketelmeister]

I'm amazed at those who expected a quick turnaround with Chizik and company. Yes, they have things to correct, but look at the facts:
1. Recruiting had tanked and DM left 6 recruits his last season, and several sub par classes in a row. In comparison, when Mason left MN, he had a full class for his predecessor.
2. Main leaders of the team graduated..Bowen, Meyer, Blythe with no vocal leaders to replace. You may discount this, but its huge
3. With last years full recruiting class, GC made the decision to play 11 freshmen to jump start things and help this years recruiting. This is short term pain for long term gain
4. Some years you have good luck, some you don't. Ask Iowa. We've lost some breaks, but they will even out in the future. Always do.
5. Add injury to AA, and the Bates thing (great timing, right?) and you have the situation we are in.
Things can turn in a year...they have for Minnesota and will for Iowa State.

 

[Landshark]

Great perspective, we could use more of that these days!!!

 

[Clonefan94]

I'm amazed at those who expected a quick turnaround with Chizik and company. Yes, they have things to correct, but look at the facts:
1. Recruiting had tanked and DM left 6 recruits his last season, and several sub par classes in a row. In comparison, when Mason left MN, he had a full class for his predecessor.
2. Main leaders of the team graduated..Bowen, Meyer, Blythe with no vocal leaders to replace. You may discount this, but its huge
3. With last years full recruiting class, GC made the decision to play 11 freshmen to jump start things and help this years recruiting. This is short term pain for long term gain
4. Some years you have good luck, some you don't. Ask Iowa. We've lost some breaks, but they will even out in the future. Always do.
5. Add injury to AA, and the Bates thing (great timing, right?) and you have the situation we are in.
Things can turn in a year...they have for Minnesota and will for Iowa State.

I don't know about others here, but I didn't expect it to be easy and I don't think it's getting easier. All I really expected was for us to keep a 20 point lead, even if the team is better than us. Stop Kansas once in the second half and we win. That game had a lot more to do with bad or non adjustments than it did with the talent we had on the field. Ever since then, it's been a downward spiral and we really haven't been in a game yet. Baylor, come on, no offense to Baylor, but, there is no way they should have beaten us like they did. No matter what the situation. At the least, we should have been able to make that game competitive. Nebrakska? Probably better athletes over all and maybe better depth. Thing is, they have significant weaknesses in their Defense and we chose to or we not able to exploit those. Another game I'm not saying we should have won, but the game should not have been out of reach at the end of the 3rd quarter, like it was. Against teams that really were no better off than us with their situations. I never really expected 6 wins from this team or a bowl appearance. I did expect them to continue what they started at the end of last year and at least be competetive in their league. Nebraska and Baylor are far from what is the best that our conference has to offer. If we can't at least be competitive with them, I fear what's in store for our future. I'm not saying all is lost, but I can't help but get really nervous when we can't move the ball against what is far from "good" defenses.

Believe me, my jury is still out on this team and I won't be jumping off any bridges for a while. I do however get tired of people telling me I can't complain about it or that I'm being irrational. Most of us fans have a lot invested in this team. Not just emotionally, but monetarily as well. How do you expect us to react. I'm really of the opinion that if you didn't have this emotion, both good and bad, ISU wouldn't be seeing the kind of support they are getting. As much as people want to complain about the fans and what we say and how we act after a loss, I challenge you to find a similar team as ours, getting blown out the last couple of weeks, with a fanbase that's willing to show up to the games and stand by our team as we do. As I said, we are emotional fans. Without that emotion, on both sides, how would you expect this team to prosper?

 

[BryceC]

I'm not especially upset with the losing at this point. I knew it was going to be a while before we could expect a winner.

However I am disappointed that we're not even competitive however. This team is very, very bad right now and there is no way around it. That's what I am disappointed with.

 

[CYdTracked]

Things can turn in a year...they have for Minnesota and will for Iowa State.

I never expected a quick turnaround, in fact when we hired Gene I was hoping a bowl berth in year 3 would be about where we should be by then. Right now I'm not sure about that but I'm still patient. That being said this last quote of yours is kind of ironic because Minnesota hired Brewster the same time we hired Chizik and he also came into a tough situation.

 

[Palmer]

The AA injury had a large impact over the last two games. Austin didn't even practice for majority of the week prior to Nebby.

 

[Swanson10]

I never expected a quick turnaround, in fact when we hired Gene I was hoping a bowl berth in year 3 would be about where we should be by then. Right now I'm not sure about that but I'm still patient. That being said this last quote of yours is kind of ironic because Minnesota hired Brewster the same time we hired Chizik and he also came into a tough situation.

Lot easier to sell the Cities, a brand spanking new stadium on campus, and playing time. Not saying but saying.

 

[ketelmeister]

I never expected a quick turnaround, in fact when we hired Gene I was hoping a bowl berth in year 3 would be about where we should be by then. Right now I'm not sure about that but I'm still patient. That being said this last quote of yours is kind of ironic because Minnesota hired Brewster the same time we hired Chizik and he also came into a tough situation.

Actually, it was much different in Minnesota than Iowa State. Mason had taken Minnesota to 5 straight bowl games when he was fired. He had a top 25 recruiting class that was handed to Brewster, and he had strong recruiting the previous seasons. The Iowa State program was bottoming out, recruiting had fallen off and he left virtually no recruits for Chizik..Chiziks first class was thrown together after everyone else already had their guys. In essence, we lost a year of recruits. That is now changing.
(I live in Minnesota and have watched this pretty closely)

 

[Aclone]

However I am disappointed that we haven't been competitive in the last two games however.

Fixed that for ya. Last time I looked, we'd been competetive in every other game. Wonder what the reason for that change might have been? :skeptical:

 

[BryceC]

Fixed that for ya. Last time I looked, we'd been competetive in every other game. Wonder what the reason for that change might have been? :skeptical:

Please let us know, because I'd love to hear why the team is drastically regressing in every phase.

 

[ketelmeister]

Please let us know, because I'd love to hear why the team is drastically regressing in every phase.

I don't agree with you....L J has been fantastic, Special teams continue to play well, and our underclassmen are stepping up. Let's watch this week before we get out the valium.

 

[Aclone]

Please let us know, because I'd love to hear why the team is drastically regressing in every phase.

I'll get back to you after the A&M game. There's an old saying that once is chance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action...or signs of a consistent problem.

 

[TheHelgo]

Fixed that for ya. Last time I looked, we'd been competetive in every other game. Wonder what the reason for that change might have been? :skeptical:

I assume AA's injury is part of it.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

I never was expecting a quick fix, but getting six wins this season was not unreasonable, and being competitive at Baylor and against NU is expected. Neither of these thing happened. The coaching staff absolutely has failed in these regards and should be subject to scrutiny. To say that the staff is performing as well as they can or up to reasonable expectations is simply not true.

 

[cybsball20]

A wise man once said, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap".

 

[KMAC_ATTACK]

I'm not especially upset with the losing at this point. I knew it was going to be a while before we could expect a winner.

However I am disappointed that we're not even competitive however. This team is very, very bad right now and there is no way around it. That's what I am disappointed with.

Best Post i've seen - i agree 100% - we don't need 10-2 seasons (that would be great) i would have been ecstatic with a 6 win season, but, being blown up by teams that athletically we can compete with maybe not win but compete tells me its not the players - then if its not the game plans then someone please explain it to me as to what can be attributed to the team we have seen the last 2.5 games?

I could go on and on about play calling, but i'm over it. I'm cautiously optimistic about how the play calling will open up this week. I truly think the biggest mistake this whole season has been moving Lamaak from the tackle position, he has the feet to maintain engagement with the quick rush ends, and the pressure has seemed to come from the edges a lot - i think we see a huge - HUGE improvement this week with Lamaak back outside. Talk about road graders, KO and Stephens at guards i mean if you pull those guys on a sweep the dbs will not be aggressive about sticking that head into those huge men...

This is the essence of growing pains, and if you listen to Chizik, he talks about it very sparingly but you can tell the losing is affecting him as well. But, its the confidence in there, its just as if he wants to say - Shut the heck up, i know what i'm doing. I will build my program the way i want to build it - it takes time, you just cant go out and buy one - unless your Okie St...:biglaugh: We will take our lumps but we will be better for it. Give me a chance, when my guys are in place if i'm losing then call my theory a failure - lets not be too quick to judge.

I will wait and see approach - but, all i'm looking for is a sign, show me the ability to game plan and execute and i'm content!!!!:notworthy:

 

[BryceC]

I don't agree with you....L J has been fantastic, Special teams continue to play well, and our underclassmen are stepping up. Let's watch this week before we get out the valium.

You don't agree? I'm sorry but being at least competitive in 5 games and then getting absolutely trounced in the last two in every statistical category is regressing. I'm sorry.

I would have been okay with a 4 win season if the team was playing well. That game last weekend was god awful. Luckily I wasn't able to watch the Baylor game, only listen on the radio.

 

[ketelmeister]

You don't agree? I'm sorry but being at least competitive in 5 games and then getting absolutely trounced in the last two in every statistical category is regressing. I'm sorry.

I agree with you as a team...but not in all individual phases or players. But certainly hard to defend what we have seen. It has not been pretty. Thank goodness for tailgating.

 

[cybsball20]

FYI, as bad as we played against Nebraska, we were still in that game early in the 4th quarter...

 

[snowcraig2.0]

You don't agree? I'm sorry but being at least competitive in 5 games and then getting absolutely trounced in the last two in every statistical category is regressing. I'm sorry.

I think the SDSU games and Kent State should have been a warning sign to us. Those were two teams we should have put big numbers up against and didn't. I, like most people here, dismissed this and blindly drank the kool-aid. I think this team has talent, but those games should have told us things are not where they need to be yet.