Perspective

[Palmer]

Your right, two 6-6 seasons that ended with a bowl game loss are losing seasons, technically. To me, 6-6 in the Big 12 with a bowl game is a good accomplishment for ISU.

But, if anyone thinks that what we have experienced under Rhoads is anything like Walden, they should look at Walden's record.

3/5 years - bowl game

8 years - no bowl game

Walden's record

1987	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	6th
1988	Iowa State	5–6	3–4	5th
1989	Iowa State	6–5	4–3	4th
1990	Iowa State	4–6–1	2–4–1	T–4th
1991	Iowa State	3–7–1	1–5–1	6th
1992	Iowa State	4–7	2–5	T–6th
1993	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	T–6th
1994	Iowa State	0–10–1	0–6–1	T–7th

Comparing one terrible era to the currently time period does not alleviate what is occurring.

Terrible coaching and underachieving with 1 winning season. It is what it is. CPR is lucky he is coaching at ISU. Heads would be rolling anywhere else. I hope he does succeed next year.

 

[Wesley]

We may not even win our three B12 games for the year.

 

[CRAZYGREG]

CPR has done things Walden could never do though. Thats a definite difference. Beating a ranked team on the road every year (that streak will likely end this year), winning in Lincoln, winning in Austin, beating the #2 team, winning a bowl game. Etc.

I completely agree about Courtney though.

Having Nebraska completely hand us a game in Lincoln - we did not "win" that game
Beating one of the worst Texas teams they have ever had (no bowl)
Beating OSU - Fantastic! Walden once beat a great Nebraska team at home too.
Ugly, ugly bowl win against a terrible Minnesota team that stated that they did not want to be there two years in a row.

 

[awd4cy]

Having Nebraska completely hand us a game in Lincoln - we did not "win" that game
Beating one of the worst Texas teams they have ever had (no bowl)
Beating OSU - Fantastic! Walden once beat a great Nebraska team at home too.
Ugly, ugly bowl win against a terrible Minnesota team that stated that they did not want to be there two years in a row.

Can't disagree with this. Don't forget about beating Tech when they were #19 and went on to lose the rest of their games.

 

[tejasclone]

Your right, two 6-6 seasons that ended with a bowl game loss are losing seasons, technically. To me, 6-6 in the Big 12 with a bowl game is a good accomplishment for ISU.

But, if anyone thinks that what we have experienced under Rhoads is anything like Walden, they should look at Walden's record.

3/5 years - bowl game

8 years - no bowl game

Walden's record

1987	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	6th
1988	Iowa State	5–6	3–4	5th
1989	Iowa State	6–5	4–3	4th
1990	Iowa State	4–6–1	2–4–1	T–4th
1991	Iowa State	3–7–1	1–5–1	6th
1992	Iowa State	4–7	2–5	T–6th
1993	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	T–6th
1994	Iowa State	0–10–1	0–6–1	T–7th

It's worth pointing out that Walden's 6-5 team in 1989 would have qualified for a bowl if it played in 2013. Not that it makes any difference.

 

[Londo]

Having Nebraska completely hand us a game in Lincoln - we did not "win" that game
Beating one of the worst Texas teams they have ever had (no bowl)
Beating OSU - Fantastic! Walden once beat a great Nebraska team at home too.
Ugly, ugly bowl win against a terrible Minnesota team that stated that they did not want to be there two years in a row.

I don't understand why some posters are b******* about some of the close wins that CPR has had in the past 5 years? Would it have made you happier if we just lost those games? Every game that you have mentioned, besides maybe MIN, the other team had more pure talent than the Cyclone team it played and we either out coached, out hustled, or were more disciplined than the team it played. If you want to go back to the years we had no shot in half our games, be my guest.

 

[Incyte]

Having Nebraska completely hand us a game in Lincoln - we did not "win" that game
Beating one of the worst Texas teams they have ever had (no bowl)
Beating OSU - Fantastic! Walden once beat a great Nebraska team at home too.
Ugly, ugly bowl win against a terrible Minnesota team that stated that they did not want to be there two years in a row.

Shame on our staff for capitalizing on opportunity.

I believe CPR has the highest winning percentage at Iowa State since Earl Bruce. I'll give him the opportunity to build it up again before I jump ship.

 

[ruxCYtable]

I love Paul Rhoads, no question about it, and am prepared to give him a break. I think the concern for me is, can a program that had some momentum going recover from a 1 or 2-win season? Is this a bump in the road or has the job become another complete rebuilding effort that CPR can't recover from? I hope it is a bump in the road, but only time will tell.

 

[mt85]

I love Paul Rhoads, no question about it, and am prepared to give him a break. I think the concern for me is, can a program that had some momentum going recover from a 1-win season? Is this a bump in the road or has the job become another complete rebuilding effort that CPR can't recover from? I hope it is a bump in the road, but only time will tell.

What is with this fanbase? We still have five games left. Can you at least let them play the games before you conclude what the record will be?

 

[kberyldial]

Rhoads and Walden are basically the same. One has a 0.33523 win percentage and the other has 0.47059. Pretty much the same.

Rhoads and Walden are about as far from the same as you could get. This year sucks but lets not pretend our football program is anywhere near the Walden era. People can be upset and that's fine because Rhoads has actually accomplished something at Iowa State and it's raised the bar in fans' eyes. Iowa State is a work in progress. It always has been. There is more talent on the field. There are more fans interested. We were a joke in Walden's time with no chance of not being a joke. I was there. This is not the same thing.

 

[isu81]

What is with this fanbase? We still have five games left. Can you at least let them play the games before you conclude what the record will be?

Agreed. I think we win one more. In fairness to the post, we will be underdogs in 4 of the 5, double-digit underdogs in 2 of them.

 

[Clonefan32]

I think this is, in many ways, what has led to the frustration this year. There have been years in the past where the talent gap has been incredibly apparent. In the past, we've looked like we didn't belong on the same field as other teams. I think with this year's team, you see flashes of ability. You see guys like Wimberly, Brundage, George, etc. who can really play. However, for whatever reason, nothing has come together this year and the guys aren't being put in a position to succeed.

 

[CRAZYGREG]

I think this is, in many ways, what has led to the frustration this year. There have been years in the past where the talent gap has been incredibly apparent. In the past, we've looked like we didn't belong on the same field as other teams. I think with this year's team, you see flashes of ability. You see guys like Wimberly, Brundage, George, etc. who can really play. However, for whatever reason, nothing has come together this year and the guys aren't being put in a position to succeed.

Coaching?

 

[Clonefan32]

Coaching?

That's what I was hinting at. I think it's vital for CPR to do something about the offensive side of the ball. I don't think it makes a ton of sense to minimize his accomplishments based on a year where the main issues are easy to define (young, inexperienced defense that's on the field too much, bad playcalling, bad QB play). The man has been successful and his given Iowa State more exposure than any previous coach. People now try to say "oh, we just bought season tickets because they shoved the 'hope' argument down on throats." I think we've seen attendance at an all time high because games are exciting again and you get the sense you can win any Saturday. To minimize how far the program has come in the past 4 years is ridiculous.

The issue becomes what he is willing to do to fix the problems that have came up this year. If he does nothing and conintues to struggle, he will lose alot of built up goodwill.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Comparing one terrible era to the currently time period does not alleviate what is occurring.

Terrible coaching and underachieving with 1 winning season. It is what it is. CPR is lucky he is coaching at ISU. Heads would be rolling anywhere else. I hope he does succeed next year.

This^^^! If we are going to give credit where credit is due.....then Walden gets credit for beating OU in Norman. They were not the Bob Stoops version of OU.......but on the flipside, NU in 09' was hardly the Tom Osborne version Walden had to face. Which he beat with Marv Seiler at QB. As for bowls, like people have mentioned the qualifications were much more difficult then, so it's not comparable.