Listening to the pregame, I heard Rhoads talking about how excited the team was about NYC. He went on to say how the players spent a lot of their free time checking out the city as much as they could. I mean if your a kid from a small town in Iowa, wouldn't it be hard for you to focus when your in NYC. I think Rhoads will learn from this game and have this team much more ready to go in the future. I think Barnett is our QB of the future and that Iowa State football will be even more exciting next year. One game doesn't equal a full season. Lets remember this is also only Rhoads' third year as ever being a head coach anywhere.
Was the team overwhlemed by NYC?
- Thread starter cyhawk55
- Start date
CPR might have to look at how he handles his bowl prep in the future. The team played pretty bad in the Insight Bowl too. Especially the offense, but the defense was solid. Minnesota was terrible so we got away with it and won narrowly.
He changed his bye week prep for OK State after acknowledging issues during the bye week prior to Texas. Tweaks might have to be made for the bowl stuff too. That was not 2011 Iowa State football on Friday. Not even close.
He changed his bye week prep for OK State after acknowledging issues during the bye week prior to Texas. Tweaks might have to be made for the bowl stuff too. That was not 2011 Iowa State football on Friday. Not even close.
We started off the game fine. Tough to blame the preparation too much for that. Pass game wasn't much worse than its been all year. Defense was on the field too much. Offense just didn't adjust once Rutgers started giving us different looks...Almost like whoever was calling the offense had their head somewhere else.
I have mentioned this as well. one thing that stood out I'm the pregame was when Walters asked CPR how the practices went. CPRs tone in his response was less than encouraging.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
The defense has prepared well two times. The offense prepared poorly two times. I think there's a hint and a common pattern there.
CPR.said the team was ready to play during the pregame show, I'll take him at his word. Personally, as is usually the case, I don't think us fans respected the opponent enough. Most of us probably thought Big East opponent = cakewalk (especially blinded by UConn making the BCS last year), but the problem with that is they're one of the best Big East teams while ISU was one of the worst Big 12 teams, and it showed - we got thoroughly beat by a better Rutgers team. That pill is easier to swallow when the name Oklahoma is attached to it, but it's more difficult to accept when the name is Rutgers, even if they're truly the better team.
Not really sure how to treat bowl games as business trips with all the events you're required to participate in, but it needs to happen.
Friday's showing was abysmal and we will likely be the only Big 12 bowl loss - to a Big East team at that.
Friday's showing was abysmal and we will likely be the only Big 12 bowl loss - to a Big East team at that.
Take a look at Rutgers' run statistics before the game. The defense was not ready either. The offense just took most of the blame.
Neither our defense or offense showed up. We couldn't tackle worth anything. So let's get that out of the way first.
I really think that this was more of a vacation for our guys. We wanted to see all the sights of NYC, etc. and Rutgers didn't. Only 5 ISU players had ever been to NYC before. I'm sure all of the Rutgers players have spent a LOT of time in NYC. All they had to worry about was game preparation, while our guys were out having a good time.
But I don't blame the coaches whatsoever for allowing our guys to treat this like a vacation. They did deserve it. Bowl games are pretty much stupid anyway. They are a month after the season ends, so both teams are usually rusty anyway, and then you also never know if your team is focused or not too? They prove NOTHING IMO. It's a horrible system.
I really think that this was more of a vacation for our guys. We wanted to see all the sights of NYC, etc. and Rutgers didn't. Only 5 ISU players had ever been to NYC before. I'm sure all of the Rutgers players have spent a LOT of time in NYC. All they had to worry about was game preparation, while our guys were out having a good time.
But I don't blame the coaches whatsoever for allowing our guys to treat this like a vacation. They did deserve it. Bowl games are pretty much stupid anyway. They are a month after the season ends, so both teams are usually rusty anyway, and then you also never know if your team is focused or not too? They prove NOTHING IMO. It's a horrible system.
There were soooooo many missed tackles. Tackles that in other games like TT and OSU we were all over. But the defense didn't play great but for the most part kept them around. Our offense well it was very poor is putting it kindly.
Agree. On game day I'm sure that we wanted to win very badly but the week prior, the guys had other things on their minds. I can't say that I blame them. You never know what team will show up for a bowl game unless it's a BCS game. Even then...
I'm trying to taking off my cardinal color glasses, maybe its because those ISU teams weren't as good as everybody thought, I mean back in 2009, ISU had 5 very pedestrian wins in the regular season vs. NDSU, Kent State, a Robert Griffin-less Baylor team, Colorado , and Army, with that 1, it looked pretty fluky, one time occurrence, against Nebraska, then in the Bowl game, Had Minnesota had a healthy Eric Decker, they would've trounced Iowa State...This year seemed to be the same thing with the exception of beating Iowa and Oklahoma State....A handful of pedestrian wins and a fluky game, the Texas Tech game seems to have been devalued as the season progressed, it was impressive, don't get me wrong, but Texas Tech had some serious issues this season....Finally this seems to be a disturbing trend, but looking back the last three years is that when Iowa State loses, they lose BIG, with the exception of the yearly creative way to lose the Kansas State game and the nebraska game last year....
Every bowl game has a winner and a loser. There are two teams on the field. ISU has lost eight of its eleven bowl games and none of the others were in New York.
It would be a shame for a team to go to a bowl game in an interesting city and not let the players do some interesting things.
Rutgers was the tougher, more physical team and it was better coached. Game over.
It would be a shame for a team to go to a bowl game in an interesting city and not let the players do some interesting things.
Rutgers was the tougher, more physical team and it was better coached. Game over.
Being overwhelmed by a city has nothing to do with a holding call bringing back a TD or missing 2 field goals or dropping a TD in the endzone or having a 6-6 kid outjump our 5'7 guy for a long TD.
Those things would have been plenty for a victory. 3-4 plays will swing every football game.
We knew it would be tough after having to pull off a miracle to beat a lesser Big East team.
Those things would have been plenty for a victory. 3-4 plays will swing every football game.
We knew it would be tough after having to pull off a miracle to beat a lesser Big East team.
I'm curious how many of you have played a sport on college varsity level. When you travel somewhere, yeah you go and see things. It would be ridiculous to keep these kids in NYC without having them see anything.
However, when it's game time, the LAST thing on your mind is anything but the game. If they are truly a sports player, game time is game time. When you are standing on the line with a bunch of big burly dudes in front of you ready to smash your face in, you don't suddenly remember how it was on the ferry ride yesterday.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that we are not a good team. Sorry to lay the harsh truth on you, but ISU is in a transition phase. We were supposed to win 2 games this season. Regardless of how well we did during the season, we have a very green team that has no real QB. Jared Barnett can be all that and a bag of chips, but experience is ALWAYS a factor in huge games like this.
Kindly get off your high horse, stop holding this team to such high expectations, and then proceed to be negative when a "bad" team does badly against a top team in their conference.
However, when it's game time, the LAST thing on your mind is anything but the game. If they are truly a sports player, game time is game time. When you are standing on the line with a bunch of big burly dudes in front of you ready to smash your face in, you don't suddenly remember how it was on the ferry ride yesterday.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that we are not a good team. Sorry to lay the harsh truth on you, but ISU is in a transition phase. We were supposed to win 2 games this season. Regardless of how well we did during the season, we have a very green team that has no real QB. Jared Barnett can be all that and a bag of chips, but experience is ALWAYS a factor in huge games like this.
Kindly get off your high horse, stop holding this team to such high expectations, and then proceed to be negative when a "bad" team does badly against a top team in their conference.
Did Rutgers do a lot of the same activities as us? I heard they practiced on their field so was curious..
Rutgers did the same activities - went to the Empire State Building, dinner at Yankee Stadium, NYSE, 9/11 Memorial & Dinner Cruise, and stayed in a midtown Manhattan hotel. They didn't do the hospital visit, but did visit a different charity while ISU was visiting kids at the hospital. All of those activities were planned by the bowl. Rutgers commuted an hour each way to their home athletic complex for practices. ISU commuted an hour each way to their practice site.
Yep we did the same activities BUT practiced in our own facilities since they are the easiest to get to and the best facilities in the area (one of the best facilities in the nation also).
The team stayed in Manhattan the entire time, came back to Rutgers to use the facilities and then went back for the bowl activities the entire bowl week.
Apparently preparation wasn't a part of your varsity college sports experience. Of course they saw the sights but it appears like they weren't prepared, even for an average team.
Of course, they may have been as prepared as hell and they just played bad or Rutgers was really good. We'll never know that actual reason. All theories are valid to an extent.
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