Dochterman picks Hawks to go 11-1

ICHawk24

ICHawk24

Well-Known Member
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/b1g-preview-new-era-new-teams-new-image-20140822

The West Division is up for grabs with Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin considered close to even. They form a mini round-robin late in the year with Nebraska heading to Wisconsin, the Badgers playing at the Hawkeyes, then Nebraska traveling to Iowa. They all look like field-goal games to me, but I’ll take Iowa. The Hawkeyes have the best offensive line of the three, the most skill position returnees and a physical defensive front. Plus, Iowa plays the other two at Kinnick Stadium.
 


Wisconsin will be fine at o-line I'm sure - I'm curious if they will have WRs that are productive though. Playing both those teams at home is pretty huge.
 








I'd love 11-1... But, there is almost always a game or two Iowa loses that it shouldn't. Even with a weak schedule, I'm still thinking 9-3 as a LIKELY best case. But you never know. I didn't see 11-1 coming in 2002, either.

What worries me about this year is that KF's brand of Iowa football has always been based on tough defense (because we know it isn't the juggernaut offense that's carried the load over the years, sans 2002 & 2008). With the losses on D from last year's team, I get the feeling this year's offense is going to have to pick up some slack by scoring some points against teams not named Ball State if it wants to win 9-10+ games.

Will that happen? I haven't seen enough consistency, much less dominance, from Iowa offenses over the years to make me feel comfortable with expecting that. Or, the D could be surprisingly good. We'll see.

And yeah, I've been snoozing this summer so haven't read anything about how the team looked this spring, etc.

If Iowa can't win at least 8-9 games against this cupcake schedule, though, it will be a pretty disappointing season.
 


How can you have 9 as a best case, but say they need to win 8 or 9 to avoid disappointing? That is a very narrow range.
 






I think this is a 10-win Iowa team ... I think we notch at least 9 wins ... I do think we will lose the Maryland game. It's after a bye week (for them) and I believe it is their home coming game and it is right in the middle of a 4-game tough stretch for the Terps (OSU, Iowa, PSU, MSU). I feel like stars will be aligned for us to lose that one ... I think we beat Nebraska ... Whisky is the wildcard ... Strong running game ... their QB play should be okay ... I think we SHOULD win that one at Kinnick ... Now ... At Minney ... also ... could be one of those head-scratching losses (similiar to Maryland) ... A game we SHOULD win but for some reason we don't ... 10 wins sticks in my head and has been there since the end of last season ... Enjoy it folks ... We won't be at 10 wins next year ... And NW will not come into Kinnick and win ... In fact, I think we beat NW convincingly ...
 






DesMoinesHawki said:
I think this is a 10-win Iowa team ... I think we notch at least 9 wins ... I do think we will lose the Maryland game. It's after a bye week (for them) and I believe it is their home coming game and it is right in the middle of a 4-game tough stretch for the Terps (OSU, Iowa, PSU, MSU). I feel like stars will be aligned for us to lose that one ... I think we beat Nebraska ... Whisky is the wildcard ... Strong running game ... their QB play should be okay ... I think we SHOULD win that one at Kinnick ... Now ... At Minney ... also ... could be one of those head-scratching losses (similiar to Maryland) ... A game we SHOULD win but for some reason we don't ... 10 wins sticks in my head and has been there since the end of last season ... Enjoy it folks ... We won't be at 10 wins next year ... And NW will not come into Kinnick and win ... In fact, I think we beat NW convincingly ...
Click to expand...


I hadn't looked at Maryland's schedule but knew we played them after their BYE. I like that they have OSU prior to us and PSU and MSU after. They will be amped to play OSU, PSU, MSU so we could get 'overlooked' in a sense. Pretty sure that PSU game is going to be their Super Bowl type game every year with their close East Coast proximity.
 




Let me get this straight...so we have a terrible 2012 and everyone thinks the program is going the Purdue route. Coming into 2013, we have a untested sophomore QB that's never played a snap, an inexperienced offensive line, no deep threat to save our lives, no proven starters on the DL, and we are starting a true freshman at corner. The schedule also set up to be very difficult with games at ISU, OSU, Nebraska and playing Wisky, Michigan, and MSU at home. The brilliant prognosticators on HN projected maybe, just maybe, we get to 6-6...and most were in the 4-8 repeat category of 2012 with that schedule. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Fast forward to 2014 silly season and people are saying because we have an experienced QB, an experienced offensive line and defensive line, a stable of running back, and options at WR that we have maybe on par with our best (yet to be proven)...and people are saying we shouldn't be optimistic to be able to put 10 wins out there. With this schedule and where the team came out of 2013, and where I believe the work ethic is...10 is a minimum expectation.

Honestly, if I'm a top ten team, I wouldn't want to play Iowa. They are going to beat you up and keep coming at you. I know the underachieving 2010 team had similar qualities as the 2014 team and proven receivers...but they didn't have this coaching staff...at the position level. This is a difference that people completely underestimate. That team beat everyone they should have last year...and gave the top teams fits...and went toe to toe with them. Why wouldn't we expect them to beat every team they should this year...that's 10-0 fellas. And the last two are at home.

Iowa Fan...it's ok to be optimistic and enjoy the lead up to the 2014 season. I don't expect to be disappointed.
 


On another note, the prognosticators always wif on a team or two.

In the big ten...the team they are wifing on is either Minnesota or Maryland

Nationally UCLA.
 








WinOneThisCentury said:
Let me get this straight...so we have a terrible 2012 and everyone thinks the program is going the Purdue route. Coming into 2013, we have a untested sophomore QB that's never played a snap, an inexperienced offensive line, no deep threat to save our lives, no proven starters on the DL, and we are starting a true freshman at corner. The schedule also set up to be very difficult with games at ISU, OSU, Nebraska and playing Wisky, Michigan, and MSU at home. The brilliant prognosticators on HN projected maybe, just maybe, we get to 6-6...and most were in the 4-8 repeat category of 2012 with that schedule. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Fast forward to 2014 silly season and people are saying because we have an experienced QB, an experienced offensive line and defensive line, a stable of running back, and options at WR that we have maybe on par with our best (yet to be proven)...and people are saying we shouldn't be optimistic to be able to put 10 wins out there. With this schedule and where the team came out of 2013, and where I believe the work ethic is...10 is a minimum expectation.

Honestly, if I'm a top ten team, I wouldn't want to play Iowa. They are going to beat you up and keep coming at you. I know the underachieving 2010 team had similar qualities as the 2014 team and proven receivers...but they didn't have this coaching staff...at the position level. This is a difference that people completely underestimate. That team beat everyone they should have last year...and gave the top teams fits...and went toe to toe with them. Why wouldn't we expect them to beat every team they should this year...that's 10-0 fellas. And the last two are at home.

Iowa Fan...it's ok to be optimistic and enjoy the lead up to the 2014 season. I don't expect to be disappointed.
Click to expand...

I like you.
 


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