My goodness, enough of this "we gifted them a win" nonsense

[NoBeer]

I disagree completely. And how about this headline: My Goodness, enough with this telling people how to feel or what it means to be a "true fan" nonsense!

If we play that game 10 times, Iowa wins 8 or 9. We were clearly the superior team and there is a difference between a forced turnover and an error. These were unforced errors.

 

[Unknownbadger]

All TOs are gifts. Sometimes they just hurt more than other times. A sign of a good team is if they respond.


That said a lot of "ifs" here by guys sitting at home or in the bleachers.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Ask yourself this:
Had Iowa won the exact same way, same everything, just swap teams, would you be sitting there saying "Boy, good thing Wisc gifted us that one, because they were clearly the better team"?
Haha like hell you would.
You would be lauding Iowa making plays when it counted, and that's what the better teams do.

Hopefully we can win out and Wisc drops a few.
I'd hate to disappoint OSU in Indy and their plans to return the favor from last year.

If you switch the logos on the helmets how would I feel... I'd feel fortunate... I would feel that losing the turnover ratio 3-0 and total yards and first downs and how it went that they should feel fortunate. Now they were clutch as well. That last drive they had some good execution/playcalling. They can feel good about that. They can feel good that they shut us down when we had 3 possessions in the 4th quarter with a 3 pt lead and they forced us to punt every time. Was that a them or us thing? Depends on where your sitting I guess.

Wisky isn't a great team Iowa can beat them 7 out of 10 times I think. That was just one of the 3 where Iowa shot themselves in the foot too many times.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Wisky isn't a great team Iowa can beat them 7 out of 10 times I think. That was just one of the 3 where Iowa shot themselves in the foot too many times.

That's where I am on this whole thing. Wisky ain't a great team. I think they were ranked between 3 and 6 depending the polls. I assure you that any of Bama, Clemson, LSU or Auburn would absolutely torch them. My guess is even A&M would beat them by like 30. They certainly are not a top team.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

That's where I am on this whole thing. Wisky ain't a great team. I think they were ranked between 3 and 6 depending the polls. I assure you that any of Bama, Clemson, LSU or Auburn would absolutely torch them. My guess is even A&M would beat them by like 30. They certainly are not a top team.

Yeah they clearly aren't the last two weeks just cemented that and when they hit the road to Michigan.... It's either that or we are a top 15ish team right? Well I'm not going to sit here and bloviate unrealistically and say that. And there's not a lot of middle ground there so yeah Wisky was ridiculously overrated to start the season and the media is so hell bent on not being wrong that they'll act surprised when they aren't and drop them in the polls gradually when they never should have been up that high to start with...

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Ask yourself this:
Had Iowa won the exact same way, same everything, just swap teams, would you be sitting there saying "Boy, good thing Wisc gifted us that one, because they were clearly the better team"?
Haha like hell you would.
You would be lauding Iowa making plays when it counted, and that's what the better teams do.

Hopefully we can win out and Wisc drops a few.
I'd hate to disappoint OSU in Indy and their plans to return the favor from last year.

Great point. Yes, the Hawks made mistakes, but so did Wisconsin. It was a tough game, and Wisconsin did what was necessary to win.

 

[PCHawk]

Do you remember how close and unlikely Penn State's pass was ? It was a miracle throw and catch. Iowa had the game won. Whiskey made all the right plays on their drive and just executed better than Iowa. Whiskey still had time on the clock and only needed a field goal to tie it up.

I do. We were that close to a huge gift.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Yeah they clearly aren't the last two weeks just cemented that and when they hit the road to Michigan.... It's either that or we are a top 15ish team right? Well I'm not going to sit here and bloviate unrealistically and say that. And there's not a lot of middle ground there so yeah Wisky was ridiculously overrated to start the season and the media is so hell bent on not being wrong that they'll act surprised when they aren't and drop them in the polls gradually when they never should have been up that high to start with...

Been working more southern games into my Saturday channel flipping and the talent gulf is just insane. This fricking freshman QB for Clemson looks better than probably anyone who has ever played for Iowa. He's gonna be a top 5 pick. It just ain't fair.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Been working more southern games into my Saturday channel flipping and the talent gulf is just insane. This fricking freshman QB for Clemson looks better than probably anyone who has ever played for Iowa. He's gonna be a top 5 pick. It just ain't fair.

Oh yeah the hype around him is off the charts. That's the thing the Clemsons, Georgias, Bamas of the world have like 6 of the top 10 Qbs in all of college football just about... Not to mention the skill talent around them. It's totally nuts and as you say the talent gap is really slanted down there big time. I'll be curious to see OSU get tested as they seem to be for real. But beyond that it's them and everyone else in the BIG...

 

[InGoodCo]

When the offense averaged over 7 yards a play, each team put up approx the same amount of yards - but 1 team had 3 turnovers and the other had 0 - that's about the biggest gift you can give them. Iowa gave that game away and it's as simple as that. They looked like the better team and still lose due to self inflicted errors. Iowa has beaten a lot of teams through out the years the exact same way.

 

[uihawk82]

Ask yourself this:
Had Iowa won the exact same way, same everything, just swap teams, would you be sitting there saying "Boy, good thing Wisc gifted us that one, because they were clearly the better team"?
Haha like hell you would.
You would be lauding Iowa making plays when it counted, and that's what the better teams do.

Hopefully we can win out and Wisc drops a few.
I'd hate to disappoint OSU in Indy and their plans to return the favor from last year.

I agree. The hawks had this game in their own hands. They had it in hand. The defense was really holding off wisky until but Iowa didnt do what it needed to do overall so....

Iowa lost the game pure and simple. The hawks are many times 7-5 8-4 just because they cant get that 17 point lead in the 4th qtr.

They made the mistakes. Wisky had a bunch of penalties but penalties are not turnovers. We had turnovers.

But we did sort of hand it to them which becomes the moan and groan.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Oh yeah the hype around him is off the charts. That's the thing the Clemsons, Georgias, Bamas of the world have like 6 of the top 10 Qbs in all of college football just about... Not to mention the skill talent around them. It's totally nuts and as you say the talent gap is really slanted down there big time. I'll be curious to see OSU get tested as they seem to be for real. But beyond that it's them and everyone else in the BIG...

Clemson is the only team with a snowball's chance in hell of beating Bama in the playoffs. Only way Bama doesn't make the playoffs is if they have a bunch of injuries and find a way to lose to LSU or Auburn and get left out of the SEC title game. I've seen a lot of hyped up QBs, but that kid is probably the best freshman I've seen. Only guy I can think of who might have been better was Goff and I only watched his first game against Northwestern, but he was on such a garbage team it was hard to get a good read. That kid at Clemson was hitting insanely small windows like 25 yards down the field on his third read. I can't think of a guy out of the Big Ten in the last 10 years who has looked as good as him. Probably gotta go back to Drew Brees. But the kid is a freshman, maybe he'll choke.

I have been a big ten homer my whole life, but then I started seeing these news stories on what they are doing in North Georgia. My guess is you could take an all star high school team from probably 6 counties up there, put them all on the same team and within 2 years of graduation they would be close to a top 10 NCAA team. The quantity and quality of football talent there is astronomical and Georgia and Clemson are getting a lot of it, to the extent they can keep Bama away. It totally solidified in my mind that Iowa will never ever ever ever have a chance to win a title.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Clemson is the only team with a snowball's chance in hell of beating Bama in the playoffs. Only way Bama doesn't make the playoffs is if they have a bunch of injuries and find a way to lose to LSU or Auburn and get left out of the SEC title game. I've seen a lot of hyped up QBs, but that kid is probably the best freshman I've seen. Only guy I can think of who might have been better was Goff and I only watched his first game against Northwestern, but he was on such a garbage team it was hard to get a good read. That kid at Clemson was hitting insanely small windows like 25 yards down the field on his third read. I can't think of a guy out of the Big Ten in the last 10 years who has looked as good as him. Probably gotta go back to Drew Brees. But the kid is a freshman, maybe he'll choke.

I have been a big ten homer my whole life, but then I started seeing these news stories on what they are doing in North Georgia. My guess is you could take an all star high school team from probably 6 counties up there, put them all on the same team and within 2 years of graduation they would be close to a top 10 NCAA team. The quantity and quality of football talent there is astronomical and Georgia and Clemson are getting a lot of it, to the extent they can keep Bama away. It totally solidified in my mind that Iowa will never ever ever ever have a chance to win a title.

It's tough for Clemson to NOT play this kid. But the starter they have Bryant isn't chop liver either... Same at GA having Fields the #1 recruit pretty much not starting. Bamas is an easier scenario for sure compared to those two. Hurts could play for 90% of the schools out there that want a mobile QB. Maybe more. The talent they have around those two guys it'd just about not matter. They could have a game manager like that Greg McElroy and succeed. You give them a kid like Tua and it's just not fair...
Having a stud QB is the ultimate X factor. Contrary to what Deace likes to say about not being able to hide your QB in college football I kinda think you can. Bama's won titles with mediocre Qb talent before. But if you have a really good stud and a system and enough talent around them you can make yourself really tough to defend.
I won't say never. Remember when we had Chuck Long? He wasn't a superstar recruit but he ended up being one of the best college QBs of that era and had us right up there. It's not likely that we ever land a top 5 qb recruit and he play like it early and often for us but for us to stumble onto a kid like say Stanley or Mansell and they go on to blow the doors off... Now if Stanley is going to do it he's gotta get going obviously (not likely but not impossible)

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Clemson is the only team with a snowball's chance in hell of beating Bama in the playoffs. Only way Bama doesn't make the playoffs is if they have a bunch of injuries and find a way to lose to LSU or Auburn and get left out of the SEC title game. I've seen a lot of hyped up QBs, but that kid is probably the best freshman I've seen. Only guy I can think of who might have been better was Goff and I only watched his first game against Northwestern, but he was on such a garbage team it was hard to get a good read. That kid at Clemson was hitting insanely small windows like 25 yards down the field on his third read. I can't think of a guy out of the Big Ten in the last 10 years who has looked as good as him. Probably gotta go back to Drew Brees. But the kid is a freshman, maybe he'll choke.

I have been a big ten homer my whole life, but then I started seeing these news stories on what they are doing in North Georgia. My guess is you could take an all star high school team from probably 6 counties up there, put them all on the same team and within 2 years of graduation they would be close to a top 10 NCAA team. The quantity and quality of football talent there is astronomical and Georgia and Clemson are getting a lot of it, to the extent they can keep Bama away. It totally solidified in my mind that Iowa will never ever ever ever have a chance to win a title.

How funny is this convo and now this just happened... https://bleacherreport.com/college-football

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Turnovers that are earned by the defense are not gifts. DB's making a play on a ball, a DE getting to the QB and stripping him, a solid hit on a RB...all plays the defense created and I would certainly not call them gifts.

A live punt that had rolled dead and our guys happens by unaware and touches it happens about 5 times a year in college football and is truly a rare thing. Doing so on your 10 yard line is even more unusual. Gift.

A punt returner is barely touched, but wasn't expecting it...loses control of the ball. Unforced error in my opinion...he was barely touched. gift. That was an unusual play.

Both of those plays absolutely killed momentum and one led to 7 points.

 

[Xerxes]

Turnovers that are earned by the defense are not gifts. DB's making a play on a ball, a DE getting to the QB and stripping him, a solid hit on a RB...all plays the defense created and I would certainly not call them gifts.

A live punt that had rolled dead and our guys happens by unaware and touches it happens about 5 times a year in college football and is truly a rare thing. Doing so on your 10 yard line is even more unusual. Gift.

A punt returner is barely touched, but wasn't expecting it...loses control of the ball. Unforced error in my opinion...he was barely touched. gift. That was an unusual play.

Both of those plays absolutely killed momentum and one led to 7 points.

The the other likely cost Iowa a FG at minimum

 

[hwk23]

All TOs are gifts. Sometimes they just hurt more than other times. A sign of a good team is if they respond.


That said a lot of "ifs" here by guys sitting at home or in the bleachers.

Not really. Forced turnovers are not really gifts. The kind Wisconsin got were completely unforced by anything Wisconsin did.

 

[hwk23]

The real gift was in the Oregon Stanford game though. Oregon could have run out the clock but instead handed the ball off and fumbled. Allowing Stanford to kick a field goal and send the game to overtime and win the game. Of course, I just heard about this because I was completely wrapped up in our game.

 

[Unknownbadger]

Not really. Forced turnovers are not really gifts. The kind Wisconsin got were completely unforced by anything Wisconsin did.

What gift did Iowa give the badgers on its 88 yard drive to take the lead? Iowa was ahead with 5+ minutes left. Any gift Wisconsin was given was already wiped out by Iowa' score. Wisconsin won because it outplayed Iowa when the chips were on the table. Going back to much earlier plays is ridiculous. The game is 60 minutes long.

 

[Xerxes]

Iowa had unforced errors. No doubt about that but they didn't gift anything to Wisconsin. The Badgers won it because they made things happen when they had to.

Wisconsin was dominant in crunch time.

Just like in 2010, Wisconsin would have driven the length of the field to score a game winning TD even if the field was 200 yards long instead of 100. Just like in 2010, Iowa was the punching bag, Wisconsin was the fist.