Howe: Cy-Hawk Game A Treasure for Our State

Is the reason we don't play top tier opponents because we're not as big a brand as Wisconsin, or is it the fact that we don't try. In my honest opinion it has nothing to do with being a national brand, but rather a head coach or an AD taking the initiative to reach out to those top tier programs and look into getting those big games on the schedule.

I personally believe that we don't get those games because we're perfectly content scheduling the OOC games that we see year in and year out. Not because we are just Iowa and don't have the appeal nationally of a program like Wisconsin.
 
There are posters here who are DONE with Kirk. Who piss all over 2015 like it was a mirage.. Who couldn't even bring themselves to enjoy the Mississippi State win because they simply want change. Who claim he is happy to get his seven wins (actually well over eight) and collect his buck. These posters consider any further support of Kirk and Iowa football as "drinking the Kool-Aid." I can point several out by name if you want me to.

No that's OK, we know who they are. KF is a puzzlement to me. I'd at times like to dislike him, but I can't ((I do think he was way off on concussion handling back not that long ago and of course the R word handling) that some on hear jump all over the opposite way)), but he always comes back. I personally think his best years are ahead of him.

I laugh about MSU as it was like the LSU win...aggravating as heck with a cherry on top.

In some ways KF represents life in general. We'd all like to put everything in a neat little box, but the fact is that life is messy for most people.

I'm still expecting a very good year this year. Not perfect, but very good. You can't hide speed and the Hawks have a lot more of it than in the past.
 
I think it would garner more interest if they didn't play it every year. 2 on, 2 off. Something like that. I'd like to see Iowa play other teams, too. Notre Dame once in awhile. A Texas school. Missouri. Someone in Iowa's recruiting footprint. But, the media loves the game, it's good for business. I speculate that the passing fan loves it more than the die-hard. I doubt we'll see it discontinued, for any period of time.
 
No that's OK, we know who they are. KF is a puzzlement to me. I'd at times like to dislike him, but I can't ((I do think he was way off on concussion handling back not that long ago and of course the R word handling) that some on hear jump all over the opposite way)), but he always comes back. I personally think his best years are ahead of him.

I laugh about MSU as it was like the LSU win...aggravating as heck with a cherry on top.

In some ways KF represents life in general. We'd all like to put everything in a neat little box, but the fact is that life is messy for most people.

I'm still expecting a very good year this year. Not perfect, but very good. You can't hide speed and the Hawks have a lot more of it than in the past.
I compared him to Tom Petty about a month ago. Always consistent, but always seemingly a step away from true greatness because both always stuck with a tried and true, "safe" formula. Jeff Lynne tried to goose Petty in mid career to be more experimental, to try roots rock and other things, but in the end Petty always felt more comfortable being who he was and doing what he did.

Now that we've seen Petty's career in it's entirety, I will predict that his music won't age well, and that twenty years from now critics will shit on him. This is what makes Kirk such a maddening figure to so many, even though he has had success that may not be seen here for a long time after he retires.
 
Fatigue, that is the word that describes my feelings with the series. I was 30 when the series resumed so I have had 41 years of having to watch this game. I'm sure for some it never gets old, but for me it has become like stale bread. Rotating with some other P5 opponents would do both programs good. I'm sure many ISU fans would like a chance to play Missouri and Nebraska again.

I think fatigue is a good word to describe it. Outside of Minnesota, ISU is the only team Iowa has played every year of my lifetime. And of course them not being a B1G school, the game doesn't mean as much as any conference game in the big picture.

The key to this going forward is can both teams stay top 25-40ish relevant? If they can fatigue will be replaced a bit with intrigue because the game will be between 2 respected programs. Instead of being what it has been for the last 40 years: a game between one respected P5 program and one of the bottom 10 P5 programs in the nation.
 
Is the reason we don't play top tier opponents because we're not as big a brand as Wisconsin, or is it the fact that we don't try. In my honest opinion it has nothing to do with being a national brand, but rather a head coach or an AD taking the initiative to reach out to those top tier programs and look into getting those big games on the schedule.

I personally believe that we don't get those games because we're perfectly content scheduling the OOC games that we see year in and year out. Not because we are just Iowa and don't have the appeal nationally of a program like Wisconsin.
Bingo, and duly noted in my previous post. Alvarez has always had VISION, not just for today but also for five, ten years down the road.

People who expect Wisconsin athletics to take a crap after he retires are going to be disappointed. He has Wisconsin athletics set up for success long after he steps down.
 
Is the reason we don't play top tier opponents because we're not as big a brand as Wisconsin, or is it the fact that we don't try. In my honest opinion it has nothing to do with being a national brand, but rather a head coach or an AD taking the initiative to reach out to those top tier programs and look into getting those big games on the schedule.

I personally believe that we don't get those games because we're perfectly content scheduling the OOC games that we see year in and year out. Not because we are just Iowa and don't have the appeal nationally of a program like Wisconsin.

I don't think it's an Iowa issue. When we had 8 conference games, we pretty regularly played a "similarly situated" program. I think an issue today is that a bunch of teams are just completely unwilling to play more than 1 decent P5 opponent in OOC play. The coaches at places like Texas Tech, Kentucky or Tennessee don't want to play two or three P5 games because the coaches know that in the history books, it's better to go 7-5 or 8-4 with some cupcakes than to go 6-6 or gasp, 5-7 with 2 OOC losses.

Another huge problem is state politics. South Carolina has a bunch of schools with football programs, like Wofford, Furman, Clemson, SC, Coastal Carolina, Citadel and Charleston Southern. Maybe more that I can't think of. And most of those schools have politically connected guys who want to see Clemson and SC rotating games among the smaller in state schools to subsidize their athletic departments. So Clemson has scheduled Wofford this year and Furman last year. If they replace them with a program like Iowa, Clemson doesn't really make any more money, but Furman and Wofford would lose a huge chunk of money. As football costs go up, those small programs become more reliant on getting P5 games and political pressure rises to schedule someone like that.

Look at Iowa's schedule from 1981. The OOC games were Nebraska, UCLA and ISU. In '82 it was Nebraska, ISU and Arizona. In '83 (when the conference went to 9 games) it was ISU and PSU. Those schedules are awesome, but I just don't see them coming back barring a NCAA mandate to play more P5 OOC games, which given the political landscape and cost pressures on the small schools, will go over like a wet fart in church on Easter Sunday.
 
No doubt it's a fun and unique rivalry. But I have the same feeling about this weekend as I do New Year's Eve, or with people that only try to cook a great meal once a year on Thanksgiving. It's when all the amateurs and posers come out. Fans of college football for only one weekend.

Either way, the "Super Bowl" element is in full view. Clone fans should stop denying it.
 
I compared him to Tom Petty about a month ago. Always consistent, but always seemingly a step away from true greatness because both always stuck with a tried and true, "safe" formula. Jeff Lynne tried to goose Petty in mid career to be more experimental, to try roots rock and other things, but in the end Petty always felt more comfortable being who he was and doing what he did.

Now that we've seen Petty's career in it's entirety, I will predict that his music won't age well, and that twenty years from now critics will shit on him. This is what makes Kirk such a maddening figure to so many, even though he has had success that may not be seen here for a long time after he retires.

Ummm...Petty's music DID age well. He has a hit string going back to the late 70s...50 years...and it's still getting air time on classic rock radio all the time. Are you talking about millennial critics won't appreciate him? Who gives a rats ass? They missed the greatest live music era in the history of music. I also disagree that they won't respect him. That's why he's in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I'm all for analogies and everything to Kirk Ferentz, but the Tom Petty thing is a bit much. You need to go down through Petty's songbook...it's pretty incredible. Much like KF, Petty had the respect of musicians and the industry. If KF is the Tom Petty of College Football...it's a significant compliment.
 
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Ummm...Petty's music DID age well. He has a hit string going back to the late 70s...50 years...and it's still getting air time on classic rock radio all the time. Are you talking about millennial critics won't appreciate him? Who gives a rats ass? They missed the greatest live music era in the history of music. I also disagree that they won't respect him. That's why he's in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I'm all for analogies and everything to Kirk Ferentz, but the Tom Petty thing is a bit much. You need to go down through Petty's songbook...it's pretty incredible. Much like KF, Petty had the respect of musicians and the industry. If KF is the Tom Petty of College Football...it's a significant compliment.

He ain't Garth, Elvis or Michael Jackson, but Petty is an elite.
 
Brian wasn't ready when he got hired. He does seem to be doing better in recruiting, now. I think Kirk knew that and let him learn on the job anyway, figuring he had O'Keefe there to back Brian up. I didn't like the nepotism.

As Brian as learned, they've improved on offense. I didn't like the schizophrenia of the Greg Davis era, and I didn't like that our excellent defensive strategy was predicated on exactly what our offense has to do to be successful, combined with our lack of zeal for recruiting the players on offense necessary to make the offensive strategy work. That's not 'hating' Ferentz as a person, that's just hating his mismatched personnel, offensive and defensive philosophy. When he has the horses on the oline and in the backfield it works. When he doesn't, the season yields inconsistent results where tiny chance occurrences screw up any chance of winning a game.

The first two games indicate to me that Ferentz has gotten over some stuff. The checkdowns aren't the same. Iowa's not just counting hats anymore. They are attempting things beyond 10 yards downfield early in the game without down and distance dictating the decision to do so. They aren't focusing on one guy in the passing game. They are rotating backs, they are playing freshmen, they aren't punishing guys for emoting (see Smith in the Rutgers game). It took a couple years, but Brian is clearly his own man as an O-Coordinator now and is committed to his own offensive philosophy. It doesn't look like Iowa needs ten play drives to go fifty yards anymore. It looks more like Iowa is willing to take what the defense gives them, while still playing a physical game. It doesn't look schizophrenic anymore. So now I like it.

I think Ferentz is as good as his assistants allow him to be, and they need to compliment his weaknesses - they need to be aggressive recruiters, and more aggressive play callers. That allows Kirk to balance them out with his eye for player development, really good practice management, team leadership, and football iq. Let the young men innovate and the old men temper their enthusiasm. He's a perfect C.E.O. style coach who doesn't micromanage well, and I think he's learned that over the years. He just finally has a staff and personnel capable of executing his vision. It was just frustrating to watch him when he didn't have that, and still cling to it stubbornly rather than adjust to reality.
 
This is 90% of the time a lose/lose game for Iowa, no idea why it has to be a must play...maybe every other year or ever 5th year ok but most of the time ISU is a bottom feeder team who really gets up for their superbowl against Iowa..
 
Ummm...Petty's music DID age well. He has a hit string going back to the late 70s...50 years...and it's still getting air time on classic rock radio all the time. Are you talking about millennial critics won't appreciate him? Who gives a rats ass? They missed the greatest live music era in the history of music. I also disagree that they won't respect him. That's why he's in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I'm all for analogies and everything to Kirk Ferentz, but the Tom Petty thing is a bit much. You need to go down through Petty's songbook...it's pretty incredible. Much like KF, Petty had the respect of musicians and the industry. If KF is the Tom Petty of College Football...it's a significant compliment.
I DO give a rats ass about how mllennials see the world. They are the future of it for better or worse. And don't lecture me about Petty's songbook. Lots of Stones and Byrds in there. He started to experiment with his sound in the mid eighties (Southern Accents, Let Me Up) and I enjoyed that era of Petty. He hooked up with Jeff Lynne (Full Moon Fever) and I thought that was some of his best work. But if you read music books and record review columns you will find that Petty was frequently labeled as "just good enough", "just short of greatness". That fine. He deserves his RRHOF and his career was solid. It just felt comfortable. Look at how artists like Elton John and David Bowie and Prince and Lou Reed and REM amd U2 were constantly taking risks, constantly experimenting, constantly reinventing themselves on the fly. Petty is no Elton, David, Prince or Lou.

He had a solid, respected career with a treasure trove of enjoyable music. Kind of like another baby boom hall of fame rocker who's career intertwined with his-John Mellancamp.

I agree 100% with your last statement. It's why I made the comparison in the first place. Comparing the two is a significant compliment to both and always was meant to be that way.
 
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I think it's less of a super bowl now than it ever has been. I've said it 50 times on here, but Campbell has lost every game against Iowa and ISU fans love him, and would be devastated to see him leave. Also, it's not like ISU is beating Iowa and then going 2-10 on the season. They're losing and improving as the season has gone on.

I respect that. I was at the Iowa-OSU game a few years ago and the Iowa-Nebraska game in 2015 and those were way better than beating ISU. I suspect your fan base takes way more pride in games like the one where you knocked Okie State out of the BCS title game or the one where you beat Oklahoma a couple of years ago than the 15-13 wins over Iowa. Those in state games are nice, but nothing tops knocking off a big dog or winning your division. My guess is you dudes would trade a loss to Iowa for a year where you beat the hell out of Texas and Oklahoma in a heartbeat.
 
I DO give a rats ass about how mllennials see the world. They are the future of it for better or worse. And don't lecture me about Petty's songbook. Lots of Stones and Byrds in there. He started to experiment with his sound in the mid eighties (Southern Accents, Let Me Up) and I enjoyed that era of Petty. He hooked up with Jeff Lynne (Full Moon Fever) and I thought that was some of his best work. But if you read music books and record review columns you will find that Petty was frequently labeled as "just good enough", "just short of greatness". That fine. He deserves his RRHOF and his career was solid. It just felt comfortable. Look at how artists like Elton John and David Bowie and Prince and Lou Reed and REM amd U2 were constantly taking risks, constantly experimenting, constantly reinventing themselves on the fly. Petty is no Elton, David, Prince or Lou.

He had a solid, respected career with a treasure trove of enjoyable music. Kind of like another baby boom hall of fame rocker who's career intertwined with his-John Mellancamp.

I think you are out of your mind. I'm not lecturing you...I'm disagreeing with you. You need to show me where he was ever labeled "comfortable"...or "just good enough". That's freaking ridiculous...and if you find a respectable columnist that says it, I can find ten more that say the opposite. Better yet...don't listen to a critic...listen to your own head. It may be that you don't appreciate his music and that's fine...but he was a great musician, well respected, and he sold a shitload of albums. He did experiment...his sound is truly unique...the minute you hear a riff...its Petty.
 
Brian wasn't ready when he got hired. He does seem to be doing better in recruiting, now. I think Kirk knew that and let him learn on the job anyway, figuring he had O'Keefe there to back Brian up. I didn't like the nepotism.

As Brian as learned, they've improved on offense. I didn't like the schizophrenia of the Greg Davis era, and I didn't like that our excellent defensive strategy was predicated on exactly what our offense has to do to be successful, combined with our lack of zeal for recruiting the players on offense necessary to make the offensive strategy work. That's not 'hating' Ferentz as a person, that's just hating his mismatched personnel, offensive and defensive philosophy. When he has the horses on the oline and in the backfield it works. When he doesn't, the season yields inconsistent results where tiny chance occurrences screw up any chance of winning a game.

The first two games indicate to me that Ferentz has gotten over some stuff. The checkdowns aren't the same. Iowa's not just counting hats anymore. They are attempting things beyond 10 yards downfield early in the game without down and distance dictating the decision to do so. They aren't focusing on one guy in the passing game. They are rotating backs, they are playing freshmen, they aren't punishing guys for emoting (see Smith in the Rutgers game). It took a couple years, but Brian is clearly his own man as an O-Coordinator now and is committed to his own offensive philosophy. It doesn't look like Iowa needs ten play drives to go fifty yards anymore. It looks more like Iowa is willing to take what the defense gives them, while still playing a physical game. It doesn't look schizophrenic anymore. So now I like it.

I think Ferentz is as good as his assistants allow him to be, and they need to compliment his weaknesses - they need to be aggressive recruiters, and more aggressive play callers. That allows Kirk to balance them out with his eye for player development, really good practice management, team leadership, and football iq. Let the young men innovate and the old men temper their enthusiasm. He's a perfect C.E.O. style coach who doesn't micromanage well, and I think he's learned that over the years. He just finally has a staff and personnel capable of executing his vision. It was just frustrating to watch him when he didn't have that, and still cling to it stubbornly rather than adjust to reality.

This is one one of the best posts I have read in quite a while.
 

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