How upset will you be when Iowa ends up 9-4 and ranked in the final AP?

I would love to see us win out. These guys have never been short on effort or energy or toughness. Lack of experience, multiple injuries, lack of growth in some position groups, and some plain old bad luck may define our season. Of course, coaches have to be at their very best to overcome these issues. They have not been in my view.

If we had pulled out the Iowa State game, not run into a buzz saw at Illinois, and faced by far the best two (or 3?) teams in the BT, all of whom are nationally ranked, how would our perspective have been different? Add the above issues to schedule brutality. Wow.

If, big if, we can beat Wisconsin, I think we beat MN and NE And end up with a pretty decent, if disappointing season. And what the hell? Next year’s projections…hmm. Returning talent plus highly rated recruiting class could make life interesting in Hawkeye land.
 
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Late to the party here but I'd be ecstatic for the players and program if that happens. I'd only be bent if come after the season BF is still the OC. He can be the Oline coach but he can't remain the QB coach and OC (some probably don't want him around at all but I'm not of that line of thinking) He's done great things for the program at times.

BF being a QB coach along with OC has been an unmitigated disaster and I don't think 4 or 5 ok games (for us not by others measures) on O that we win because of the D should be enough to keep him in those roles.
 
I don't think Kirk sprinkled any fairy dust and suddenly that helped fix things. I think it's a process and Iowa has been getting better every week. I think they lost 2 games in the waning moments (IL and ISU) who have better than average defenses. Weather played a factor in the ISU game, and had Moss's D return for a TD in the IL game, things would have been different. That really IS football. I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G, and I think the reason Iowa didn't score more against Nevada was weather related and a disjointed night in general.

The other 2 loses are to current top 5 teams that also have excellent defenses.

I attribute the turn or change to the schedule as much as anything combined with progress on a young Oline. It's hard to see progress when you are up against good teams and defenses.

Iowa's schedule this season was front heavy and they got smacked up and beat around a bit. It was good for the Iowa staff because it did seem to light a fire....but I think it's as easy explained as, they can breath a little bit now because their opponents are easier.
There's no doubt there's a huge difference between playing Purdue and NW than IL and OSU. Playing ISU week 2 doesn't help us either with how our O is always slow to get going regardless of how good they end up being.

I think our Oline had a fire lit under them. They played remarkably better the last two games. Being able to run the ball and not be in 2nd and 3rd and longs changes everything for the O. And I can't ignore how Petras has played. He only missed a couple balls I'm sure he wishes he had back. Besides that he's played great. I've been as critical of him as anyone but he did pretty much exactly what's been asked of him the last two games.
 
BF being a QB coach along with OC has been an unmitigated disaster and I don't think 4 or 5 ok games (for us not by others measures) on O that we win because of the D should be enough to keep him in those roles.
This - I will always root for IA to win out, all the time. But at the same time, the talent on D and special teams has been near CFP levels and we were sitting at .500 2/3 of the way thru the season. Entirely due to a lack of any offense.
 
I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G,
People are not giving that SDSU win enough credit at all

SDSU is ranked 64th out of 261 schools in Sagarin, and they're the top 1-AA school. They're ranked ahead of Liberty, nebraska, Rutgers, Northwestern, Stanford, and Arizona. Sagarin is a rigorous as hell, non-biased ranking based on stats and math. They are really, really good and would give any B1G team not named Michigan or OSU a run for their money.

They're 9-1 with their only loss being against you know who, and IMO it's a more quality win than Rutgers/NW/Nevada.
 
8 wins is still a good season at Iowa. It always will be. I am just under the opinion that Iowa fans want a change at OC more than they want to win.... and that's weird to me.

Out of the 65 P5 programs in the country, 25 instances of family members on the same coaching staff. It's nepotism regardless, but Iowa isn't unique by any means.
The reason we want a change more than winning irrelevant games is to give hope to the future of bigger things than 8-4 every year. It's a little short sighted and wanting instant gratification to just want to win now over everything.

Also, I wonder how many of those 25 instances is the family member being paid $900,000 and holding a top position for the team.
 
People are not giving that SDSU win enough credit at all

SDSU is ranked 64th out of 261 schools in Sagarin, and they're the top 1-AA school. They're ranked ahead of Liberty, nebraska, Rutgers, Northwestern, Stanford, and Arizona. Sagarin is a rigorous as hell, non-biased ranking based on stats and math. They are really, really good and would give any B1G team not named Michigan or OSU a run for their money.

They're 9-1 with their only loss being against you know who, and IMO it's a more quality win than Rutgers/NW/Nevada.
A lot of truth here. After seeing them up close and personal at Kinnick, I was shocked by the size of their defensive front, and of their defense in general...every bit a BTen-looking team on defense. Their offense didn't show much vs the Hawks -- which team has this year other than Michigan? -- but no doubt their defense is as good or better than most teams Iowa has played this year.
 
Late to the party here but I'd be ecstatic for the players and program if that happens. I'd only be bent if come after the season BF is still the OC. He can be the Oline coach but he can't remain the QB coach and OC (some probably don't want him around at all but I'm not of that line of thinking) He's done great things for the program at times.

BF being a QB coach along with OC has been an unmitigated disaster and I don't think 4 or 5 ok games (for us not by others measures) on O that we win because of the D should be enough to keep him in those roles.

If BF was still line coach and "run game coordinator" and they had made O'Keefe the OC and QB coach I think this team would be 7-2 at worst and the Michigan game would have probably been somewhat within reach, so 8-1 could even be a possibility.
 
If BF was still line coach and "run game coordinator" and they had made O'Keefe the OC and QB coach I think this team would be 7-2 at worst and the Michigan game would have probably been somewhat within reach, so 8-1 could even be a possibility.
Think there would have been too much home cooking in Columbus for O'Keefe to overcome? I don't know. Last time he was OC in the Horseshoe, he plucked a skinny freshman QB off the bench and damn near coordinated a victory and Big Ten title with him. Probably would have if Stross doesn't drop a couple easy balls.

This time O'Keefe would have had two experienced upperclassmen QBs at his disposal. Plus he had the bye week to work with. Give the best coaches an extra week and they can make up the talent gap in a hurry. Would have loved to see what O'Keefe would have come up with.
 
The reason we want a change more than winning irrelevant games is to give hope to the future of bigger things than 8-4 every year. It's a little short sighted and wanting instant gratification to just want to win now over everything.

Also, I wonder how many of those 25 instances is the family member being paid $900,000 and holding a top position for the team.
Iowa has won more than 8 games the last 5 seasons (covid year was 6-2, they only had 8 games) and won 10 last year, so the only short sighted part is that take.

I want change too... but beating WI, MN and NE are never going to be irrelevant when those are the schools you play every single season.

And lastly, I would guess that of those 25 instances, most of them hold higher ranking positions then not. I can think of Purdue with Brohm's brother being OC. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and several coaches — including Rutgers’ Greg Schiano, Indiana’s Tom Allen and K State's Chris Klieman — have sons working as graduate assistants who will likely climb the ranks quickly. Mike Stoops has worked for both of his brothers, first as a defensive coordinator under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and now as linebackers coach for Mark Stoops at Kentucky.

That's without really even looking into it.

Let it be known that I think Brian Ferentz should be out either way.... the whole point of this thread was whether it would be justified if Iowa had it's 16th 9 win season in school history.
 
Think there would have been too much home cooking in Columbus for O'Keefe to overcome? I don't know. Last time he was OC in the Horseshoe, he plucked a skinny freshman QB off the bench and damn near coordinated a victory and Big Ten title with him. Probably would have if Stross doesn't drop a couple easy balls.

This time O'Keefe would have had two experienced upperclassmen QBs at his disposal. Plus he had the bye week to work with. Give the best coaches an extra week and they can make up the talent gap in a hurry. Would have loved to see what O'Keefe would have come up with.

No, Ohio has too much for us to win there no matter who was coaching. Davis also called a really solid game up there during his tenure.
 
If BF was still line coach and "run game coordinator" and they had made O'Keefe the OC and QB coach I think this team would be 7-2 at worst and the Michigan game would have probably been somewhat within reach, so 8-1 could even be a possibility.
Yeah I'd have been fine with BF in that role. I think ole KOK was just done and wanted to be retired. I think we needed to be looking outside the box. I don't have a list of names off the top of my head but KF needs to let go of the reigns. Let a creative play caller that mixes in shot plays with different formations that makes us less predictable get in there and be more aggressive. Situationally we are all too often too easy to play against. I feel like there's 20 plays a game or more that we just waste. I'm sure they may say that those 'setup' something. But we've hardly seen much of that this year.
 
If BF was still line coach and "run game coordinator" and they had made O'Keefe the OC and QB coach I think this team would be 7-2 at worst and the Michigan game would have probably been somewhat within reach, so 8-1 could even be a possibility.
Yes, after Iowa's dismal offensive #s last year, KF had the perfect opportunity to make a major move on offense, in a way that would also let BF save face. Let Brian be the 'run game coordinator', and bring in a completely new face to be the 'passing game coordinator' to modernize Iowa's pass game. Let Brian continue to call the plays, but bring in an experienced, proven passing game mind to also work with the QBs. Am quite certain it would have paid dividends this season. Again, a real lack of imagination and creativity on Kirk's part.
 
Yeah I'd have been fine with BF in that role. I think ole KOK was just done and wanted to be retired. I think we needed to be looking outside the box. I don't have a list of names off the top of my head but KF needs to let go of the reigns. Let a creative play caller that mixes in shot plays with different formations that makes us less predictable get in there and be more aggressive. Situationally we are all too often too easy to play against. I feel like there's 20 plays a game or more that we just waste. I'm sure they may say that those 'setup' something. But we've hardly seen much of that this year.
Yeah, I was shocked when a few years ago BF in an interview conceded that basically they were calling only 4-5 plays per game that had a chance for a big gain or score. He was basically saying they were running 60+ plays per game where they were expecting minimal gains. That pretty much said it all.
 
Yeah, I was shocked when a few years ago BF in an interview conceded that basically they were calling only 4-5 plays per game that had a chance for a big gain or score. He was basically saying they were running 60+ plays per game where they were expecting minimal gains. That pretty much said it all.
Years ago when most everyone else was kinda doing that too you can get away with it. But nowadays offenses are measured by chunk plays and scoring. Not just fgs but Tds instead of those. Wasting plays like that leads to wasting possessions and sure Iowas D has let them get away with that. But it's not fun for the players to do and it sure isn't fun for the fans to watch.
 

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