NorthwestHawk1
New Member
Who would you rather have for next year? Gronowski or Stanley? Give me Gronowski all day.
KF Starting QBs
- Thread starter Fryowa
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Fryowa
Administrator
This times a million. Which is why he's honorable mention for me. It's not all stats.
I'd go the other direction, but I think either answer is reasonable.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I think Iowa got the best football out of Stanley it could. He hit a ceiling and it was fine. I think if we had another year with Gron he would be even better. He was starting to get more comfortable passing and was generally a better playmaker as the season went along. I think he would be really good next season if he had one more year.
I think if this had been year 2 for Gronowski, they absolutely beat Iowa State.
I think they would have beat Indiana. (Not that Iowa would be a 'better' team than Indiana. Just that at home, in that game on that day, Iowa wins).
I'm on the fence if they would have beat USC. Entirely possible. But USC is better than they get credit for. Better than I give them credit for.
They still lose to Oregon.
So maybe 2 more wins. Which is statistically significant. Not sure playoffs would have been in the picture, but we'd probably be arguing with Texas fans right now or something.
Interesting question... How would MG have done under BF and Stanley under Lester? I'm afraid if MG was the QB for the Fant, Hockensen Smith, ISM era those dudes wouldn't have produced and became the names they did.
I would've really liked to have seen MG come to us last yr so we coulda had 2 yrs with him under Lester and so that the big stage wouldn't have been so overwhelming for him at the start like it was. Is what it is though.
If Mark coulda thrown as well as Stanley or if Stanley coulda ran as well as Mark you'd be cooking with bacon.
If we end up 10-2, we would be in the playoffs, IMO. The committee gave us quite a bit of respect until we ended up with two consecutive losses and we dropped out of their Top 25. Even now, we are ranked #24 and the only team in the Top 25 with four losses.
In your scenario our losses would have been to Oregon and USC. With a quality win vs. Indiana. Borderline but we would be in the mix.
That's why I say we'd be getting pissy with the Texas fans trying to make their case.
And let me clarify. It would have to be THESE exact games. Not just 'this years schedule next year'. These EXACT games. Same day, weather, rosters, injuries/availabilities. Like running a software model. Only variable change was that Gronowski started 6+ games in 2024.
I'm assuming Indiana would have tumbled a fair amount.
I just absolutely HATE this stupid @ss playoff thing. Win your damn conference. The conference championships should just be considered the first round of playoffs. On Saturday, Indiana and OSU will play on a neutral field. There's zero point in the loser of that game going to the playoffs.
There's no second chances in life, son. Win.your.conference. Too many teams. Too short a season for wildcards or a best of 3. I mean, isn't it theoretically possible that say two teams from the Big 10 could end up playing once in conference play, then square off again in the conference championship and then somehow meet again in the playoffs? College football does not need any more money. Networks don't need any more money from college football. It's all just stoopid.
Good take.
My counterpoint would be we got the best football we could out of Stanley in the BF offense. I would love to see him with a competent running game (Iowa averaged 3.8, 4.0, and 3.9 ypc in his 3 years; compared to 5.1 and 4.6 ypc the last 2 years).
You could argue that Stanley was throwing to ISM, B. Smith, Fant, and Hockenson...but they grew with him. In his first year starting, his leading receivers were N. Easley and a gimpy M. Vandeberg; B. Smith wasn't ready, and ISM flashed but wasn't consistent. His last year he had a pretty lethal duo of ISM and B. Smith, but B. Smith missed 4 games with injury and the TE room was thin (freshman LaPorta came on by the end of the year).
As I write, I might be talking myself into Gronowski. Imagining him with ISM, B. Smith, and LaPorta, it sounds pretty fun. But Stanley helped to make those receivers what they were. Do we really think B. Smith is head and shoulders above RVZ, or did RVZ just not have a QB putting him in a position to excel this year?
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
MG had a great season and it's too bad we don't have him for another year. But let's not get carried away with those comparisions.
