5 First Team All-Big 10 and We Finish 5-4 in Conference??

IowaLawWasRight

IowaLawWasRight

Well-Known Member
This is pretty unprecedented and the coaching staff needs to hold themselves accountable.

On paper, Iowa was talented enough to win the entire Big 10, let alone the lowly Big 10 West, which was regarded as one of the worst Power 5 divisions.

To lose 4 conference games and come up that far short despite having 5 super stars on the roster, with ZERO major injuries this year, can only be blamed on coaching! Whether it's scheme, clock management, predictable play calling, or poor personnel decisions (like refusing to sit your QB in the Penn State game no matter how poorly he's playing, or losing track of Fant on your roster), the coaching staff must be accountable for letting this team and the fans down this year.

Will they be? Nope. Kirk just cashed in $700,000 in bonuses for his 8th win and bowl bid! If we win the bowl game and finish the season ranked, his bonus will be a cool $1,000,000 for a 4 loss season where we beat zero ranked opponents. Son Brian is already scheduled for a $100,000 raise next year for leading the "dynamic" offense that will finish in the middle of the pack nationally.

By comparison, let's look at Northwestern. They won the Big 10 West (and beat Iowa) with a grand total of 1 player on either the First or Second team all Big 10! Northwestern coaches get the best out of their players and win the close games.
 
Just slow down on your b10 west is the weakest division.
Let's see which side of the conference wins more bowl games. I don't know who they play yet, but betting against Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern and Wisconsin might not be advisable.
All have shown when they play well they are to be reckoned with.
 
It depends on one's definition of "major injury".

Aaron Mends, Matt Hankins, Ben Niemann, Jack Hockaday, IKM, and Brady Ross all hurt.

Even not having Brandon Smith for the Northwestern game was more than a small deal.
 
Well... Epenesa got 1st team without starting, which I predicted.

The talent appears to be getting better, now we just have to learn how to use it. If everyone leaves this year, though, next year will be very forgettable.
 
did you see Alaric Jackson got 2nd team all big ten?

I admit judging OL talent is not my strength, but most of memories of Jackson this year was of him getting flagged a lot, usually at the wrong time.
 
Northside Hawk said:
It depends on one's definition of "major injury".

Aaron Mends, Matt Hankins, Ben Niemann, Jack Hockaday, IKM, and Brady Ross all hurt.

Even not having Brandon Smith for the Northwestern game was more than a small deal.
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I could easily argue that the loss to PSU was because of injuries.
 
guffus said:
did you see Alaric Jackson got 2nd team all big ten?

I admit judging OL talent is not my strength, but most of memories of Jackson this year was of him getting flagged a lot, usually at the wrong time.
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That's probably because it's the only time you heard his name. The announcers generally don't call out when a particular lineman has a great block, they just go about their business, and most eyes are watching the skill players to see where the ball goes. At least that's where my eyes go. :)
 
IowaLawWasRight said:
Northwestern coaches get the best out of their players and win the close games.
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I've been saying for close to a decade that Fitz is a markedly better coach than Ferentz. Northwestern still doesn't have the strength in the trenches or depth to be competitive in most years with Michigan, PSU or OSU, but Fitz takes care of business against the patsies.
 
And this is why the season is looked at as a disappointment. I think everyone from the fans, to the coaches and certainly the players feel this should have been a 10 win team.
 
4thngoal said:
Just slow down on your b10 west is the weakest division.
Let's see which side of the conference wins more bowl games. I don't know who they play yet, but betting against Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern and Wisconsin might not be advisable.
All have shown when they play well they are to be reckoned with.
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Might be irrelevant because the B1G East bowl teams will play tougher teams than the West ones.
 
I think 99 inadvertently hit the nail on the head here. While year after year Iowa has top TEs and some good DBs, those are not the positions that matter most when it comes to wins and losses. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 TEs for an all Big 10 QB any day of the week. Most teams actually use their WRs so they don't need their TEs anyway. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 DBs for a stud RB like Eno Benjamin who is capable of breaking a long run any time he touches the ball. While football is more of a team sport than basketball, one star skill position player can make the difference between 8-5 and 12-1. If Iowa had a top 1/3 QB this year, we would be a top 10 team.

Northside - citing injuries to Aaron Mends (2 career tackles) and Brady Ross (fullback) as reasons for the rough season...come on. Most teams in the Big 10 played games without actual star players. Iowa, like every team, had guys dinged up, but relatively speaking, we got off extremely easy this year on the injury front. Remember the year we were down to our 5th RB? Or when our two starting tackles got hurt? Those are injuries.

4thngoal - you're not really trying to compare the Big 10 West with East based on their bowl game performance, are you? That's like an undefeated class 1A Iowa high school team saying they could beat 4A powerhouse Dowling because Dowling had 2 losses this year. The Big 10 East has 3 teams ranked in the top 12 in the country. Those three teams will be playing in the 3 best bowl games against the 3 best opponents. Ohio State may very well be play Alabama in the playoffs, while Michigan and Penn State will likely play top 10 opponents in the New Years 6. You are going to equate a win by Minnesota against Eastern Illinois in the Weedeater bowl as superior to a loss by Ohio State to Alabama? Eye roll.

99topdawg said:
It's not what you have, it's what you don't have.
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IowaLawWasRight said:
I think 99 inadvertently hit the nail on the head here. While year after year Iowa has top TEs and some good DBs, those are not the positions that matter most when it comes to wins and losses. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 TEs for an all Big 10 QB any day of the week. Most teams actually use their WRs so they don't need their TEs anyway. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 DBs for a stud RB like Eno Benjamin who is capable of breaking a long run any time he touches the ball. While football is more of a team sport than basketball, one star skill position player can make the difference between 8-5 and 12-1. If Iowa had a top 1/3 QB this year, we would be a top 10 team.

Northside - citing injuries to Aaron Mends (2 career tackles) and Brady Ross (fullback) as reasons for the rough season...come on. Most teams in the Big 10 played games without actual star players. Iowa, like every team, had guys dinged up, but relatively speaking, we got off extremely easy this year on the injury front. Remember the year we were down to our 5th RB? Or when our two starting tackles got hurt? Those are injuries.

4thngoal - you're not really trying to compare the Big 10 West with East based on their bowl game performance, are you? That's like an undefeated class 1A Iowa high school team saying they could beat 4A powerhouse Dowling because Dowling had 2 losses this year. The Big 10 East has 3 teams ranked in the top 12 in the country. Those three teams will be playing in the 3 best bowl games against the 3 best opponents. Ohio State may very well be play Alabama in the playoffs, while Michigan and Penn State will likely play top 10 opponents in the New Years 6. You are going to equate a win by Minnesota against Eastern Illinois in the Weedeater bowl as superior to a loss by Ohio State to Alabama? Eye roll.
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I tried to leave my post open for interpretation and you stated your opinion which was the whole purpose of leaving it openended. So your opinion is more than welcome. I definitely remember losing all those running backs in 2004, when we were able to soldier on and losing the two tackles in 2012, which immediately brought our season to a grinding halt.

While our injuries this year we're not crippling, they seemed untimely and the losses made their presence felt. We could have used Hankins against Purdue, (when he was suspended anyway) and could have used Ross and Smith against jNW. So many little things, besides injuries, that prevented us from winning the West.
 
IowaLawWasRight said:
I think 99 inadvertently hit the nail on the head here. While year after year Iowa has top TEs and some good DBs, those are not the positions that matter most when it comes to wins and losses. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 TEs for an all Big 10 QB any day of the week. Most teams actually use their WRs so they don't need their TEs anyway. I would trade 3 all-Big 10 DBs for a stud RB like Eno Benjamin who is capable of breaking a long run any time he touches the ball. While football is more of a team sport than basketball, one star skill position player can make the difference between 8-5 and 12-1. If Iowa had a top 1/3 QB this year, we would be a top 10 team.
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This is exactly what I meant. We have a bunch of players dominating at positions that don't get drafted at the top of the draft for a reason--because they aren't at positions where difference makers play. I was, and still am, too busy to elaborate, but you are correct in the interpretation of my post.
 
IowaLawWasRight said:
4thngoal - you're not really trying to compare the Big 10 West with East based on their bowl game performance, are you? That's like an undefeated class 1A Iowa high school team saying they could beat 4A powerhouse Dowling because Dowling had 2 losses this year. The Big 10 East has 3 teams ranked in the top 12 in the country. Those three teams will be playing in the 3 best bowl games against the 3 best opponents. Ohio State may very well be play Alabama in the playoffs, while Michigan and Penn State will likely play top 10 opponents in the New Years 6. You are going to equate a win by Minnesota against Eastern Illinois in the Weedeater bowl as superior to a loss by Ohio State to Alabama? Eye roll.
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Purdue beat OSU this year, Iowa beat OSU last year.
Lowly Nebraska beat MSU this year. Gave OSU a game.
Northwestern beat MSU and gave Michigan a game.

In total yards the west holds 3 of the top 4 offences in the conference.
It's possible as pointed out in another thread, Iowa has the best defense in the conference.

Just saying, there is not as much difference as some would like to pretend
 
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