"A bad Iowa team" - Cowherd

Colin is a very good sports talk host...but he is national...like most national guys, he couldn't name three players on most teams.

But his opinion is based on the perception of what someone posted above: Iowa underwhelmed to expectations last year, they lost a lot of key contributors, and since they know very little about the program, they feel this way.

They could be way wrong, or they could be right...however, I dont think this will be a 'bad' Iowa team. Iowa hasn't had a 'bad team in over a decade. The 2007 team was not good, but if they had a QB they could have won a few more games...then again, the OL was the worst that year of any Ferentz year since he turned it around.

This year's OL is going to be very good. That in and of itself means this is not going to be a 'bad' Iowa team.

Then again, a 'bad Iowa team' could be a backhanded compliment...as in, a 'bad team for Iowa' ;)

But I doubt that is how he meant it.
 
Cowherd is the kind of guy who considers every team outside the top 25 as "bad".

This. There is a contingent out there that thinks the standard for a 'good' team is top 20 with an outside title or BCS shot. In order to be 'great', a team has to go back in time and beat 2001 Miami.

If Cowherd is indeed one of these guys, 'bad' just means that he thinks we will be an also-ran and go to some minor bowl game. As some on this thread have pointed out, and I agree with, our team has yet to prove otherwise. We all know that it's possible for a Ferentz team to rise from preseason ignominy to great success, and I hope the 2011 Hawks do. But, until then, national pundits are not going to give us any rave reviews.
 
They could be way wrong, or they could be right...however, I dont think this will be a 'bad' Iowa team. Iowa hasn't had a 'bad team in over a decade. The 2007 team was not good, but if they had a QB they could have won a few more games...then again, the OL was the worst that year of any Ferentz year since he turned it around.

With 4 non-con cupcakes, let's not forget that 2006 team went 2-6 in the Big Ten and lost to Nortwestern, Minnesota and Indiana, ending with a 6-7 record - it was a pretty bad team. The 2007 team did something rare for Iowa teams, it beat Northwestern, something that the 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 teams couldn't manage, but it also got crushed by Indiana, ISU and Purdue. Pretty hard to argue that wasn't a bad team by any objective measure. We all know what happened with the LBs and guard position last year, but to an outside observer, a team that lost as many guys as we did and still managed to get spanked last year by Northwestern and Minnesota and only beat Indiana on a dropped pass at the end of the game, it's pretty easy to argue the 2011 team will be bad.
 
Not sure how Cowherd defines "bad", but excluding the first couple years of rebuilding, Ferentz has never had a team win less than 6 games in a season. I don't see that changing this year.. If we make a bowl game (not hard to do) I can't consider us a 'bad" team. Looking at the schedule, I wouldn't be surprised to see 8-9 wins this year.
Thank you...This was my point. 8 or 9 wins is not a "bad" team.
 
I think it pretty much hinges on Vandy and team health. Everything else should be adequate, but if Vandy doesn't pan out, they're in trouble.
 
With the NFL lockout going on, I wonder how long it'll be before college FB overtakes the NFL as America's game.
 
Cowterd. Thanks for helping us stay under the radar, the best spot this Hawkeye football team to become a successful. I predict that this yeaar 99% of national sports announcers will make predictions that don't prove true. The other 1% will die before they can join the rest.
 
I hope people buy into what he says, literally. That way my bet on the hawks winning our division will pay out that much sweeter. Keep talking Cow-Turd.
 
Cowterd. Thanks for helping us stay under the radar, the best spot this Hawkeye football team to become a successful. I predict that this yeaar 99% of national sports announcers will make predictions that don't prove true. The other 1% will die before they can join the rest.

'Cowterd' - what, are you 3 years old?

I would love to see some correlary analysis done relating the pervasive belief that Iowa performs better when underrated and performs more poorly when overrated. A comparison of composite preseason rankings to end of year rankings could be done and measure the 'gap' between them. I know there is a fancy statistical methodology for this.
 
'Cowterd' - what, are you 3 years old?

I would love to see some correlary analysis done relating the pervasive belief that Iowa performs better when underrated and performs more poorly when overrated. A comparison of composite preseason rankings to end of year rankings could be done and measure the 'gap' between them. I know there is a fancy statistical methodology for this.

Im not going to dig up the preseason rankings going back 8-10 years but think I can remember expectations for most years of the Ferentz era.

1999 & 2000- picked to finish at the bottom and thats where we did finish.

2001- more than likely picked to finish at or near the bottom again. Finished 7-5 with a bowl win

2002- If I remember right we were pegged like 8th in the conference in preseason. Finished 11-2 and ranked #8 in country.

2003- Once again were picked in the 7-10 range in the conference and once again finished at #8 in the country. 10-3 overall.

2004- Cant remember preseason picks here but I guarantee we exceeded them again because we finished #8 in the country for the 3rd straight year and had another 10 win season. (10-2)

2005- Preseason Top 10 team and more than one publication had us playing for the national title. Finished the year 7-5 and unranked.

2006- Preseason Top 20 team and greatly underperformed. Finished the year 6-7 with an Alamo Bowl loss to Texas. The "Fat Cats" year.

2007- Have no idea what was expected, im guessing we performed pretty close to our preseason expectations.

2008- Foggy on this one too. Im guessing we exceeded our preseason expectations as we finished 9-4 and ranked 20th in the final polls. Lost our 4 games by a total of 12 points.

2009- Ranked in the Top 20 in preseason then plummeted out after a squeaker against UNI. Went on to finish 11-2 with an Orange Bowl victory and finished #7 in the final polls.

2010- Consensus Top 10 preseason team with multiple outlets predicting Big 10 titles and BCS games. Dissappointing season that ended with an Insight Bowl victory over Missouri and an 8-5 record. Finished the year unranked.

Need anymore evidence?
 
Pretty hard to say we aren't going to be very good offensively. You could have 5 guys who started last year in the offensive line, two very good and big TE's, two huge receivers one of which is a top 2-3 round pick, and a punishing runner. Granted, JVB has to perform, but with the talent around him...it's a good bet.

You could say we look a little weak on paper in the front of the defense, but if Neilsen is healthy and we get production from Davis or another tackle, you could say this defense will outperform expectations. With Norm back full time, I think that happens.

Cowterd is just that. You don't use that term, bad, regardless. That goes against everything Iowa stands for right now, player development. Guys get back and step in...it's in the numbers.
 
I remember before last season, Cowherd had Iowa as a BCS team, so it is hard to make the argument he hates them. I am sure his comments are to the fact that Iowa was a big disapointment and failed to make an impact nationally.
 
I remember before last season, Cowherd had Iowa as a BCS team, so it is hard to make the argument he hates them. I am sure his comments are to the fact that Iowa was a big disapointment and failed to make an impact nationally.

He doesn't hate them, he just doesn't do any of his own research and. He had them as a BCS team because everyone else did, this year he thinks they'll be bad because everyone else does.
 
People need to not take things as a personal affront if some outsider says some thing negative about Iowa. Its an outside prospective, deal with it. You say things about other schools, do you intend to offend, or are you giving an honest opinion?
 
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