A dose of reality for Iowa football

theobserver said:
A rather jarring thought about Iowa football next year ... and conceivably for many years to come:

Will HawkeyeNation support a team that regularly finishes no better than fourth or fifth in the conference and potentially several slots below that? Ponder this for a moment:

- Urban Meyer clearly has brought his championship fairy dust to Columbus. Ohio State just defeated No. 19 Michigan 26-21 to go 12-0 for the season. If not for NCAA sanctions, the Buckeyes could be playing in the BCS title game. The best thing that could have happened to tOSU was getting caught in some player funny business and Tressel to getting fired, opening the door for Meyer to return to college coaching in one of the premier programs in the country. Ohio State will be very hard to beat in the Big Ten, likely for however long Meyer remains coach.

- Nebraska. Say what you will about Bo Pellini (and much can be said), he is a good, aggressive coach and proven winner. Nebraska is still Nebraska, and will be a step ahead of Iowa to compete for the best athletes of the central and upper Midwest, if not extending even to California and to the East. Forget 13-7. In better weather conditions, Martinez goes pass crazy and the Huskers win by two to three touchdowns. Again, this will always be a tough game for Iowa.

- Michigan. Brady Hoke appears to be the real deal and is getting the Wolverines back to the glory days. Listen to the guy in interviews and on television specials and what high school phenom wouldn't want to play for Hoke? Plus, he has the advantage of working with a hands-on AD who wants everything done first-rate. Under Hoke, expect the Wolverines to always be nosing around the top spot in the division, likely challenging Nebraska to play in the conference championship game.

- Penn State. The poor, embarrassed, depleted, near-dead Nittany Lions just happen to be 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference, and are giving Wisconsin a heckuva game even as I type this. One of those wins was an embarrassing 38-14 whipping of a listless Iowa team @ KINNICK. Bill O'Brien so far is proving to be one heckuva coach working miracles in a difficult situation. He clearly has used the "us-against-the-world" approach to great advantage. Do not be surprised if O'Brien gets Penn State back to the levels of JoePa's best years.

After those four teams, Iowa still would need to get past Wisconsin and Northwestern to even try to climb out of the middle of the conference and to contend for a division championship, much less making it to the title game in Indianapolis.

Even if Greg Davis remains as Offensive Coordinator, the head coach is Kirk Ferentz, whose conservative approach to the game, unwillingness to take a risk, strong reluctance to bench under-performing upperclassmen and, frankly, frequently questionable game management, make it increasingly unlikely he will be able to field a team that does much better than 6-6 or 7-5.

Just an observation...
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On PSU, if you think they are going to duplicate this season regularly, you are nuts...they weren't depleted this year, give it time with the penalties...you will see it shortly.

You observations on the others...what do you expect?

How often does Iowa get major publicity unless they have 18, or so starters coming back including the QB...the last time they did...epic fail.

Iowa is going to get beat on paper every year, until you accept that, live in la-la land.

It will take a major recruiting upgrade (see: raw athletes) for Iowa to make an improvement in the next couple of seasons. They need to start going to State Track Finals in states like Florida, Texas, Geogia and find the guys that are under-recruited and running track.

Iowa's staff is not bad overall, however, I don't believe KF will get them back to the level the were a few short seasons ago.
 
sportstalent said:
On PSU, if you think they are going to duplicate this season regularly, you are nuts...they weren't depleted this year, give it time with the penalties...you will see it shortly.

You observations on the others...what do you expect?

How often does Iowa get major publicity unless they have 18, or so starters coming back including the QB...the last time they did...epic fail.

Iowa is going to get beat on paper every year, until you accept that, live in la-la land.

It will take a major recruiting upgrade (see: raw athletes) for Iowa to make an improvement in the next couple of seasons. They need to start going to State Track Finals in states like Florida, Texas, Geogia and find the guys that are under-recruited and running track.

Iowa's staff is not bad overall, however, I don't believe KF will get them back to the level the were a few short seasons ago.
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Right...the OP's comments about PSU boarder on silliness. It's going to get very tough for them to compete. This year was a product of a group of guys coming together when they were backed into a corner...never underestimate that, and they should be commended for their effort. Scholarship reductions and recruiting disadvantages due to sanctions will hurt badly over the next few years. I agree with a lot of what everyone is saying, but I feel like this team has some potential. Lots of young guys coming back, and people seem to be ignoring recent recruiting success (past 2-3 years). We need better talent, but the good news is that talent truly is in the program...now can they become football players for us? I think the returning team can win six to seven games next year...and that's if nothing changes at all. If KF can pull his head out of his *** and make some necessary changes to the offensive scheme, they could do even better than that. I know it feels good to vent fellas, and many have great/valid points, but for the love of God, show some pride...things can get better. Finally, I'll say this...if nothing changes next year...if we still have mind boggling offensive schemes, play calling, and clock management, I say it is time for the good captain to sail off into the sunset (and I never thought I'd say that). Better coaching (game day coaching specifically) could have gotten us bowl eligible this year, and I firmly believe that. One more year...time to do some soul searching KF.
 
seepig said:
Also, a couple times JVB checked into those bad running plays folks. You'll also note we didn't run any 2 minute or hurry up or hang huddle whatever you want to call it to keep Nebraska from substituting nickel packages. While many Hawkeye fans have won about 0 games coaching we know stupid when we see stupid.
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I didn't record this game like I usually do, but I remember seeing nub fake a blitz the play prior where JVB changed the play and then threw the quick slant to HKC and he made a great catch. The same defenders did the exact same fake then JVB checked to the exact same play and tried to make the same throw and they jumped the route for the interception. Most of the year it seemed like DCs had JVB figured out as far as what he would check to if they showed blitz.
 
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