Are we a year away?

L

longtimer

Well-Known Member
Iowa has the least returning starts away in the Big Ten. Ohio State can get away with reloading but Iowa is a developmental program making it more difficult to win with such a young and inexperienced team. Add the fear that we just don’t have a top notch QB and a very difficult start to the Big Ten and it just seems like we are looking at a 7 win season??
Next year could be different. We may (hopefully) have a Freshman QB that with a year in the program could be a substantial upgrade.

Not giving up on this year but it will be a challenge
 
Experience counts. And we do not have a lot this year. I do think we'll be better towards the second half of the season. I also think that the inexperience will cost us a game or two that we would have won with last year's team. I do like the talent though and still think we have the potential to win 8-9 games.
 
Developmental teams like Iowa will continue to have the up/down cycles more than NIL-focused teams like Indiana and others who reload positions of need with experienced players via the portal rather than waiting a season or two for players to develop.
 
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I for the life of me cannot figure out why Iowa is ranked in both services. This team has no business being ranked given the losses in the starting ranks. As I have posted previously, it is a testament to the respect KF and both his coordinators have earned, and a belief that Iowa has shown for a decade that it just reloads.

This team has sneaky experience though. On the OL, guys like Jones and Dotzler saw the field quite a bit last year. The WRs have all seen a year or two of action in college at Iowa or smaller schools, but they have played collegiately. Our top 2 TEs are both starters. RB is loaded with guys with touches. Same with the defense. A lot of those guys got reps as back-ups or on STs. On paper, yes, this team is green, but it is the type of youngish team that can turn veteran in a hurry. I believe in these coaches.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
I for the life of me cannot figure out why Iowa is ranked in both services. This team has no business being ranked given the losses in the starting ranks. As I have posted previously, it is a testament to the respect KF and both his coordinators have earned, and a belief that Iowa has shown for a decade that it just reloads.

This team has sneaky experience though. On the OL, guys like Jones and Dotzler saw the field quite a bit last year. The WRs have all seen a year or two of action in college at Iowa or smaller schools, but they have played collegiately. Our top 2 TEs are both starters. RB is loaded with guys with touches. Same with the defense. A lot of those guys got reps as back-ups or on STs. On paper, yes, this team is green, but it is the type of youngish team that can turn veteran in a hurry. I believe in these coaches.
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Prob says more about IA's DC and OC than the players.
 
To answer the question posed, maybe. But, even through pretty much the whole damn team CAN return, and most of us are expecting and 8ish winning season, there is a real good chance that Pieper, Lauck, Vanahme and Lutmer could leave early for the draft. Maybe others. And, the question assumes we get the QB question right this year AND that QB stays healthy and is ready to be a stud in 27.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
I for the life of me cannot figure out why Iowa is ranked in both services. This team has no business being ranked given the losses in the starting ranks. As I have posted previously, it is a testament to the respect KF and both his coordinators have earned, and a belief that Iowa has shown for a decade that it just reloads.

This team has sneaky experience though. On the OL, guys like Jones and Dotzler saw the field quite a bit last year. The WRs have all seen a year or two of action in college at Iowa or smaller schools, but they have played collegiately. Our top 2 TEs are both starters. RB is loaded with guys with touches. Same with the defense. A lot of those guys got reps as back-ups or on STs. On paper, yes, this team is green, but it is the type of youngish team that can turn veteran in a hurry. I believe in these coaches.
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^^

Some really good points here. A couple of weeks ago, I kept asking myself why I wasn't more nervous about this team, but there is more there than meets the eye. Our coaching staff is top-notch, and a lot of these guys have already produced and/or at the very least are champing at the bit to go out there and perform.

It's hard to put a finger on it, but there's a vibe around this team. I think the rankings are a reflection of that more than anything.
 
Over the last 10-12 years, Iowa has never won less than 7 games and is averaging somewhere between 8-9 wins per season. That is more than a trend. That speaks to culture, system, and stability. Nearly all of that time was done with two incompetent OCs and god awful QB play. At least one of those issues has been fixed. The other is TBD.

The only variable that has gone the wrong way is STs with Woods leaving. I don't want to undersell the important of STs. It has won us a lot of games during that time. But, if I had to trade elite STs for competent, above average offensive play (as compared to be a bottom dweller on offense), I will take that trade everyday and twice on Sunday. STs will take a step or two back, but it will still be competent in punts/kicks and returns. KF likely will be more conservative on long FG tries.

Iowa has shown consistency and the voters are acknowledging that. Its not the kids taking the field on an individual basis, but the sum or their parts in a developmental system that has a long proof of concept.
 
longtimer said:
Iowa has the least returning starts away in the Big Ten. Ohio State can get away with reloading but Iowa is a developmental program making it more difficult to win with such a young and inexperienced team. Add the fear that we just don’t have a top notch QB and a very difficult start to the Big Ten and it just seems like we are looking at a 7 win season??
Next year could be different. We may (hopefully) have a Freshman QB that with a year in the program could be a substantial upgrade.

Not giving up on this year but it will be a challenge
Click to expand...

I kinda think this is the year before the year.

And yet, how many times have I seen teams arrive a year early?
 
I mean maybe... The QB spot is just such a crapshoot in and of itself. It could go any number of ways. Either of the two this yr could become good. Heck could be our qb for 3 yrs. Or Brown for 2. Or maybe they both stink and transfer out and Sullivan gets in there. Or maybe our current freshman Bessinger is our QB next yr. There's no way of freaking knowing college ball is yr to yr now.

Or KF could retire and the whole program is turned upside down with a new staff being hired.
 
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