I spent way too much time in 2015 trying to defend the quality of the team, both to others and to myself. That 2015 team was so much fun to watch, but in all honesty there were 1 or 2 horses short after the Drew Ott injury. They demonstrated huge balls to pull off win after win, no matter the adversity. But deep down you knew they were probably more like a top 15-20 team that accomplished top-5 team results throughout the year. Indeed, Football Outsiders had them rated as the 30th best team in their overall efficiency metric that year.
I think this year is different for a few reasons.
First, Iowa's recruiting has seen a major uptake since 2015, there is way more talent on this team.
Second, Iowa has consistently been a top-15ish team by Football Outsiders for 3 years running (13th, 16th, 14th, to be specific). So this season is a natural progression of recent high-level success (they are ranked 6th in team efficiency thus far this year).
Third, while I think wins AT 10-win NW and Wisconsin teams don't get enough respect for that 2015 team, they did have a really easy cross-over schedule and ISU was still a patsy. This year they got a top-10 ISU team (they look down right now, but I bet they finish top-20), a ranked Indiana (who currently has 3 losses to the #2, #3, and #7 teams in the country), and a top-5 blue-blood (PSU). There are probably some SEC fans and pissed-off PSU fans questioning how good Iowa is right now, but I think most of the national media respects this team.
And lastly, I think we all have a better appreciation for how the staff wants to play. We love the field-position battle (now that we win it all the time). We love the look of fear and bewilderment in the opposing QB's eyes. Although it is great to see the offense rip off some big plays (don't look now, but Iowa is 19th among P5, or 29th out of all of FBS, in scrimmage plays of 40+ yards), we also are starting to appreciate how they take care of the ball and set the D up for success.
Jon Miller stated on twitter that in 2015 he wrote a column defending the quality of Iowa's team. His thoughts this year: "We are Iowa, we apologize for nothing, piss off."
Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic just wrote about the fans appreciation for this team.
This team is so much freakin' fun, don't let anyone take that away from you.
If they tell you Iowa has a lousy offense, let it go, we will see how many points our lousy O scores when it matches up against their team (probably enough).
If they tell you PSU would have won but for an injury, tell them, "Maybe, but the injury happened, and Iowa won."
If they tell you Iowa can't keep getting this lucky with turnovers, just smile and say, "We'll see."
I am not sure I have ever had as much confidence in a team I cheer for on a game to game basis. As soon as Iowa made it 17-10 vs. PSU, I thought we would win. When Clifford didn't come back out, I knew we would win. I can't remember the last game I went into thinking we would lose.
This will end eventually, even Alabama just saw its 18 game win-streak come to an end. But enjoy the ride folks.
I think this year is different for a few reasons.
First, Iowa's recruiting has seen a major uptake since 2015, there is way more talent on this team.
Second, Iowa has consistently been a top-15ish team by Football Outsiders for 3 years running (13th, 16th, 14th, to be specific). So this season is a natural progression of recent high-level success (they are ranked 6th in team efficiency thus far this year).
Third, while I think wins AT 10-win NW and Wisconsin teams don't get enough respect for that 2015 team, they did have a really easy cross-over schedule and ISU was still a patsy. This year they got a top-10 ISU team (they look down right now, but I bet they finish top-20), a ranked Indiana (who currently has 3 losses to the #2, #3, and #7 teams in the country), and a top-5 blue-blood (PSU). There are probably some SEC fans and pissed-off PSU fans questioning how good Iowa is right now, but I think most of the national media respects this team.
And lastly, I think we all have a better appreciation for how the staff wants to play. We love the field-position battle (now that we win it all the time). We love the look of fear and bewilderment in the opposing QB's eyes. Although it is great to see the offense rip off some big plays (don't look now, but Iowa is 19th among P5, or 29th out of all of FBS, in scrimmage plays of 40+ yards), we also are starting to appreciate how they take care of the ball and set the D up for success.
Jon Miller stated on twitter that in 2015 he wrote a column defending the quality of Iowa's team. His thoughts this year: "We are Iowa, we apologize for nothing, piss off."
Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic just wrote about the fans appreciation for this team.
This team is so much freakin' fun, don't let anyone take that away from you.
If they tell you Iowa has a lousy offense, let it go, we will see how many points our lousy O scores when it matches up against their team (probably enough).
If they tell you PSU would have won but for an injury, tell them, "Maybe, but the injury happened, and Iowa won."
If they tell you Iowa can't keep getting this lucky with turnovers, just smile and say, "We'll see."
I am not sure I have ever had as much confidence in a team I cheer for on a game to game basis. As soon as Iowa made it 17-10 vs. PSU, I thought we would win. When Clifford didn't come back out, I knew we would win. I can't remember the last game I went into thinking we would lose.
This will end eventually, even Alabama just saw its 18 game win-streak come to an end. But enjoy the ride folks.
