Can this team get to 6 wins?

Jonrn

Well-Known Member
So sitting at 3-2, I can't see where Iowa can get 3 more wins on this schedule.

I personally don't care whether they are 5-7 or 6-6, once they are in the toilet, how deeply they are submerged is meaningless. 3-9 is the same as 6-6 to me. I would like to see 6-6 just to get the extra bowl practices so some of the younger talented guys can develop. I'm thinking Stanley getting more reps with the young RBs and WRs. This obviously is good.

Only game left on the schedule I see as a win is Purdue?

@Minnesota or Illinois?? Maybe but not remotely likely.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, obvious losses.

So iowa could possibly beat either Illinois or Minnesota and hope to steal the penn state game to go with Purdue? That's the only route I see. Looks more like 5-7 than 6-6
 
Agree with OP.

Seven games left. Four are on the road. Home games are Nebby, Michigan, Wisky.

Hawks have to win 4/7 to get to seven.

I just don't see it happening.
 
Agree with OP.

Seven games left. Four are on the road. Home games are Nebby, Michigan, Wisky.

Hawks have to win 4/7 to get to seven.

I just don't see it happening.
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If you can't win 9 with this schedule, what's the point of winning 6-8?

Oh yeah, a dozen end-of-year practices "for the young guys" so there will be another dozen end-of-year practices next year.

Is Iowa the only program to get those extra dozen practices or do the other 87 bowl teams get a dozen practices which means at best a push for next season and the next and the next.
 
Boise State from the Mountain West is a top 25 team again. Are Idaho's geography and demographics superior or even on par to Iowa's?

How about San Diego State?
 
It would not surprise me if Iowa got to 6 wins (not saying it will happen though). Iowa plays Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska all at home. Kirk's teams generally play to the level of their competition. He can over coach them and come away with one win here. Minny, PSU, and Illinois are not elite teams and again Kirk could over coach them to get at least one win here as well.

Iowa should get by Purdue. Unless they have packed it in and Purdue is on their A+ game, Iowa should get a win here.

The key is if Iowa does not lose to many more players to injury and they can qualify for a bowl with a little coaching up. Then, Ferentz can get to the bowl game and try to get his 7th win. Admin at Iowa will think this is just fine and will give them something to sell to the ticket holders for next year.

Rinse and repeat.
 
It would not surprise me if Iowa got to 6 wins (not saying it will happen though). Iowa plays Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska all at home. Kirk's teams generally play to the level of their competition. He can over coach them and come away with one win here. Minny, PSU, and Illinois are not elite teams and again Kirk could over coach them to get at least one win here as well.

Iowa should get by Purdue. Unless they have packed it in and Purdue is on their A+ game, Iowa should get a win here.

The key is if Iowa does not lose to many more players to injury and they can qualify for a bowl with a little coaching up. Then, Ferentz can get to the bowl game and try to get his 7th win. Admin at Iowa will think this is just fine and will give them something to sell to the ticket holders for next year.

Rinse and repeat.


Seriously? Have you been sleeping for 10 years? When would you say was the last time KF "over coached"?

Hell, when was the last time he coached at all? Or, when was the last time the team seemed to have a gameplan? The last time they attacked a relative weakness , or looked fired up?
 
Hawkeye87:


I have been watching Iowa football for almost 40 years. Anyway, generally speaking, Kirk tends to find away to do just enough to please Iowa Admin. That is my point. So, it would not surprise me if he could take the majority remains from last year's 12-2 team and coach them up a bit, do just enough, to please the Iowa Admin. Do I think it will happen? Perhaps not, but it would not surprise me if Kirk finds away to do just enough to get this team bowl eligible.

Then, if they have bowl success this year, the Iowa PR team would love that and that would give them more to sell to ticket holders next year.

Kirk generally does just enough to sell false hope to the masses. I believe it has been compared to Stockholm Syndrome. Years of mediocre and bad play (along with contracts, off field stuff, etc) that gets forgotten with an upset win here and there, a minor bowl team, or a 12 win regular season.

I will admit, with a 12 win regular season, it is hard not to give a coach at least some good faith points. But, unfortunately, Ferentz squandered those faith points with a bad loss to an FCS team (as a double digit favorite) and yet again another loss to the mildcats (also as a double digit favorite). The only way he re-establishes those faith points is with a West title and a return to the BTT game. However, I do think there is about a 90% chance that is not going to happen based on game play and what we have left.

If he gets this team playing to their max ability (or near it), there is not one team on the rest of this schedule Iowa could not beat (with Michigan maybe the exception). All he has to do is get the Purdue win and win 2 games out of Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, PSU, Minny, or Illinois. It still plausible even for Kirk. Right now, they don't look like they can do it, but Ferentz has enough games left to do just enough if he and his staff put in some effort. So, it would not surprise me if he and staff did just that and come away smelling like a rose again to Barta and the rest of the Iowa good ole boys club. I give a him 50-50 chance of getting to 6 at this point.

Remember, Kirk has fielded teams with 6 and above wins 14 times out of his previous 17 years at Iowa.
 
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40 years is about my fan tenure as well._.

Anyway, let me throw one more question at you. What signs of great coaching did you see last year? I think 12-0 was a fluke resulting mostly from a string of terrible, self-destructing opponents. I know "new Kirk" got more aggressive (for him at least), but that was the only sign I saw of coaching. This year we're back to "old Kirk" and hope the other team gives away the game...
 
87:

I don't think he had any great coaching last year as well. I would agree he was much more aggressive last year which was refreshing. I agree he has gone back to "Old Kirk" this year. I also think Iowa forced a lot of turnovers last year and got a lot of breaks. I think Iowa also had enough talent to run the table (or at least that became apparent as the season went along) with that schedule....and they did.

Let me put is this way, if Ferentz and his minions get creative like with the OSU game in 09, or the 2004 season for a couple of games this year, I think they could knock off one of the better teams on our remaining schedule and certainly with some of the mid-tier teams. Or, if "New Kirk" from last year shows up again, Iowa could get 3 more wins. I think Iowa has played rather conservatively not stretching the field in the passing game for example. If we can see a little more creatively on offense (roll out passes, slants, throwing to the middle of the field, screens, 2-3 tightends, etc) and more blitzing on defense while trusting King to play man on other team's best wideouts, they could find 3 more wins. Might need to do some shuffling with personal on line play as well.

I think there is enough talent there to achieve a mediocre 6-6. Just depends on if the staff is willing to put in the work. I think if they do and Iowa does not lose to many more key players, they can find 3 more wins. If not, they will have a losing record certainly. This is not to say that I'm satisfied with that and I feel sick to my stomach that they are 3-2 right now with what they returned and coming off the season that they did. But, this is what Ferentz does....has a good year only to follow it up with a mediocre season.
 
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Now, I will say, to play devil's advocate against myself, now that he has this new contract that pretty much makes him untouchable, not winning 7 games may not phase him like it might have done last year when his rear end was to the fire. So, there is also a strong chance we will see zero adjustments. Then, IMHO, you will not find 3 more wins.
 

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