Does Iowa Underachieve?

Stiles

Stiles

Well-Known Member
First of all, I like KF, and want him to be Iowa's coach. So don't call me a hater.

Currently, Iowa has 35 players in the NFL, which is in the top 10. However we we don't consistent perform like it.

8 wins last year with already 9 players on NFL roster from the team.

There is one stat that I believe explains the whole thing and would make Iowa's record that much better under Ferentz.

Traditional powers beat the little guys, almost always.

Ferentz's record is 16-17 vs. ISU/NW/Indiana.

They have a combined 21 players currently in the NFL.

If Iowa had .750 winning percentage against these teams that would be 8/9 more wins in his career, making the down years not so down.

Why do you think that is?
 
Too often we let other teams dictate match-ups instead of doing so ourselves. My biggest complaint of the Ferentz era.
 
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I think there is far too much focus on which kids get to the NFL and too little on actually winning in college.
 
I know Kirk likes to keep games close......that's all well and good vs. the Michigan's and Ohio State's of the world.

But you CANNOT let teams like Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa State ect. hang around. You could have outplayed them for 59 minutes, but all it takes is ONE miscue, bad bounce, lucky play, blown coverage etc. to negate those 59 minutes and walk away with a loss.

I'd bet Northwestern's strategy against Iowa is to keep the game close KNOWING they will have a better-than-average chance of pulling out a win at the end because of Kirk's "play not to lose" philosophy.
 
I think every year we win some we shouldn't and we lose some we shouldn't. Imho, it balances out.
 
83 hawk i could not agree with you more. Playing not to lose at the end of first half's to me is ridiculous. At the end of regulation i a tie game i can kinda see it. But not at halftime with 2 to's in your pocket. Showing that kind of confidence in your qb and offense would go along long way not to mention getting some 2 min O wrk early in yr woulda been nice regardless of outcome. Ferentz is worried about the what could go wrong things and not the reward of what big play could they make.
 
Iowa has way and I mean way more talent than Iowa St., Northwestern and Indiana. Why they struggle against those teams is enough to drive one crazy. Iowa has as much talent in the Big Ten outside of teams not named Ohio St. Ferentz is a great coach, hopefully he can reverse this trend.
 
hawkinn3 said:
I think every year we win some we shouldn't and we lose some we shouldn't. Imho, it balances out.
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We've lost more games to Northwestern alone than we have beat teams that we shouldn't. I can barely think of any games over the past 5 years that we won where you could legitimately say we shouldn't have.
 
PatrickAdamovicz said:
Iowa has way and I mean way more talent than Iowa St., Northwestern and Indiana. Why they struggle against those teams is enough to drive one crazy. Iowa has as much talent in the Big Ten outside of teams not named Ohio St. Ferentz is a great coach, hopefully he can reverse this trend.
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On this years team? Try again? Tell me all the talent that you have that is more than Iowa State THIS year. I will agree you have had more the last couple years but ISU has a lot of really good talent this year. A lot of guys that will be playing on Sundays
 
I don't think our players underachieve. Rather, it's our coaches who underperform the opposing coaches in tight games.

Almost like two race cars A and B where B is a little faster than A but in the final turn the driver of B lets off the gas a little as not to crash but the driver of A keeps the pedal floored who ends up nipping B at the finish line.
 
Absolutely and the game day decisions on the sidelines have cost the players dearly over the years. Only miracles like Tate to Holloway sometimes salvage the stupid mistakes the coaches on the sidelines make, game in and out.
 
I think under KF we underachieve in regards to end WL record compared to the talent we have on the field.

I think under KF we overachieve in regards to player development and getting talent into the program that is better than one would expect for a school in our situation (cold, small town, flyover country).

As a whole I think this program has overachieved under KF.
 
Cyclones17 said:
On this years team? Try again? Tell me all the talent that you have that is more than Iowa State THIS year. I will agree you have had more the last couple years but ISU has a lot of really good talent this year. A lot of guys that will be playing on Sundays
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We shall see when the draft comes up, how many guys get drafted from each squad. Iowa has always had more talent, just look at NFL rosters. It's not even close. I think we should revisit this issue at the end of the season as many Iowa St. fans are taking way to much stock in this one game. Will Jantz continue to deliver or is he more along the Northern Iowa game? Lets see who has the better season. Northwestern has beat Iowa 3 straight games, but they also have nowhere near the talent that Iowa has.
 
Expanding your statistics, if Iowa won 75% of those "should win" games, then Ferentz's revised record of .660 would put him higher than Evashevski (.651) and Fry (.613).
 
DuffMan said:
I think under KF we underachieve in regards to end WL record compared to the talent we have on the field.

I think under KF we overachieve in regards to player development and getting talent into the program that is better than one would expect for a school in our situation (cold, small town, flyover country).

As a whole I think this program has overachieved under KF.
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I agree with the first two statements. I tend to think we have performed as we should under KF. Could it be worse, definitely! We do have issues that we need/and do overcome to be a successful program. I think some of that is due to the fans passion (attendence, money donated), which allows for a highly paid coach(s) and facilities.
 
PatrickAdamovicz said:
We shall see when the draft comes up, how many guys get drafted from each squad. Iowa has always had more talent, just look at NFL rosters. It's not even close. I think we should revisit this issue at the end of the season as many Iowa St. fans are taking way to much stock in this one game. Will Jantz continue to deliver or is he more along the Northern Iowa game? Lets see who has the better season. Northwestern has beat Iowa 3 straight games, but they also have nowhere near the talent that Iowa has.
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Iowa has always had more talent the past 8 years or so. This year? I'd argue it.

ISU has legit talent this year. KO, Hicks, Knott, LJ, and Benton are all NFL caliber players and I would say that ISU is not behind Iowa in talent at RB, LB, or safety for this year either. Special teams is a split at Kicker/Punter
 
83Hawk said:
But you CANNOT let teams like Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa State ect. hang around. You could have outplayed them for 59 minutes, but all it takes is ONE miscue, bad bounce, lucky play, blown coverage etc. to negate those 59 minutes and walk away with a loss.
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The Hawks did not outplay ISU for 59 minutes last weekend. If anything ISU let the Hawks hang around with turnovers and penalties.
 
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