And yet the SEC schools have how many national titles?
If our talent is as good as some would like to think then maybe its a coaching issue rather than a recruiting issue.
Yes, the fact that we take mid-tier recruiting classes and turn them into NFL players reflects poorly on our coaching staff. That makes a lot of sense.
If you look at the last 10+ national champions, they've all had a dynamic offensive player that completely changes the way the game is played. Iowa just hasn't had a guy of that caliber during Ferentz's tenure. I'm not going to argue that it is completely necessary to have a guy like that to win a national title, but it sure gives you a huge margin for error. Look at how often Auburn looked like crap this year only to get bailed out by Cam Newton.
Looking at the BCS era, the team that comes the closest to Iowa's approach to the game and skill level was Saban's 2004 LSU team. Conservative offense, great running game, dominant defense, etc. If Iowa ever wins a national title I'm sure that will be the blueprint. Other than that '04 LSU team (which was not a consensus national champion), the last decade of titles has gone like this: Newton, Mark Ingram/Julio Jones, Tebow, Jamarcus Russell, Tebow/Harvin, Vince Young, Leinart/Bush, Maurice Clarrett/Michael Jenkins. The 2001 Miami team had Clinton Portis, Andrea Johnson,
and Jeremy Shockey.
I'm not making excuses for last season-- there is no excuse for that. But I don't think you can look at Iowa's great draft results and argue that we must be underperforming on a national stage, because the reality is that we've had exactly one offensive skill player drafted in the first round during the Ferentz era (Dallas Clark), and it takes elite offensive skill players to contend for national titles in today's college game.