Have not played above potential since 2004

SpiderRico

SpiderRico

Well-Known Member
2005 - Could have been something special. But our inability to groom a backup QB (after Tate got hurt against ISU), our inability to stop playing for overtime (against Michigan), and our inability to cover an onsides kick (against NW) doomed that season.

2006 - Season of the "fat cats" - Preseason Top 10 ranking, returning All-Big 10 QB, 2 great returning RBs and a more seasoned defense....all down the drain as KF loses control of the team.

2007 - Fat Cat carryover. Inability to develop a QB and an inability to run AY and Sims into the ground when your QB sucks dooms the season....worst loss to end the season in most of our lifetimes.

2008 - What is viewed as a good season was actually an underperformance given the talent on that team. All 11 starters from that defense are or were in the NFL at one time. We had the Doak Walker winner at RB and a future NFL QB. All that could be mustered was an 8-4 record (and was 5-4 at one point). Unexplainable losses to NW, Illinois and MSU make this a season of "woulda-coulda-shoulda".

2009 - The only season that was played to expectations (but still not exceeded). However, the continued inability to develop a backup QB cause this season to go from one that should have won the B1G outright, to a 2nd place consolation.

2010 - No need to rehash the worst season of lost expectations since 1997....probably worse, actually.

2011 - Record setting wide receiver, 1,400 yd rusher, 3,000 yd passer.....should translate to more than a 7-6 record.

That's 6 out of the last 7 years of continued failure to meet expectations based on the talent playing on the field. Until we get a coaching staff that understands that it's just important to perform on Saturdays than it is on Sun-Fri, we're going to continue down this road.
 
I think 2009 exceeded expectations for sure. Iowa lost Shonn Greene and I don't think anyone really knew what they had with Stanzi for sure. Also just lost King and Kroul and people were worried about the DLine. I think they exceeded what most thought, especially me, would happen. Hindsight yeah it looks like maybe with that talent it was about where we should be at, but at the time it was exceeding expectations.
 
JonDMiller said:
Playing above expectation...is typically only viewed in hindsight.
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True, but playing below expectation isn't necessarily in hindsight. I would say that the hawks have played below expectations given it's personnel in at least 50% of the seasons since '04. The list of NFL players Iowa churns out which is often used to hype Ferentz and Iowa has to be looked at from the other side as well. You can't just take the positive and ignore the fact that the other schools that Iowa is company with on this NFL factory list are far more successful and consistent than Iowa over this period.
 
JonDMiller said:
Playing above expectation...is typically only viewed in hindsight.
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Other than possibly 2008, which other season can be viewed in hindsight differently than it was viewed during the season? So even if I grant you 2008 for the sake of argument, that still gives us 5 of the last 7 years of unmet expectations....both in hindsight as well as during the season.
 
SpiderRico said:
Other than possibly 2008, which other season can be viewed in hindsight differently than it was viewed during the season? So even if I grant you 2008 for the sake of argument, that still gives us 5 of the last 7 years of unmet expectations....both in hindsight as well as during the season.
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So you thought they were going to go undefeated and win the B1G in 2009? Really?
 
Also, same argument for 2008 with JC as QB coming off 2007 you thought they would win 9 games that year?

Maybe it's not so much then that they underachieved by some fans are unbelievably idiotic with their expectations.
 
I think it's impossible to play above potential. Kind of like giving 110%

Now playing above expectations.. :D
 
hawkfarmer said:
Also, same argument for 2008 with JC as QB coming off 2007 you thought they would win 9 games that year?

Maybe it's not so much then that they underachieved by some fans are unbelievably idiotic with their expectations.
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So what kind of expectations should a fan have of a team that has a defense where all 11 starters are drafted and/or make an NFL team, where the RB sets a single season rushing record and wins the Doak Walker and the QB becomes the first Iowa QB drafted since forever? 8-4? 5-4 after 9 games? If so, then it's no wonder Ferentz has lasted as long as he has. With fans like that, it's the most cush job in America.
 
SpiderRico said:
When we were sitting at 6-0 in the conference....heck yeah I was expecting us to win the B1G.
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You only form expectations when you are 6 games into the season? I'm talking about an expectation pre-season which is the ones that they should live up to. Also at 6 games in you told me Stanzi was going down in game 10 i would have thought 2 loses or more were possible.

SpiderRico said:
So what kind of expectations should a fan have of a team that has a defense where all 11 starters are drafted and/or make an NFL team, where the RB sets a single season rushing record and wins the Doak Walker and the QB becomes the first Iowa QB drafted since forever? 8-4? 5-4 after 9 games? If so, then it's no wonder Ferentz has lasted as long as he has. With fans like that, it's the most cush job in America.
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These are all retrospective. Again you can't look back and make your expectations. You have to look at the pre season. For example, when Shonn Greene got back on campus he was out of shape and hand't touched a football in 2 years. Who predicted him to win the Doak Walker? And who knew all 11 guys were going to be eventually drafted. Plus not all 11 of them were NFL caliber at that moment when they played for the Hawks, not all could have gone to the NFL after that season. But looking at stuff retrospectively and sayin that team could have done better is not the same as not meeting expectations.
 
hawkfarmer said:
You only form expectations when you are 6 games into the season? I'm talking about an expectation pre-season which is the ones that they should live up to. Also at 6 games in you told me Stanzi was going down in game 10 i would have thought 2 loses or more were possible.



These are all retrospective. Again you can't look back and make your expectations. You have to look at the pre season. For example, when Shonn Greene got back on campus he was out of shape and hand't touched a football in 2 years. Who predicted him to win the Doak Walker? And who knew all 11 guys were going to be eventually drafted. Plus not all 11 of them were NFL caliber at that moment when they played for the Hawks, not all could have gone to the NFL after that season. But looking at stuff retrospectively and sayin that team could have done better is not the same as not meeting expectations.
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I simply do what Ferentz himself claims to do.....judge the season after it's over.

When you look back after the 2008 season and see all of the All Big 10 players, all of the players ultimately drafted, the record setting running back, etc, it's hard to argue that 8 wins was an acceptable number of wins. I would argue that 8 should have been the bare minimum. In fact, I would further argue that the 2008 team was more talented than the 2010 team that we all bemoan.
 
Well if 2008 had all those NFL players on defense and didn't live up to expectations then the 2006 defense doesn't have nearly as many in the NFL and shouldn't have had as many expectations on them according to your logic and 2006 didn't have any of their starting recievers in the NFL.
 
JonDMiller said:
I picked em 10-2 that year, which is what they were. Then again, I've erred to the high side before ;)
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Given the returning talent, 10-2 would have been a realistic pre-season expectation. Although I doubt few saw 9-0 coming.

On the other hand, to have the ball on the 30 yd line, a minute and 42 seconds on the clock, 2 timeouts and a tie ball game with the B1G title and Rose Bowl on the line against OSU and just sit on it pretty much ruins any expectations I may have had when the season began. I think at that point I stopped caring whether KF was the coach of the Hawks or not.
 
SpiderRico said:
I simply do what Ferentz himself claims to do.....judge the season after it's over.

When you look back after the 2008 season and see all of the All Big 10 players, all of the players ultimately drafted, the record setting running back, etc, it's hard to argue that 8 wins was an acceptable number of wins. I would argue that 8 should have been the bare minimum. In fact, I would further argue that the 2008 team was more talented than the 2010 team that we all bemoan.
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Well shoot then 2002 was a disappointment cause they should've beaten ISU, so was 2003, because I mean really, how did they lose MSU or Purdue? And shoot in 2004, even though they had no running backs they should've beaten an average ASU team and really Michigan was beatable that year.
So I guess every year was below standards.

But looking at pre-season expectations, which is how one should view "living up to expectations" those were some pretty good seasons.
 
hawkfarmer said:
Well shoot then 2002 was a disappointment cause they should've beaten ISU, so was 2003, because I mean really, how did they lose MSU or Purdue? And shoot in 2004, even though they had no running backs they should've beaten an average ASU team and really Michigan was beatable that year.
So I guess every year was below standards.

But looking at pre-season expectations, which is how one should view "living up to expectations" those were some pretty good seasons.
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Now, I could be wrong, but I'm 56% sure that both of the referenced seasons were before 2004. The job Ferentz did in rebuilding this program is absolutely incredible. What Spider is talking about is maintaining success and trending in the right direction.
 
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