--HN.com 2011 Iowa Season Prediction--

Will Iowa's Record Be....

  • 10-2 or better

    Votes: 24 16.8%

  • 9-3

    Votes: 65 45.5%

  • 8-4

    Votes: 36 25.2%

  • 7-5 or worse

    Votes: 18 12.6%
  • Total voters
    143
HawkeyeDenis said:
In college football it is very difficult to win without a solid quarterback. Both Iowa State and Penn State have questions at quarterback. Pitt has had troubles with coaches and is coming to Iowa with a new system. Iowa's running back situation is as solid as we have seen in awhile, but Iowa has started with a surplus before and has had nothing but walking wounded by the time the Big Ten season started. At quarterback, reciever and line Iowa looks good with plenty of upside potential. Iowa should be 5-0 hosting Northwestern. Which makes it a tough game for Northwestern.

I would expect Iowa to have trouble with Nebraska and Michigan State. Less so with Michigan. Michigan has too many problems. Given that Michigan has a new coach and a group that has under performed for the last three years, winning in Iowa City shouldn't happen. Iowa should have total control by the third quarter. Expect the Purdue, Indiana, and Minnesota games to be over by half time.
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This is fine and dandy and all...but you can't bring up all these teams QB issues and then say ours looks good with plenty of upside. Yeah, JVB has an upside, but he is a new starter and we have no idea how he will perform. I'd argue that PSU has less questions at QB than us. I think JVB will do fine, but he has very little experience.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
This is fine and dandy and all...but you can't bring up all these teams QB issues and then say ours looks good with plenty of upside. Yeah, JVB has an upside, but he is a new starter and we have no idea how he will perform. I'd argue that PSU has less questions at QB than us. I think JVB will do fine, but he has very little experience.
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Less questions? They are still trying to figure out which one will start or who will be eligible to play. We have one starting QB who will be benefitted by a strong RB and very good offensive line. He will have time to learn. Cliche time If you have more than one QB you don't have any QB.
 
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I to am drinking the kool-aid this year. When looking at Jons write up, it's pretty good, I think Purdue could be decent this year, I also think they got some real tough games in the weeks prior to seeing the Hawks and that could take the wind out of their sails. So if your left with Nebby, NU, Mich and Mich St, we should be able to go 2-2 atleast (I hope), which leaves us dropping 2. I also think the futher we can make it without a loss, the more pumped up the team and fans get, NU, kinnink at nite could be just what we need. If we beat out Penn and NU, we have 2 easier games after that and could very well be 8-0 when we meet Mich. Is that an advantage? I think so.
 
I heard it all last year, that our offense should be pretty good to great. Well, that was with a three year starter at the helm, so I'm not gonna believe it this year until I see it.
 
MoseSchrute said:
I heard it all last year, that our offense should be pretty good to great. Well, that was with a three year starter at the helm, so I'm not gonna believe it this year until I see it.
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Yes last year we were hyped (maybe overly). But when you avg out the whole O, we are just as talented this year, just not hyped. But I understand, the let down and lack of willingness to beleive this year, I personally think we are really close to being more consistent. Yes we win our bowls and have winning seasons, but I am talking BCS bowls and now that road goes thru Indy.
 
BabcockIC said:
Less questions? They are still trying to figure out which one will start or who will be eligible to play. We have one starting QB who will be benefitted by a strong RB and very good offensive line. He will have time to learn. Cliche time If you have more than one QB you don't have any QB.
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He will benefit from that. Sure. But he is still going to have to prove an awful lot. I love his upside. He is smart and has a great arm. But you are kidding yourself if you think we don't have any question marks at QB.
 
MoseSchrute said:
I heard it all last year, that our offense should be pretty good to great. Well, that was with a three year starter at the helm, so I'm not gonna believe it this year until I see it.
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I have gotten used to the fact that our offense will always need work. Our winning hinges on Defense. I would have rather had an inexperienced QB than an overly cautious one that doesn't take risk. If our WRs improve in talent, which it looks like we are, then I will ask the QB to be more proficient.

I am saying we have less QB questions than Penn State.
 
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BabcockIC said:
I have gotten used to the fact that our offense will always need work. Our winning hinges on Defense. I would have rather had an inexperienced QB than an overly cautious one that doesn't take risk. If our WRs improve in talent, which it looks like we are, then I will ask the QB to be more proficient.

I am saying we have less QB questions than Penn State.
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If by that you mean they have 2 QB's and we have 1, OK. But they do have more experience than we do.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
If by that you mean they have 2 QB's and we have 1, OK. But they do have more experience than we do.
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I think what he is getting at (and I could be wrong) is that if neither is a clear starter, you have to assume they are both the next Elway/Marino (or who ever), OR neither one is all that great.
 
Iowa's offense WAS good last year...through two-thirds of the season. What changed? ARob concussion, Gettis and macmillan all injured vs MSU. Iowa's offense through that game was converting over 51% of third downs and averaging over 30 points.
 
JonDMiller said:
Iowa's offense WAS good last year...through two-thirds of the season. What changed? ARob concussion, Gettis and macmillan all injured vs MSU. Iowa's offense through that game was converting over 51% of third downs and averaging over 30 points.
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And we have about the same amount of talent over all as we did last year. I think our D will be fine, but we have to convert more and score more. Personally I would like to see our D be as good as it has been for years and our O be able to put up 34 avg. That would be a nice upgrade and should be enough to take them pretty far. A touch down every quarter and two field goals. It's alot but others are doing it and even doing better than that.
 
I am not saying we did a bad job on offense for the first part. I just think something is missing after that first year as a starter and it happens to most of our QBs in the KF era.
Iowa does better when it is the QB's first full year of starting except Jake C, Scott M, and Kyle M (I don't really count the last two or 2007).

1st Year: B.Banks 11-2, Nathan Chandler 10-3, Drew Tate 10-3,
Ricky Stanzi 11-2
2nd Year: Drew Tate 7-5, Ricky Stanzi 8-5,
Third Year: Drew Tate 6-7
 
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Hawkeye11en1 said:
This is fine and dandy and all...but you can't bring up all these teams QB issues and then say ours looks good with plenty of upside. Yeah, JVB has an upside, but he is a new starter and we have no idea how he will perform. I'd argue that PSU has less questions at QB than us. I think JVB will do fine, but he has very little experience.
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While you can argue that Penn State has fewer QB questions than Iowa, I don't think it is a solid arguement.
This is the second year that Penn State has had quarterback questions, last year they went with freshman QB(?)(going from mem) and this year they have issues again. Usually when a team has trouble picking a QB it's not because they have two great choices. It's usually because the coaches don't like their options.

Iowa should have a solid running game with their returning offensive linemen, quality running backs and experianced recievers. Iowa starts the year knowing who their QB is. JVB has had two years to observe and has some solid game time so he should be fine.
 
HawkeyeDenis said:
While you can argue that Penn State has fewer QB questions than Iowa, I don't think it is a solid arguement.
This is the second year that Penn State has had quarterback questions, last year they went with freshman QB(?)(going from mem) and this year they have issues again. Usually when a team has trouble picking a QB it's not because they have two great choices. It's usually because the coaches don't like their options.

Iowa should have a solid running game with their returning offensive linemen, quality running backs and experianced recievers. Iowa starts the year knowing who their QB is. JVB has had two years to observe and has some solid game time so he should be fine.
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All I am getting at is while Iowa is set on who their QB is, that said QB doesn't have much playing experience and has looked great in spurts, and bad in spurts. We have no idea how he will play. We have a solid supporting cast, which should help. If our OL can give him time I think he has the tools to succeed. We just can't say "our QB play will be solid this year", because we just don't know.
 
Hawkeye11en1 said:
All I am getting at is while Iowa is set on who their QB is, that said QB doesn't have much playing experience and has looked great in spurts, and bad in spurts. We have no idea how he will play. We have a solid supporting cast, which should help. If our OL can give him time I think he has the tools to succeed. We just can't say "our QB play will be solid this year", because we just don't know.
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I can see your point. But if you look at how other Ferentz QB's have performed in their first year starting, its not much of a stretch to think that JVB will perform well. Given the tools around him, the very favorable schedule etc. He should do well. A lot depends on how the offensive line performs.

I don't think that Penn State's problem is that they have two great quarterbacks, the problem is that neither is standing out. And in the end this points to Penn State's other problems under Joe Pa..recruiting.
 
If we actually get a few breaks, this team is at 10-2. A couple of points:

1) Offense - with this offensive line and an accurate QB, the short passing game is going to work very well. Having a 235 tailback with a forward lean is also going to help move the chains. This offense is set up to grind a defense to death and I think they do. I think they average much more than 26 points and will be over 30. You are going to have to commit 7-8 in the box to keep us from getting 5-6 yards a crack with this big back. I can't wait to see our play action game. Our TE's have a big year.

2) Defense - I'll go with what Norm said in the spring. We're going to be pretty good, I just don't know when. If Norm thinks his defense is going to be pretty good, why would we think they can't keep teams under 20 points once they get more experience playing together. He knows what he is seeing. IMO they have four games to work things out where we can overcome mistakes and still win. Two things stand out to me on this defense, depth and speed. I think, although young, there are 8 legitimate people who could rotate in the DL. It's also not a stretch to think Davis and Cooper could be special...yes, this year. On the speed issue, our back seven is going to be faster than we have had in a long, long time. As long as we can hold up against power teams...we should be fine. I think this defense is going to turn people over.

I like this team alot...especially on offense.
 
I am officially going with 8-4. However, after looking more closely at Iowa's schedule, I think 6-6 is entirely possible given the trouble the Hawks have with the likes of NW, Indiana, & Purdue. Plus, Iowa usually loses to someone early that they shouldn't lose to (e.g. Pitt or Iowa State), although I don't think they'll lose to IA State this year. My 2 nightmare scenerios for Iowa would be losses to Pitt, Penn State, Michigan, Purdue, NW, & Nebraska; or losses to Penn State, Michigan, Mich State,NW,Purdue, & Nebraska.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
If we actually get a few breaks, this team is at 10-2. A couple of points:

1) Offense - with this offensive line and an accurate QB, the short passing game is going to work very well. Having a 235 tailback with a forward lean is also going to help move the chains. This offense is set up to grind a defense to death and I think they do. I think they average much more than 26 points and will be over 30. You are going to have to commit 7-8 in the box to keep us from getting 5-6 yards a crack with this big back. I can't wait to see our play action game. Our TE's have a big year.

2) Defense - I'll go with what Norm said in the spring. We're going to be pretty good, I just don't know when. If Norm thinks his defense is going to be pretty good, why would we think they can't keep teams under 20 points once they get more experience playing together. He knows what he is seeing. IMO they have four games to work things out where we can overcome mistakes and still win. Two things stand out to me on this defense, depth and speed. I think, although young, there are 8 legitimate people who could rotate in the DL. It's also not a stretch to think Davis and Cooper could be special...yes, this year. On the speed issue, our back seven is going to be faster than we have had in a long, long time. As long as we can hold up against power teams...we should be fine. I think this defense is going to turn people over.

I like this team alot...especially on offense.
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Perfect post. I would only add to the speed in the secondary part by saying, I would not be shocked to see us picking the ball alot more this year. It will be harder to run the spread on us. I agree with the front thou and while I think we end up in Indy, I also think so does Wiskey. Thats where I get a little "fuzzy" on the Hawks this year.
 
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