How did the 1997 team go 7-5?

Herkyalert

Herkyalert

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I know there were some close losses and the Big Ten was pretty tough, but that roster was amazing. Couple that with 2 Heisman contenders on offense and it's hard to imagine they didn't win at least 10 games.

I remember starting with Ohio State things just kinda went south from there. They could score on the bad teams, but not against the good ones.

Still...looking back I cannot figure out what went wrong. My memory has probably faded a bit (some on purpose), but that's one of the most talented Iowa teams in my lifetime (1976-now).
 
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Herkyalert said:
I know there were some close losses and the Big Ten was pretty tough, but that roster was amazing. Couple that with 2 Heisman contenders on offense and it's hard to imagine they didn't win at least 10 games.

I remember Ohio State rolling into town for that nationally televised game and things just kinda went south from there. They could score on the bad teams, but not against the good ones.

Still...looking back I cannot figure out what went wrong. My memory has probably faded a bit (some on purpose), but that's one of the most talented Iowa teams in my lifetime (1976-now).
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Iowa actually rolled into Columbus that year. Sherman missed Tavian on a wide open route down the sideline at the beginning of the game. I think that may have changed the entire game. Iowa completely crapped their pants in the second half at Michigan (who won it all that year) in a game they absolutely should have won. Then they lost games to Wis. and NW in games they absolutely had no business losing. They simply didn't show up for the Sun bowl against ASU.
 
vosov said:
Iowa actually rolled into Columbus that year. Sherman missed Tavian on a wide open route down the sideline at the beginning of the game. I think that may have changed the entire game. Iowa completely crapped their pants in the second half at Michigan (who won it all that year) in a game they absolutely should have won. Then they lost games to Wis. and NW in games they absolutely had no business losing. They simply didn't show up for the Sun bowl against ASU.
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I mixed up that year with another one.

Dwight had that sweet punt return for a TD before half at Michigan and had the momentum.

That Sun Bowl game was just brutal. They looked like they had given up.
 
Losing Matt Sherman really hurt. Offense had no rhythm with Randy Reiners. Still the most disappointed I have ever been with an Iowa football team.
 
joshhawk said:
Losing Matt Sherman really hurt. Offense had no rhythm with Randy Reiners. Still the most disappointed I have ever been with an Iowa football team.
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I was just going to say - wasn't Sherman out for a couple of those losses? I remember a couple close losses against Wisconsin and NW when Reiners was our QB. I think that team goes 9-2 in the regular season with only losses being to OSU & Michigan if not for the Sherman injury.

The Sun Bowl game.. Not sure if Sherman was just rusty coming back from injury, or if the team was just flat. I don't really remember much other than it being a crappy game.
 
joshhawk said:
Still the most disappointed I have ever been with an Iowa football team.
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For me too...perhaps it was also because I was 26 too ;)

21-7 at halftime on Dwight's punt return at Michigan, and me and my friends were chalking that one up in the win column. After losing that, and losing Sherman to injury in that game, things sort of went downhill...I think they might have lost their will to win that year too...suddenly what they thought they would be playing for was no longer there to be had.

Which reminds me how good of a job this year's team and coaches did in the weeks leading up to and in the Insight Bowl. The 1997 team laid an egg there...didnt want to be there at all.
 
I'm still ****** at the offensive pass interference not called on Michigan's WR on their 2nd TD(first possession of the 2nd half I believe). To this day, it's the most obvious PI call I have ever seen, and it was done right in front of an official. The Michigan WR actually used both hands to push the Hawk corner out of the way and just simply turned around and caught the ball. It was so bad that the push off happened right at the goal line and the Hawkeye defender ended up out of the back of the endzone.
 
For me it was so disappointing cuz you kinda knew that would probably be Coach Fry's last real good team. So many of the stars on that team were Iowa kids too. Sherman, Banks, Dwight, and DeVries to name a few. Haven't seen an Iowa team with so many top players from Iowa since.
 
I thought that team was pretty top heavy talent wise. No depth at all really.

They had a few really good/great players but very few "B" level players. Guys like Hunter, Greenwood, Klug, Reisner, Robinson, etc. Guys who weren't star players but still good players.

That's why last season was so disappointing. Iowa had star players on their way to the NFL and several "B" level players too.

Before the 1997 season started, I thought they were going to be great. Looking back on it objectively, they really weren't much better than the record. There just wasn't a lot of talent acrosss the roster.
 
I remember that season well. I went to high school with Reiners so my buddies and I didn't miss a game once he was starting. The kicker blew the Northwestern game for them, they had no business losing that game. They had several chances against Wisconsin but shot themselves in the foot...Reiners went ballistic one of the offensive linemen after the guy made a bone headed penalty in the red zone. The bowl game was a joke, Sherman was terrible which was understandable considering he had been out half the season.

Reiners didn't do that bad that year. They could have easily been 5-0 in games he started.
 
joshhawk said:
Losing Matt Sherman really hurt. Offense had no rhythm with Randy Reiners.
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Not really, the two biggest wins that year 64-0 over Indiana and beating Purdue the following week were both with Reiners at the helm. Against PU his running (which led to an injury and why Scott Mullen started the following week at Madison) kept things mixed up for the PU defense. Rob Thein also had a a great game that day.
 
CyBroncos said:
..Reiners went ballistic one of the offensive linemen after the guy made a bone headed penalty in the red zone.
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IIRC it was Chad Deal and he made a false start on a first and goal type possession. Ron Dayne also got hurt that game and couldn't play for most of it.

To the guy who posted above about the lack of talent on that '97 team you are either drunk or you never actually watched Iowa play back then.
 
Not tryin to nock Reiners, I thought he may have had a better toolbox than Sherman. It just felt as if something was missing when Sherman went down. They were a different team with Matt.
 
Ohio State was a tough, disappointing loss, but Iowa didn't deserve to win that game.

To me, it was all the Michigan game. We had them beat. Absolutely beat. And that was a great Michigan team that went on to win the national title.

It was if Dwight and Devries had made up their minds before the game that they were not going to let Iowa lose. The two of them alone nearly took down the eventual national champions. I can't recall better individual performances. It was a shame those were wasted.

Iowa went from having Michigan whipped and being right back in the Rose Bowl hunt, to suddenly facing a reality that Tim Dwight and Banks and DeVries would never win a Big Ten title. I also recall thinking that Iowa had missed their window with a core of great players, and that it seemed unlikely Hayden would ever coach in another Rose Bowl. Everything changed with that one game. The season was lost.

Outside of the Rose Bowl losses, I think that Michigan loss was the single most disappointing defeat of the last few decades.

Ohio State in '85 hurt, but we knew we still had a great shot to win the Big Ten. Northwestern in '09 was a shock, but Iowa still controlled their destiny and folks were excited for the Big Ten title game that loomed in a week.

The loss in the Horseshoe the next week was bitter, but most fans seemed so proud of the way the Hawkeyes played.

I can't recall anything quite like that '97 Michigan defeat. Still burns.
 
Actually Banks getting dinged up but continuing to play was a big issue too. Team still should have won 10 games however.
 
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