How upset will you be when Iowa ends up 9-4 and ranked in the final AP?

MelroseHawkins said:
You can ask Nebraska that question. They had 9-10 wins guys which apparently was never enough. They been doing the revolving coaching changes for the past 20 years. We don't want that, either.
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To be clear I'm not calling for KF's head here, just his son. :)

Yep, it wouldn't take much for this program to slip back into the dark ages of the 70s. Look at what happened to the basketball program after Mr. Davis was not brought back
 
InGoodCo said:
8 wins is still a good season at Iowa. It always will be. I am just under the opinion that Iowa fans want a change at OC more than they want to win.... and that's weird to me.

Out of the 65 P5 programs in the country, 25 instances of family members on the same coaching staff. It's nepotism regardless, but Iowa isn't unique by any means.
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In addition, Iowa has this young line who seems to be figuring it out now. These guys will be veteran coming back. That is a good sign as the line was undoubtedly the main issue screwing up the running and passing game. Iowa is a completely different team with a competent line.

People need to be careful what they wish for. Iowa is one bad coaching decision away from being a Maryland., Purdue, Northwestern, etc..
 
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CP87 said:
That is kind of where I'm at. Whether Iowa had only won 2 games, or whether it ends up with 9 wins, I kind of think they run it back either way. And if that is the case, I would rather have 9 than 2.

I am with the OP in that I want as many wins as possible, but I still think RADICAL changes need to be made to the offense. We have seen 2 really nice game plans and performances the last couple weeks. But we also have...

Too many offensive no-shows in the last 6 years.

A consistent failure to creatively problem-solve to put our players in the best positions.

A backwards trend in offensive-efficiency ratings since he has taken over.

A philosophy that is hampering our ability to get elite, skill-position talent.

With all of these things combined, we are not optimizing what is perhaps the best stretch of defensive and special teams performance in school history. No guarantee a radical change improves things (there are lots of bad offenses out there that look completely different from Iowa's bad offense), but we are kind of at the point where it cannot get a whole lot worse. I think the cost-benefit analysis leans heavily in favor of trying something different.
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Fair post.

Now you add in managing the roster with the NIL and transfer portal. It adds a whole other skill set to a coach that some might not do as well as other coaches. It is a whole other wrench besides the X's and O's.
 
ssckelley said:
To be clear I'm not calling for KF's head here, just his son. :)

Yep, it wouldn't take much for this program to slip back into the dark ages of the 70s. Look at what happened to the basketball program after Mr. Davis was not brought back
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What happened? Oh yeah, I forgot, we hired the man who left Iowa as the winningest coach in Big Ten Tournament history. He won our first conference hardware bince Lute Olson. And he did it freaking twice!
 
I don't think Kirk sprinkled any fairy dust and suddenly that helped fix things. I think it's a process and Iowa has been getting better every week. I think they lost 2 games in the waning moments (IL and ISU) who have better than average defenses. Weather played a factor in the ISU game, and had Moss's D return for a TD in the IL game, things would have been different. That really IS football. I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G, and I think the reason Iowa didn't score more against Nevada was weather related and a disjointed night in general.

The other 2 loses are to current top 5 teams that also have excellent defenses.

I attribute the turn or change to the schedule as much as anything combined with progress on a young Oline. It's hard to see progress when you are up against good teams and defenses.

Iowa's schedule this season was front heavy and they got smacked up and beat around a bit. It was good for the Iowa staff because it did seem to light a fire....but I think it's as easy explained as, they can breath a little bit now because their opponents are easier.
 
ssckelley said:
One of the regulars on here, I forget which one, went by the practices after the OSU game and heard KF barking at the line and being more involved with them. I trust it because look at the huge improvement they made in that name and against Purdue.
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Historically Iowa always looks a lot better in November. This young line is making improvements, and it's probably because they are in the right spots now and developing as a group (and not playing Ohio State).

All of the coaching helps, for sure, and KF knows about lines. I doubt his yelling made them much better in 6 days, though. But heck, if you read that a poster heard KF yelling, then that must be the cause of the improvement.

I disagree with your assertion that KF made magic happen in 6 days. I think the line has been, and still is, a work in progress. They still made some mistakes on Saturday, to be sure.
 
InGoodCo said:
I don't think Kirk sprinkled any fairy dust and suddenly that helped fix things. I think it's a process and Iowa has been getting better every week. I think they lost 2 games in the waning moments (IL and ISU) who have better than average defenses. Weather played a factor in the ISU game, and had Moss's D return for a TD in the IL game, things would have been different. That really IS football. I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G, and I think the reason Iowa didn't score more against Nevada was weather related and a disjointed night in general.

The other 2 loses are to current top 5 teams that also have excellent defenses.

I attribute the turn or change to the schedule as much as anything combined with progress on a young Oline. It's hard to see progress when you are up against good teams and defenses.

Iowa's schedule this season was front heavy and they got smacked up and beat around a bit. It was good for the Iowa staff because it did seem to light a fire....but I think it's as easy explained as, they can breath a little bit now because their opponents are easier.
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This is spot on. Two unfortunate losses to ISU and Ill. Ill is pretty good. Iowa had zero offensive cohesion earlier in the season. And.... Michigan and OSU are really top notch teams. Bad combo.

But... now we get to play teams that are solid (Wisc, Minn) but beatable. Personally, I find that to be pretty exciting.

Now back to our regularly scheduled "bench and fire" threads. Thank you.
 
InGoodCo said:
I don't think Kirk sprinkled any fairy dust and suddenly that helped fix things. I think it's a process and Iowa has been getting better every week. I think they lost 2 games in the waning moments (IL and ISU) who have better than average defenses. Weather played a factor in the ISU game, and had Moss's D return for a TD in the IL game, things would have been different. That really IS football. I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G, and I think the reason Iowa didn't score more against Nevada was weather related and a disjointed night in general.

The other 2 loses are to current top 5 teams that also have excellent defenses.

I attribute the turn or change to the schedule as much as anything combined with progress on a young Oline. It's hard to see progress when you are up against good teams and defenses.

Iowa's schedule this season was front heavy and they got smacked up and beat around a bit. It was good for the Iowa staff because it did seem to light a fire....but I think it's as easy explained as, they can breath a little bit now because their opponents are easier.
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It's nice to have a level headed guy around these parts. Nice post and I completely agree. There were many factors happening along with the schedule. I also admit, Petras missed some passes but he was constantly being pressured which can play in a QB's head when he is not being pressured during a current play.

Football is a system and a process indeed. When something is amiss, it many times effects something else downstream. This was the case early on, I believe. Iowa still has some WR depth issues right now but they figured out how to use the existing talent to be formidable. We are not out of the woods yet, but I fee a TON better than I did 3 weeks ago.
 
racerhawk said:
Historically Iowa always looks a lot better in November. This young line is making improvements, and it's probably because they are in the right spots now and developing as a group (and not playing Ohio State).

All of the coaching helps, for sure, and KF knows about lines. I doubt his yelling made them much better in 6 days, though. But heck, if you read that a poster heard KF yelling, then that must be the cause of the improvement.

I disagree with your assertion that KF made magic happen in 6 days. I think the line has been, and still is, a work in progress. They still made some mistakes on Saturday, to be sure.
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The poster was me, and it wasn't that KF was yelling. It was that KF was IN CHARGE of the OL drills, which is very unusual. That is the job of the OL coach. KF hangs around, and he offers comments, but I don't know if I have ever gone and heard KF clearly leading the drills.

Could be nothing...maybe Barnett had laryngitis that week. But I thought it was interesting.
 
Hell, if we go 9-4 and end on a 6 game winning streak against the heart of the West, that would mean the offense continued to find its footing. Defense alone would not carry the team through a stretch like that. I am not sure I would want changes. Hell, bring Petras back, slot Proctor in at RT and let's go win the West with a much easier schedule. Why fix what has already apparently been fixed?

Gents, at the end of the day the embarrasing offense was the product of injuries and attrition along the OL and WR. The first half of the season we were playing walk-ons and youngsters in key places. Once we moved Colby into guard, released our freshmen RB, got three WRs back from injury and stopped playing Top 5 teams, our offense has looked just fine. If that continues for 4 more games I don't need Brian tarred and feathered.
 
CP87 said:
The poster was me, and it wasn't that KF was yelling. It was that KF was IN CHARGE of the OL drills, which is very unusual. That is the job of the OL coach. KF hangs around, and he offers comments, but I don't know if I have ever gone and heard KF clearly leading the drills.

Could be nothing...maybe Barnett had laryngitis that week. But I thought it was interesting.
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I think KF has historically been involved with the line more than any other position unit on the team. I think he's always had influence there.
 
If we go 9-4 and our 4 losses are to the current 1st, 3rd, 8th, and 9th rated defenses in the nation, I'd say that I trust our coaches that they know more than me and want to win more than I can imagine and will do anything it takes to win. The offense we had at Purdue was perfect. Run the ball, pass to complement the run, don't turn the ball over and make the other team drive the length of the field against our defense. If they do it, pat them on the back and tell them you'd like to see them do it again, because odds are they won't do it.

Would it be nice to score 50 a game? Obviously it would be. Is 25 a game good enough? Yep. 40-4 if we score 25 points in every game in the last 4 years. Right now we don't really have what it takes to do it but we're starting to see signs of getting there, and as young as we are, I think we've got a shot to win 9 a year in the next few years.

Let the yelling begin. I can take it. :)
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Hell, if we go 9-4 and end on a 6 game winning streak against the heart of the West, that would mean the offense continued to find its footing. Defense alone would not carry the team through a stretch like that. I am not sure I would want changes. Hell, bring Petras back, slot Proctor in at RT and let's go win the West with a much easier schedule. Why fix what has already apparently been fixed?

Gents, at the end of the day the embarrasing offense was the product of injuries and attrition along the OL and WR. The first half of the season we were playing walk-ons and youngsters in key places. Once we moved Colby into guard, released our freshmen RB, got three WRs back from injury and stopped playing Top 5 teams, our offense has looked just fine. If that continues for 4 more games I don't need Brian tarred and feathered.
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We never got receivers back. Iowa was short at WR last week with Brecht gone. Johnson's been gone all year and I don't expect him back, at least this year if not beyond.
 
InGoodCo said:
I don't think Kirk sprinkled any fairy dust and suddenly that helped fix things. I think it's a process and Iowa has been getting better every week. I think they lost 2 games in the waning moments (IL and ISU) who have better than average defenses. Weather played a factor in the ISU game, and had Moss's D return for a TD in the IL game, things would have been different. That really IS football. I also think South Dakota State likely has a better defense than half the B1G, and I think the reason Iowa didn't score more against Nevada was weather related and a disjointed night in general.

The other 2 loses are to current top 5 teams that also have excellent defenses.

I attribute the turn or change to the schedule as much as anything combined with progress on a young Oline. It's hard to see progress when you are up against good teams and defenses.

Iowa's schedule this season was front heavy and they got smacked up and beat around a bit. It was good for the Iowa staff because it did seem to light a fire....but I think it's as easy explained as, they can breath a little bit now because their opponents are easier.
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He didn't sprinkle fairy dust, but the last 2 weeks does feel like he was more hands on. Obviously, I have no evidence of this, other than the @CP87 post from 2 or 3 weeks ago.
 
trj said:
He didn't sprinkle fairy dust, but the last 2 weeks does feel like he was more hands on. Obviously, I have no evidence of this, other than the @CP87 post from 2 or 3 weeks ago.
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That could very well be, I am sure Kirk would rather delegate at this point in his career but can get in the weeds when needed. Good CEO move there.
 
I wouldn't be mad at all. I honestly didn't see Iowa finishing above .500. I didn't see this team winning a road game and still think Minnesota game isn't as easy as some might think. All that being said after this weekends game Iowa can win out if this offense can continue to do what it's been doing.

3 Keys for this Offense moving forward:
*RB- Kaleb Johnson needs touches! He is a special talent who should have been the featured back since the Nevada game, why it took so long for that to happen is quite confusing.
* Iowa OL keeps doing what they've been doing.
*TE- Enough Said we know how important this position is. WR is Iowa's big achilles heel
 
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