Howe: 9 B1G Games, ISU Paint Iowa in Corner for Non-Con Contests

From a risk reward perspective it makes no sense for Iowa to continue to schedule teams like UNI, NDSU, or ISU for that matter. No upside but almost unlimited downside if you lose those types of games. From a psychological perspective it's a whole lot easier to bounce back from a loss to Oregon in September than it is NDSU. Not saying you can't do it but that's a real mindf***. Why put your players in that position out of the gate?
 
BryceC said:
I agree that's probably what they think. However I'm arguing it's stupid, as they have never won more than 3 conference games since they expanded to 9. Historically ISU needs to beat Iowa to make a bowl. If they lose they are out, and it's early September, and the entire fanbase knows it.

Nothing against Iowa either, but I'm not sure how much the ISU brand can be improved by beating Iowa. As you said, ISU has won fairly consistently against Iowa but it hasn't elevated the program. We've tried the "beating Iowa and improving the brand" method and it just hasn't worked. I'm willing to try something different but apparently the admin isn't.
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I think I'm looking at it more from an in-state perspective than national as it pertains to brand.

I spent the weekend in Des Moines and I saw as many people wearing ISU gear as I did Iowa. And I see more ISU gear in Iowa City these days than I ever have before and I lived here 20 years.

And I don't necessarily disagree with your overall point, which is that they would be better off playing a more winnable game than us in order to make the postseason. I just don't think they view it that way based on growing their brand in state by playing us.
 
RobHowe said:
I think I'm looking at it more from an in-state perspective than national as it pertains to brand.

I spent the weekend in Des Moines and I saw as many people wearing ISU gear as I did Iowa. And I see more ISU gear in Iowa City these days than I ever have before and I lived here 20 years.

And I don't necessarily disagree with your overall point, which is that they would be better off playing a more winnable game than us in order to make the postseason. I just don't think they view it that way based on growing their brand in state by playing us.
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From a strategic perspective don't you think that's just another reason for us to stop playing them? Hypothetically speaking does Iowa really want Iowa state to have a national or even regional "football brand"? We already have a problem pulling recruits, do we really need ISU to realistically challenge us there too? Play them once every 4 years to keep the tradition (it should never be a rivalry with Iowa state) alive and be done. Keeps it exciting.
 
IAHAWK1982 said:
Iowa is not going to give the games versus Iowa State. It is a huge money maker for both schools. Sold out stadiums and tons of money spent in each town. As far as scheduling other Power 5 schools on top of playing Iowa State, it's not going to happen. Iowa keeps getting crap for a "weak" non-conference schedule, but look at the SEC they all typically have "weak" schools on their schedule and one of those is typically late in the season.
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I would argue that if Iowa were to start doing home and homes with some big schools like a UCLA, Arkansas, Tennessee instead of ISU I think Kinnick would sell out just the same... We need to be improving our scheduling not staying with what's not working... There were arguments to be made that during our 12-0 season that if we would have beaten MSU to keep us out of the playoff due to our schedule... Why not eliminate that since we have the ability to? I could care less about ISU and their local economy. Let them schedule another big boy of their own and if our paths cross in a bowl game down the road then so be it. That's a one sided relationship Iowa doesn't have to have.
 
OkstHawk said:
From a strategic perspective don't you think that's just another reason for us to stop playing them? Hypothetically speaking does Iowa really want Iowa state to have a national or even regional "football brand"? We already have a problem pulling recruits, do we really need ISU to realistically challenge us there too? Play them once every 4 years to keep the tradition (it should never be a rivalry with Iowa state) alive and be done. Keeps it exciting.
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That's a plausible argument.

At the risk of being called a Hawkeye elitist, I think them beating us helps their brand significantly more than it helps ours by beating them. If we were to beat Arkansas or TCU or somebody like that, it helps us more from a national perspective standpoint.
 
I don't be think playing ISU is going to affect IO
Hawkfnntn said:
If that'd be the compromise to dropping them all together I’d be for it. We can’t sit on our hands and pretend we don’t have a scheduling problem to address. We certainly can’t sit here and cry to the college football world that we should have a seat at the table with the big boys when we aren’t scheduling similarly. It sounds like it all hinges on ISU. Either they need to get relevant (Something I don’t want and regardless of that won’t happen) or we drop them and schedule tougher teams. Nothing irks me more then how we can be so close to being with the big boys yet so far. I’d rather be 9-3 with a couple of tough losses than 11-1 and looked at as a ‘fraud’ by all the talking heads in college football. That’s just getting old.
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You mean like two years ago?
 
I really find it interesting how all of us Iowa fans keep trashing us playing Iowa State saying we have nothing to gain by playing them. How soon we forget that when the rivalry was renewed in 1977 it was Iowa State that was the winning program and Iowa was the lowly sucky school. If we want the few D1 recruits from the state to become Hawkeyes, the best way to do that is to play the Clones every year and kick their butts.
 
BigD said:
I don't be think playing ISU is going to affect IO


You mean like two years ago?
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Yes and the hypothetical future seasons. I just can't buy it from KF or Barta when they try saying the goal is to win championships when continuing to schedule ISU every year seems to keep us scheduling the Miami of Ohio teams instead of the actual U in Miami FL and schools like that. I'm sure they are under some serious pressure to keep ISU happy. I just don't think their well being should be of any concern to Iowa... They sure don't care about Iowas, and why should they?
 
RobHowe said:
I've heard from quite a few folks who feel that switching ISU series to something other than an annual matchup would be preferred if it meant adding a different Power 5 school to the schedule.

Personally, I would miss it if we didn't play the Cyclones every year. But, that's just me.

I might be swayed if the replacement was an opponent more attractive than Pitt, Syracuse or one of the Arizona schools. No offense to them, but I'd rather play ISU. At least there's some intrigue there and it's good for the state.
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Agree 100% and I bet those who complain are glued to their sets when that game is played each fall, more so than when we play Purdue.
 
RobHowe said:
At the risk of being called a Hawkeye elitist, I think them beating us helps their brand significantly more than it helps ours by beating them. If we were to beat Arkansas or TCU or somebody like that, it helps us more from a national perspective standpoint.
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Completely reasonable statement.
 
If Iowa St. were more relevant(football wise) i would be all for playing it every year. I am the complete opposite of Rob, there is no intrigue for me. Iowa loses to ISU and it means Iowa will not be very good. If ISU can exploit Iowa's weaknesses then there are at least 4 or 5 remaining teams on the schedule that can do the same.

Iowa St can't even put together 1 magical year even Kansas(2005) has done that.
 
BryceC said:
I've long argued that playing Iowa ISN'T helping ISU anymore. It's a bad deal for ISU at this point. They need to schedule the worst 3 teams they possibly can in the noncon to guarantee three wins and get the extra home gate every other year.

Here are the last 6 years of ISU football attendance, with the attendance for the Iowa game:

2016: 52,557
2015: 56,519, 61,500
2014: 52,197
2013: 55,274, 56,800
2012: 55,361
2011: 53,647, 56,085

The Iowa game does give a bump, and the tickets are more expensive than other noncon games (for some of them) but it's not some huge increase over the rest of the season or other years where we don't play. A 4K ticket boost over the season average doesn't make it worth it financially to lose a game every other year, especially considering it's an early game with good weather where the ticket sales are strong anyway. I would argue not getting piss pounded by Iowa would help later games as well, plus the fact that there is just a better chance of beating a patsy.
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The key phrase is "the tickets are more expensive". IOWA tickets are the same for every game. ISU practically gives away a bunch of them for most games...and jacks em up when IOWA comes to town.
 
BryceC said:
I've long argued that playing Iowa ISN'T helping ISU anymore. It's a bad deal for ISU at this point. They need to schedule the worst 3 teams they possibly can in the noncon to guarantee three wins and get the extra home gate every other year.

Here are the last 6 years of ISU football attendance, with the attendance for the Iowa game:

2016: 52,557
2015: 56,519, 61,500
2014: 52,197
2013: 55,274, 56,800
2012: 55,361
2011: 53,647, 56,085

The Iowa game does give a bump, and the tickets are more expensive than other noncon games (for some of them) but it's not some huge increase over the rest of the season or other years where we don't play. A 4K ticket boost over the season average doesn't make it worth it financially to lose a game every other year, especially considering it's an early game with good weather where the ticket sales are strong anyway. I would argue not getting piss pounded by Iowa would help later games as well, plus the fact that there is just a better chance of beating a patsy.
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Yet ISU struggles to beat FCS teams, middle-of-the pack MAC teams.
 
Iowa needs to dump Iowa State like a dirty diaper and find better opponents who can improve the resume. I'd love for Pitt and Arizona to appear on the schedule more frequently.
 
Since the Iowa/Iowa St. game is not going to go away, or even be adjusted from an annual event, I am not going to waste my time arguing about whether or not we should play them. They are a power 5 conference team, period. As to having two cupcakes on the schedule, I am fully in favor of that. Good learning opportunities early in the season. With 9 conference games, that is enough pressure on the team and enough of a resume' to get plenty of attention. I am a long time season ticket holder and frankly don't really mind paying for a couple of games that at least most of the time, are not really competitive. Certainly respect the other points of view expressed in this thread.
 
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