Howe: Hawkeyes Miss Another Opportunity in Key B1G Road Tilt
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
hawkinarkansas
Well-Known Member
How many times has this ‘opportunity lost’ saying been rinsed and repeated with Iowa football? After yesterday’s performance, at least they lowered the expectations where it won’t be another lost opportunity. KF is masterful at this.
Rob, your article was concise and right off mentioned the key trend as the hawks wasted another great defensive performance. Think of it, mich is at home with no crowd noise to bother their offense yet in the last 50 minutes or so of that game the hawk defense did not give up a point and only about 190 yards. Super job. The defense stopped Mich after that first fumble to win only giving up a FG and forced a missed FG.
Where is the offense? The hawks were down around the mich 25 to 30 yard 5 times besides the FG they made. It is a low scoring game and instead of running the ball a little more and trying some 45-50 yard FGoal tries the coaches waste those trips. We could have seen another great 12-10 hawk victory over Mich.
The trend was the same on the road against ISU's decent defense but there the hawks got their 4 FGoals and the win.
I am really perplexed by the Iowa offensive coaches and Kirk's maybe overruling Brian some to try to get closer running the ball. Yeah I know minus the sacks the runners were getting 3.2 ypc but on 2nd and 5 at the 30 maybe another 3 to 4 yards isnt a bad gain with some power running.
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
Everyone looks at Stanley and the oline, with good reason, but Iowa’s RBs aren’t even close to Big 10 level. Outside Goodson, it’s ridiculous. Toren Young has one yesterday where’s the seas parted and he gets 10 yards. That HAS to be a TD or a huge gain. Iowa needs MUCH better talent/explosion at RB
hawkinn3
Well-Known Member
We won’t win but even if by some miracle we do it won’t change an entire career of failures. Also a good chance we’re 4th in the West by then so we’ll just be playing spoiler.
BlackNGold1982
Well-Known Member
The most important and concerning word in Rob’s article title: Another. This is a program who cannot get over the hump and it’s another outcome that we’ve all seen before. One could argue that we still have never recovered from the fake punt against Wisconsin seemingly eons ago.
trj
Well-Known Member
It is an 8-4/7-5 type of program you need to come with grips with that. That Wisconsin game was 9 years ago. If you had a kid in grade school he or she are now in college. That’s how long ago that was.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Some, many will argue that Wisconsin became what Iowa used to be from that day forward.
No, Wisconsin has become better than what Iowa used to be, and for that matter better than Wisconsin used to be. Chryst is winning at a clip that Alvarez couldn't match in a wet dream. Take away last year's down season in Madison and the 2015 Iowa 12-0 run and it's definitely been the decade of the Badger. And I have to listen to the shit daily, much of it under my own roof!
MoseSchrute
Well-Known Member
I often go back to that. It really does seem it altered the trajectory of both teams.
Exactly. For a program that wants to establish the run, it baffles me that we cannot recruit top talent at the rb position. The exception is Goodson, but like you said, the other backs we have are not Big 10 level backs. Not even close.
I disagree.
The Badgers took advantage of Michigan & Ohio St being down in 2011-2012 and PSU's issues earlier this decade (one year Wisconsin won their division despite finishing 3rd) but outside of that I don't see them as that much better than they were in 2001-2009.
They just got placed in a very easy division to win games. They aren't running over them like they do the West.
They haven't beaten OSU since the East/West split, haven't beaten them since 2010 in fact (even lost to them with Wilson at QB),
Lost 4 in a row to PSU, haven't beaten since 2011
2-2 vs Michigan since the split.
0-3 in B1G championship games
The only real difference is that Iowa isn't near the program they were in 2001-2009 so Wisconsin looks dominant in the West.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Your argument makes sense, but didn't Wisconsin boatrace Nebraska in Indy during the Legends and Leaders days? Didn't Bert accept the Arkansas job days later?
Chryst is winning at a rate reserved for some of the immortals in the sport, let alone Barry, Bert, or that Anderson guy that succeeded Bert. And being a native son and Badger alum he's going nowhere, unless the Packers can somehow lure him.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
There's an excellent chance it altered the trajectory of Melvin Gordon's decision. He was in attendance that day.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Everytime Iowa loses someone bemoans that it is a lost opportunity. Sometimes the other team beats you. And Michigan's defense rose to the occasion on an afternoon where the offense took the day off.
You are correct about one thing however. KF does like to play the lowered expectations card, at least to the fans and media.
"We're not sexy!". We're not sexy!" Heard it a million times. Many times it works, to the chagrin of da haters, Ames being the latest example. Yesterday it didn't. Settling for field goals didn't work this time, not when you repeatedly bog yourself down one first down from fg range.
Yes, they won 2 B1G championship games in 2011-2012. First one was against a good MSU team, second was the Nebraska boat race but that was also the year they finished 3rd in their own division behind Ohio St and Penn St. I'm pretty sure Wisconsin lost 6 games that season.
Credit to them for taking advantage of the worst Ohio St team this century in 2011, although they did lose to Ohio St that season and Michigan and Penn St being what they were in 2011. And taking advantage in 2012 with OSU and PSU being on probation.
But like I said, their success this decade has as much to do with Iowa being down as it does them ascending. Iowa simply isn't the same program they were in 2001-2009 when they were 6-3 against the Badgers and physically were a superior program.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Wasn't 2011 the year Wisconsin lost to Sparty and tOSU on Hail Marys in back to back weeks?
As for your last paragraph, could we use a version of Shonn Greene 2.0 or what?
