I am sorry if this sounds mean spirited....

[trj]

This is a hilarious thread. So many football geniuses on this board.

The main difference between Iowa's football program and perennial B1G West rep Wisky's football program is defense. Wisky perennially has a dominant defense and Iowa does not. The goal of Wisky's defense is to get off the field and the goal of Iowa's defense is to bend but not break and stay on the field for great stretches of the game.

Iowa's offense, even during the Greg Davis years, was much more potent than Wisky's offense is. Wisky and Iowa run the same type of run-first offense although Wisky showcases their player's athleticism on offense and defense more so than Iowa.

Wisky and Iowa recruit the same type of athletic players.

The difference is the defense. Not the offense.

Iowa runs a zone blocking scheme which depends on angles and reaching levels. That takes cohesion and execution. Injuries on the O-line throws everything off for the Iowa offense. Wisconsin runs a power run scheme, hat on hat, straight up maul the dude straight across from you. It is easier to recruit and develop o-lineman in Iowa's scheme. But a power blocking scheme is less complex. It is easier on the QB when things aren't perfect.

As for the defense, it is a double edge sword, bend don't break allows Iowa to compete with superior opponents and it gives opponents equal to or inferior a better shot at competing and/or winning more than they probably should.

 

[hawkeyes87]

It is 110% impossible to win 12 regular season games if you aren’t at the very least a very, very good team, even with a manageable schedule. Clemson has 3 very impressive wins this season, and then they spit the bit vs a team they are way, way better than.

A "very, very good team" who just happened to lose the 2 most important games they played. Who looked like a bunch of scrubs in their bowl game.

As you point out, though, it's easier to go 12-0 when you're Iowa 2015 than when you're Clemson 2016-2017. Iowa was unranked to start the year, while Clemson was top 5 both years (defending champs this year, obviously). So, there's gonna be a little difference in how fired up the opponents are- that makes those weaker teams more dangerous.. And Clemson's schedule means their toughest opponents are better than the barely-top25's the Hawks played, so beating them is better proof of their quality.

The last 3 national champs all had upset losses at home. So I'd say 12-0 regular season doesn't matter much if you're gonna "spit the bit" after that.

 

[deanvogs]

A "very, very good team" who just happened to lose the 2 most important games they played. Who looked like a bunch of scrubs in their bowl game.

As you point out, though, it's easier to go 12-0 when you're Iowa 2015 than when you're Clemson 2016-2017. Iowa was unranked to start the year, while Clemson was top 5 both years (defending champs this year, obviously). So, there's gonna be a little difference in how fired up the opponents are- that makes those weaker teams more dangerous.. And Clemson's schedule means their toughest opponents are better than the barely-top25's the Hawks played, so beating them is better proof of their quality.

The last 3 national champs all had upset losses at home. So I'd say 12-0 regular season doesn't matter much if you're gonna "spit the bit" after that.

Wow. You really gotta twist and distort reality to come up with this one. So a 8-5 2015 Pitt team is pathetic, but a 8-5 2016 teams is actually a top 10 team that Clemson had to face. I'm sure next you are going to tell me that a 4-3 Syracuse team this year is also a top 10 team?

 

[Playmaker]

The reality is that Ferments could not build on 2002 - 2004, and when some top recruits did not work out, he got lazy and figured he was smart enough to settle on "his type of players" and thought he could "coach em all up"....problem is, they are not "next level" players, and you cannot "coach em" up" 12 weeks in a row, And the biggest problem of all is that sometime around 2010 Ferments saw the movie Horse Feathers, and though it was so enlightening that he adopted that style of play full time for his team...sis-boom-bah!!!

 

[deanvogs]

The reality is that Ferments could not build on 2002 - 2004, and when some top recruits did not work out, he got lazy and figured he was smart enough to settle on "his type of players" and thought he could "coach em' all up"....problem is, they are not "next level" players, and you cannot "coach em" up" 12 weeks in a row, And the biggest problem of all is that sometime around 2010 Ferments saw the movie Horse Feathers, and though it was so enlightening that he adopted that style of play full time fro his team...sis-boom-bah!!!

I think your posts and takes are lazy.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

The reality is that Ferments could not build on 2002 - 2004, and when some top recruits did not work out, he got lazy and figured he was smart enough to settle on "his type of players" and thought he could "coach em' all up"....problem is, they are not "next level" players, and you cannot "coach em" up" 12 weeks in a row, And the biggest problem of all is that sometime around 2010 Ferments saw the movie Horse Feathers, and though it was so enlightening that he adopted that style of play full time fro his team...sis-boom-bah!!!

The "reality" is that your grasp on "reality" is a far cry from anything that approaches "reality"

 

[Playmaker]

vogs/bob - Don't throw comments out there like that without telling me how exactly I am off base. 99.9% of Hawk Fans by the this time....regardless if they like Ferments as coach.... have to be in agreement that his brand of football both holds us back and hurts recruiting....how is that not having a grasp on reality? And BTW, our brand of football does resemble Horse Feathers.

 

[deanvogs]

vogs/bob - Don't throw comments out there like that without telling me how exactly I am off base. 99.9% of Hawk Fans by the this time....regardless if they like Ferments as coach.... have to be in agreement that his brand of football both holds us back and hurts recruiting....how is that not having a grasp on reality? And BTW, our brand of football does resemble Horse Feathers.

Holy Shit. You really went there? If you wouldn't have thrown absolute crap against the wall calling Ferentz and staff lazy recruiters without one bit of evidence, this discussion wouldn't even be happening.

 

[thedukeofearl]

The next level is expecting to be undefeated deep into the season, every season, and realizing those expectations on a regular basis. The hawks did this in 2002, 2009 and 2015 which isnt bad but the next level would be 8-0 many and most years.

Wisconsin is there many times now, MSU was there but crashed last year and Notre Dame exposed them this year.

OSU is there, Michigan if they keep winning this year might be back, PSU is back to doing this.

That is the next level which means not having to reload each year and re-develop.

For Hawkeye fans the next level is Alabama type success, at least one National Championship every year or two, and being ranked in the top three preseason and throughout the season.....

Highly unlikely for anyone who coaches the Hawks.....

 

[IndianaHawk]

You think winning 8 games a year over the last 16 years is happening because Ferentz does the “bare minimum”? Dude you are an idiot. If it is ok for you to call the coach names then you should be ok with calling you a f***ing idiot. Ferentz at Iowa, playing with all these terrible players as you claim has won nearly as many or more games than Penn St, (134 wins) Michigan (134 wins), Nebraska (139 wins), and Michigan St (127 wins) have (Iowa with 135 wins). If Ferentz can do this all while doing the most lazy recruiting possible, then he must be a coaching God to then to take said horrible players and get the same amount of wins over a lengthy amount of time as Blue blood programs do.

The problem with the Michigan Harbaugh argument is they play in the East. If Michigan is in the West they probably would be in the championship almost every year. Put Iowa in the East and we are Indiana.

The "West" has only existed a few years. That argument doesn't work.

 

[DMLadyhawk]

vogs/bob - Don't throw comments out there like that without telling me how exactly I am off base. 99.9% of Hawk Fans by the this time....regardless if they like Ferments as coach.... have to be in agreement that his brand of football both holds us back and hurts recruiting....how is that not having a grasp on reality? And BTW, our brand of football does resemble Horse Feathers.

Guess I am in the .1% that doesn't agree with you. But I am in the 99.9% that respects the coach enough to refer to him by his name.

 

[Denverhawk1]

Somehow the agony I feel after an 8-5 season is far less than a Cornhusker fan feels after a 9-4 season. But what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Expectations and acceptance. I don’t expect 12-0. And I am ok with it. I accept it. I don’t coach the team, I don’t recruit for the team, I don’t play on the team. I cheer for them. So I accept the things I cannot change and focus on what I can touch.

 

[HomerChampless]

Somehow the agony I feel after an 8-5 season is far less than a Cornhusker fan feels after a 9-4 season. But what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Expectations and acceptance. I don’t expect 12-0. And I am ok with it. I accept it. I don’t coach the team, I don’t recruit for the team, I don’t play on the team. I cheer for them. So I accept the things I cannot change and focus on what I can touch.

Geeze, do you let the Iowa offense slide? Many self-professed 'we love Iowa football no matter what' fans have this passive-aggressive trait of saying they accept the Iowa football program warts and all then rail on the offense...and never rail on the defense.

BTW, this is a typical by week thread. Since we can't critique Iowa's last game we critique the season and rein.

 

[Playmaker]

--------If you wouldn't have thrown absolute crap against the wall calling Ferentz and staff lazy recruiters without one bit of evidence, this discussion wouldn't even be happening.

Holy shit....the evidence is on the field almost every time we play a Bowl Game....even ISU made our LB's and DB's look silly for 3 1/2 quarters. Not to mention that we haven'r had any receiving game to speak of in years unless you want to include 5 -7 yard routes to TE's and RB's. Ferments RARELY leaves the CST zone for recruits, and when he does on occasion, he doesn't go after them with enthusiasm of a hungry coach....because is no longer hungry....he is simply comfortable recruiting "Try Hards" within a 300 mile radius of his Iowa City Banking Institutions....sorry, but it is a fact. He has duped brain dead Hawk fans for a almost a decade now.

 

[ThunderHawk]

7-5, no off field issues, a warm spot in December. This is what we are. Until the boosters step up, this is what we will always be.

Why do we always have a safety that is a small town Iowa white guy? Because he works hard. He is a heck of a practice player. Who cares if he continually gets burned. He is a Ferentz guy.

We were one play away from the CFP two years ago, and our recently graduated QB is now a starting quarterback in the NFL chucking passes to our recently graduated tight end.

Iowa is a school from a small state in an elite conference and we routinely have winning records and more often than not play meaningful games in November and send impressive players into The League.

The fact that I of all people am the one injecting positive logic into this thread ought to be some indication of how totally f'n stupid the original premise was.

 

[thedukeofearl]

We were one play away from the CFP two years ago, and our recently graduated QB is now a starting quarterback in the NFL chucking passes to our recently graduated tight end.

Iowa is a school from a small state in an elite conference and we routinely have winning records and more often than not play meaningful games in November and send impressive players into The League.

The fact that I of all people am the one injecting positive logic into this thread ought to be some indication of how totally f'n stupid the original premise was.

 

[deanvogs]

Holy shit....the evidence is on the field almost every time we play a Bowl Game....even ISU made our LB's and DB's silly for 3 1/2 quarters. Not to mention that we haven'r had any receiving game to speak of in years unless you ant to include 5 -7 yard routes to TE's and RB's. Ferments RARELY leaves the CST zone for recruits, and when he does doesn't go after them with enthusiasm of a hungry coach....because is no longer hungry....he is simply comfortable recruiting "Try Hards"....sorry, but it is a fact!

/End Thread

ThunderHawk: We were one play away from the CFP two years ago, and our recently graduated QB is now a starting quarterback in the NFL chucking passes to our recently graduated tight end.

Iowa is a school from a small state in an elite conference and we routinely have winning records and more often than not play meaningful games in November and send impressive players into The League.

The fact that I of all people am the one injecting positive logic into this thread ought to be some indication of how totally f'n stupid the original premise was.

 

[HomerChampless]

For Hawkeye fans the next level is Alabama type success, at least one National Championship every year or two, and being ranked in the top three preseason and throughout the season.....

Highly unlikely for anyone who coaches the Hawks.....

Despite your sarcasm and despite my ID, I'd gladly accept Iowa success similar to Wisky, for example, thank you. I mean, the two programs are so similar save for one or two differences which are both coaching related. Oh, I forgot. Here's a third difference between the two schools: the salary paid the Wisky HC compared to the Iowa HC. I guess sarcasm is infectious... Here's a fourth difference: the expectations of the fan bases.

 

[InGoodCo]

I love how everyone loves to put Iowa into different conference divisions - it might be the dumbest shit anyone says on this board. Let's base our conversations in reality instead of Rainbow Brite Land.

 

[HomerChampless]

I love how everyone loves to put Iowa into different conference divisions - it might be the dumbest shit anyone says on this board. Let's base our conversations in reality instead of Rainbow Brite Land.

Elaborate. Or is this some sort of straw man argument?