I remember when ...

[uihawk82]

I am somewhat parodying the Playmaker type thread as I was learning football in the late 1950's and saw a few games in Kinnick by 1961-62 when the hawks were great, playing for Big Ten titles. I realized they were playing for national titles by 1960 and I remember them being so highly ranked in 1963 I think and then I remember it came crashing down.

I didnt realize the egos involved back then but I remember the 18 or so years of non-winning records with maybe one or two .500 seasons. Whoa that is hard to forget.

So I really appreciate what Hayden did and even that Bob Commings had some respectable, powerful running offensive teams that had a few big upset wins that brought us back from Lauterbur. I respect a lot of what KF has done but he is still the current coach and I remember when he had the bullies of the Big 10. Boy 2001-04 were fun as was 2008-2010 prior to the fake punt and 2015 was magical. I would like to remember a time when KF started letting the players really open it up and have fun and take some chances.

 

[uihawk82]

I forgot to ask what do you remember the most?

 

[okeefe4prez]

I forgot to ask what do you remember the most?

Rose Bowl. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Six. Dad's friend's basement in what was a man cave that was ahead of its time. Ronald Harmon. Game got out of hand. Being a naive kid, I made some comment about next year or something. The lecture I got from my old man about how I better enjoy that because it was as good as it got was something I should have listened to more carefully. The poor guy had seen Iowa suck for so long that he just knew we couldn't have nice things. He was right. I thought it was just ordinary course of business for Iowa to be good in football and basketball. It took close to 30 years, but now I see what he meant. I'm not even asking for a lot, just a simple Rose Bowl. Not even a Final Four or playoff berth, just a damned Rose Bowl. And then Phil Parker can't figure out how to bottle up some white kid that Northwestern stopped in his tracks and Greg Davis. Jesus, don't even get me started. I'm getting another beer. Ugh.

 

[tksirius]

No offense, but it's kinda funny how okeefe started posting again when okeefe came back to coach at Iowa again. Just sayin

 

[VTHawk]

Rose Bowl. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Six. Dad's friend's basement in what was a man cave that was ahead of its time. Ronald Harmon. Game got out of hand. Being a naive kid, I made some comment about next year or something. The lecture I got from my old man about how I better enjoy that because it was as good as it got was something I should have listened to more carefully. The poor guy had seen Iowa suck for so long that he just knew we couldn't have nice things. He was right. I thought it was just ordinary course of business for Iowa to be good in football and basketball. It took close to 30 years, but now I see what he meant. I'm not even asking for a lot, just a simple Rose Bowl. Not even a Final Four or playoff berth, just a damned Rose Bowl. And then Phil Parker can't figure out how to bottle up some white kid that Northwestern stopped in his tracks and Greg Davis. Jesus, don't even get me started. I'm getting another beer. Ugh.

I like your post a lot and can relate to growing up in the the eighties and becoming a Hawkeye fan because of my Father. My feeling was that the Hawkeyes were on par with Michigan and Ohio State period. I firmly believed we competed with them at the same level year in year out. This was also when we had Mr. Davis and that incredible 86-87 basketball run with a 30 win and 5 loss team which should have made the Final Four in my humble opinion. I really thought that Iowa Hawkeye sports, at least Football and Basketball were always going to compete like that.

I guess kids can dream.

One thing I do want more then a Rose Bowl win is to be in the Football Playoff. More then that I want to be in the championship game and perhaps even win. I know a Rose Bowl win would be nice and I would take it but I want serious recognition that the Hawkeyes have a great team and can play.

 

[HawkeyeTech]

I remember going to games in the '70's when the stadium would only be 2/3's full even if the weather was good. You could carry 12-packs in if you weren't too obvious about it. I once saw a group of guys come in in a pack with a pony keg between them covered by a blanket. And of course, bota bags were allowed and fifths were easy to get in.

Ah, the good old days when it was just fun to go to games and not worry about winning.

 

[okeefe4prez]

One thing I do want more then a Rose Bowl win is to be in the Football Playoff. More then that I want to be in the championship game and perhaps even win. I know a Rose Bowl win would be nice and I would take it but I want serious recognition that the Hawkeyes have a great team and can play.

One of the immutable rules of Iowa football is that Iowa cannot possibly win three big games (something on the line and against good teams) in a row. Heck, it might be a once every two decade event to win three big games in a year. A national title under this new regime can simply never happen for us. Iowa had an outside chance under the old regime where a perfect season may have landed us in a one game match, but now with the conference title game plus two more games it is just impossible.

Think about it, in most years we would have to beat Michigan, PSU or OSU in a neutral site game (Sparty miraculously got there the same year we did in 2015). Then, we would have to go play a top 4 team. Then, we would have to go play another top 4 team. In my 30+ years of watching Iowa football, even with the greatest teams we've had, I've seen absolutely nothing that leads me to believe such an outcome is anywhere near the realm of possibility. We've gotten owned by PSU since JoePa left. We have nothing for OSU - haven't beaten them since 2004 and that was an anomaly of an OSU team because they were starting Troy Smith before he was probably ready.

Then, the games on the big stage. We've won a single big time bowl game in my lifetime. Thank God GT ran the option and we had the guys to stop it plus prep time. The other big bowl games we've been in, we've always gotten blown out. '86 Rose Bowl with arguably best Iowa team of the last 50 years. Lost huge. Orange Bowl against Carson Palmer if you think 2002 was the best Iowa team of the last 50 years. Destroyed. Last Rose Bowl was over a few minutes into the game. We didn't deserve that Rose Bowl in '92, but we got crushed in every facet by a good Washington team. And 28-0 in the '82 Rose Bowl. There is just no data point that I can look at and think we have a chance.

 

[HawkGold]

I am somewhat parodying the Playmaker type thread as I was learning football in the late 1950's and saw a few games in Kinnick by 1961-62 when the hawks were great, playing for Big Ten titles. I realized they were playing for national titles by 1960 and I remember them being so highly ranked in 1963 I think and then I remember it came crashing down.

I didnt realize the egos involved back then but I remember the 18 or so years of non-winning records with maybe one or two .500 seasons. Whoa that is hard to forget.

So I really appreciate what Hayden did and even that Bob Commings had some respectable, powerful running offensive teams that had a few big upset wins that brought us back from Lauterbur. I respect a lot of what KF has done but he is still the current coach and I remember when he had the bullies of the Big 10. Boy 2001-04 were fun as was 2008-2010 prior to the fake punt and 2015 was magical. I would like to remember a time when KF started letting the players really open it up and have fun and take some chances.

Bullies of the Big? Head hunting is now illegal. Sanders is long gone.

 

[uihawk82]

Bullies of the Big? Head hunting is now illegal. Sanders is long gone.

The bullies label was mostly in the trenches and linebackers so HawkGold is way off. Both lines just crushed people as did fullbacks and linebackers. And one play symbolized it all was late in the 2002 game at Mich when Jermelle Lewis took that shovel pass and just lowered his shoulder and bulldozed a future NFL safety/Lbkr into the ground at the 5 yard line. The hawks had some very strong teams both physically, athletically, and in football skill in the last 19 years. I would like to see that come back with a little less conservatism. KF has proved himself over the years so just have fun and let the guys play.

 

[Playmaker]

4prez - I was at that Orange Bowl in 2002...I honestly thought we were as good as anyone in the nation going into that game....holy shit, did SC beat us to the corners all day long on both Offense and Defense...it was embarrassing. That is why it was important for Ferments to build on that....for a while it looked as if he were trying....then he got comfortable...then he got lazy....now we aren't even the best team in the state, despite that lucky win in September. Pffffffttttttt.......snort.....that's football.

 

[HawkGold]

The bullies label was mostly in the trenches and linebackers so HawkGold is way off. Both lines just crushed people as did fullbacks and linebackers. And one play symbolized it all was late in the 2002 game at Mich when Jermelle Lewis took that shovel pass and just lowered his shoulder and bulldozed a future NFL safety/Lbkr into the ground at the 5 yard line. The hawks had some very strong teams both physically, athletically, and in football skill in the last 19 years. I would like to see that come back with a little less conservatism. KF has proved himself over the years so just have fun and let the guys play.

They did and Im not arguing that. A part of that image was Sanders and he was probably the head hunter of the Big. Im guessing the weight program is a bit different too.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Honestly, my favorite moment of the Ferentz era was the defensive effort in the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech. Man, give Norm that kind of time to prepare and more often than not, he's going to have his guys ready. People forget, that GT team had been scoring 50 on everyone...and were saddled with the unstoppable label prior to play in that Orange Bowl. When I think about that defensive lineup...wow...just wow...what I think 9 played in the NFL right?

Taking the goal posts out of the Metrodome was also pretty special.

 

[KCHawkeye]

I remember Stanford 2015.

 

[Xerxes]

Honestly, my favorite moment of the Ferentz era was the defensive effort in the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech. Man, give Norm that kind of time to prepare and more often than not, he's going to have his guys ready. People forget, that GT team had been scoring 50 on everyone...and were saddled with the unstoppable label prior to play in that Orange Bowl. When I think about that defensive lineup...wow...just wow...what I think 9 played in the NFL right?

Taking the goal posts out of the Metrodome was also pretty special.

I flew out back home the next day and like most flights out of Fort Lauderdale, there is a quick stop in Atlanta so of course I was on the same plane as a few GT fans. They were shocked that they weren't able to run on Iowa. One dude saw my "I" hat and just shock his head in disgust. Incredible defense that year.

 

[atomicblue224]

I remember when my dad and bunch of my aunts and uncles and cousins all came down from Iowa It was brutal winter in Iowa and they all came down to watch Gator Bowl 1983 vs Florida Gators. My dad's Navy buddies all went to the games all of us parked downtown Jacksonville, we all walked to the stadium. It was freezing that night. I still brag to my Florida friends that Iowa will beat Gators.