IF this season works out as we all hope ...

H

homerHAWKeye777

Well-Known Member
... the extra cherry on top will be that tOSU is also playing their best ball in years too. If our Hawks can pull it off ... how SWEET it will be! The 2010 squad appears to be one of tOSU's best in years too ... if we were to beat them ... that would be something! If we beat them ... we'll be going BCS bowling AT THE WORST!

And, when you pan the horizon, checking out the college football landscape, I don't see a single team out there that Iowa couldn't match up against. Very exciting!

Nothing is a given ... however, the possibilities are VERY exciting!
 
Right now, given the uncertainty of our line, I'm not positive we would match up with 'Bama (as of this minute). I know they lost a lot on defense, but they still have Darreus (sp?), and has Saban ever had a defensive unit that wasn't stellar? By the end of the season I could see us matching up pretty evenly. But right now 'Bama is still the clear-cut #1.
 
tm3308 said:
Right now, given the uncertainty of our line, I'm not positive we would match up with 'Bama (as of this minute). I know they lost a lot on defense, but they still have Darreus (sp?), and has Saban ever had a defensive unit that wasn't stellar? By the end of the season I could see us matching up pretty evenly. But right now 'Bama is still the clear-cut #1.
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Isn't Dareus Ineligible?
 
tm3308 said:
Right now, given the uncertainty of our line, I'm not positive we would match up with 'Bama (as of this minute). I know they lost a lot on defense, but they still have Darreus (sp?), and has Saban ever had a defensive unit that wasn't stellar? By the end of the season I could see us matching up pretty evenly. But right now 'Bama is still the clear-cut #1.
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Saban's '04 LSU D was more loaded than the '10 'bama D. The Ferentz squad still managed to do alright then.

Frankly, I love how Iowa matches up against 'bama. Jones may be a match-up nightmare ... however, McElroy still needs to be able to get him the ball. Furthermore, Jones still needs to prove that he can be consistent.

As for their Heisman winning RB ... love the guy. I wish he ended up a Hawk. All that said ... I never worry about Iowa's run-D with Norm at the helm.

Quite frankly, tOSU is as formidable of a foe as I can see when I look over the college football landscape. If Iowa can beat the Buckeyes ... they'll be able to play with ANYBODY.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
Saban's '04 LSU D was more loaded than the '10 'bama D. The Ferentz squad still managed to do alright then.

Frankly, I love how Iowa matches up against 'bama. Jones may be a match-up nightmare ... however, McElroy still needs to be able to get him the ball. Furthermore, Jones still needs to prove that he can be consistent.

As for their Heisman winning RB ... love the guy. I wish he ended up a Hawk. All that said ... I never worry about Iowa's run-D with Norm at the helm.

Quite frankly, tOSU is as formidable of a foe as I can see when I look over the college football landscape. If Iowa can beat the Buckeyes ... they'll be able to play with ANYBODY.
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To be fair to that LSU defense, we scored on a blocked punt, and both of Tate's TD passes were 50+ yards. 113 of Tate's 287 yards came on those two plays, and we had just 47 yards rushing. It's not like we really lit up the defense on a consistent basis. We just had a couple big plays.

We also had our O-Line set when we played LSU, and it was pretty good. We don't have that right now. So for RIGHT NOW, I don't think we match up with 'Bama that well. That can very easily change over the course of the season. But until proven otherwise, I think it's wise to assume that Saban will have another outstanding defense.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
Saban's '04 LSU D was more loaded than the '10 'bama D. The Ferentz squad still managed to do alright then.

Frankly, I love how Iowa matches up against 'bama. Jones may be a match-up nightmare ... however, McElroy still needs to be able to get him the ball. Furthermore, Jones still needs to prove that he can be consistent.

As for their Heisman winning RB ... love the guy. I wish he ended up a Hawk. All that said ... I never worry about Iowa's run-D with Norm at the helm.

Quite frankly, tOSU is as formidable of a foe as I can see when I look over the college football landscape. If Iowa can beat the Buckeyes ... they'll be able to play with ANYBODY.
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I think we have basically proven that we CAN play with anybody. LSU, Florida, Texas, OSU, Michigan, PSU, Georgia Tech. Over the years, we have shown time and again that we are competitive with anybody. Now that we are as loaded as we have ever been, I think we are in for our best year yet. 13-0.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
Saban's '04 LSU D was more loaded than the '10 'bama D. The Ferentz squad still managed to do alright then.

Frankly, I love how Iowa matches up against 'bama. Jones may be a match-up nightmare ... however, McElroy still needs to be able to get him the ball. Furthermore, Jones still needs to prove that he can be consistent.

As for their Heisman winning RB ... love the guy. I wish he ended up a Hawk. All that said ... I never worry about Iowa's run-D with Norm at the helm.

Quite frankly, tOSU is as formidable of a foe as I can see when I look over the college football landscape. If Iowa can beat the Buckeyes ... they'll be able to play with ANYBODY.
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This.

I think the real point here is that Ohio St is as good as anyone in the country...probably better. And they're a given.

Iowa has the potential to be as good or better than anyone in the country but we've still got a few uncertainties (OL, LB, RB, Rick Sixes, Health is always a concern).

Most people (Iowa fans) don't have a problem putting us in the same league as Ohio St but still aren't ready to put us in the best team in college football league.

The point being that Ohio St is probably the best team in college football.
 
I would LOVE to play Bama. Our run D (as mentioned) is a great example why... and even though we'd be going against a very stout front 7, they potentially have a very exploitable secondary at this time with the inexperience at Safety.
 
HawKCP said:
This.

I think the real point here is that Ohio St is as good as anyone in the country...probably better. And they're a given.

Iowa has the potential to be as good or better than anyone in the country but we've still got a few uncertainties (OL, LB, RB, Rick Sixes, Health is always a concern).

Most people (Iowa fans) don't have a problem putting us in the same league as Ohio St but still aren't ready to put us in the best team in college football league.

The point being that Ohio St is probably the best team in college football.
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I still have my doubts about Ohio State, though. A lot of the expectations for them are being based on Terrell Pryor. For them to be as good as everyone thinks they will be, he has to be the Pryor from the Rose Bowl, and he has to do it all year. If it's essentially the same Pryor as we saw during the season last year, they won't be a NC contender.
 
i'd like to play bama as well. their defense is going to be good, or defense is good. they have a quality running back, we have 3. i think our passing game will be stronger than theirs. as i said earlier, does bama even have a qb? i don't think mcelroy is anything special and i think slingin dick will surprise a lot of people
 
whammer33024 said:
i'd like to play bama as well. their defense is going to be good, or defense is good. they have a quality running back, we have 3. i think our passing game will be stronger than theirs. as i said earlier, does bama even have a qb? i don't think mcelroy is anything special and i think slingin dick will surprise a lot of people
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I'll be surprised if McElroy doesn't have a very good year. Julio Jones is primed for a breakout year. And 'Bama has the better running back situation. Yes, we have 3 quality backs. 'Bama has the Heisman winner, and a lot of people think that his "backup" (Trent Richardson) is even better. We are nowhere near 'Bama in that regard.
 
tm3308 said:
I still have my doubts about Ohio State, though. A lot of the expectations for them are being based on Terrell Pryor. For them to be as good as everyone thinks they will be, he has to be the Pryor from the Rose Bowl, and he has to do it all year. If it's essentially the same Pryor as we saw during the season last year, they won't be a NC contender.
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They return nearly their entire team on both sides of the ball. They will be dominating on defense as always...and will be able to run the ball on anyone in the country.

Last year they had 3 slip ups...a loss to USC...a loss to Purdue and a little too close for comfort against Navy. That was with the 103rd passing offense in the country (just to point out that Pryor wasn't very good throwing the ball).

They have their entire coaching staff back and most of their players are returning starters with another year under their belt.

Meanwhile...Texas loses McCoy, et. al...Flordia loses Tebow et. al....and Alabama will be breaking in a new QB as well as much of their defense.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Ohio St will be as good if not better than anyone in the country even if Pryor plays like he did throughout most of the Big Ten season last year...but it would be naive to think that he won't improve at least a little bit.
 
HawKCP said:
They return nearly their entire team on both sides of the ball. They will be dominating on defense as always...and will be able to run the ball on anyone in the country.

Last year they had 3 slip ups...a loss to USC...a loss to Purdue and a little too close for comfort against Navy. That was with the 103rd passing offense in the country (just to point out that Pryor wasn't very good throwing the ball).

They have their entire coaching staff back and most of their players are returning starters with another year under their belt.

Meanwhile...Texas loses McCoy, et. al...Flordia loses Tebow et. al....and Alabama will be breaking in a new QB as well as much of their defense.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Ohio St will be as good if not better than anyone in the country even if Pryor plays like he did throughout most of the Big Ten season last year...but it would be naive to think that he won't improve at least a little bit.
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FYI, McElroy is back for 'Bama, so no new QB there. OU is set up to have a big year as well, with Landry Jones benefitting from last year's experience. Texas and Florida may have their growing pains early with Gilbert and Brantley, but by the end of the year they could be as good as anyone (particularly Florida).

OSU returns nearly everyone, I know. That's why they're ranked so high. But while nearly the whole defense is back, Kurt Coleman is a HUGE loss for them. He's what made that defense go last year. They'll still be very stout, but Coleman had that X-factor. I'm not sure they have a guy with that this year.

And like I said, I've learned that it's not smart to bet against Saban, even when he has to replace a ton of talent on defense. It's certainly better to assume he's going to have another great defense than to assume he won't.
 
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tm3308 said:
I still have my doubts about Ohio State, though. A lot of the expectations for them are being based on Terrell Pryor. For them to be as good as everyone thinks they will be, he has to be the Pryor from the Rose Bowl, and he has to do it all year. If it's essentially the same Pryor as we saw during the season last year, they won't be a NC contender.
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I expect big things from tOSU due to the fact that their D played great team ball last year and their excellent D coach thinks that their DL will likely be EVEN BETTER than it was last year. When you hear that, you KNOW that their D is going to be seriously legit.

Furthermore, the key to tOSU's 2010 O won't be Pryor ... it will be their OL. Boren will likely be the catalyst for the group again ... and the toughness and grit that he brings to the table unfortunately makes their OL play up to their recruiting star-ratings. That just goes to show you how important toughness and attitude is on the OL.

As much as I love Iowa's DL ... tOSU has the one OL that can truly do some damage against our guys. And that definitely is enough to give us reason for concern. And, what's more, the Iowa game was one of the first games all season where tOSU enjoyed a reasonably healthy OL. Just imagine how much better their O could have been last year had their OL been healthier throughout the entire season!?

With a tough, proven OL like the one that they'll wield ... their running game will be exceptionally formidable. When you add Sanzenbacher (their version of Hinkel) and Posey (their version of DJK) to their passing game ... they're definitely not lacking decent threats in the passing game. Furthermore, I'm very high on Stoneburner. While tOSU tends to waste quality TEs in its system ... Stoneburner adds an element to their O that could potentially be really dangerous if they actually choose to tap into it.

All the above makes tOSU pretty darn good ... and that's even before you add Pryor. And Pryor brings the X-factor to the table ... the sort of speed and elusiveness that strikes fear into defensive coordinators. He makes the running lanes for Saine and Herron that much wider.
 
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