In State Schools Playing Each Other Not a Good Idea Except for UNI

jameskalina

Well-Known Member
To start with, as far as I know, except for the state of Utah, Iowa is the only small population state that has two BCS schools who are not in the same conference. Here lies part of the problem.

If Iowa and Iowa State were in the same conference they would likely be playing each other every year and positioning themselves in the final conference rankings. They would be required to play each other.

Being in different conferences, I'm thinking why play each other? Why not do what the single in state BCS schools do, and that is generally schedule three out of state teams you can beat and schedule a competitive opponent for national TV exposure. As it stands now Iowa and Iowa State play essentially two competitive non conference games, one of which has little national interest (the Iowa vs. Iowa State game).

The way things are when Iowa plays Iowa State one school is guaranteed a loss that may ultimately result in being invited to a lower tier bowl or no bowl at all.

To compound matters, in the years Iowa or Iowa State plays UNI both BCS schools run the risk of winning close (perceived infavorably by the national media) or losing the game (a very unfavorable position). If Iowa or Iowa State loses to the other BCS school and also loses to UNI that would have a very damaging effect on bowl positioning or probably no bowl at all.

The only true winner for in state schools playing each other is Northern Iowa as the Panthers get the guarantee win or lose (of which they are not suppose to win the game). I think it would be better to pay Northern Iowa not to play an in state BCS school. Iowa and Iowa State take turns paying the Panthers not to play them. This may sound silly, but it might make sense for the bottom line of all three state schools.

In this day and age of wins being very important for the bottom line, I think it would be in the best interests of our in state BCS schools not to play each other, and not to play UNI.
 
Just something to think about from a different perspective.

We're talking about the bottom line for all three schools.
 
Big shock this comes out now. Keep the series, it's good for the state, and quite honestly, it's a lot of fun. The end result not withstanding, that was one of the most entertaining games I've ever been to.
 
I've never been a big fan on the in state schools playing each other. Since when does losing a game benefit that school?

All three schools need to win as many games as possible. Playing each other, someone's got to lose and that can ultimately affect the bottom line particularly for Iowa and Iowa State.
 
jameskalina, are you legit, or are you a troll? I can't figure you out. Pls help.
 
I wrote the beginnings to a rant on this last night. Does anyone have an image of the broken Cy-Hawk trophy to use as the thumbnail? Google is returning nothing...


Here goes my take though:


For years, I've looked at the Cy-Hawk game as a waste of time. I have never seen the purpose of having bragging rights over less than a fifth of the population of the state. The outcome has historically been a given before kickoff. To put it bluntly; Scheduling Iowa State is a "Lose/Lose" situation for Iowa to be in every year. A win on the scoreboard for Iowa was expected, and falling short simply ended our season before it started. I'm not writing this to breakdown the game. For one, I don't recall many of it's highlights up until the 4th quarter/Overtime. For another, all we did was 'break down' the whole game while we played, so what good would any more do?

We lost. I get it, Cyclone fans. For 12 months, you will reign supreme in any conversation involving football, simply because of this game. Your overall record now takes a firm place in the backseat, usually buckled in to a booster seat, because we won't want to bring that up by the time December rolls around. Your self-admittedly, nationally recognized, inferior athletes have defeated the almighty big brother; And I understand it must feel fantastic for those of you experiencing that euphoria for the first time.

Please see it from our side, ever so briefly. There hasn't been a season since I've watched Iowa football, where we could look back on this game and think, "Boy, good thing we got the 'W' there, that was what made our season special." No momentum is gained from punching your little brother in the face. Repeatedly. In fact, it usually just makes us regret the decision to play you almost as much as a loss does. The one thing keeping it interesting is the incorporation of some hardware for the winner. Thankfully, the corporations are there to in'corporate' that for us. I can only imagine that money will always play a big enough role in this series to keep it alive long enough to **** Hawkeye fans off at least...(insert a number less than a handful here)...more times.

So congratulations ISU. You've beaten your only rival that mattered this year, thanks to an actual conference, not the Texas 10, stealing Nebraska away. It was obvious you knew how to exploit the same team you see every year, playing the same way they do every year. You certainly made less mistakes than us. I can't truthfully say you have a better team, but you undoubtedly got the better outcome. I just hate that our biggest mistake isn't anything we do on the field; It's continuing to schedule you every year.
 
I've never been a big fan on the in state schools playing each other. Since when does losing a game benefit that school?

All three schools need to win as many games as possible. Playing each other, someone's got to lose and that can ultimately affect the bottom line particularly for Iowa and Iowa State.

Right, why should West Virginia and Marshall play each other? Or Florida and Florida State/Miami? Or Georgia and Georgia Tech? How about Clemson and South Carolina?

It's a rivalry game. Rivalries are what make college football what it is. The injustice would be to cast aside rivalries just so that teams could schedule some patsy like Tenn Tech.
 
Haha I'm not crying. I just wanted to know if anyone (else) who thought it was funny that the trophy broke had a picture of the remains. I'm just polishing my writing and using this as an outlet.

You're calling the kettle black when you complain about others' complaints...fyi.
 
Right, why should West Virginia and Marshall play each other? Or Florida and Florida State/Miami? Or Georgia and Georgia Tech? How about Clemson and South Carolina?

It's a rivalry game. Rivalries are what make college football what it is. The injustice would be to cast aside rivalries just so that teams could schedule some patsy like Tenn Tech.

So, when do the reserves get playing time to gain some game experience? Two years ago the UNI game did not afford that opportunity and nearly cost Iowa a BCS bid.
 
So, when do the reserves get playing time to gain some game experience? Two years ago the UNI game did not afford that opportunity and nearly cost Iowa a BCS bid.

This is ridiculous. If we can lose to UNI, there really isn't ANYONE that we can't lose to. I really don't see why you're crying over this. It's a rivalry that's good for the entire state.
 
This is ridiculous. If we can lose to UNI, there really isn't ANYONE that we can't lose to. I really don't see why you're crying over this. It's a rivalry that's good for the entire state.

UNI can beat a lot of BCS teams. There's a significant overlap between the divisions. The perception is a BCS team should beat a non BCS team and if it doesn't then that BCS team must not be very good.

Consider the Iowa win over UNI two years ago. It took several weeks for Iowa to recover from that perception even though the Hawks won the game albeit by the closest of margins.
 
UNI can beat a lot of BCS teams. There's a significant overlap between the divisions. The perception is a BCS team should beat a non BCS team and if it doesn't then that BCS team must not be very good.

Consider the Iowa win over UNI two years ago. It took several weeks for Iowa to recover from that perception even though the Hawks won the game albeit by the closest of margins.

So what? South Carolina isn't always too good, but Clemson will play them every year. Georgia hasn't been any good for a few years now, but Georgia Tech will still play them.

I can see the argument for not playing UNI. But dropping the ISU series is ridiculous.
 
I'm just wondering, is it the prospect of change that worries people so much about trying to get rid of them from the schedule every year? Maybe even throw around the idea of getting them in the middle of the conference season. Do we really have that much riding on the game being played? At the end of the year, we still look like the better team 9/10 years.

I'm not opposed to playing them every once in a while. It certainly is a great environment no matter what city the game is held in. Would you disagree that if the game was even moved to every other year, that a win for us would begin to compare to what a win for them feels like? It's like as soon as we lose a game like this one, the rest of the season just takes a more wistful turn. I love beating State, but it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. College Football at this level isn't about inter-conference rivalries. It's about qualifying for the best bowl game possible. How does this game set us up in the best position to succeed?

All in all, I think I'll live with the result of the game. It was exciting, but it's not like high-quality football was played. Maybe 5 guys on these two teams get a shot in the NFL on draft day. Iowa will go bowling in Texas, ISU will get eliminated from bowl contention thanks to Texas schools.
 
I'm just wondering, is it the prospect of change that worries people so much about trying to get rid of them from the schedule every year? Maybe even throw around the idea of getting them in the middle of the conference season. Do we really have that much riding on the game being played? At the end of the year, we still look like the better team 9/10 years.

I'm not opposed to playing them every once in a while. It certainly is a great environment no matter what city the game is held in. Would you disagree that if the game was even moved to every other year, that a win for us would begin to compare to what a win for them feels like? It's like as soon as we lose a game like this one, the rest of the season just takes a more wistful turn. I love beating State, but it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. College Football at this level isn't about inter-conference rivalries. It's about qualifying for the best bowl game possible. How does this game set us up in the best position to succeed?

All in all, I think I'll live with the result of the game. It was exciting, but it's not like high-quality football was played. Maybe 5 guys on these two teams get a shot in the NFL on draft day. Iowa will go bowling in Texas, ISU will get eliminated from bowl contention thanks to Texas schools.

No. This whole thread wreaks of being scared to play an in-state rival, and preferring to play some directional school that we pay to have come to Kinnick. I'll take a pass on that notion.
 
No. This whole thread wreaks of being scared to play an in-state rival, and preferring to play some directional school that we pay to have come to Kinnick. I'll take a pass on that notion.

So, you would rather risk one of our BCS schools being invited to a lesser bowl or none at all just so the two schools can play each other every year. Isn't what's good for the state is to have both BCS schools win as many games as possible and play in the best possible bowl at the end of the season?

After thinking about it over the weekend, I'm becoming more convinced two in state BCS schools from different conferences playing each other hurts the states image from a national perspective more than it helps it.
 

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