Iowa FB Pre-Season Discussion

SCHawkeye2 said:

Here's a decent read to start things off....
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A surprisingly informative and extremely thorough analysis. Nice find.

Although i did not see anything about special teams, but otherwise an extremely deep dive for both the offense and defense.
 
On paper, this team is less talented than last year's squad in all three phases. Too many big losses at key positions. Objectively this is just true. Doesn't mean that young guys cannot defy expectations and be really good. And the schedule is overall better than last year.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
On paper, this team is less talented than last year's squad in all three phases. Too many big losses at key positions. Objectively this is just true. Doesn't mean that young guys cannot defy expectations and be really good. And the schedule is overall better than last year.
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Who asked for perspective?
 
NorthKCHawk said:
On paper, this team is less talented than last year's squad in all three phases. Too many big losses at key positions. Objectively this is just true. Doesn't mean that young guys cannot defy expectations and be really good. And the schedule is overall better than last year.
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Yea, seem to be too many unknowns, especially for a program that has chosen or proven over the years play so close to the vest in all games. Will see.
 
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I don't think we should be rated at this time. If all goes according to plan, we should win the first three games. But the next three are very difficult. And made more difficult by the fact that we'll be breaking in a new QB. We could easily lose all three but I hope I'm wrong on that. I think this season is a step down from last year. It won't shock me if we lose one of the last six games either. Some of those teams are due to beat us (Minnesota?). I think we all have to remember the amount of experience we lost off of last year's team.
 
SCHawkeye2 said:
www.si.com

College Football Strength of Schedule Rankings for 2026 Season

Playing a high quality schedule is more important now than ever before as the College Football Playoff places considerable weight onto teams’ opponents before d
www.si.com www.si.com

Iowa SoS is #63 preseason - right in the middle.
Interesting to note #112 is Notre (we belong in the playoffs every year) Dame.
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Those rankings are pretty meaningless. Based on won-loss record of opponents and not the overall strength of schedule. There is no way ND's schedule is weaker than any G6 school.
 
Have you guys seen ND's schedule? It is a joke of a cupcake schedule.

They play three of the worst teams in the Big10 (Wisky, MSU, Purdue), a trio of nobodies from lesser conferences (Rice, SMU, Navy)), a team run by senility and a 26 year old only fans model (NC), and three smarty schools with no football teams (Boston College, Stanford and Syracuse). They have two serious games: at BYU and hosting Miami. With that schedule, 10-2 absolutely should not get them into a 12-team playoff. No way.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Have you guys seen ND's schedule? It is a joke of a cupcake schedule.

They play three of the worst teams in the Big10 (Wisky, MSU, Purdue), a trio of nobodies from lesser conferences (Rice, SMU, Navy)), a team run by senility and a 26 year old only fans model (NC), and three smarty schools with no football teams (Boston College, Stanford and Syracuse). They have two serious games: at BYU and hosting Miami. With that schedule, 10-2 absolutely should not get them into a 12-team playoff. No way.
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Sick.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Have you guys seen ND's schedule? It is a joke of a cupcake schedule.

They play three of the worst teams in the Big10 (Wisky, MSU, Purdue), a trio of nobodies from lesser conferences (Rice, SMU, Navy)), a team run by senility and a 26 year old only fans model (NC), and three smarty schools with no football teams (Boston College, Stanford and Syracuse). They have two serious games: at BYU and hosting Miami. With that schedule, 10-2 absolutely should not get them into a 12-team playoff. No way.
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The North Carolina Only Fans NIL Collective should be able to bring em in.
 
Remember couple seasons ago ... Northern Illinois beat them opening week they went on to be 0-2, and were still in top 25. Saying that, we should take NIU seriously. and they get special treatment
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Have you guys seen ND's schedule? It is a joke of a cupcake schedule.

They play three of the worst teams in the Big10 (Wisky, MSU, Purdue), a trio of nobodies from lesser conferences (Rice, SMU, Navy)), a team run by senility and a 26 year old only fans model (NC), and three smarty schools with no football teams (Boston College, Stanford and Syracuse). They have two serious games: at BYU and hosting Miami. With that schedule, 10-2 absolutely should not get them into a 12-team playoff. No way.
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But Notre Dame.
 
The media pollster still have a hard on for ND, but as we saw last season, the committee is not taken in by the gold helmets and the hype. They also don't seem to care about ratings or money. They pick the best 12 teams based upon their criterion. I would love to see ND snubbed again, but this time due to a historically weak schedule.
 
I just don't know what to think. No major dudes on the DLine coming back. Same at LB but I've heard how good some of these young LBs are supposed to be. DBs are usually ok.

This off season Iowa got active, as if they were trying to improve the talent and break out of the rut. Hope they guessed right on this strategy.

I sure hope these 2 QBs they've developed turn out to be an ungrade.

I"m getting bored with 8-4 and I don't want another lesson about how grateful I should be with 8-4. I'd like to see the team step forward into the top tier of the B1G
 
NCHawker said:
I just don't know what to think. No major dudes on the DLine coming back. Same at LB but I've heard how good some of these young LBs are supposed to be. DBs are usually ok.

This off season Iowa got active, as if they were trying to improve the talent and break out of the rut. Hope they guessed right on this strategy.

I sure hope these 2 QBs they've developed turn out to be an ungrade.

I"m getting bored with 8-4 and I don't want another lesson about how grateful I should be with 8-4. I'd like to see the team step forward into the top tier of the B1G
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Given the unknowns at many key spots, I think I would take 8-4 right now.

The grapevine is suggesting that the investments in the transfer portal were purposefully 2-3 years in length. We only have 10 seniors on the team and none of them are particularly critical pieces. While no one would likely say this out loud, it sure looks to me that 2026 is a set up season for a special 2027. If Iowa can pull off 8-9 wins this season and have nearly everyone back, there would be some serious hype for '27. The money guys want to send KF off with a playoff appearance.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Given the unknowns at many key spots, I think I would take 8-4 right now.

The grapevine is suggesting that the investments in the transfer portal were purposefully 2-3 years in length. We only have 10 seniors on the team and none of them are particularly critical pieces. While no one would likely say this out loud, it sure looks to me that 2026 is a set up season for a special 2027. If Iowa can pull off 8-9 wins this season and have nearly everyone back, there would be some serious hype for '27. The money guys want to send KF off with a playoff appearance.
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I think this is what they're shooting for too. Not that 2026 will be a throwaway year but there will be a lot of new pieces on the team. And a lot of lost experience off of last year's team. This reminds me a little bit like what Hayden Fry did. He liked to start Sophomore or Junior quarterbacks to get experience so they would have 1-2 years to compete at the highest levels the following years.
 
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