Iowa Needs Breaks From State

P

PilotHawk

Well-Known Member
It's hate week and I can't sleep, so naturally I decided now would be a good time to make a post on a message board I've been reading forever.

I know a lot of us Iowa fans say every year that Iowa needs to cut ties with ISU, and there's some (not so) interesting debate on the topic in these boards. But with the Big Ten having moved to nine conference games every season, this is legitimately something that should happen.

Look at it this way, given:
One season must have seven home games (to keep season ticket holders happy), and
Big Ten play alternates between taking four and five of the seven home games every year,

Iowa must schedule at least two home games every season out of conference. These teams have to be cupcakes, as if Iowa does't have two home games out of conference, then they have all three. No team worth their salt Is going to agree to playing in Kinnick two years in a row, or only playing in Kinnick once and being done. Thus we will always see Wyomings and North Texas' on our schedule every year.

Accepting this gives Iowa one home-and-home (or one home-and-neutral in favor of Iowa, or one cupcake and one good neutral) to work with over any two year period. Iowa schedules their home game when they only get four home Big Ten games, and schedules the away when they get five. The problem is, Iowa has the Iowa State home-and-home tie in that takes the place of this potential good to great out of conference matchup.

As long as these scheduling quirks hold true, Iowa will always be ridiculed for scheduling terrible out of conference games because they literally have to. Get rid of State two out of four years (or six. If Iowa and State played less, the hype surrounding the games would be that much larger when they do play) and the schedule could look a lot better.
 
I agree with that. Being tied to this series is bad for the program. Having to play such a terrible football program every year is bad for a team like Iowa who competes for a spot in the playoffs. From a revenue standpoint Iowa needs to take them off the schedule to have the flexibility to play other teams in a home and home . Let's end this series or at least not play the game every year.
 
Last edited:
Look another thread about dropping the ISU game. Wonder if this one is going to be interesting or not.
 
All I'm saying is that in order to put a team middle of the pack or higher (Pittsburgh or what Arizona was when we played them) on the schedule Iowa needs to give up a home game or Iowa State. There's no way around one or the other option given 9 Big Ten games.
 
PilotHawk said:
It's hate week and I can't sleep, so naturally I decided now would be a good time to make a post on a message board I've been reading forever.

I know a lot of us Iowa fans say every year that Iowa needs to cut ties with ISU, and there's some (not so) interesting debate on the topic in these boards. But with the Big Ten having moved to nine conference games every season, this is legitimately something that should happen.

Look at it this way, given:
One season must have seven home games (to keep season ticket holders happy), and
Big Ten play alternates between taking four and five of the seven home games every year,

Iowa must schedule at least two home games every season out of conference. These teams have to be cupcakes, as if Iowa does't have two home games out of conference, then they have all three. No team worth their salt Is going to agree to playing in Kinnick two years in a row, or only playing in Kinnick once and being done. Thus we will always see Wyomings and North Texas' on our schedule every year.

Accepting this gives Iowa one home-and-home (or one home-and-neutral in favor of Iowa, or one cupcake and one good neutral) to work with over any two year period. Iowa schedules their home game when they only get four home Big Ten games, and schedules the away when they get five. The problem is, Iowa has the Iowa State home-and-home tie in that takes the place of this potential good to great out of conference matchup.

As long as these scheduling quirks hold true, Iowa will always be ridiculed for scheduling terrible out of conference games because they literally have to. Get rid of State two out of four years (or six. If Iowa and State played less, the hype surrounding the games would be that much larger when they do play) and the schedule could look a lot better.
Click to expand...

Hayden Fry said, very early in his tenure, that scheduling brutal non-con games decimated the roster by conference season.

While I would certainly like to see the occasional "high-profile" game, the whole thing is overblown.

Look who $EC schools play today. Not a peep...except one wag who tried to sell the idea that L$U has a "tough comeback game" against Jacksonville State. Seriously.

People need to stop with the non-conference schedule. Pitt-level is about all we can expect on a straight home-home basis. To be an attractive neutral-site participant, we will need to be seen as--at best--a "semi-legitimate' threat. If there is a chance we will win, we won't get scheduled.
 
H F said that but I remember bad injuries playing cupcakes. I do believe injuries happen more when not focused.
hawkeyebob62 said:
Hayden Fry said, very early in his tenure, that scheduling brutal non-con games decimated the roster by conference season.

While I would certainly like to see the occasional "high-profile" game, the whole thing is overblown.

Look who $EC schools play today. Not a peep...except one wag who tried to sell the idea that L$U has a "tough comeback game" against Jacksonville State. Seriously.

People need to stop with the non-conference schedule. Pitt-level is about all we can expect on a straight home-home basis. To be an attractive neutral-site participant, we will need to be seen as--at best--a "semi-legitimate' threat. If there is a chance we will win, we won't get scheduled.
Click to expand...
 
Well...I'd rather see us playing UCLA or Texas A&M or someone other than Iowa State. This is still a measuring stick game, but it would be nice in years like this (when we are supposed to be good) to get a big time game to get some national attention. Scheduling a Texas school makes sense now with our pipeline, but that would be 7-8 years down the road now...with the way schedules work.
 
The other point is that how to do you learn to win a Rose Bowl, go out and play a top ten PAC12 team in California. Schedule a home and home. An early loss doesn't preclude you from anything. You just have to win the rest of them.
 
I would like to see Iowa State every 4 seasons. Let every in state kid play the game. I think that would be good for them. Make it at a neutral site. Maybe there isnt a good neutral site stadium in Iowa, so let the state build one. Then they can play the state HS playoffs there and have conventions.

The other seasons, play a cupcake. And schedule a great team every 4 seasons and a good school one of the others. I like Pitt on the schedule. I would like to see Arkansas or Washington.
 
Everyone keeps complaining about our schedule. We almost always play 10 P5 schools every year (8 BIG, ISU, and usually a Pitt, ASU, AZ, etc). Now, with 9 BIG games, plus ISU, we are guaranteed at least 10 every year. Many P5 schools (and many $EC schools) only play 8!

I know ISU is considered 'low-level' P5 team, BUT it is a HUGE preparing game for the BIG--hostile team, hostile environment, and they seemingly play us harder than any other school.

Your entire athletic dept can be 'funded' by those home games every year. Many schools historically like to get EIGHT home games(see Mich, PSU, $EC teams). We can only ever get 7 at the most (with 9 BIG, and home/away ISU). If we now also try to schedule home/way series with P5 schools like Pitt, AZ, we may only get 6 home games, which is a BIG hit to athletic dept funding!

At the end of the day, you 'hang your hat' on your W/L record. With us playing 10 P5 schools every year (at least), Ws are gonna get that much harder (plus BIG allows no more FCS opponents).
 
They should be in a 2 on, 2 off rotation. Play them 2 years, then someone like Oregon St, KansasSt, Kentucky, 2 years, then back to ISu then someone else. A little tricky to schedule like this, but Barta started talks with other schools now, before the ISU contract comes back up, he could have 10 years worth of other schools lined up ready for it.
 
For those posters clowning on SEC schedules, here is a list of OOC P5 schools scheduled from each conference:

SEC (14 games)

Virginia Tech (neutral site)
North Carolina (neutral)
@ Florida St
@ Clemson
@ West Virginia
@ Louisville
@ Georgia Tech
Wisconsin (neutral)
USC (neutral)
Florida St (neutral)
UCLA
Clemson
@TCU

B1G (12 games)

@Oklahoma
Pittsburgh (neutral)
@Notre Dame
Wake Forest
@Washington
Oregon
LSU (neutral)
Iowa State
Duke
Oregon St
North Carolina

Looks pretty clear, this year at least, that the SEC as a conference scheduled much tougher P5 opponents than the B1G did.
 
Im okay with playing ISU, i just think iowa needs to drop the MAC teams. Too much risk and no reward. If you beat a Northern Illinois or Western Michigan no one nationally cares, because iowa should have beat them. The problem is that these MAC teams are good teams and frequently beat big ten teams. Iowa needs to blow off the MAC and schedule mid level power 5 teams like Pitt. Those games have a lot more potential. You lose a home game every other year, but its for the good of the program. At least Iowa state is a Big 12 team, maybe the basketball team more so.
 
PhoenixHawk said:
They should be in a 2 on, 2 off rotation. Play them 2 years, then someone like Oregon St, KansasSt, Kentucky, 2 years, then back to ISu then someone else. A little tricky to schedule like this, but Barta started talks with other schools now, before the ISU contract comes back up, he could have 10 years worth of other schools lined up ready for it.
Click to expand...

Iowa could still schedule Iowa St every year, And play another P5 team OOC 2 times in 4 years, and all they would have to give up, is 1 home game every 4 years. I believe it is worth it to give up 1 home every 4 years to get some decent teams on the schedule, and get teams like North Texas off the schedule. It's the North Texas games that won'the be missed and season ticket holders will approve of the upgrade in the schedule.

Also, it's been said a million times. There is no rule that Iowa needs 7 home games every year. That is a recent fiction. 12 game regular seasons did not become permanent until 2016. Iowa did not have 7 home games as recently as 2005 and 2004.

And OP, stop saying that most Iowa fans don't want to play Iowa St. Iowa St is the other P5 school in the state. They are natural rivals. It makes sense for them to play every year. Most Iowa fans should want this game.

I am so tired of this subject. This game is not going away and should not go away.
 
I disagree with this completely. I watched the Pitt/PSU game today and that was a great entry into a historic rivalry. One that has not taken place in far to long. Rivalries are the lifeblood of college football. Dispite everyone's attempt to kill them off.

I actually wish ISU would get their shit together and make this a meaningful game. Instead of a lose/lose situation for the Hawks like it is now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top