I have to tell you it gets a little old hearing Iowa fans talk down the rivalry aspects of the ISU game and how the Big Ten is more important, etc. This is a measuring stick game every year...for a few reasons. One, it's an emotional game (at least for ISU as Iowa fan states over and over) for the players and most fans in the state...so the atmosphere in either stadium is charged. It's good to play and get experience in that type of environment as it does prepare you for B10 play. Second, you can't be considered a good team if you can't beat ISU. I know, the 2002 team is an exception, but for god's sake, as little respect as most Iowa fans have for the Clones, if you can't actually beat them 80% of the time, well, what does that say.
Frankly, I'd love to see the boosters and the fans up in KF's arse for this very reason (losing to ISU). He should have his teams playing their best against an instate rival, and don't give me the evolution crap of we are just beginning or not yet ready to gel as a team. That argument has also gotten old. You have spring ball, summer workouts, and fall camp to get ready...if your team isn't any good by the second or third week of September, it's because you aren't doing something right...so change it. Honestly, I'd like to see us pull an SEC tactic and schedule a non conference game (Iowa State) at the end of the year. Just to break up the Big Ten season and add to making this a more focused rivalry.
ISU will once again go 6-7 (or slightly worse) and finish in the bottom 1/2 of their conf. Same ol.
Question is, what will Iowa do?
ISU won't win 6 games this year. They lost the only solid players they had on an already bad defense. Not to mention their best team leaders. I'd compare their loss of Klein and Knott to Iowa losing guys like Angerer, Roth, or Sanders (I'm not saying Knott and Klein are as talented, I'm just saying they meant a heck of a lot to the ISU football team). At first, you think the team can move on without them, but after awhile you realize just how much they meant to the team's success. It's not only about the plays they are able to make on the field. It's about the way they demand respect from their teammates, and encourage them to go the extra mile because they see how hard they are working.
What I would give for Iowa to have a guy like Angerer back on the team. The Hawkeye defense is in desperate need of an enforcer.
Their offense is suspect at best as well. Sam Dick-son was great when matched up against a horrid Jayhawks defense but he didn't really impress too much against WVU and Tulsa in the bowl game.
ISU won't win 6 games this year. They lost the only solid players they had on an already bad defense. Not to mention their best team leaders. I'd compare their loss of Klein and Knott to Iowa losing guys like Angerer, Roth, or Sanders (I'm not saying Knott and Klein are as talented, I'm just saying they meant a heck of a lot to the ISU football team). At first, you think the team can move on without them, but after awhile you realize just how much they meant to the team's success. It's not only about the plays they are able to make on the field. It's about the way they demand respect from their teammates, and encourage them to go the extra mile because they see how hard they are working.
What I would give for Iowa to have a guy like Angerer back on the team. The Hawkeye defense is in desperate need of an enforcer.
Hopefully that will be Law and Kirksey. Its too bad Bernstine couldnt have been healthy for multiple years. You get guys who want to hit like that and it gets contagious.
I know that the ISU coaches are not really high on the team at this point. They feel like they have pretty solid starters, but ZERO, and I mean ZERO depth behind them. I'm not going to say that the coaches think they will be terrible, but that they feel they have a long ways to go to get to where they need to be.
I said it last year, and have been saying it this year, ISU will struggle this year. They lost too much. I think they lose to Iowa at home, and on the road at Tulsa. I think it will be a looooooong year for ISU.
Iowa State will struggle this year and no amount of offseason puff pieces will make me feel different. Iowa State will struggle to stop the run all year.
As for the iowa game being the benchmark I think it's funny to see this getting perpetuated. A bowl is the benchmark at this point. I think we all agree that Iowa State has a limited ceiling as far as conference success goes. However 6 wins and a chance for a fun trip in the winter can be a solid goal for this program.
If the iowa game was the only benchmark Iowa State fans wouldn't have shown up for every game including the bowl like they did last year. It wasn't always this way and I will grant you that.
Iowa State will struggle this year and no amount of offseason puff pieces will make me feel different. Iowa State will struggle to stop the run all year.
As for the iowa game being the benchmark I think it's funny to see this getting perpetuated. A bowl is the benchmark at this point. I think we all agree that Iowa State has a limited ceiling as far as conference success goes. However 6 wins and a chance for a fun trip in the winter can be a solid goal for this program.
If the iowa game was the only benchmark Iowa State fans wouldn't have shown up for every game including the bowl like they did last year. It wasn't always this way and I will grant you that.
McCarney won 7 games or more 5 of his last 7 years, that wasn't good enough at the time. Apparently your fanbase has lowered expectations since then. I guess you have to keep adjusting your expectations in order to find new ways to make Roads look like a successful coach.
Mac never made a bowl in the years we played ut/ou, and played 4 noncons every season, and the big 12 north was bad when he coached in his prime. Apples and oranges comparison.
Mac never made a bowl in the years we played ut/ou, and played 4 noncons every season, and the big 12 north was bad when he coached in his prime. Apples and oranges comparison.