Is This the Ferentz Era Low Point?

The low point of the season will be when the seniors are introduced before a home game in which the stadium is oddly red colored and having our starting QB booed.
 
vegashawki said:
I think it is definately the low point although I have a theory on why... I think this was a sacraficial season on Kirks part which could make him a genius. Hear me out. Through his years as a coach at Iowa he has learned that his teams play well as underdogs. Next year we shouldn't be favored to beat a high school team if we were to scrimmage them, and that was by the Captains design. He has been "outcoached" by coaches of Central Michigan as a tactic to keep his abilities hidden from NFL teams looking to poach him for his superior skills. I think he knows he has a national championship level QB (maybe two) flying under the radar and will be looking to have and offensive explosion with the assistance of the great Greg Davis. Why else haven't we seen another QB get minutes (so his secret doesn't get out)?! All you haters that are complaining about where the program is at just wait until next year and we beat Iowa State in the NC game.

Go Hawks!
Go Kirk Ferentz!
2014 National Championship Campaign!
Click to expand...

Definately smokin somethin.
 
Losing to Purdue at home while winning the turnover and penalty battles and with Purdue's wide receiver
coach having to call the plays due to their OC being gone from the team...I'd say we are pretty close to hitting rock bottom.
 
MisterLucky said:
The low point of the season will be when the seniors are introduced before a home game in which the stadium is oddly red colored and having our starting QB booed.
Click to expand...

I sure as hell hope that doesn't happen on Senior day introductions.
 
sdschroe said:
Nice post Jon. A few thoughts:

1) The poor play this season mostly can be traced to the 2008 and 2009 recruiting classes, which were an indirect result of poor 2006 and 2007 seasons. So it is concerning what kind of impact this season will have on recruiting in, say, 2014.

2) You could see this coming in 2010. In 2009, Iowa was great, and lost a handful of great players (Bulaga, Spivey, Angerer, Moeaki, Edds). But the 2010 Hawks still returned a ton of talent, including all their skill players, and numerous draft picks on defense. There was reason for high optimism. But the 2010 team pretty much had no contribution from the 2009 class except for Micah Hyde. There just wasn't any talent there. If the 2009 class was an average Ferentz class, that 2010 team wins 2 or 3 more games. Incidentally, I suspect that is why you predicted such a great record for 2010 - you assumed there would be solid contributions, on special teams if nothing else, from the 2009 class.

3) The talent level of the team Iowa is putting on the field is low. But we are being out-coached and out-schemed as well. For several years, it seemed like Iowa won more games than their talent level would suggest because we had better coaches. The last 3 years it seems like was are losing more games than our talent suggests we should, and it, right or wrong, it feels like coaching is a big part of that.
Click to expand...

I staunchly disagree with this. I made a post a couple of weeks back saying basically the exact opposite. I think that Iowa's talent on the field for several years was head and shoulders above the opponents most Saturdays. Now you do have to give credit to the coaches for getting them to that talent level, but the inept coaching on gameday evened those games out in which Iowa should have been winning easily based on talent. I think the # of players in the NFL that are contributing and in many cases, starting, stands as evidence of this. Now that Iowa's talent level is just marginally better than the bottom feeders you see us losing those games because of being outcoached every week.
 
I said after the Pedo St. game that Iowa would finish 4-8. This is a low point in KF era. It could get very ugly the next 2 weeks, sad to say.
 
Unfortunately I do not think we have hit that low point yet. The program is in a downward spiral that started in 2010 when they had the talent to win the Big Ten but under achieved. If that team hits expectations perhaps they win a few more of those recruiting battles that would have brought the talent in to keep the team at an acceptable level.
 
ssckelley said:
Unfortunately I do not think we have hit that low point yet. The program is in a downward spiral that started in 2010 when they had the talent to win the Big Ten but under achieved. If that team hits expectations perhaps they win a few more of those recruiting battles that would have brought the talent in to keep the team at an acceptable level.
Click to expand...

I dont know if that would have helped a ton. This season was going to happen regardless of how 2010 turned out. The recruiting battles they MAY have won that year would not have been players that can step in and carry a team as freshmen and sophomores.
 
Yep, this is the low point. I don't count 1999-2000 because KF inherited an empty cupboard, and those two years were going to be a struggle no matter who the coach was. And like Jon said, I think the 2000 team would beat this year's team anyway...

That said, we may hit a new low point next year, with the schedule getting more difficult, and the Big Ten is bound to be better in 2013 than it was in 2012. Oh, and we'll have a new QB who has exactly zero snaps of experience leading our offense. Yeah, I have a warm & fuzzy feeling for next year...

I hope Iowa has some cupcakes scheduled in the non-conference next year, because conference wins could be like finding water in the Sahara.

Edit: here is the schedule for 2013:
http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/big-ten/2013-iowa-hawkeyes-football-schedule.php

There *should* be at least 3 wins in that OOC schedule, but until Kirk learns to beat ISU or directional Michigan teams.... And this year was *supposed* to start 5-0 with that easy start, and we all know how that worked out.
 
Section136 said:
I dont know if that would have helped a ton. This season was going to happen regardless of how 2010 turned out. The recruiting battles they MAY have won that year would not have been players that can step in and carry a team as freshmen and sophomores.
Click to expand...

You never know, it would not have taken much for this team to be 8-2 right now. IMO, 1 play maker on offense would have made a huge difference.

Another thing I wonder is if that team in 2010 played up (or even close) to expectations is Greg Davis even our OC right now?
 
I believe I read that this is the most inexperienced team Kurt has ever coached at Iowa. With this in mind, the fact that we have lost 4 of our 6 by three points or less is a sign of hope.

Next year, with a more experienced D and maybe someone playing on offense who knows what the hell is going on, we probably win the close ones we're losing this year. Next year's schedule is a bit tougher though, but God bless it, I still trust Kurt's philosophy.
 
some random thoughts about the ineptitude-

I really don't think that enough attention is given to just how bad the Big 10 is this year. JM's article makes this point. Hawks have been pathetic against "bottom of the barrel" competition. When you have to talk about the drop in talent from losing Scherff Donnal Rogers and then get over matched by IU, Purdue, jNW ... So the other teams that hung 50 points and 500 yards on those teams were juggernaughts??? NO. Average teams padded their offense stats against those teams. Hawks lose a couple of starters and then get out matched by these poor defenses.

I think this team could have practiced 3 weeks before the Purdue game and still had the same outcome.

Don't bank on the the #2 QB. The only backup to ever show anything was Banks and that was because he could improvise. All others (drop back) were junk early against any competition. Vandenberg and Weinke most recent examples.
 
Tfunkhawkeye said:
some random thoughts about the ineptitude-

I really don't think that enough attention is given to just how bad the Big 10 is this year. JM's article makes this point. Hawks have been pathetic against "bottom of the barrel" competition. When you have to talk about the drop in talent from losing Scherff Donnal Rogers and then get over matched by IU, Purdue, jNW ... So the other teams that hung 50 points and 500 yards on those teams were juggernaughts??? NO. Average teams padded their offense stats against those teams. Hawks lose a couple of starters and then get out matched by these poor defenses.

I think this team could have practiced 3 weeks before the Purdue game and still had the same outcome.

Don't bank on the the #2 QB. The only backup to ever show anything was Banks and that was because he could improvise. All others (drop back) were junk early against any competition. Vandenberg and Weinke most recent examples.
Click to expand...


Drew Tate did fairly well his first year starting.
 
GhostofBTT said:
I believe I read that this is the most inexperienced team Kurt has ever coached at Iowa. With this in mind, the fact that we have lost 4 of our 6 by three points or less is a sign of hope.

Next year, with a more experienced D and maybe someone playing on offense who knows what the hell is going on, we probably win the close ones we're losing this year. Next year's schedule is a bit tougher though, but God bless it, I still trust Kurt's philosophy.
Click to expand...

No coach has ever hung his hat on closes losses more than KF. The amount of times he brought up that Iowa hadn't lost a game by more than 7 points during that stretch was ridiculous. That's something a coach in his first couple of years in a program might say, not something an established coach like KF should keep mentioning.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
No coach has ever hung his hat on closes losses more than KF. The amount of times he brought up that Iowa hadn't lost a game by more than 7 points during that stretch was ridiculous. That's something a coach in his first couple of years in a program might say, not something an established coach like KF should keep mentioning.
Click to expand...

Did he mention it? I didn't hear him mention it, but I could be wrong.

I am the one who mentioned it. We're a young team losing close games. Hopefully next year we can turn some of those around.

Back in 2001, we stopped getting blownout and started playing close games. Then we started winning some of those close games. In 2002 we started playing close. We dropped a 5 point game to ISU, then beat PSU in OT and squeaked by Purdue, and then sailed through the season.

Not saying that WILL happen, but despite what everyone here wants to believe, there is reason for hope.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
No coach has ever hung his hat on closes losses more than KF. The amount of times he brought up that Iowa hadn't lost a game by more than 7 points during that stretch was ridiculous. That's something a coach in his first couple of years in a program might say, not something an established coach like KF should keep mentioning.
Click to expand...

I have never heard KF say that. I remember Jon mentioning that stat ad nauseum during the streak.

And I agree its a chicken **** stat to be proud of.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Did he mention it? I didn't hear him mention it, but I could be wrong.

I am the one who mentioned it. We're a young team losing close games. Hopefully next year we can turn some of those around.

Back in 2001, we stopped getting blownout and started playing close games. Then we started winning some of those close games. In 2002 we started playing close. We dropped a 5 point game to ISU, then beat PSU in OT and squeaked by Purdue, and then sailed through the season.

Not saying that WILL happen, but despite what everyone here wants to believe, there is reason for hope.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure if he's mentioned it this year, but I was referring to his press conferences in the 2010-11 seasons. He brought it up several times during that time period. I do think learning how to win is a process, especially when a program is rebuilding like it was when KF took the job. But I always thought it was odd how a coach of a verteran laden team, like those teams were, would bring that up, since it highlighted their inability to finish off close games.

Hopefully you're right though, and this group of new players is just going through that process and will be able to pull out close games in the future. But Ferentz's record in close games over the last three seasons is not very promising.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top