Man the Hawks are/were going to suck ....

Sorry, poorly worded. I meant to say that the Big 12 North doesn't exist anymore in the sense of the divisional format the Big 12 used to have. In addition, the "North" hasn't been a pillar of strength on the college football landscape over the past few years.

No Hawk fan should ever have a need to apologize to a clone fan. :cool:
 
The best thing about 2002 was this........36-31. I'd love to see the Hawks go 11-1 again...with the intra-state victory going to my Clones. We're gonna need that win against Iowa if we want to make a bowl game this year...as ISU's schedule is incredibly tough this season.

Being more objective, Iowa does have the stable of talent to pull off a 2002 type season. A few lucky bounces, as in 2002, can turn a good season into a great one very quickly...and good talent with good coaching often creates such luck. I think Iowa is going to have a great year...winning somewhere around 9 games. Ferentz teams are always dangerous because they play such good defense...which means they usually steal a few wins in tough road environments.

Should be a fun year for both teams (I hope).

Nah, Clavin. The best things about the 2002 season were:

-Conference Championship
-Orange Bowl berth

Of course, that's like speaking a different language to a Clone fan :)
 
Weak... If you dropped Iowa State you would just add another louisiana monroe. Your low ranking has more to do with your weak conference schedule, iowa's non-conference schedule is actually pretty solid.

False, but you knew that. Back to CyFan with you.
 
The best thing about 2002 was this........36-31. I'd love to see the Hawks go 11-1 again...with the intra-state victory going to my Clones. We're gonna need that win against Iowa if we want to make a bowl game this year...as ISU's schedule is incredibly tough this season.

Being more objective, Iowa does have the stable of talent to pull off a 2002 type season. A few lucky bounces, as in 2002, can turn a good season into a great one very quickly...and good talent with good coaching often creates such luck. I think Iowa is going to have a great year...winning somewhere around 9 games. Ferentz teams are always dangerous because they play such good defense...which means they usually steal a few wins in tough road environments.

Should be a fun year for both teams (I hope).
Golly I thought the best thing about '02 for you guys was the bowl game. It was blue and in a lovely climate.

No wait, it was losing to Connecticut, the first time they ever beat a BCS team, being part of history.

No wait, it must have been Oklahoma...

Be careful what house you live in when you throw stones.
 
Man alive. What did Louisiana-Monroe ever do to you Shane? That's the insult of all insults. :)

I know, burky...I was a little pi$$y this morning, I guess...

I'd hereby like to apologize to the fine folks of Louisiana-Monroe and everyone associated with their program as well as their fans...I'm...sorry...:eek:
 
Nah, Clavin. The best things about the 2002 season were:

-Conference Championship
-Orange Bowl berth

Of course, that's like speaking a different language to a Clone fan :)


Wow, didn't know you guys did those things- you're amazing. :rolleyes: You guys had a very nice team that season but find it interesting that when you played a team that actually had a good quarterback- you lost. Except Purdue which you barely pulled off at home. Good team but probably more a 15 to 20th ranked team and a non bcs bowl IMO.
 
Wow, didn't know you guys did those things- you're amazing. :rolleyes: You guys had a very nice team that season but find it interesting that when you played a team that actually had a good quarterback- you lost. Except Purdue which you barely pulled off at home. Good team but probably more a 15 to 20th ranked team and a non bcs bowl IMO.

Except for that they finished the regular season 11-1, got a BCS bid, and finished 8th in the country. About 7-12 spots ahead of where you say they were.

Back to CyFan with you. Send isucyfan my regards.

But you're right about Carson Palmer. He did beat out Banks for the Heisman.
 
A thought or 2 about Iowa's 78th toughest schedule... ummm according to whom or what, pre-season pundits and the computer nerds?

Iowa cannot control it's Big Ten schedule and evidently the Big Ten once again is down and at best the 4th or 5th toughest conference in college football.

Iowa has now played Iowa State, a BCS conference member, for 30 odd years in a row, home and home. Just like any intense rivalry, in-state or otherwise, it has been especially competitive over the last 10 years. There's only a half dozen or so inter state rivarlies that include teams from different BCS conferences. Remember the first 5 when Iowa was the underdog every year?

WE play Pittsburgh this year and Arizona last year and Arizona State in a home and home over the past 8 years or so. We all would love to play a 3rd BCS conference powerhouse year in and year out but it just doesn't work in this day and age.

I hate the low D 1 FBS opponent like LA-M and really hate any FCS team unless it's a UNI, or a consistent year in and year out Top 10 FCS contender.

I hate more the fact that Iowa pays Tenn Tech $1.1 million for coming to Kinnick. How about scheduling an opponent that will do a 2 for 1 like Miami Ohio back in the day when they were good or some other "lower" BCS opponent such as a Mountain West team? Of course not.

At the same time everyone would stop b%$@ching about the weak schedule and we could commit the $1.1 million to full cost scholly's to the Hawkeye "student-athletes"
 
I hate more the fact that Iowa pays Tenn Tech $1.1 million for coming to Kinnick. How about scheduling an opponent that will do a 2 for 1 like Miami Ohio back in the day when they were good or some other "lower" BCS opponent such as a Mountain West team? Of course not.

At the same time everyone would stop b%$@ching about the weak schedule and we could commit the $1.1 million to full cost scholly's to the Hawkeye "student-athletes"

The payout to Tenn Tech is probably because Iowa was forced to do a little bit of scheduling at the last moment. Often times, big money programs like ours get caught in a situation like that ... and we can often pay teams to play us even if they already were scheduled to face somebody else at that moment.
 
tx homer for your reply. Maybe so, maybe not.

And I think not because over the years the AD's and the colleges claimed that "we have to schedule 5 or 6 or 7 years out" It's a contract and it's the way it is.

That has been the biggest BS ever in sports over the years.

" We have our schedule set over the next 7 years and can't make a change" Pure BS

OK... I get not getting out of a one year contract... what a minute the powers to be do it when ever it doesn't work out for them... let alone 2 years down the road...

Remember when Mizzou bowed out a couple of years ago and PITT was replaced?

Sheesh... a contract signed is a contract made to be broken... and not worth the paper it's written on.
 
When it is all said and done I think we are looking at a 9-3 team ... We will be just fine ... Vandy has been in the system, as have the other players who will now become regular starters. Many of these "new" faces have seen plenty of playing time so I don't worry too much about the "inexperience." ... The key will be with Vandy ... He has not taken a lot of game-time snaps ... But, he has been in the system for three years now and this is his time to shine ... My guess is come late October the "national experts" will jump back on the Iowa bandwagon because they simply won't be able to ignore us any longer...
 
When it is all said and done I think we are looking at a 9-3 team ... We will be just fine ... Vandy has been in the system, as have the other players who will now become regular starters. Many of these "new" faces have seen plenty of playing time so I don't worry too much about the "inexperience." ... The key will be with Vandy ... He has not taken a lot of game-time snaps ... But, he has been in the system for three years now and this is his time to shine ... My guess is come late October the "national experts" will jump back on the Iowa bandwagon because they simply won't be able to ignore us any longer...

I think that is a pretty fair description of how I see things too.

Just as long as some of the guys who are JRs or younger on the DL make some nice strides ... I think that we're looking at a 2012 squad that could, once again, have a shot to be pretty special. Of course, that is also assuming Reiff returns too.
 
As a follow up to my original post, it's interesting to note the "story-lines" that emerged in 2002 that helped to propel that team to such lofty heights ....

0. The OL ... but that was actually kind of predictable given the talent and experience of the group
1. The Brad Banks story
2. Three new starters on the DL ... no problem ... arguably the best group against the run in the Ferentz era
3. Bob Sanders continuing to be Bob Sanders ... and he made nice strides in coverage too (almost a human highlight-reel)
4. Russell and Lewis emerging as a two-headed dragon
5. JJ already emerging as a "pick artist"
6. Mo Brown ... was a JR and not even a starter ... and still put up crazy numbers
... and there were so many more!

Now the question WILL BE ... what will be the story-lines emerging from the 2011 season?
 
tx homer for your reply. Maybe so, maybe not.

And I think not because over the years the AD's and the colleges claimed that "we have to schedule 5 or 6 or 7 years out" It's a contract and it's the way it is.

That has been the biggest BS ever in sports over the years.

" We have our schedule set over the next 7 years and can't make a change" Pure BS

OK... I get not getting out of a one year contract... what a minute the powers to be do it when ever it doesn't work out for them... let alone 2 years down the road...

Remember when Mizzou bowed out a couple of years ago and PITT was replaced?

Sheesh... a contract signed is a contract made to be broken... and not worth the paper it's written on.

And sometimes teams back out of those contracts (see: Mizzou). I'd prefer it if we didn't play teams like TN Tech, too.

But our schedule doesn't exactly look that strong. I don't get why people get in such a tizzy over something like this in JULY. Pitt looks like they will be down (new coach, no Dion Lewis or Jon Baldwin). Iowa State is almost never going to help your SOS in the preseason. We don't play Wisky OR Ohio State. Michigan is a wild card. MSU should be pretty good. Northwestern doesn't have much beyond Persa, and who knows how he's going to be after that injury. PSU still has a lot of question marks. Anyway, you get the idea.

Besides, it's not like this #78 ranking is etched in stone. Should MSU have 10+ wins, Michigan finish with 9, Pitt with 10, etc., then that ranking will be adjusted accordingly. Seriously, getting annoyed with a SOS ranking in July is foolish. It has absolutely ZERO bearing on the season (unlike preseason top 25, which can have a rather large impact).
 
I love the optimism, and I can understand it, but I'm not sold on it just yet. Yes, I probably am one of those Hawkeye fans that needs to get over the 'we're Iowa so expect a letdown' mentality, but last year did nothing to make that go away. There are a lot of question marks and a lot of potential bright spots but I'm not even going to focus on that right now. Our schedule is what has me nervous. Yes, on paper it looks as though we have a favorable schedule but IMO we're going to need it. Here's the teams I see as potential road bumps.
Penn State - really, how bad can Ferentz dominate this team? they have to win one of these sooner or later, odds would say sooner but who knows.
Northwestern - Persa is good. I mean real good. These guys will be tough even at Kinnick.
Michigan - its cliche but IMO its true; they are Michigan, they will be back. They do have a new coach but that may not necessarily be a bad thing for them and they have an experienced playmaker at QB. I have the feeling they are on the verge of being a dominating program once again. People keep pointing out our similarities to '02, the question I have is this-did Michigan just have their '01 Hawkeye season or is it coming this year? Hopefully its coming this year but they could make a run at the division.
Michigan State - revenge factor X10. They gotta hate us, plus they may have the 2nd best QB in the conference this year.
Purdue - I think they're going to be solid this year and we have them on the road after Mich and MSU and right before heading to Lincoln. Another cliche but that could spell t-r-a-p.
Nebraska - favorites to win not only the division but the conference and its on the road. Right now you have to give Nebby the edge on this game (and it hurts saying that) but theres a lot of time between now and then, lots can happen.

OOC
ISU - not worried about this one, but I guess it is technically a rivalry.
Pitt - not too worried about this one either, especially with the coaching change fiasco, but they are one of the favorites to win the Big East FWIW.

The road games (PSU, Purdue, Nebby): hey, 2 outta 3 aint bad.
Home games (NW, MI, MSU): same, 2/3.

So at my most optmistic I see 2 losses. I would sign up for that right now. But there could easily be 4 losses (PSU, NW, MI, NE) or more depending on injuries and how the ball bounces. Could be a really special season, could be a really frustrating one. One thing is for sure, it should be a really entertaining one.

I'll go out on a limb and say I predict 9-3, but its a pessimistic 9-3 that depends on JVB and Coker staying healthy. I like how someone mentioned Hawkeye fans need to start getting used to reloading. Not sure that we're quite there yet, but if my pessimistic prediction is only 3 losses, well that's getting damn close to being there.
 
I love the optimism, and I can understand it, but I'm not sold on it just yet. Yes, I probably am one of those Hawkeye fans that needs to get over the 'we're Iowa so expect a letdown' mentality, but last year did nothing to make that go away. There are a lot of question marks and a lot of potential bright spots but I'm not even going to focus on that right now. Our schedule is what has me nervous. Yes, on paper it looks as though we have a favorable schedule but IMO we're going to need it. Here's the teams I see as potential road bumps.

Cosity -

I think that you still need to be able to put last year more into context.

Injuries really killed us last year ... AND whenever you have injuries but don't have really strong leaders like Angerer or Sanders ... then a team can "fold" a bit when high expectations aren't met.

If injuries strike again in 2011 ... then sure, a mediocre season could certainly ensue. That will always be the case until we can better retain the talent that we get. Since we're not viewed as an elite team yet ... when we get higher profile recruits ... many of them almost expect that they'll be a shoe-in to start (at least eventually). Thus, when they don't ... then some of them transfer. Also, in order to land some really impressive talent ... we sometimes take chances on guys who could be academic liabilities. As a result, we end up landing guys who either don't get by the clearinghouse OR who don't remain eligible once they hit campus.

Anyhow, if we work within the premise that the injuries won't hammer us too hard ... then I anticipate that we'll end up having a pretty good team in 2011. That's not optimism ... that's reality provided that injuries don't strike too bad.
 

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