My collection of thoughts

[dirtwrap]

I have to preface this post with the fact that I don't think that the so called experts on college football know anything other than what they read. But one guy has to start it I guess.

* have you read the article on ESPN from Dinich on the playoffs. Does not even mention Iowa even though he does talk about Michigan. The funny thing is that many non-iowa fans posted in the comments. That's cool.

* By any metric we are a great football team. We run the ball, stop the run, have a vertical passing game, don't turn the ball over and we keep teams out of the end zone. Say that about any team and it will be considered by all as great. I am convinced we haven't even shown our hand yet. We have a lot left in the tank, but we haven't needed to show it because our coach has class.

* Can anyone explain the love for Stanford? They have a loss, and it's like the experts and pollsters give them a free pass. But it's not like they are beating great teams. Look at the stats. They score a few more points than us per game, but everything else is worse. Not to mention them getting beat by northwestern.

* I watched the Baylor and ISU game. Baylors run defense is worse than putrid. They don't even try. I can only assume TCU is the same way. I want to see them play a team like us, Wisconsin, Michigan, MSU or OSU. I promise you they are not nearly as good as you think. If someone scores some points on them early and runs it down their throats, controls the clock, it could get stupid ugly.

 

[okieviaiowa]

we shall how things unfold .... we are a marked team in the next five games

 

[okieviaiowa]

Stanford has played a tougher schedule than the Hawks
the PAC 12 is a higher rated conference than the Big 10
Stanford runs the table with a victory over ND they probably end up F4

 

[uihawk82]

* Can anyone explain the love for Stanford? They have a loss, and it's like the experts and pollsters give them a free pass. But it's not like they are beating great teams. Look at the stats. They score a few more points than us per game, but everything else is worse. Not to mention them getting beat by northwestern.

* I watched the Baylor and ISU game. Baylors run defense is worse than putrid. They don't even try. I can only assume TCU is the same way. I want to see them play a team like us, Wisconsin, Michigan, MSU or OSU. I promise you they are not nearly as good as you think. If someone scores some points on them early and runs it down their throats, controls the clock, it could get stupid ugly.

Dont forget the love last year for Ohio St and they lost their first game to an above average Va Tech team. In the polls etc it does not hurt nearly as much to lose early in the year.

I agree with you that Baylor and texas tech etc dont play very tough run defense.

 

[Bordone]

I think we will keep doing ok as long as the turnover battle keeps going in our favor. To be honest though, our defense is benefiting by two things. The first is that as always we are limiting the possessions in the game based on how we play both on o and d .

The second thing is most of the offenses we've faced have managed to shoot themselves in the foot. I haven't been counting how many catch-able balls have been dropped against us but it's quite a few.

I think this is why we aren't getting the love from the national media, if we go into Indiana and shut down that offense (not just outscore them) I think people will start jumping on the bandwagon.