Next Step/Level: WI, and now MSU....What about Iowa?

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DBAHawkFan

Well-Known Member
MSU just came off one of their best seasons ever. How they lost a game with that defense is a surprise to me, but once they settled on Cook he just got better and better.

They now have a Big10 Championship and Rose Bowl win. They have been so close before, hanging around, going to Cap One Bowls, but never seeming to get over the hump. You can call them an elite program, especially in the Big10.

Wisconsin had a transitional year, and if not for their turd of a game against PSU, would have had a pretty good year for Anderson's first season. Question is can he recruit and bring them back to competing for Big10 Championships and back to BCS bowls. They are a national program for going to three straight Rose Bowls before this year. Yes last year they were 7-5, but they did what they had to do to get there.

Now Iowa. Do we think KF can get us back? This was probably one of the most important years in his career. 4-8, just a horrible 2012....and 2013 didn't get started off that great. I think we were all surprised to flip the record to 8-4. And now comes 2014, a schedule that appears to be the easiest we've had in many years (if not ever).

This is a huge opporuntity for the program to bounce back, start putting the Iowa brand back in the spotlight. The only way we can do that, is to win and compete for the big10 title.

Can we do it with what we're losing on defense? What about the offense? Does anyone feel confident that it'll make bigger strides next season? The data on KF offenses says we'll most likely be a mid to lower of the pack offense, with a mid to upper defense.

Is that going to be good enough to get Iowa over the hump the next season or two?
 
DBAHawkFan said:
MSU just came off one of their best seasons ever. How they lost a game with that defense is a surprise to me, but once they settled on Cook he just got better and better.

They now have a Big10 Championship and Rose Bowl win. They have been so close before, hanging around, going to Cap One Bowls, but never seeming to get over the hump. You can call them an elite program, especially in the Big10.

Wisconsin had a transitional year, and if not for their turd of a game against PSU, would have had a pretty good year for Anderson's first season. Question is can he recruit and bring them back to competing for Big10 Championships and back to BCS bowls. They are a national program for going to three straight Rose Bowls before this year. Yes last year they were 7-5, but they did what they had to do to get there.

Now Iowa. Do we think KF can get us back? This was probably one of the most important years in his career. 4-8, just a horrible 2012....and 2013 didn't get started off that great. I think we were all surprised to flip the record to 8-4. And now comes 2014, a schedule that appears to be the easiest we've had in many years (if not ever).

This is a huge opporuntity for the program to bounce back, start putting the Iowa brand back in the spotlight. The only way we can do that, is to win and compete for the big10 title.

Can we do it with what we're losing on defense? What about the offense? Does anyone feel confident that it'll make bigger strides next season? The data on KF offenses says we'll most likely be a mid to lower of the pack offense, with a mid to upper defense.

Is that going to be good enough to get Iowa over the hump the next season or two?
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The schedule is about as easy as it can get, but remember Ferentz always drops a game or two he should not. Look for Iowa to be a 9-10 product next year. 50-50 chance of making it to the Big Ten Title game.
 
Hate to say it, but it is all up to the players.
As of today, they need to be thinking about next year.
Need a qb who can hit in stride and not just 10 yarders.
Need some people to carry the torch at lb.
Need some people to step up out back as well.
Need our ol and dl to get more powerful.
Need for a rb to step forward and say "I will not be denied", I am clearly #1.

If these kids work hard enough in the off season, and these things come to be, then yes they could be in the national talk again.
The one other thing they may need to deal with is success. Msu gets that. You can be king for a week or two, or you can forever be a part of history.
 
DBAHawkFan said:
...Now Iowa. Do we think KF can get us back? This was probably one of the most important years in his career. 4-8, just a horrible 2012....and 2013 didn't get started off that great. I think we were all surprised to flip the record to 8-4. And now comes 2014, a schedule that appears to be the easiest we've had in many years (if not ever).

Can we do it with what we're losing on defense? What about the offense? Does anyone feel confident that it'll make bigger strides next season? The data on KF offenses says we'll most likely be a mid to lower of the pack offense, with a mid to upper defense.

Is that going to be good enough to get Iowa over the hump the next season or two?
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Can KF get Iowa back with the likes of MSU, Wisky, and even tOSU, you ask? Iowa's D has to get better. I saw great strides in Iowa's secondary against LSU. Iowa's D line was the weak link in Iowa's D against LSU. <P> Iowa's O is a whole nuther, mixed bag of problems. You can't expect a 'weak tea' offense to suffice when the D still has D line problems - when the D isn't dominant. In the LSU game, Iowa's O line was about as bad as Iowa's D line. After fixing all that, put in the QB that gives Iowa more offense. That's Beathard, BTW. When Iowa fixes all these problems, Iowa will have a great team that'll compete for championships for years. <P> Lastly, I read a bit of the previous post and it's on KF as well as the players.
 
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We'll improve next year, but I don't think we'll be playing in the Rose Bowl (or similar) for awhile. We've had our shots to take that next step forward under Ferentz, and we've failed to do so both times. Wisconsin didn't waste their opportunity.
 
You need talent to take the step Wisky and MSU have. We don't have it and we aren't going to recruit it any time soon. You don't need to recruit like Alabama but you need to be top 30, and get a 5 star guy from time to time.
 
DBAHawkFan said:
You can call them an elite program, especially in the Big10.
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No, you really can't. They have been the biggest beneficiary of Michigan being down. Rodriguez conceded recruits in the State of Michigan to MSU. MSU improved. Basically, MSU has had a decent run similar to when Iowa had its two runs from 2002-2004 and 2008-2010, but the Big Ten has been way lower during MSU's run. It seems like most times Iowa is good, the rest of the B1G is a freaking murderer's row. But for Sparty, at least this year they benefited tremendously from Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa and Northwestern all having pretty mediocre to even bad teams and they drew a pretty soft crossover schedule (Indiana, Purdue and Illinois). Their only tough in conference game was the championship game. Sparty will fall back to earth soon enough. Just give it time.
 
tm3308 said:
We'll improve next year, but I don't think we'll be playing in the Rose Bowl (or similar) for awhile. We've had our shots to take that next step forward under Ferentz, and we've failed to do so both times. Wisconsin didn't waste their opportunity.
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Not only did they miss out in '05 and '10, '06 and '11 you could make an argument that they were 8 or 9 win teams.....'07 and '12 teams weren't great, but they should have been able to get 7 wins.

Biggest frustration of KF era a lot wins left on the table.
 
I love our schedule next year. Just hate it that everybody will be saying we have an easy schedule. That said, will be fun playing in the BIG championship game. With a year under his belt, Ruddock will be crazy good next year. We lose a couple of guys, but most everybody coming back. 2014 will rock.
 
MSU is the flavor of the year. But I've seen them implode many times in the past, and it will happen again. I think the hardest thing a coaching staff has to do is to keep 18-21 year olds from believing in their press clippings, but instead getting them to forget about the past and work towards the next year. Maybe Dantonio can make it work, but it's hard. Saban has been the best at it, but it doesn't hurt to have the best talent year in and year out, competing against each other for playing time.

I think Iowa is poised to hit their stride. It was satisfying as a fan to read about the commitment this team made last November to turn things around - and then for them to realize the success that came out of that hard work. If that same level of focus and drive stays with the current team, I think they can get to the next level. With some luck on the injury front, I think they will, based on what I've read about the makeup of this junior class - Scherff, Trinca-Pasat, KMM to name a few - serious guys who want to win. Plus, they have talent at a lot of positions next year, and guys stepping into starting roles who have seen playing time in key situations, not just mop up duty.
 
okeefe4prez said:
No, you really can't. They have been the biggest beneficiary of Michigan being down. Rodriguez conceded recruits in the State of Michigan to MSU. MSU improved. Basically, MSU has had a decent run similar to when Iowa had its two runs from 2002-2004 and 2008-2010, but the Big Ten has been way lower during MSU's run. It seems like most times Iowa is good, the rest of the B1G is a freaking murderer's row. But for Sparty, at least this year they benefited tremendously from Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa and Northwestern all having pretty mediocre to even bad teams and they drew a pretty soft crossover schedule (Indiana, Purdue and Illinois). Their only tough in conference game was the championship game. Sparty will fall back to earth soon enough. Just give it time.
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They beat the best teams in the Big10 this year. They pounded Stanford (which was probably a good matchup for them).

I guess my frustration with Iowa (among many things) is that we haven't taken advantage of promising situations. We come off three straight top 10 finishes, we have loads of talent on our 2005 squad and we blow it. Same thing with 2006 (understand injuries and off field hurt that year).

But MSU, WI, OSU, and what used to be PSU...they all do the thing Iowa hasn't done till this year, beat the bad teams. Even in our down years, think of what we could have done to promote the program had we just beaten the Indianas, Purdue, Iowa States......Western Michigan....

We compete against the top schools in the Big10, even do quite well against some of them, MSU, Michigan and PSU we've had our fair share of success.

but to compete for Big10 titles (which in turn would get us very good bowl games), we have to start consistently beating the bad teams.

MSU did that this year, took advantage of a down year in Big10, and then beat OSU in the final. Can they keep it up? Maybe, they've been knocking on the door every year it seems

o be in the conversation. Some years we fall short, but it'd be fun to have a chance each year.
 
homes said:
MSU is the flavor of the year. But I've seen them implode many times in the past, and it will happen again. I think the hardest thing a coaching staff has to do is to keep 18-21 year olds from believing in their press clippings, but instead getting them to forget about the past and work towards the next year. Maybe Dantonio can make it work, but it's hard. Saban has been the best at it, but it doesn't hurt to have the best talent year in and year out, competing against each other for playing time.

I think Iowa is poised to hit their stride. It was satisfying as a fan to read about the commitment this team made last November to turn things around - and then for them to realize the success that came out of that hard work. If that same level of focus and drive stays with the current team, I think they can get to the next level. With some luck on the injury front, I think they will, based on what I've read about the makeup of this junior class - Scherff, Trinca-Pasat, KMM to name a few - serious guys who want to win. Plus, they have talent at a lot of positions next year, and guys stepping into starting roles who have seen playing time in key situations, not just mop up duty.
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MSU might not keep winning Rose Bowls, but they've been riding pretty high since the start of 2010. They're 42-12 over the last four seasons, with three conference championships and three straight bowl wins. Dantonio has done a pretty good job of maintaining his success so far. They'll likely take a step back next year, but Cook looks like a guy who will take some big leaps forward as a QB. He reminds me a little bit of Cousins in that regard. And while we can argue that Michigan being down has helped them (which is true)...Michigan ain't really getting better right now. MSU is likely going to remain a fixture near the top of the standings for the foreseeable future.
 
tm3308 said:
MSU might not keep winning Rose Bowls, but they've been riding pretty high since the start of 2010. They're 42-12 over the last four seasons, with three conference championships and three straight bowl wins. Dantonio has done a pretty good job of maintaining his success so far. They'll likely take a step back next year, but Cook looks like a guy who will take some big leaps forward as a QB. He reminds me a little bit of Cousins in that regard. And while we can argue that Michigan being down has helped them (which is true)...Michigan ain't really getting better right now. MSU is likely going to remain a fixture near the top of the standings for the foreseeable future.
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No, MSU isn't going to remain near the top. The Big Ten is cyclical other than OSU and until the disastrous Rodriguez hire, Michigan. And it comes in spurts. Sometimes Iowa gets up there with the big boys. Nebraska will get its turn. Wisconsin had its run. MSU has had its run. Even Illinois broke into the club a few times in the past decade or so. But no one stays up there other than the Big Two. It has worked this way my whole life and there is not some sea change just because MSU had all the pieces this year and drew a great bowl matchup. Goodness, Iowa loses a bowl game and suddenly MSU is on the cusp of dominating the conference. Are you guys still drunk or something?
 
okeefe4prez said:
No, MSU isn't going to remain near the top. The Big Ten is cyclical other than OSU and until the disastrous Rodriguez hire, Michigan. And it comes in spurts. Sometimes Iowa gets up there with the big boys. Nebraska will get its turn. Wisconsin had its run. MSU has had its run. Even Illinois broke into the club a few times in the past decade or so. But no one stays up there other than the Big Two. It has worked this way my whole life and there is not some sea change just because MSU had all the pieces this year and drew a great bowl matchup. Goodness, Iowa loses a bowl game and suddenly MSU is on the cusp of dominating the conference. Are you guys still drunk or something?
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I agree with this. MSU loses a lot on D next year. There are no guarantees that past success dictates future success when you aren't constantly recruiting at the top (Wi, MSU, Iowa, etc).

I remember 2009 and 2010.. that can just as easily happen to MSU with key pieces of the D graduating
 
okeefe4prez said:
Look, guy, Iowa will never have "a chance" each year. It just won't. If you want a chance each year, become an OSU fan.
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Yeah well I will never get to fly around like George Jetson either, but that does not mean I dont want to.
It is just like coaches say, drive and want to are the keys to success.
Break the rock applies to the whole program.
 
It depends upon recruiting and keeping good coaches. It seems Iowa and other schools lose coaches and then must retool for the most part. So far MSU has kept the staff in tact. Iowa now has the coaches again and must now go recruit better to compete for division titles, etc..
 
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