Remaining Road Schedule

[NikeHawk21]

When you read that breakdown, it makes the Nebraska game hurt worse. If things go bad, like they easily could, we might need that extra win.

Yup. Which is why at the time I thought that might have been our undoing. I expected CJ to sit out much longer than he did. Instead of going 2-0 vs Rutgers and Michigan, we could have easily gone 0-2 without CJ. Then we’d be sitting here talking about how the heck we get to 9 conference wins.

Happy as heck we got CJ back sooner than I expected and the team has responded the way they have.

 

[WindsorHawk]

We should get good and familiar with the tiebreaker rules because there is likely going to be like 8-10 teams with between 8-12 wins.

I haven’t reviewed the tiebreakers yet this year. But I know beating Rutgers was important since we only play them once. And they could easily be involved in tie scenarios. I think they have a good team and coach.

Edit - And we only play Wisconsin once. So Monday’s game is also very important.

 

[dahlhawk]

The regardless of home or away, the next 5 are brutal because of where they fall.

Monday - Wisconsin
Thursday - @Maryland
Sunday - Illinois
Wednesday - @Purdue
Saturday - Nebraska**

We have to take care of Wisconsin to start things out, but every game against Wisconsin is a slugfest that can take a lot out of us and they already have 2 of the best road wins in the conference @PSU and @OSU. Then a quick turn around with only 2 days of rest/travel to Maryland who will have an extra day off to prepare for us along with the luxury of not having to travel and the advantage of their dumb Under Armor balls. Then we have to travel back and only get 2 days to prepare for Illinois who will have just played at home against MN and only has a short jaunt over to Iowa City. Then with only 2 more days to recover/prepare we again travel to Purdue who completely dismantled Michigan State at home and will be our 4th game in 10 days. The final game in this stretch only only a couple days later against Nebraska will hopefully give us a chance for retribution, but only if we have our legs under us.

Only after all of that do we get a chance to rest for a bit before we travel back to back @Indiana (who also knocked off Michigan State at home) and @Minnesota. If we get off to a rocky start and get too worn down, 1-4 is a real possibility and the season could look like it's crumbling by the end of the first week in February.

Our guys have shown a lot of grit so far, but I'd argue we're entering the teeth of the schedule in the next 5 in large part because of how the games are scheduled.

I guess I didn't look to far ahead on the schedule but this kind of spacing between games has to be looked at in future schedules. Two weeknights in one week is just plain dumb. We have had some really condensed scheduling and then Iowa sits around and waits. I know we won't ever go back to Tuesdays, Saturdays, because of TV and the rights being spit to so many outlets but you got to think of the student/athletes who are trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in going to school. Plus we as fans are being asked to go to 8 pm games on weekdays, and as a non-resident of Iowa City that pretty shoots down most games for me.

 

[Grady]

Yea, the Rutgers and Wisconsin games are so important not just because they're home but because of the rest time between games and playing them only once this season. The tough part of Iowa's schedule is still ahead, especially with the condensed schedule and Iowa's short bench. I've watched Rutgers a number of times this year, and their defense vs Iowa was nothing like it has been for most of the year -- I credit that partly to them having 2 days less than Iowa between games + travel. It's gotta make a difference.