Road to the NC: Style Points and Stats

J

jameskalina

Well-Known Member
Seems to me the more I watch college football the more style points and stats appear to factor into who's perceived as the best of the best and thus given a better shot at the national championship.

This observation does not bode well for the Iowa Hawkeyes as Coach Ferentz does not run up the score, does not put back in the defensive starters to hold down a score (as Nebraska tried to do last night) and does not deliberately and intentionally run up big statistics.

The Oregon Ducks are working their way up the rankings in part because they are putting up huge scores. Boise State will stay high in the rankings as long as they continue to destory their so-so to weak competition by huge margins. Last night Nebraska put back their first team defense on a 1st and goal at on their one yard line late in the game to keep the Kansas State score at 6 points (the Cornhuskers failed on 4th down and KSU scored anyway).

Iowa, on the other hand, did not put in their 1st team defense late in the game to preserve a shut out when Iowa State was driving. Rather Iowa kept their reserves in and Iowa State scored. The same can be said about Iowa's offense. When given a chance the coaching staff substitutes players and does not attempt to grab an easy score or two late in the game when the contest has been long out of reach.

I commend Coach Ferentz and his staff for not running up the score, holding down the score or running up stats and basically embarrassing the competition just to impress the pollsters. On the other hand this may cost Iowa an eventual shot at winning the national championship during Ferentz' tenure at Iowa.

Your thoughts? Should Ferentz and staff go for "style points" and impress the voters or should the coaching staff stay the course and continue to be good sports on the field and not embarrass the competition? My vote is for the staff to stay the course and be good sports even at the expense of a national championship.
 
jameskalina said:
Seems to me the more I watch college football the more style points and stats appear to factor into who's perceived as the best of the best and thus given a better shot at the national championship.

This observation does not bode well for the Iowa Hawkeyes as Coach Ferentz does not run up the score, does not put back in the defensive starters to hold down a score (as Nebraska tried to do last night) and does not deliberately and intentionally run up big statistics.

The Oregon Ducks are working their way up the rankings in part because they are putting up huge scores. Boise State will stay high in the rankings as long as they continue to destory their so-so to weak competition by huge margins. Last night Nebraska put back their first team defense on a 1st and goal at on their one yard line late in the game to keep the Kansas State score at 6 points (the Cornhuskers failed on 4th down and KSU scored anyway).

Iowa, on the other hand, did not put in their 1st team defense late in the game to preserve a shut out when Iowa State was driving. Rather Iowa kept their reserves in and Iowa State scored. The same can be said about Iowa's offense. When given a chance the coaching staff substitutes players and does not attempt to grab an easy score or two late in the game when the contest has been long out of reach.

I commend Coach Ferentz and his staff for not running up the score, holding down the score or running up stats and basically embarrassing the competition just to impress the pollsters. On the other hand this may cost Iowa an eventual shot at winning the national championship during Ferentz' tenure at Iowa.

Your thoughts? Should Ferentz and staff go for "style points" and impress the voters or should the coaching staff stay the course and continue to be good sports on the field and not embarrass the competition? My vote is for the staff to stay the course and be good sports even at the expense of a national championship.
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So I wrote up a nice little spiel and it didn't post, so instead of typing it all again. I say I'm fine with what KF is doing. If you win it takes care of your problems. I wouldn't want a coach like Saban, Meyer, Pelini, or Petersen anyway. If Iowa goes undefeated this year they are in. But they lost to AZ, so who knows. All you can do is win. Do that and it takes care of itself.
 
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jameskalina said:
Seems to me the more I watch college football the more style points and stats appear to factor into who's perceived as the best of the best and thus given a better shot at the national championship.

This observation does not bode well for the Iowa Hawkeyes as Coach Ferentz does not run up the score, does not put back in the defensive starters to hold down a score (as Nebraska tried to do last night) and does not deliberately and intentionally run up big statistics.

The Oregon Ducks are working their way up the rankings in part because they are putting up huge scores. Boise State will stay high in the rankings as long as they continue to destory their so-so to weak competition by huge margins. Last night Nebraska put back their first team defense on a 1st and goal at on their one yard line late in the game to keep the Kansas State score at 6 points (the Cornhuskers failed on 4th down and KSU scored anyway).

Iowa, on the other hand, did not put in their 1st team defense late in the game to preserve a shut out when Iowa State was driving. Rather Iowa kept their reserves in and Iowa State scored. The same can be said about Iowa's offense. When given a chance the coaching staff substitutes players and does not attempt to grab an easy score or two late in the game when the contest has been long out of reach.

I commend Coach Ferentz and his staff for not running up the score, holding down the score or running up stats and basically embarrassing the competition just to impress the pollsters. On the other hand this may cost Iowa an eventual shot at winning the national championship during Ferentz' tenure at Iowa.

Your thoughts? Should Ferentz and staff go for "style points" and impress the voters or should the coaching staff stay the course and continue to be good sports on the field and not embarrass the competition? My vote is for the staff to stay the course and be good sports even at the expense of a national championship.
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It really just comes down to winning. If you're in a BCS conference, not including the Big East, and you win out, odds are pretty good that you're going to play for a title. There have been very rare exceptions (Auburn '04) but for the most part if you go undefeated you'll play for the title regardless of how much you win by.
 
Not a new phenomenon by any stretch.

Ask any PSU fan who can remember when they lost their #1 ranking to Nebraska because closer than expected win over Indiana late in the season caused them to slide.
 
"My vote is for the staff to stay the course and be good sports even at the expense of a national championship."

No way, you should do whatever you can to win the national championship short of cheating. I think it is weakness of Kirk's philosophy. You should not feel bad about beating an opponent fair and square.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
"My vote is for the staff to stay the course and be good sports even at the expense of a national championship."

No way, you should do whatever you can to win the national championship short of cheating. I think it is weakness of Kirk's philosophy. You should not feel bad about beating an opponent fair and square.
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We defeated EIU, ISU, Ball St, and Penn St. fair and square. This percieved need to run up the score on an undermanned opponent really p*sses me off. What's wrong with getting a comfortable lead, and then letting your reserves and underclassmen get some valuable game experience? This is one of my biggest pet peeves in college and high-school football; coaches with big egos tossing good sportsmanship out the window for "style points.

In fact an example of this occured last night at a 7th grade game here in my hometown. We had an agreement with the opposing team (who happens to be our arch-rival), to play a "fifth quarter" in which the reserves from both teams who get to play very little, if at all, get a chance to get in and get some playing time. Long story short, our rivals had swept us at each grade-level so far this year, and this was the last grade-level matchup (at least until the playoffs;)). We just so happened to be leading by a touchdown going into the "fifth quarter". We put in out reserves...and they left in their starters. They promptly marched down the field twice for touchdowns. At this point our coach called a timeout, and marched right over to the other sideline and asked them what the hell they where doing and they simply shrugged their shoulders and blew him off. Even the refs where completely dumbfounded by their total douchebaggery.

This is the kind of bush league crap that sets my blood on fire, and I'm damn proud that Kirk Ferentz doesn't subscribe to such a philosophy.
 
Well, 7th grade football is not the same thing is competing for a national championship. Sorry to hear about that though. If there was an agreement, it should have been honored.

However, in the case of major college sports, the fact of the matter is, you need to win and win impressively, especially if you are not a traditional power. One of these days, it may cost us a shot at it by playing the nice guy.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Iowa looks to be at around 10th in the computer average. They were 15, I believe, last time around. They beat quality competition (Penn St), and moved up. Keep winning, and the final score won't matter as much, because we need other teams to loose anyway to have a shot at a NC. If only TCU and Boise St. would just... go.. away..

Our defense is impressive. I stumbled accross Hayden Fry's book, started reading a little of Hayden Fry's account of 1981, and how important defense was in beating 3 #6 teams that year. Impressive. I felt dismayed at the 2nd 1/2 of Penn State as well, but don't anymore.

College Football Ranking Comparison
 
My old man and I were recently discussing this issue, and we basically concluded that sadly, Ferentz' class and integrity may someday cost the Hawks some chances. It sucks that college football has evolved this way, but you can see it almost happening year after year. And about the time our beloved Hawks end up undefeated and #3 in a final regular season poll and don't get a shot at the NC game, there may very well be different attitudes re this subject.

Also, I'm a believer that if you've lost once, you're gripes re polls and bowls go out the window. Want to play for BCS bowls and maybe even the NC? Win every game decidedly and don't leave things up to chance. Recall Mack Brown and TX a couple years ago whining and politicking incessantly b/c OU got in the NC game and TX didn't, after TX had beaten OU head to head? It wouldn't have been an issue had TX taken care of business against TTU. The source of TX's frustration should have been their play at TTU, not pollsters and OU.
 
You know what? I think the way we do it now is just fine. We are competitive year after year and game after game. We are entertaining; we are putting an unprecedented number of contributing players into the NFL and other post college leagues; we are getting our guys degrees and huge national exposure. Would I like to win a NC? Hell yes, but not at the expense of being a pompous poor sportsmanship team.

Our younger kids are able to also learn from this attitude and that carries over to so many other areas beyond sports. We are Iowa! (and) we are respected nationally. Do we deserve more? Probably, but so do several other programs at this early mid-season I'm sure. I think if you take care of each game and end undefeated, then you'd have a legitimate shot to say you're the best team out there.

We may not do it with "style" points, but we do it with true football grit. We still land many of the top recruits that we desire and we win football games - a lot of them. We get, and still have, a great shot this year for a new years day bowl, even a BCS bowl. Who knows, we still could be in the NC picture in the end. We don't need no stinkin style points - after all, DEFENSE wins championships!
 
I would hate to see the Hawks become one of the run-up-the-score teams. Maybe it is a carry-over from the pre-Hayden days, when it seemed like the other teams used the Hawks to pad their stats.
At the end of the day, everyone has to live with themselves. In my opinion, the Hawkeye coaches and players can sleep well knowing they gave it their best and did not intentionally embarrass the other team.
 
jameskalina said:
Last night Nebraska put back their first team defense on a 1st and goal at on their one yard line late in the game to keep the Kansas State score at 6 points (the Cornhuskers failed on 4th down and KSU scored anyway).
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Not exactly running up the score or padding the stats. More likely using it as a teaching exercise - Nebraska has tougher competition coming up and needs its Blackshirts ready. Now, it is a loss of experience for the second teamers, etc.....

Like others have said, win your BCS conference and you should be playing for the NC. Going undefeated, especially starting next year with the B10 championship game, and style points won't matter.
 
Winning games is all that should matter, but unfortunately it is not. I don't like how some schools feel it is important to run up the score, but until there is a playoff some coaches will do what they have to do to get the chance at a NC. At those schools the coach has so much ego that they feel they need to be in the spotlight at all times, and that they must put on a show to to feel relevant and keep their job. I am glad that KF does not feel that pressure, and can win footballs games the right way. The people that really get college football and understand what building a solid, respected program is all about understand what a great job KF does in Iowa City.

What other sport lets polls and computers come up with what two teams, and only two teams, get the opportunity to play for their national championship?
 
well I get both sides of this. So I have a son in high school he was a 2nd team all state defensive lineman last year as a junior so I of course want him to be better this year.

So far this year the toughest part of the schedule was in the front end and he has been double and triple team so far but has done well. With the easier games coming up I thought they would be good for his stats but the last game we were ahead by 35 at the end of a quarter. So now he's not playing much in the second qt. and non in the second half.
That;s great for the team and him for the season to stay healthy but the stats weren't that good. Seemed we were on offense all the time.

In the end I should just be happy for the other parents that got to see their sons in a varsity game.

But the only reason I was there was to see my son play. Just to be honest!
 
I'm not a proponent of running it up by scoring 50 points every Saturday. But I do wish we would maybe go for that ONE extra score once in a while. I just hate the thought of someday sitting back and wondering what could have been.
 
Dunbar said:
Not exactly running up the score or padding the stats. More likely using it as a teaching exercise - Nebraska has tougher competition coming up and needs its Blackshirts ready. Now, it is a loss of experience for the second teamers, etc.....
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Kansas State has the ball first and goal on the Nebraska one yard line late in the game and Nebraska sends in their first team defense to try to stop a score. I don't buy the argument the Nebraska coaching staff was using the first and goal as a teaching exercise for their first team defense. It would have made more sense to keep the 2nd and 3rd team players in on first and goal as a teaching exercise. It's clear to me the Nebraska coaching staff wanted to keep KSU from scoring and pad Nebraska's scoring stats.
 
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