So, after we go 2-10 ...

[okeefe4prez]

You realize that one of those injured guys was a back-up, right, as in not even a starter? We are one or two injuries away from dead last in the B1G in rushing again, just like last year. The 2nd string line is littered with freshmen. On defense, we have the worst DE group in major conference football and will finish dead last in the B1G in sacks and TFL, again, just like we did last year. I do not see a lot of cause for optimism here.

Don't use "we" clowntroll. The lines are going to be improved. Ferentz will always have a year where guys get dominated in the trenches but then he comes back strong the next year. Here is the most important formula in Iowa football: Underclassman who got tossed around like a rag doll + one offseason with Chris Doyle = STUD. That team quit last year and I guarantee you one or two guys are sick of losing. A new Mitch King type of player will emerge and the troops will rally. It's the cycle of Iowa football. Now I ain't saying book your tickets to the OSU rematch in Indy in December or anything, but this ballclub ain't gonna be as bad as uninformed fans think.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Dude, we're not going 2-10. No way. The o-line is good enough that even Greg Davis' Tecmo Bowl playbook will be sufficient to win at least 6 games. If you just started watching Iowa football at the end of last season, you might not understand this, but when Iowa is good in the trenches, it has a good ballclub, even with a marginal QB like Chandler or underclassman Stanzi. I like the directions on both lines. The team took a giant step backwards last year after the o-line suffered two key injuries against PSU, but that ball club would have looked a lot different without those injuries. The d-line isn't going to give opposing QBs 12 seconds to pass this year and the rest of the defense will look materially better as a result.

I'm pretty confident you sold your screen name to someone else...but I like the new guy who bought it. This pretty much sums up my beliefs about last year and why there is optimism for 2013 and beyond. Those injuries on the offensive line last year damaged the offense and defense about the same amount in my opinion, and started a downward spiral that was irreversable...and we still almost beat Indiana, Purdue, and Nebraska. This is a much different team than 2012...much different. Older, more experienced, and more importantly, more depth. We need playmakers plain and simple. I think between Bullock, Canzeri, T. Smith, Powell, or one of the freshman receivers, somebody steps up. We have many more opportunities for that to happen...than we had last year.

 

[FreedomHawk]

Don't use "we" clowntroll. The lines are going to be improved. Ferentz will always have a year where guys get dominated in the trenches but then he comes back strong the next year. Here is the most important formula in Iowa football: Underclassman who got tossed around like a rag doll + one offseason with Chris Doyle = STUD. That team quit last year and I guarantee you one or two guys are sick of losing. A new Mitch King type of player will emerge and the troops will rally. It's the cycle of Iowa football. Now I ain't saying book your tickets to the OSU rematch in Indy in December or anything, but this ballclub ain't gonna be as bad as uninformed fans think.

Doyle has been completely worthless since rhabdo. You are the biggest idiot troll on this or any other Iowa board. Congrats on that.

 

[kmurp]

You realize that one of those injured guys was a back-up, right, as in not even a starter? We are one or two injuries away from dead last in the B1G in rushing again, just like last year. The 2nd string line is littered with freshmen. On defense, we have the worst DE group in major conference football and will finish dead last in the B1G in sacks and TFL, again, just like we did last year. I do not see a lot of cause for optimism here.

I see two RS Freshmen on the two deeps. Hopefully, they won't be needed. I have no more way of refuting your De comment than you have of backing it up, I would guess. I have no idea what every other team fields at DE. Obviously, people need to improve at DE and WR or it's a long year. I hope that they do so.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I'm pretty confident you sold your screen name to someone else...but I like the new guy who bought it. This pretty much sums up my beliefs about last year and why there is optimism for 2013 and beyond. Those injuries on the offensive line last year damaged the offense and defense about the same amount in my opinion, and started a downward spiral that was irreversable...and we still almost beat Indiana, Purdue, and Nebraska. This is a much different team than 2012...much different. Older, more experienced, and more importantly, more depth. We need playmakers plain and simple. I think between Bullock, Canzeri, T. Smith, Powell, or one of the freshman receivers, somebody steps up. We have many more opportunities for that to happen...than we had last year.

Well, to be honest, Davis looked like he had O'Keefe's playbook for the first few drives of the Indiana game. Saw them load the box and went play action up top. It ain't rocket surgery. But then he went away form what was working. We should have beaten Indiana by 21 points. That was just terrible coaching. But I don't care who we almost beat. The team was dejected after that PSU game. It used to be that Kurt's teams got better as October and November wore on, but of late they have gotten worse. I think he turns that around this year.

 

[HerkyDude]

Unbelievable stupidity by supposed fans I give up, I wont be on this site for months

 

[bws258]

No doubt, with a post like that I wonder if he's excited about the start of the season. Maybe I'm out of my mind, but everyone is 0-0 at this time of year. If you can't be excited about the start of the season and are anticipating the thought of your team going 2-10 why even follow them.

Not trying to call out OP or take a shot at him, but I'm one of the fans that coem into the season with a positive outlook thinking we'll turn the corner. I just don't know if I could honestly get into something that I thought would turn out really bad (primary reason I don't play golf).

I go to a lot of games, bought season tickets for several years, and am an alumnus ... so of course I am excited about the upcoming season. My only hope for this season is that I am wrong. Usually I do a W-L every year and have a hard time finding many if any L's. But this year was just the opposite. They looked completely lost last year, and got worse as the season went along. I didn't see anything encouraging about any of it.

 

[bws258]

Dude, we're not going 2-10. No way. The o-line is good enough that even Greg Davis' Tecmo Bowl playbook will be sufficient to win at least 6 games. If you just started watching Iowa football at the end of last season, you might not understand this, but when Iowa is good in the trenches, it has a good ballclub, even with a marginal QB like Chandler or underclassman Stanzi. I like the directions on both lines. The team took a giant step backwards last year after the o-line suffered two key injuries against PSU, but that ball club would have looked a lot different without those injuries. The d-line isn't going to give opposing QBs 12 seconds to pass this year and the rest of the defense will look materially better as a result.

I admire your optimism. But I've been watching Hawkeye football for over 20 years, so it's not a matter of lack of perspective. I know what a crappy team looks like, I was at UI in the late 90s. Did you not see the half-brained, unintelligent, crap approach Iowa had last year. We were in the tailspin before the injuries against PSU (I was there). I was also there for CMU ... for which there was no excuse (and if you try to offer one ... wow).

 

[okeefe4prez]

I admire your optimism. But I've been watching Hawkeye football for over 20 years, so it's not a matter of lack of perspective. I know what a crappy team looks like, I was at UI in the late 90s. Did you not see the half-brained, unintelligent, crap approach Iowa had last year. We were in the tailspin before the injuries against PSU (I was there). I was also there for CMU ... for which there was no excuse (and if you try to offer one ... wow).

I'll offer an excuse for CMU. The football is an oblong object that bounces in strange ways and a matter of inches makes all the difference in the world. Iowa's luck under Ferentz has come in spurts. We either have it or we don't. 2009 was the luckiest Iowa football team ever. Last year's was one of the unluckiest (but there was a combination of bad coaching and some talent defects that helped, too). Funny thing about Hawk fans is that when the team strings together a nice run, no one wants to talk about luck even though it plays a huge role and makes us look better than we are; and of course there is the flipside where when we have a year like last year everyone gets totally down and thinks the team is just terrible. The current state of the Iowa program probably approximately a 7-5 type of program, average to slightly above average. We deviate up a few games some years, down a few games in other years, but when we deviate to the upside everyone thinks we are super awesome and when we hit our expected average or worse (7 wins or fewer) everyone acts like it is the end of the world, but in either case, the season often boils down to a handful of plays that really swing the record one way or the other back to our 7 win average where it probably should be. The 2 blocked FGs against UNI, Sash's pick 6 against Indiana, the INT against PSU in 2008, the onside kick that CMU got in 2012, and on and on. Hell, how many times did we get just totally lucky as hell in that 20-some game home winning streak from 2002-2005? It's not like we're OSU crushing middle of the road B1G teams by 3 TDs or Illinois getting spanked by 3 TDs. We're freaking average and we're not going 2-10, dude. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[DP5555]

I admire your optimism. But I've been watching Hawkeye football for over 20 years, so it's not a matter of lack of perspective. I know what a crappy team looks like, I was at UI in the late 90s. Did you not see the half-brained, unintelligent, crap approach Iowa had last year. We were in the tailspin before the injuries against PSU (I was there). I was also there for CMU ... for which there was no excuse (and if you try to offer one ... wow).

If you've been watching Hawkeye football for over 20 years and you don't see more than 2 wins this year then one of the following is probably true (I won't suggest which one):

1. You weren't paying much attention.
2. You aren't very intelligent.
3. You're trolling.
4. You're psychic and you can foresee two or three injuries at key positions that derail the season

Barring injuries, the Hawkeye offensive line is going to be one of the best in the Big Ten and the running back stable is finally at a point where there is some depth. That, and an improved defensive line, will be enough to carve out at least 4 or 5 wins. I have absolutely no clue where you would come up with only 2 wins.

 

[kmurp]

If you've been watching Hawkeye football for over 20 years and you don't see more than 2 wins this year then one of the following is probably true (I won't suggest which one):

1. You weren't paying much attention.
2. You aren't very intelligent.
3. You're trolling.
4. You're psychic and you can foresee two or three injuries at key positions that derail the season

Barring injuries, the Hawkeye offensive line is going to be one of the best in the Big Ten and the running back stable is finally at a point where there is some depth. That, and an improved defensive line, will be enough to carve out at least 4 or 5 wins. I have absolutely no clue where you would come up with only 2 wins.

I agree that both o and d lines will be better than last year but "best in the Bigten"? Not so sure. Not better than OSU/Michigan. Will it be better than Nebraska/PSU/Wisky? Don't know what Northwestern has coming back.

 

[FreedomHawk]

Unbelievable stupidity by supposed fans I give up, I wont be on this site for months

 

[DP5555]

I agree that both o and d lines will be better than last year but "best in the Bigten"? Not so sure. Not better than OSU/Michigan. Will it be better than Nebraska/PSU/Wisky? Don't know what Northwestern has coming back.

Whoa whoa whoa... I said one of the best in the Big Ten. I did not say best. I don't think they'll be the best. On paper Michigan and OSU are probably in the running for that title. However, I would certainly throw them into the same category as Nebby, PSU, and Wisconsin. Northwestern is trying to replace two starters for sure (maybe 3 I could be wrong). It seems to me that during Ferentz's tenure his offensive lines seem to gel as the season progresses. If they can stay healthy I think they could be one of the top 3 or 4 lines in the conference by midseason.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Whoa whoa whoa... I said one of the best in the Big Ten. I did not say best. I don't think they'll be the best. On paper Michigan and OSU are probably in the running for that title. However, I would certainly throw them into the same category as Nebby, PSU, and Wisconsin. Northwestern is trying to replace two starters for sure (maybe 3 I could be wrong). It seems to me that during Ferentz's tenure his offensive lines seem to gel as the season progresses. If they can stay healthy I think they could be one of the top 3 or 4 lines in the conference by midseason.

Northwestern lost the center, LG and LT. For a bunch of guys who are allegedly supposed to be smart, they sure don't grasp the importance that the strong o-line had on their record last season and they have delusions of winning 10+ games again (they added OSU and Wisky in place of PSU and Indiana and they open at Cal - sounds like 3 sure losses right there to me). I agree with your assessment, though, I suspect Iowa will crack the top 3 or 4 lines in the conference. Sure, we might not have a flashy QB, but if we have a steamroller o-line that can help us eat up a lot of clock, we can get back to winning a bunch of 13-10/17-14 type of ball games unless the moronic offensive coordinator doesn't understand how to play to the strengths of the offense. I like the idea of no huddle if we have a dominating o-line, too. Get the d-line gassed and then don't let them sub (just don't actually run it hurry up where we can't kill enough clock during each drive).

 

[clicheusername3]

Unbelievable stupidity by supposed fans I give up, I wont be on this site for months

 

[bitmap]

I'm usually the positive guy in the room. I've predicted that Iowa will get double-digit wins way more times than it has actually happened. But this team and this staff are looking pretty poor to me right now. I'm thinking we beat Missouri St and upset someone in conference (Michigan St?), and that's about it. So, if I am right, after we go 2-10 this season, what happens?

After a disappointing 4-8 season in 2012 most expected the Hawkeyes to rebound and win a couple more games in 2013. How times have changed in Iowa City. Finishing w/ a 2-10 record at the bottom of the B1g standings is a bit of a shock to most observers. Just 4 years away from an Orange Bowl championship, the Kirk Ferentz era may be coming to an end much sooner than anyone thought possible at the beginning of the season. With a contract that places him in the upper echelons of college football compensation, Iowa may find itself between a rock and a hard place as it negoiates an end to an era. Let's hope Kirk shows as much class leaving as he has through the years running what was once a successful football program.

 

[Golfer]

GD and whoever the new recruiting guy is haven't even begun to bring in their own recruits yet. 2014 is really where the rubber hits the road. If we under perform next season I'll probably want major changes. Having said that, I still think we will ultimately be better off without KoK, even if that happens not be GD. But it is going to be GD. It is what it is.

 

[FreedomHawk]

GD and whoever the new recruiting guy is haven't even begun to bring in their own recruits yet. 2014 is really where the rubber hits the road. If we under perform next season I'll probably want major changes. Having said that, I still think we will ultimately be better off without KoK, even if that happens not be GD. But it is going to be GD. It is what it is.

The drunk yahoos on Soundoff make more sense than you do right here.

 

[Golfer]

Read it slowly and out loud, that might help you.

 

[goods10]

The drunk yahoos on Soundoff make more sense than you do right here.

There is always one guarantee when it comes to message boards. When you leave for awhile and come back you will always be presented with a new Internet tough guy. Shocker