Stability...

[HaydenHawk56]

Does anyone really want to see Iowa in the playoff? I personally couldn't deal with it. But we were one drive against MSU away from getting there in 2015 and we had a decent ball club until we ran into the buzzsaw named Karlaftis from Purdue. We also couldn't block that Hutchinson kid from Michigan. I shudder to think of what our line would look like trying to stop Bama or Georgia. Ugh.

Part of the reason our defense is so statistically good is because of the offense Ferentz chooses to run. Lower risk, play for field position, don't hang the defense out to dry. I'm not sure that materially dialing up risk on our offense would make our team any better, and I actually suspect it would make us worse.

I do, because there is always the chance, "Any Given Sunday" something could happen. It is why you play the games....you play to be the best you can be.....not to settle for the Outback as your goal.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

If you play scared in college football, you are done.

I don't want a fancy offense, I just want a competent one. I am perfectly fine with Iowa's style and current plays. I just want more variety in the current plays they run, like maybe some more passes to the RB's a little more downfield or even to the FB. Use that one extra player to keep the D a little more honest.

Trust the players.

Bingo.

 

[racerhawk]

Does anyone really want to see Iowa in the playoff? I personally couldn't deal with it. But we were one drive against MSU away from getting there in 2015 and we had a decent ball club until we ran into the buzzsaw named Karlaftis from Purdue. We also couldn't block that Hutchinson kid from Michigan. I shudder to think of what our line would look like trying to stop Bama or Georgia. Ugh.

Part of the reason our defense is so statistically good is because of the offense Ferentz chooses to run. Lower risk, play for field position, don't hang the defense out to dry. I'm not sure that materially dialing up risk on our offense would make our team any better, and I actually suspect it would make us worse.

Last year, Iowa's very young offensive tackles were absolutely exposed by NFL level DEs at Michigan (2) and Purdue (1). Not super representative of a typical year for us.

A lot of folks forget that Iowa won 10 games with a very young team last year. After tOSU, we have the most starters returning in the BoneG.

If the playoff increased in the future to 16 teams, or even 8, I would love Iowa getting to the playoffs.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I do, because there is always the chance, "Any Given Sunday" something could happen. It is why you play the games....you play to be the best you can be.....not to settle for the Outback as your goal.

Well stated. If you battle and earn to even be in that position for that kind of game, you roll the dice and play. Ya can't fold after a 10-11 win regular season. Doesn't make sense. F'it if it goes all Christian McCaffrey on ya.

Plus, it can't hurt recruiting getting to those games. As a fan, even though I know the team maybe be up against a wall, it's till fun as hell to anticipate those games and be relevant.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Well stated. If you battle and earn to even be in that position for that kind of game, you roll the dice and play. Ya can't fold after a 10-11 win regular season. Doesn't make sense. F'it if it goes all Christian McCaffrey on ya.

Plus, it can't hurt recruiting getting to those games. As a fan, even though I know the team maybe be up against a wall, it's till fun as hell to anticipate those games and be relevant.

Agreed. Another thing in this thread....I'm seeing somewhat of a scare factor seeping in about Michigan........lol......Iowa is 7-6 against Michigan since 2002. 5-3 against them since 2009.

As far as the Big Ten Title game goes, yes Iowa get beat pretty good 42-3. The defense had some brain farts in the 1st quarter and the offense (receiver) blew an easy touchdown on their first drive. Similar to the Stanford game, Iowa struggled to regain their footing by and large I think the things that happened in the 1st quarter.

Iowa's defense had that Michigan Team downright visibly frustrated in the 2nd quarter. They could not do shit in that quarter. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't fear that program anymore. Even at the best they have been in awhile, Iowa's defense was stoning that offense....it is just Iowa's offense is just so subpar the defense can only work so many miracles before the damn bursts against good teams.

Give me Michigan, give me Ohio St, give me USC, whatever.....we have and we can beat those guys.....and Ferentz beat Saban once before. They might get the best of us frequently, but that is not to say we can't get some Ws on them from time to time and certainly the more we play in the limelight, the more chance we have at that happening.

 

[racerhawk]

Agreed. Another thing in this thread....I'm seeing somewhat of a scare factor seeping in about Michigan........lol......Iowa is 7-6 against Michigan since 2002. 5-3 against them since 2009.

As far as the Big Ten Title game goes, yes Iowa get beat pretty good 42-3. The defense had some brain farts in the 1st quarter and the offense (receiver) blew an easy touchdown on their first drive. Similar to the Stanford game, Iowa struggled to regain their footing by and large I think the things that happened in the 1st quarter.

Iowa's defense had that Michigan Team downright visibly frustrated in the 2nd quarter. They could not do shit in that quarter. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't fear that program anymore. Even at the best they have been in awhile, Iowa's defense was stoning that offense....it is just Iowa's offense is just so subpar the defense can only work so many miracles before the damn bursts against good teams.

Give me Michigan, give me Ohio St, give me USC, whatever.....we have and we can beat those guys.....and Ferentz beat Saban once before. They might get the best of us frequently, but that is not to say we can't get some Ws on them from time to time and certainly the more we play in the limelight, the more chance we have at that happening.

A lot of people are terrified about the future of the Big Ten. I dunno. Iowa is better than UCLA, and as you have noted, teams like Michigan and PSU don't exactly "enjoy" a night game a Kinnick.

USC has incredible potential (of course), but the last time we played those 5 star athletes, Iowa hammered them. Of course that won't happen frequently, but Iowa can hold their own against anyone not named Georgia, Alabama, and maybe tOSU.

I'm excited to see the development of some of the players from last year's super young team.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

A lot of people are terrified about the future of the Big Ten. I dunno. Iowa is better than UCLA, and as you have noted, teams like Michigan and PSU don't exactly "enjoy" a night game a Kinnick.

USC has incredible potential (of course), but the last time we played those 5 star athletes, Iowa hammered them. Of course that won't happen frequently, but Iowa can hold their own against anyone not named Georgia, Alabama, and maybe tOSU.

I'm excited to see the development of some of the players from last year's super young team.

Yea, but as pointed out, ya never know if you don't play the game. We absolutely obliterated OSU the last time they played. I don't think we have played since.

There are a lot of teams that do not like to play Iowa. That is for a reason.

 

[KCHawkeye]

Well stated. If you battle and earn to even be in that position for that kind of game, you roll the dice and play. Ya can't fold after a 10-11 win regular season. Doesn't make sense. F'it if it goes all Christian McCaffrey on ya.

Plus, it can't hurt recruiting getting to those games. As a fan, even though I know the team maybe be up against a wall, it's till fun as hell to anticipate those games and be relevant.

I agree, and defense wins championships, right?

 

[okeefe4prez]

Yea, but as pointed out, ya never know if you don't play the game. We absolutely obliterated OSU the last time they played. I don't think we have played since.

There are a lot of teams that do not like to play Iowa. That is for a reason.

Melrose, no need to look it up, we haven't played Ohio bince the thrashing we laid on them in 2017. We were supposed to play in 2020 but that game cancelled due to The Germ.

Counterpoint to yours. There are some teams that love to play Iowa. Purdue and Wisconsin are two such teams. Do you remember the Wisconsin game in 2017? Coming off that high from killing Ohio and we didn't even come close to sniffing 100 yards of offense. That has to be one of the most disappointing Iowa games ever, but with such an impressive catalogue maybe it barely registers in the top 20 anymore.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Last year, Iowa's very young offensive tackles were absolutely exposed by NFL level DEs at Michigan (2) and Purdue (1). Not super representative of a typical year for us.

A lot of folks forget that Iowa won 10 games with a very young team last year. After tOSU, we have the most starters returning in the BoneG.

If the playoff increased in the future to 16 teams, or even 8, I would love Iowa getting to the playoffs.

We'll get to see what a difference a year makes in regards to that. Were our tackles just young and learning or are they just not all that good and slow to develop? This will be an interesting year cause without Linderbaum and most everyone else back so much of the offenses success will be on them. We know BF isn't going to be scheming up too many tricky plays.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Melrose, no need to look it up, we haven't played Ohio bince the thrashing we laid on them in 2017. We were supposed to play in 2020 but that game cancelled due to The Germ.

Counterpoint to yours. There are some teams that love to play Iowa. Purdue and Wisconsin are two such teams. Do you remember the Wisconsin game in 2017? Coming off that high from killing Ohio and we didn't even come close to sniffing 100 yards of offense. That has to be one of the most disappointing Iowa games ever, but with such an impressive catalogue maybe it barely registers in the top 20 anymore.

Yea, that game was very deflating and one of the worst. Agree.

 

[racerhawk]

We'll get to see what a difference a year makes in regards to that. Were our tackles just young and learning or are they just not all that good and slow to develop? This will be an interesting year cause without Linderbaum and most everyone else back so much of the offenses success will be on them. We know BF isn't going to be scheming up too many tricky plays.

I'm wondering the same thing. I HOPE they were just young and not inadequate in general. I guess we'll find out.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I'm wondering the same thing. I HOPE they were just young and not inadequate in general. I guess we'll find out.

Yeah the nature of our offense depends on the Oline dominating. They have to be able to push the LOS and pass block for more then 1.5 seconds. I'm not sure how much success any QB coulda had for us last yr to be fair to Petras. I'm not a huge Petras fan honestly I think he misses way too many makeable layups. But overall he's put in a lot of 3rd and longs and tough situations that aren't all his doing either.