STORY: Hawkeyes Finish Ranked for 3rd Year in a Row

[haydensly]

I think the biggest difference in the Big 10 from today vs. 30 years ago is that the bottom of the league is better. The amounts of money coming into all of the programs from the television contracts have allowed the playing field to even out. 30 years ago you could guarantee a win against Northwestern. That really is not true for anybody in the conference today except for Rutgers right now and that could change real soon. There are land mines every year in the schedule.
I would love to win the division/conference every year but that isn't realistic. As others have mentioned, we have had a good-very good run with Hayden and KF. Are we due? Probably but it isn't like we should be winning the division each and every year either.

 

[Seth53]

This thread (unfortunately) reminds me of why I was pretty much devastated after personally watching Iowa fall to Sparty in the B1G champ game in Indy. I had lost my voice by the end of the 3rd quarter...and still can't believe we couldn't get a stop on their last drive.

It's the closest I'll see Iowa come to the CFP in my lifetime probably.

It still hurts.

P.S. And to all those "excited" fans who were beaming because Iowa got the Rose Bowl bid after....BFD.

 

[Fryowa]

This thread (unfortunately) reminds me of why I was pretty much devastated after personally watching Iowa fall to Sparty in the B1G champ game in Indy. I had lost my voice by the end of the 3rd quarter...and still can't believe we couldn't get a stop on their last drive.

It's the closest I'll see Iowa come to the CFP in my lifetime probably.

It still hurts.

P.S. And to all those "excited" fans who were beaming because Iowa got the Rose Bowl bid after....BFD.

The problem is that if we made the CFP Alabama would’ve boat raced us by 70 points and we would’ve looked even worse than we did against Stanford. Basically, we would have just proven that we didn’t belong there instead of showing people we were a top level team. Not a good look.

We are ten zip codes from the elite level teams in the SEC/ACC and it’s probably best to accept it. Iowa has had 4 five star recruits see the field in its entire history, places like Alabama and Clemson have five stars who don’t even start. It’s not our fault, but there are two distinct levels of football in P5 conferences and we’re in the beer league. Recruiting power has made it an unwinnable situation for us and most other teams.

Winning the west (hopefully) is where we top out; it’s just the way it is. As long as OSU is in this conference there’s no CFP in anyone else’s future and to be honest there probably shouldn’t be. Can you imagine a NW or Iowa getting thrown in that meat grinder? It’d be like some dork in Kalamazoo winning a color run 5K with a 22 minute time and qualifying for the Olympics on a technicality.

 

[guffus]

Let's be realistic. The West division has 7 teams so an average program should expect...

1 division title every 7 years.
1 conference title every 14 years.
Finish in top 3 of division at least 3 times in 7 years.

The West division has been around for 7 years now.. Iowa in last 7 years

2020 - 6-2.------ 2nd
2019 - 6-3 ------ 3rd
2018 - 5-4 ------ 3 way tie for 2nd
2017 - 4-5 ----‐-- 2 way tie for 3rd
2016 - 6-3 ------- 2 way tie for 2nd
2015 - 8-0 -------- 1st (lost CCG)
2014 - 4-4 -----‐-- 4th

Average finish in standings = 2.7
Lowest finish. 4th - just once
Highest finish - 1st - just once
Most common finish - 2nd - 3 times
2nd most common finish - 3rd - 2 times

By these standards, Iowa is an above average program, but in order to be good, I would expect Iowa to have at least 2 division titles in 7 years.

Really good would be 3 or 4 division titles. Great would be 5 or more titles. This would make Wisconsin really good and NW good I guess.

Best thing you can say is Iowa never finishes low in the standings, which is something not even NW can say.

 

[Ree4]

The problem is that if we made the CFP Alabama would’ve boat raced us by 70 points and we would’ve looked even worse than we did against Stanford. Basically, we would have just proven that we didn’t belong there instead of showing people we were a top level team. Not a good look.

We are ten zip codes from the elite level teams in the SEC/ACC and it’s probably best to accept it. Iowa has had 4 five star recruits see the field in its entire history, places like Alabama and Clemson have five stars who don’t even start. It’s not our fault, but there are two distinct levels of football in P5 conferences and we’re in the beer league. Recruiting power has made it an unwinnable situation for us and most other teams.

Winning the west (hopefully) is where we top out; it’s just the way it is. As long as OSU is in this conference there’s no CFP in anyone else’s future and to be honest there probably shouldn’t be. Can you imagine a NW or Iowa getting thrown in that meat grinder? It’d be like some dork in Kalamazoo winning a color run 5K with a 22 minute time and qualifying for the Olympics on a technicality.

There's a lot of talk (of course there always is) and support from coaches to expand the playoff after this last year. I could see us getting in as a mid-level seed at some point and maybe winning a game, but until Alabama falls back to earth, if they ever do, we have no chance winning a natty.

How do you beat a team that has the best QB, the best RB, the best offensive line and a Heisman winner at receiver? An amazing punter won't help!

 

[Seth53]

The problem is that if we made the CFP Alabama would’ve boat raced us by 70 points and we would’ve looked even worse than we did against Stanford. Basically, we would have just proven that we didn’t belong there instead of showing people we were a top level team. Not a good look.

We are ten zip codes from the elite level teams in the SEC/ACC and it’s probably best to accept it. Iowa has had 4 five star recruits see the field in its entire history, places like Alabama and Clemson have five stars who don’t even start. It’s not our fault, but there are two distinct levels of football in P5 conferences and we’re in the beer league. Recruiting power has made it an unwinnable situation for us and most other teams.

Winning the west (hopefully) is where we top out; it’s just the way it is. As long as OSU is in this conference there’s no CFP in anyone else’s future and to be honest there probably shouldn’t be. Can you imagine a NW or Iowa getting thrown in that meat grinder? It’d be like some dork in Kalamazoo winning a color run 5K with a 22 minute time and qualifying for the Olympics on a technicality.

Well said.

And I can still hold onto the fact I was alive (and young then) when Iowa made the final four in 1980. As an Iowa student, it was very exciting.

But FB has always been my #1 passion and once, just once, I wanted to see the program in the CFP. I'd take a beat down in order to say we were there. And I'm not even remotely concerned about winning it....just making it works for me. Just once.

Perspective I guess.

 

[Fryowa]

Well said.

And I can still hold onto the fact I was alive (and young then) when Iowa made the final four in 1980. As an Iowa student, it was very exciting.

But FB has always been my #1 passion and once, just once, I wanted to see the program in the CFP. I'd take a beat down in order to say we were there. And I'm not even remotely concerned about winning it....just making it works for me. Just once.

Perspective I guess.

Yep.

There's just too much disparity in college football with recruiting and no possible way to stop it. Too much money in the NFL and the best players are going to go where they get the most TV spotlight.

I just looked at Alabama's '21 recruiting class.

They have 7 five-stars in that one class an 15 four-stars. In one class.

Ohio State has 5 five-stars and 13 four-stars in just the 2021 class.

Epenesa, Moeaki, Roth, and Richardson are the only five-stars Iowa's had play in the entire history of the program.

There's no possible way to even come close to competing. It's not our fault like I mentioned, but it is what it is. We play in a pretty soft division. We should be vying for a divisional title on a regular basis, and until OSU falls off (not likely) that's where it stops. It's about being realistic vs head in the sand.

Let's say we have a realistic (but very unlikely) expectation of winning our division 3 out of 10 years. Assuming we'd likely play OSU, how many times would we beat them out of 10? Twice maybe? So the napkin math says we should expect to win the Big Ten about once or twice every 30 years. That's probably realistic. Of course that's not the way it will play out because as coaches and recruiting classes come and go, so do the best teams. But Iowa is not and won't ever be a legit contender. B1G threat every decade or so on average? Probably. But that's it.

 

[Fryowa]

...until Alabama falls back to earth, if they ever do, we have no chance winning a natty.

Actually we don't even have to leave our own conference to see a cock blocker like Alabama.

Ohio State has hit that level as well. They have 20+ five star players on their roster at any given time and they just keep on building. Even a non-sports fan could look at the talent gap between them and everyone else and tell that the one and only way another B1G team wins the conference is as a huge underdog fluke. It won't be because they're the better team overall--just the better team on that day.

It's like playing in the Yankees' division. Good luck.

 

[Seth53]

Actually we don't even have to leave our own conference to see a cock blocker like Alabama.

Ohio State has hit that level as well. They have 20+ five star players on their roster at any given time and they just keep on building. Even a non-sports fan could look at the talent gap between them and everyone else and tell that the one and only way another B1G team wins the conference is as a huge underdog fluke. It won't be because they're the better team overall--just the better team on that day.

It's like playing in the Yankees' division. Good luck.

2017 wants to disagree

 

[Ree4]

Actually we don't even have to leave our own conference to see a cock blocker like Alabama.

Ohio State has hit that level as well. They have 20+ five star players on their roster at any given time and they just keep on building. Even a non-sports fan could look at the talent gap between them and everyone else and tell that the one and only way another B1G team wins the conference is as a huge underdog fluke. It won't be because they're the better team overall--just the better team on that day.

It's like playing in the Yankees' division. Good luck.

True, though our last time we played them we were the ones blocking the cock, so at least I feel against them that we have a chance. I feel like their spread offense gives us a shot at least if we can stay disciplined on defense, but when we go against a team that plays Iowa style better than Iowa (see Wisconsin, NW) with a huge o-line and giant RB, they'll grind us down. Maybe my perception is wrong here as I don't watch Alabama play that often, but to me at least in previous years, they tend to play more of a power game - they run more ISOs and traps than they do reads. Their QB is usually more of a game manager than a playmaker when compared to OSU (until pretty recently).

My point is, I'd like our chances much better against OSU than Alabama.

 

[HawkeyeFever]

As Seth said, just let me see it ONCE (then twice, of course). Yes, Alabama probably would have beaten Iowa in 2015, but I think most would agree that losing to Bama in the CFP semifinal would have been easier to stomach than the beat down we suffered in the Rose Bowl. At least we would have gotten a week to pound our chests as undefeated B1G champs.

Even if Iowa doesn't belong with the elite most years, I would love to see them playing the role of the Jamaican bobsled team or Eddie the Eagle once in a while.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

If you look at only B10 records for the past 5 seasons, NW and IA records are almost identical.

The difference is NW has two West Div titles and two champ game appearances. Iowa has been 2nd or 3rd in the Div - but no Div titles.

While NW did have a 1-8 season between the two West titles, I would prefer the NW situation of playing for B10 championships two of last three years, rather than being a consistent runner up.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Epenesa, Moeaki, Roth, and Richardson are the only five-stars Iowa's had play in the entire history of the program.

Willie Guy and Dan McGwire would have been 5 stars had the rankings existed back then. Did they exist when Roth was recruited? I thought Blake Larsen was in his class and was the highest ranked recruit we got that year. Maybe Blake was the year before. I forget.

 

[Fryowa]

Willie Guy and Dan McGwire would have been 5 stars had the rankings existed back then. Did they exist when Roth was recruited? I thought Blake Larsen was in his class and was the highest ranked recruit we got that year. Maybe Blake was the year before. I forget.

Yeah Roth was recruited as a five star. The four I mentioned were just guys that got playing time.

Larsen was a five star, as were Kyle Williams and Dan Doering.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Under the category of woulda could shoulda, does anyone believe that if we had Wirfs and Epenesa back we would have lost those first two games? For that matter, think if Hockensen decided to use up all of his eligibility!

Eppy especially was a true playmaker and game changer at the collegiate level (he is struggling a bit now).

If those guys had come back, I am pretty sure we would have one the division.

I know I was barking about hypotheticals above, but my broader point here is that KF is clearly recruiting and developing the talent necessary to win divisions and have a shot at conference championships and CFP, but with the way KF has built this program, you need things to all come together at once, and that doesn't happen regularly enough for some. We have seen a few magical seasons under KF. We would all like more, of course, but at this point, it is what it is.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

Does Willie Guy still have a year of eligibility left?

Willie Guy and Dan McGwire would have been 5 stars had the rankings existed back then. Did they exist when Roth was recruited? I thought Blake Larsen was in his class and was the highest ranked recruit we got that year. Maybe Blake was the year before. I forget.

i

 

[ChosenChildren]

It would be really interesting if college football went to a draft system like the NFL, but we know that is not going to happen.

Fry and Ferentz have done a great job at Iowa. We've been selected to play in 32 bowl games in 42 years. That is pretty amazing.

It would be great to see Kirk win another Division title. We were really close to it the past 2 seasons. Another New Year's 6 level game would be awesome as well. I think it is possible.

We can compete with all of the teams that are presently in the West Division.