The Conundrum that is Iowa Football

longtimer

Well-Known Member
6-1 In first place with a good chance to win the West probably rated with the worst offense in the nation and the worst QB since Bobby Cummings in the 70s.
27-70 311 yards with a 38% completion and 2 TDs with 2 Ints. Rating of 79

Great defense that makes big plays and the best overall kicking game probably ever at Iowa. And of course a great schedule The West is really bad.

Can they continue to win? yes with the schedule we have. Can we get the points needed fir BF contract? Unlikely

Could get interesting at the end of the season
 
And that SoS is 16th in the nation with a 54th toughest remaining. All the other conferences aren't filled with OSU, Bama, and Georgia's from top to bottom. The nation is filled with A LOT of bad teams
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Where is that from? That didn't seem like it could possibly be right, so I looked up a few SOS rankings. The first one had Iowa at 52nd, the next one had them at 12th, and the third one (a preseason SOS) had Iowa at 103rd.

We have beaten 2 P5 teams with winning records (ISU and Wisky), and the 2 teams that are in last place in their respective divisions (Purdue and MSU). We played one top-10 team, and a couple creampuffs. Hard to believe that could be a top-20 schedule.
 
Nobody goes to SI for anything
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Nobody goes to SI for anything

I used to love SI for killing time in the library during HS (90s).

What was your favorite sports print-media source? ESPN magazine seemed pretty cool when it came out, but it had a fairly short run before print media became nearly obsolete.
 
Can they continue to win? yes with the schedule we have. Can we get the points needed fir BF contract? Unlikely
Contract or not, this season is yet another season of abysmal offense. If anyone cannot see that things can be better than 132nd and 133rd place amongst your peers, they should not be involved in P5 hiring decisions at Iowa University. If our students were coming out of school at the bottom end education wise you know we'd take action. Only one thing prevents action and that is Kirk and those that would enable this continued bizarre behavior.
 
FYI the combined record of the teams we've beaten... 16-23. .326 winning percentage. The schedule has definitely helped
Drum, I hate it when people throw this out there while leaving out a very important fact. 6 of those losses were to Iowa!! We have had a big hand in making the teams we have played into losers.

Again, no one is arguing that we have played murderer's row, or that we have murderer's row in front of us, but I won't apologize for winning games against Big Ten teams. 6-1 and Top 25 is hard to do regardless of schedule. We have also won in Ames (which is starting to look like a better win) and in Madison (who will win 8-9 games).
 
I used to love SI for killing time in the library during HS (90s).

What was your favorite sports print-media source? ESPN magazine seemed pretty cool when it came out, but it had a fairly short run before print media became nearly obsolete.
SI, but that was in the 1980's when I was in school and they were the only one in the neighborhood bringing that content.
 
Drum, I hate it when people throw this out there while leaving out a very important fact. 6 of those losses were to Iowa!! We have had a big hand in making the teams we have played into losers.

Again, no one is arguing that we have played murderer's row, or that we have murderer's row in front of us, but I won't apologize for winning games against Big Ten teams. 6-1 and Top 25 is hard to do regardless of schedule. We have also won in Ames (which is starting to look like a better win) and in Madison (who will win 8-9 games).

That is a great point, the poster who posted this is using Iowa's losses against Iowa when trying to make the point. LOL. without the losses from Iowa, the stat would be the teams are 16-17. Vastly different narrative.
 
The Athletic on the possibility of Iowa making the CFB playoffs: https://theathletic.com/4964333/2023/10/16/college-football-playoff-iowa-brian-ferentz/

From the piece (I bolded a couple of the parts I think are interesting):

Iowa football has become a joyless enterprise, which is unfair to the players in a program positioned to be one game away from the College Football Playoff. Since 2018, Ohio State and Michigan are the only Big Ten teams with more victories.

The Hawkeyes are compelling in a way that boggles the mind. Parker and his defense are a Michelin-star restaurant serving up world-class dishes downwind of a sewage plant.


And that could be enough to put the team on the doorstep of the Playoff. Judging by the conversation around the program, though, Iowa feels like an 0-7 team hoping to eke out a win at some point down the stretch.

The people of Iowa City deserve to be able to take a deep breath without choking on the fumes in the air.



The piece is taking a ton of flak in the comments from Iowa fans who ARE enjoying the season, and particularly the excellence in 2 phases and the consistent ability to beat teams who outclass us in the beauty pageant of CFB.

For all of the crap I have given BF over the past 2 years, I wouldn't have wanted him to call the past 3 games any differently (I am sure he appreciates my esteemed approval). After the Williams TD vs. Wisky, I thought we had it in the bag as long as our offense didn't screw up. As more and more crap gets heaped on BF from the outside, are we going to get protective and start defending our beloved OC?
 
If anyone is upset at Iowa's offense for Saturday, please tell me what they should have done? Iowa threw 14 times for 37 yards. The only way Iowa loses that game on Saturday is by doing something dumb like, I don't know, throwing the ball and turning it over. Thankfully we have a smart enough OC that identified that early and didn't try and get too cute that it cost Iowa the game.

Wisconsin threw it 50 times and upgraded their offense this off season. Go cheer for them.
 
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The Athletic on the possibility of Iowa making the CFB playoffs: https://theathletic.com/4964333/2023/10/16/college-football-playoff-iowa-brian-ferentz/

From the piece (I bolded a couple of the parts I think are interesting):

Iowa football has become a joyless enterprise, which is unfair to the players in a program positioned to be one game away from the College Football Playoff. Since 2018, Ohio State and Michigan are the only Big Ten teams with more victories.

The Hawkeyes are compelling in a way that boggles the mind. Parker and his defense are a Michelin-star restaurant serving up world-class dishes downwind of a sewage plant.


And that could be enough to put the team on the doorstep of the Playoff. Judging by the conversation around the program, though, Iowa feels like an 0-7 team hoping to eke out a win at some point down the stretch.

The people of Iowa City deserve to be able to take a deep breath without choking on the fumes in the air.



The piece is taking a ton of flak in the comments from Iowa fans who ARE enjoying the season, and particularly the excellence in 2 phases and the consistent ability to beat teams who outclass us in the beauty pageant of CFB.

For all of the crap I have given BF over the past 2 years, I wouldn't have wanted him to call the past 3 games any differently (I am sure he appreciates my esteemed approval). After the Williams TD vs. Wisky, I thought we had it in the bag as long as our offense didn't screw up. As more and more crap gets heaped on BF from the outside, are we going to get protective and start defending our beloved OC?

It is really becoming interesting and adds to the viewership of the Hawkeyes, that is all I have to say.
 
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