The Conundrum that is Iowa Football

[okeefe4prez]

SI is still around. Go figure.

A bunch of those old media brands are still around solely because they have a lot of goodwill associated with their names. All the teachers said "make sure your source is credible" and all the Boomers still think the MSM is credible, hence it stays in business. For now anyway.

 

[okeefe4prez]

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 Friday 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.

Iowa's moribund style becomes harder to beat as the weeks pass in October and into November. It's just a fact of life. Wisconsin had the same thing, even better than Iowa, and they chose to give it up to become a team that passes it 50 times. We've seen this before. It doesn't freaking work in the legacy Big Ten footprint. It ain't an accident that once Michigan solidified their defense and got Blake Corum and other solid RBs that they won the conference twice in a row after RichRod nearly killed their program by trying to turn them into a Big East style air raid offense with a soft 3-3-5 defense designed to guard against the pass.

Short of getting better players at a few positions, I honestly don't have much criticism of the offensive staff. The defenses are getting really good and the disguised pressure gives everyone nightmares. O-line play sucks everywhere, it ain't just Iowa. There's nothing schematically wrong with the offense we have, we literally just need a few better dudes at key positions. You give Brian Ferentz the Michigan offense and he'd look just fine.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

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.

+1. I have zero problem with any plays called by BF in that game. Back-up QB (who was the opponents third stringer last year). Best player's knee blown early. Best best player already out. A lead. Greatest punter in the world. Field position. BF did his job this week.

 

[dagdaj]

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.

I'm all about the running game. You will not win without it, unless you are a very specially designed team with a very specially designed offense, with very specialized and talented players.

I was mad earlier this season when the run wasn't working, and he kept calling it.

I have to applaud and appreciate a game where it was working (even if you take out the 68 yard TD), and he kept calling. In fact, that's almost all he called. ZERO complaints.

Also....to hell with the "If Parker or Woods ever has to pay for a beer in Iowa, we're doing it wrong." We should lobby the legislature to make it so neither of 'em even have to pay taxes in Iowa ever again. Of any sort.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

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.

Fair enough 16-17. Still a sub .500 group of teams. 6-1 is 6-1, you play your schedule. Badgers were definitely the best win so far. If the running game continues to improve...who know where we might end up?

 

[okeefe4prez]

Fair enough 16-17. Still a sub .500 group of teams. 6-1 is 6-1, you play your schedule. Badgers were definitely the best win so far. If the running game continues to improve...who know where we might end up?

Brian is going to spend about 90 seconds a day on pass protection and this offense is going to look like the 2015 offense by the game after the bye. They'll be able to run at will against anyone. Have faith.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The Sporting News was my go to back then...

Big time. Used to be an absolute baseball Bible. Did like the action photos in sports illustrated however.

 

[Northside Hawk]

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?

Vitale's in Clinton is a great pizza place if you can handle the days that its downwind form the ADM stench.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Brian is going to spend about 90 seconds a day on pass protection and this offense is going to look like the 2015 offense by the game after the bye. They'll be able to run at will against anyone. Have faith.

How about 2008?

Did you ever see an Iowa team improve more from start to finish than that one? We started the year with the QB situation a jumbled mess and sloppy losses to MSU and Illinois.

By the time we pantsed Minnesota 55-0 and showed South Carolina what Greene pastures felt like in the Outback Bowl we were probably one of the five best teams in the nation

 

[oldhawk12]

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.

The National

 

[oldhawk12]

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.

Recruit better talent at skill positions. And have a former qb run the offense

 

[HawkeyeFever]

Not true, their swimsuit edition is now a great barometer of ideological subversion where the publisher attempts to force men to accept obese women, or in some cases other men, as objects of beauty.

Bravo and I couldn’t agree more.

 

[okeefe4prez]

How about 2008?

Did you ever see an Iowa team improve more from start to finish than that one? We started the year with the QB situation a jumbled mess and sloppy losses to MSU and Illinois.

By the time we pantsed Minnesota 55-0 and showed South Carolina what Greene pastures felt like in the Outback Bowl we were probably one of the five best teams in the nation

The 2008 team was loaded on both sides of the ball with elite talent, it was just young. I ain't seeing a lot of elite talent on the offensive side of the ball this year. But Stanzi sure got better as that year went on. I remember going to the game in Champaign and being just livid that we lost and then IIRC that team didn't lose again until Stanzi got hurt against the Cats. I was at almost every game in that stretch. Damn it was remarkable, the games I saw were stellar.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Big time. Used to be an absolute baseball Bible. Did like the action photos in sports illustrated however.

That was when I was a box score junkie... It was great for that. It's how I kept up with what BJ Armstrong was up to along with my Twins in baseball.

 

[InGoodCo]

Recruit better talent at skill positions. And have a former qb run the offense

Even for you this comment makes no sense as far as it goes to responding to what I posted.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The 2008 team was loaded on both sides of the ball with elite talent, it was just young. I ain't seeing a lot of elite talent on the offensive side of the ball this year. But Stanzi sure got better as that year went on. I remember going to the game in Champaign and being just livid that we lost and then IIRC that team didn't lose again until Stanzi got hurt against the Cats. I was at almost every game in that stretch. Damn it was remarkable, the games I saw were stellar.

That Illinois game you mention was the last one e we lost to them until last year. And that included a couple shut outs in Champaign including a 63-0 win.

 

[trj]

It is a catch-22 . We all know this offense is archaic and behind the times. Yet Kirk is one of a handful of coaches who could make this a 6-1 team. It is the weirdest shit ever. Not sure how to feel moving forward.

 

[oldhawk12]

Even for you this comment makes no sense as far as it goes to responding to what I posted.

“Even for you”? What the hell does that mean?

And I answered your question. “What could they have done”

 

[Will C]

I promised the Illini fans we would beat up Wisky for them. I did not dream we might put out the QB. Go Illini! I am so pumped I will go to the game.

 

[InGoodCo]

“Even for you”? What the hell does that mean?

And I answered your question. “What could they have done”

Well, I was talking about what Iowa could have done in the Wisconsin game. Did you answer what they could have done in the WI game? If you think they could have recruited better skill talent and added a former QB to run the offense up in Madison, more power to you but again, your response made 0 sense. When I say "even for you" I mean, you rarely make a bit of sense. Try making more sense and I won't have to draw you a map.