The final polls are the only important polls

[uihawk82]

Fans remember their team's final top poll finishes not where they were ranked in late Sept. I really remember Fry's final top ranked teams as they stick out and the same with Kirk's.

We like the hawks being ranked high and it puts eyeballs on the program and gives the team better TV slots and more national coverage. I do not know how much this helps recruiting as our coaches have a certain style of play and offensively our style does not lead to recruiting top receivers and running backs.

I want the hawks to be undefeated in the regular season but it took the team about 100 years to be undefeated again in 2015. So the law of averages are, like in 2002, that there is at least one loss and maybe even a freaky sort of loss.

I would say from 2015 to now, maybe even 2013 to now, the Hawks are averaging about 9 wins a season including bowl games. Kirk has a very good run going here for about 8 years, and throw out the 2012 clinker, and the teams have been very good.

 

[cincyhawk]

Fans remember their team's final top poll finishes not where they were ranked in late Sept. I really remember Fry's final top ranked teams as they stick out and the same with Kirk's.

We like the hawks being ranked high and it puts eyeballs on the program and gives the team better TV slots and more national coverage. I do not know how much this helps recruiting as our coaches have a certain style of play and offensively our style does not lead to recruiting top receivers and running backs.

I want the hawks to be undefeated in the regular season but it took the team about 100 years to be undefeated again in 2015. So the law of averages are, like in 2002, that there is at least one loss and maybe even a freaky sort of loss.

I would say from 2015 to now, maybe even 2013 to now, the Hawks are averaging about 9 wins a season including bowl games. Kirk has a very good run going here for about 8 years, and throw out the 2012 clinker, and the teams have been very good.

No. Mid-season polls are important because you are in the discussion, which makes general sports talk shows, which gets you into the ears of more recruits. Mid-season polls matter for postseason placement, which matters for $$$, of which Iowa is currently hurting for due to covid. And in-season polls matter for kickoff times and TV airtime, which matters for ratings (keeps you from being a Hateful 8 someday) and recruiting. And high in season rankings mean you are winning, which for Iowa means nobody us talking about the racism scandal.

They don't mean much in terms of how good your team is overall, really. But they do go a long way to providing good things to your program, like recruits, and finding, and in that sense they matter.

Coaches play them down so that players play hard and fans don't kill them when they lose. But it's better to play in a 4 vs 5 match up than a 30 vs 50 matchup.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

No. Mid-season polls are important because you are in the discussion, which makes general sports talk shows, which gets you into the ears of more recruits. Mid-season polls matter for postseason placement, which matters for $$$, of which Iowa is currently hurting for due to covid. And in-season polls matter for kickoff times and TV airtime, which matters for ratings (keeps you from being a Hateful 8 someday) and recruiting. And high in season rankings mean you are winning, which for Iowa means nobody us talking about the racism scandal.

They don't mean much in terms of how good your team is overall, really. But they do go a long way to providing good things to your program, like recruits, and finding, and in that sense they matter.

Coaches play them down so that players play hard and fans don't kill them when they lose. But it's better to play in a 4 vs 5 match up than a 30 vs 50 matchup.

Ditto on this.....if your goal is to make the playoffs (especially) then where you are ranked each week is very important.

Iowa has been fortunate to remain in the top 5 with their lackluster performances the last couple of weeks (in particular this week). It was a time to get style points and get more experience for the back-up players. Arguably, both did not occur to the degree we would have liked them to occur. Hence why Penn St jumped us I believe.

Ultimately, I do agree with the OP that the polling will shake itself out in the end, but polling from week to week does matter.

 

[Seth53]

No. Mid-season polls are important because you are in the discussion, which makes general sports talk shows, which gets you into the ears of more recruits. Mid-season polls matter for postseason placement, which matters for $$$, of which Iowa is currently hurting for due to covid. And in-season polls matter for kickoff times and TV airtime, which matters for ratings (keeps you from being a Hateful 8 someday) and recruiting. And high in season rankings mean you are winning, which for Iowa means nobody us talking about the racism scandal.

They don't mean much in terms of how good your team is overall, really. But they do go a long way to providing good things to your program, like recruits, and finding, and in that sense they matter.

Coaches play them down so that players play hard and fans don't kill them when they lose. But it's better to play in a 4 vs 5 match up than a 30 vs 50 matchup.

Agree with Cincy.
National exposure, no matter how irrelevant in the long run, isn't a bad thing.
Especially for a program like Iowa.

It also focuses one's attention on the team and program, and not how much NIL dough you can or cannot make.