The reality of it

We gotta get a QB someday guys. At this level you cannot win with a bottom tier Qb. That’s what we are attempting
I actually thought McNamara was one of the few bright spots yesterday. He really only had one poor throw that I can recall, when he was scrambling to his right in the first quarter and threw a terrible ball to an open receiver in a scrambling situation.

Other than that, he was efficient and accurate, and moved around in the pocket as well as can be expected.

How many times did you see him have a clean pocket with enough time to go through progressions?
 
I’m amused that suddenly someone fans think there’s a problem with the program…that maybe Iowa should be better!!!

Have they been in a comma?

Kirk has neglected the offense for over a decade- it’s going to take years to fix that
You are right Hawker, neglected to the point offense can't be sellable to attract talent as long as KF is there. Right or wrong.....it is what it is!
 
A great QB would help, but I'm not sure Chuck Long would be a standout running this offense -- the college game has changed so much. It's almost impossible to be an elite college team without a dual-threat QB who can extend plays with his feet or run efficiently. And this holds true for the most elite teams in the nation: Saban figured this out what, 10+ years ago? Even OSU yesterday -- even tho they boast a roster featuring nearly all 5-star players -- had to resort to running their QB to beat Iowa, a team made up mainly of 3-star players.
Today, on a complety different topic, someone told me "There's no shame in losing when you don't have the tools to win." My mind immediately flashed to Iowa v Ohio St. & other elite teams. The disappointment for us Iowa fans this year is with 20 of 22 starters returning after a 10-3 season, we fooled ourselves into thinking perhaps, just perhaps, we had the tools this year. Turns out we didn't.
 
I actually thought McNamara was one of the few bright spots yesterday. He really only had one poor throw that I can recall, when he was scrambling to his right in the first quarter and threw a terrible ball to an open receiver in a scrambling situation.

Other than that, he was efficient and accurate, and moved around in the pocket as well as can be expected.

How many times did you see him have a clean pocket with enough time to go through progressions?
How many turnovers did he have?
 
How many turnovers did he have?
Go back and watch each one. His protection broke down every time.

It's easy to criticize the QB, but if his eyes are looking downfield (as they should be), and he's hit blindly while in the act of throwing or climbing the pocket, that's exactly what's going to happen. It's not like he stood in a clean pocket for 4 seconds then threw a bad pass right into the hands of a defender.

Cade is far from perfect and he's going to have his share of bad plays, but what happened on offense yesterday is not on him.

Low hanging fruit.
 
I actually thought McNamara was one of the few bright spots yesterday. He really only had one poor throw that I can recall, when he was scrambling to his right in the first quarter and threw a terrible ball to an open receiver in a scrambling situation.

Other than that, he was efficient and accurate, and moved around in the pocket as well as can be expected.

How many times did you see him have a clean pocket with enough time to go through progressions?
Our OL will be better next year.
 
it’s gonna end for Kirk like it ended for Hayden
It won't end up being that bad. The cupboard was really empty when KF took over. I suppose it could always end up that way with how fast transfers can leave. But I don't anticipate it being that bad. It just feels like it because of how we are so far off from the upper echelon schools. The gap between us and the top 10 or so schools is really wide.
Iowa is pretty much a top 20-35 school atm. Could they fall off more sure but hopefully it won't be much worse then this.
 
A final thought on OSU. Not sure if anyone else noticed, but there were many many times where OSU dropped back to pass or rolled out only to check down to a shorter route. Those are wins forwhich there is no statistic.
 
No, we'll never be elite under him. No, we can't afford players like others. No, we don't live in a region that produces a ton of D1 players. However, we have won 9.4 games per year in the last 8 non-COVID seasons. We've also finished in the top 2 of our division 7 of the last 9 years. The other 2 years we were 3rd. Yes, the division was filled with mediocre teams, but we've (at least I have) had a lot of fun cheering for winning teams for quite a stretch. We're top 5 in wins in CFB the last 10 years. There are a couple of potential replacements on staff, but can anyone guarantee KFs recent success? Be careful what you wish for.
And we'll still continue to win 8-9 games a year under KF. Mediocre teams are everywhere and everyone plays them. There's no shame in beating the teams your supposed to whether we consider them creampuff's or mediocre, while winning games against decent (but not great) teams, and losing to the truly elites. If people find themselves fuming after losing to an elite, or demanding that we should be competitive with everyone then I recommend finding a team with deep NIL wells and elite status, because they're most likely going to continue to find themselves disappointed regardless of who's coaching.
 
Vanderbilt beat Alabama
Minnesota beat USC
Arkansas beat Tennessee

Having a pulse against ranked opponents…I’m guessing that is too much to ask for now.
There's still going to be upsets, but do you see those three outcomes happening on a regular basis?
 
There's still going to be upsets, but do you see those three outcomes happening on a regular basis?


No

However, my point remains the same. Do I expect Iowa to beat a team with a 20 million dollar payroll? No. I don't think it is too much to ask to have a pulse against ranked opponents. 2001-2021 they had a pulse, the last 3 years, they have have not.
 
No

However, my point remains the same. Do I expect Iowa to beat a team with a 20 million dollar payroll? No. I don't think it is too much to ask to have a pulse against ranked opponents. 2001-2021 they had a pulse, the last 3 years, they have have not.
I hear you I guess my issue is our offense has been absolute shit the last 3 years going into this season. While I still feel that Lester can flip the script (optimistic, but could be way off) I still realize that were essentially playing with last years players and won't see signs of improvement until we see gradual improvement leading to better recruits (ie. receivers, QB's, etc.) and actual improve.
I guess from my perspective, while I want instant improvement, I've accepted the fact that if there's going to be any its going to be gradual and when we see ranked opponents were probably going to revert back to crap offensively because were just not there yet. So I guess from an optimism standpoint regarding our offense you've got more then me, because over the last 3 years I can't think of any real reason why I'd expect to see signs of life offensively against a ranked opponent.
 
thread title reminds me of Brian's favorite expression: The Realitiy Is.

I wonder what the realistic ceiling of this program is. And this could be its own thread. Feel free to start one.
It seems to me that, geography and $ Compansation and Reputation have a lot to do with recruiting.

I have no idea what the limits are on Iowa's ability to economicly compete for top talent. Right now its competitive but not elite. Iowa gets one or two All Americans each year. But teams that compete for Nattys have far more than that.

Even if all things were equal, the geographic challenge is present. THere just are not that many top wide receivers and quarter backs

(to be continued)

let me re-say that again... geography, compensation, repuration and coaching.

If you listen to the ANF Podcast, they share observations about Ohio State...they see things I dont see. They explained that the physical difference between Iowa's players and Ohios State's was very large. I often don't notice it but I do remember when Notre Dame played Alabama in the NC Game and the physical difference was so obvious. - I wonder if Iowa could ever be that dominating physically.
 
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The only way we get out of this funk is to start preparing for next year now. That means getting our other QB's game reps. Lester has already improved our offense. Our OL needs to improve a lot and we should be getting the bench game reps as we will have a mostly new line next year. We have good enough RB's and tight ends. I expected much better defense than we have seen so far. Based on last year's play they can become great again. Those turnovers to OSU really put the defense in a hole.
 
You are right Hawker, neglected to the point offense can't be sellable to attract talent as long as KF is there. Right or wrong.....it is what it is!

Now it’s even exasperated more because Kirk doesn’t have the West division to breast feed off of.
 

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