When you go 12-0 in the previous year and return an All Big 10 QB, 2/3rds of your RBs, 3 of 5 of your OL, your leading pass catching WR, your leading pass catching TE, both DTs, 2 of 3 LBs, and 3 of 4 DBs....there is an expectation that you should come out of the gates for the next season pretty good.....developmental program or not. That this shouldn't be the "typical" September where they spend the first month trying to "fit the pieces together".
However, that hasn't been the case at all. In what is most certainly the easiest part of our schedule (the 1st 4 games), we have given up an avg of 180yds/game on the ground and none of those yards have been "gimmicky"....they've pretty much been right at the heart of our defense. In addition, we are DEAD FREAKING LAST in the number of offensive plays run in all of FBS. On top of that, our best returning starter just had his captain title removed. And multiple times during the last couple of broadcasts there has been talk of Iowa's sideline being "dead" and void of emotion.
NONE of the above is Iowa football as we have grown accustomed. Even in our worst years we never gave up this many rushing yards on defense. And I read somewhere that there hasn't been a mid-season captain replacement since 2012 when Micah Hyde was arrested for DUI and he was put back as captain a month later.
I've heard rumblings that King lost his captainship due to issues surrounding his desire to want to do a National Anthem protest and that it may be dividing the locker room currently. Who knows at this point.....but the fact remains that this team looks nothing like it should be looking when you factor in the amount of impact players that returned, the fairly pedestrian schedule at the beginning of the season and the momentum from last year.
So something definitely appears to be "off" right now....