This is why Iowa won't ever be "GREAT." But only "GOOD."

[ottoman89]

I know how badly I'm going to get hounded by this. But this is exactly why Iowa won't ever raise the bar and become a force year in and year out.

This is the most talented Iowa team we've had in some time, and we choke the game away. This was the year that Iowa was going to go to the National Championship. Senior QB, good running game, best receivers we've ever potentially had, good OL. Great DL, nice LBs, "good" Defensive Backs and good special teams. Iowa has yet to a) Put it all together and play one whole game, and b) Show they're status.

These things will be the killers for Iowa, and maybe it's coaching that causes them?

1) Lack of "balls?" I don't know, but lack of that assassin mentality to just rip someones jugular right out. For instance, right after Greenwoods interception, we go 3 and out and get a FG. Where is the aggressive Offense? Where's the attempt to get a TD that POTENTIALLY puts the game away? We've done this this season, and past seasons.

2) Lack of unorganized playing. For instance, how hard is it, to just spike the ball? Stanzi is looking there at the sideline for 3 - 4 seconds before Iowa calls the timeout. That's complete unorganization as well as horrible clock management. Why not call a TO on the 4th down and 4 with like a minute to go? They're driving down and Iowa's DL was just GASSED, as well as was the entire Defense. We just got outplayed.

3. Repeat 1 and 2. Great teams, and teams that win Championships don't let off the gas and wait for another mistake, they take advantages of mistakes right away, and keep the feet on the glass. They dominate teams, they don't skim by. Even against the likes of Ball State... I don't feel it was a dominating performance, we could have done much more. Iowa just doesn't dominate, they may dominate the LOS, but that's about it. They don't have the assassin attitude.

 

[jwegner]

Stanzi had to do what the great coaching staff wanted. If you resist them, you will be assimilated just like Drew Tate was.....and by assimilate I mean lose your balls

 

[ottoman89]

Stanzi had to do what the great coaching staff wanted. If you resist them, you will be assimilated just like Drew Tate was.....and by assimilate I mean lose your balls

Definitely agree, he should have taken initiative and spiked it. But it looked like the coaches wanted another thing, and that's why he was screaming. They were set in a Shotgun Formation.

 

[mrolympia]

I know how badly I'm going to get hounded by this. But this is exactly why Iowa won't ever raise the bar and become a force year in and year out.

This is the most talented Iowa team we've had in some time, and we choke the game away. This was the year that Iowa was going to go to the National Championship. Senior QB, good running game, best receivers we've ever potentially had, good OL. Great DL, nice LBs, "good" Defensive Backs and good special teams. Iowa has yet to a) Put it all together and play one whole game, and b) Show they're status.

These things will be the killers for Iowa, and maybe it's coaching that causes them?

1) Lack of "balls?" I don't know, but lack of that assassin mentality to just rip someones jugular right out. For instance, right after Greenwoods interception, we go 3 and out and get a FG. Where is the aggressive Offense? Where's the attempt to get a TD that POTENTIALLY puts the game away? We've done this this season, and past seasons.

2) Lack of unorganized playing. For instance, how hard is it, to just spike the ball? Stanzi is looking there at the sideline for 3 - 4 seconds before Iowa calls the timeout. That's complete unorganization as well as horrible clock management. Why not call a TO on the 4th down and 4 with like a minute to go? They're driving down and Iowa's DL was just GASSED, as well as was the entire Defense. We just got outplayed.

3. Repeat 1 and 2. Great teams, and teams that win Championships don't let off the gas and wait for another mistake, they take advantages of mistakes right away, and keep the feet on the glass. They dominate teams, they don't skim by. Even against the likes of Ball State... I don't feel it was a dominating performance, we could have done much more. Iowa just doesn't dominate, they may dominate the LOS, but that's about it. They don't have the assassin attitude.

I never thought a NC was a realistic goal (too much politics involved) but the rose bowl was a highly realistic goal IMO, and Iowa just ****** it way. While I think you're a bit overzealous on calling the WR combo of DJK/McNutt "the best ever", they're the best ever in the ferentz era. Regardless of this, I agree with what you say.

1)agree 10000%, would be more but there isn't an infinity symbol on the computer. You score a TD, you put the game away despite all the screw ups you've had so far.

2) agree by more than what I agreed on #1, even a 5 year old playing madden knows that you should spike the ball, not burn your last TO.

3) yep, ferentz gets ahead by 2 scores then runs the prevent offense. ddi it against penn state, did it against michigan. Did it against NW in 2005 too and it cost Iowa the game then. I've always hated it. It's not running up the score if you win by more than 2 TDs. It is running up the score if you leave your first string in and throw 50x per game when up by 56 in the 4th quarter. Quite a bit of difference.

 

[edr247]

First off, we failed miserably on special teams today. Throughout the game, mistakes cost us points and helped Wisconsin score some points of their own.

Second, I just don't know why we weren't aggressive following the interception. We got the ball, had great field position, and had the opportunity to go up by 10 points! But we just seemed content to go for the field goal with a quick 3 and out.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

It hurst to say but I have to agree with you. Love the Hawks but just a bit to consersative at times. You can always make the argument that "we should still be able to execute" but I don't care who you are, clocking the ball there is the best play and it's really not up for debate.

 

[olivecourt]

First of all, I'm not sure what your definition of "great" is. They are the defending Orange Bowl champions.

Second, TEAMS LOSE GAMES. Like, Alabama lost a game. LSU lost a game. Ohio State lost a game. It happens. You try to win as many as you can. To win a national title, you have to have a ton of talent, fire on all cylinders and have a little bit of luck. The fact that Iowa has not done that just means they are exactly like the other 118 teams in the country that won't be in the national championship game right now.

Whether or not this is a great team remains to be seen. They haven't given themselves much room for error, but if they beat Michigan State next weekend they are right back in the mix. If this team goes to the Rose Bowl and wins, are you going to enjoy it, or are you going to think about missing an extra point against Wisconsin? If it's the latter than I just feel bad for you.

 

[hawkeyz10]

we still have a shot at the rose bowl.

 

[ottoman89]

First of all, I'm not sure what your definition of "great" is. They are the defending Orange Bowl champions.

Second, TEAMS LOSE GAMES. Like, Alabama lost a game. LSU lost a game. Ohio State lost a game. It happens. You try to win as many as you can. To win a national title, you have to have a ton of talent, fire on all cylinders and have a little bit of luck. The fact that Iowa has not done that just means they are exactly like the other 118 teams in the country that won't be in the national championship game right now.

Whether or not this is a great team remains to be seen. They haven't given themselves much room for error, but if they beat Michigan State next weekend they are right back in the mix. If this team goes to the Rose Bowl and wins, are you going to enjoy it, or are you going to think about missing an extra point against Wisconsin? If it's the latter than I just feel bad for you.

Great teams are what the USC ( of former years ), Texas ( of former years ), ect. are. They constantly get to the huge bowl games. Iowa will get to the Orange Bowl, and now may slip to Capital One Bowl? We hit a major bowl once every, what, 5, 6 years? Great teams do it year in, and year out.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I can live with the program as it is. Could we be better? Sure. But if you want to give me January Bowl games every year (like we've done most of the time), I'd take that in a heartbeat. I remember some folks thought we could do better with the basketball program by showing Tom Davis the door, and look at how that has turned out. I don't always agree with every decision KF makes and all of his philosophies, but I think he's done a terrific job here and I'm glad he's our coach.

 

[olivecourt]

Great teams are what the USC ( of former years ), Texas ( of former years ), ect. are. They constantly get to the huge bowl games. Iowa will get to the Orange Bowl, and now may slip to Capital One Bowl? We hit a major bowl once every, what, 5, 6 years? Great teams do it year in, and year out.

So our measuring stick is USC, one of the greatest dynasties ever in college football? (A team that had to cheat to get to that position, by the way). Also, in the years they did not win titles USC was famous for blowing games against inferior opponents.

And you could have read the exact same message board posts about Mack Brown 10 years ago-- he was never good enough to win the big game. Until he was.

I know people are upset about the loss, but this is freaking ridiculous. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater because you lost by one point to the #13 team in the country.

 

[ottoman89]

So our measuring stick is USC, one of the greatest dynasties ever in college football? (A team that had to cheat to get to that position, by the way). Also, in the years they did not win titles USC was famous for blowing games against inferior opponents.

And you could have read the exact same message board posts about Mack Brown 10 years ago-- he was never good enough to win the big game. Until he was.

I know people are upset about the loss, but this is freaking ridiculous. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater because you lost by one point to the #13 team in the country.

I don't think you throw the baby ever, that just sounds mean, haha.

We lost to the #13 team in the nation, AT HOME, with a chance to put it away, and they bent Iowa over and showed them whose boss. Iowa doesn't do that.

 

[Herkeynerd]

First of all, I'm not sure what your definition of "great" is. They are the defending Orange Bowl champions.

Second, TEAMS LOSE GAMES. Like, Alabama lost a game. LSU lost a game. Ohio State lost a game. It happens. You try to win as many as you can. To win a national title, you have to have a ton of talent, fire on all cylinders and have a little bit of luck. The fact that Iowa has not done that just means they are exactly like the other 118 teams in the country that won't be in the national championship game right now.

Whether or not this is a great team remains to be seen. They haven't given themselves much room for error, but if they beat Michigan State next weekend they are right back in the mix. If this team goes to the Rose Bowl and wins, are you going to enjoy it, or are you going to think about missing an extra point against Wisconsin? If it's the latter than I just feel bad for you.

Agreed.
Also, let's not forget that Iowa lost 2 games last year. They were just at the end, without Stanzi. Iowa does however play a better underdog role, no doubt.

 

[SDK46]

Agree 100% with the OP.

This level of talent and returning senior talent doesn't happen very often and we pi$$ it down our leg in two different games. It really is disappointing.

 

[cibula11]

I know how badly I'm going to get hounded by this. But this is exactly why Iowa won't ever raise the bar and become a force year in and year out.

This is the most talented Iowa team we've had in some time, and we choke the game away. This was the year that Iowa was going to go to the National Championship. Senior QB, good running game, best receivers we've ever potentially had, good OL. Great DL, nice LBs, "good" Defensive Backs and good special teams. Iowa has yet to a) Put it all together and play one whole game, and b) Show they're status.

These things will be the killers for Iowa, and maybe it's coaching that causes them?

1) Lack of "balls?" I don't know, but lack of that assassin mentality to just rip someones jugular right out. For instance, right after Greenwoods interception, we go 3 and out and get a FG. Where is the aggressive Offense? Where's the attempt to get a TD that POTENTIALLY puts the game away? We've done this this season, and past seasons.

2) Lack of unorganized playing. For instance, how hard is it, to just spike the ball? Stanzi is looking there at the sideline for 3 - 4 seconds before Iowa calls the timeout. That's complete unorganization as well as horrible clock management. Why not call a TO on the 4th down and 4 with like a minute to go? They're driving down and Iowa's DL was just GASSED, as well as was the entire Defense. We just got outplayed.

3. Repeat 1 and 2. Great teams, and teams that win Championships don't let off the gas and wait for another mistake, they take advantages of mistakes right away, and keep the feet on the glass. They dominate teams, they don't skim by. Even against the likes of Ball State... I don't feel it was a dominating performance, we could have done much more. Iowa just doesn't dominate, they may dominate the LOS, but that's about it. They don't have the assassin attitude.

You are why Iowa fans will always be made fun of after a loss. Get a clue.

 

[iowamike21]

The facts are clear. Iowa has given away two football games this year. It's tough to win, so giving wins away is not acceptable, especially when one of the key factors is poor coaching, which was never more evident than it was today. MSU came back to beat NW today largely because of a fake punt. It beat Notre Dame on a fake FG in OT. Wisconsin beat Iowa today, ultimately, because it faked a punt deep in its own territory. The Hawkeyes never blitz. Every other team -- Alabama, Texas, Nebraska, Arizona, Michigan State, Ohio State -- they blitz. But NOT Iowa... IOWA under Kirk Ferentz would NEVER consider any such tactics. And that's just plain stupid.

 

[HawkeyesWin]

I can live with the program as it is. Could we be better? Sure. But if you want to give me January Bowl games every year (like we've done most of the time), I'd take that in a heartbeat. I remember some folks thought we could do better with the basketball program by showing Tom Davis the door, and look at how that has turned out. I don't always agree with every decision KF makes and all of his philosophies, but I think he's done a terrific job here and I'm glad he's our coach.

+1

 

[ICAlumni]

First of all, I'm not sure what your definition of "great" is. They are the defending Orange Bowl champions.

Second, TEAMS LOSE GAMES. Like, Alabama lost a game. LSU lost a game. Ohio State lost a game. It happens. You try to win as many as you can. To win a national title, you have to have a ton of talent, fire on all cylinders and have a little bit of luck. The fact that Iowa has not done that just means they are exactly like the other 118 teams in the country that won't be in the national championship game right now.

Whether or not this is a great team remains to be seen. They haven't given themselves much room for error, but if they beat Michigan State next weekend they are right back in the mix. If this team goes to the Rose Bowl and wins, are you going to enjoy it, or are you going to think about missing an extra point against Wisconsin? If it's the latter than I just feel bad for you.

Well said. If this team beats MichSt and OSU in the next 2 home games which I think is easily possible the way our offense is playing... they can easily go to the Rose Bowl.

This is a good team. They have lost a couple of close games to two really good teams. It's easy to nitpick everything when you lose by such small margins.

Lost today was the fantastic play of our O-line (A+ effort), Stanzi - phenomenal game, and A-Rob... outran and outplayed the fatass Clay.

Our Defense needs to start playing like they are capable. I think the loss of Norm is really hurting them right now.

 

[hawktalk]

Here is my issue. One of the continual problems down through the years has been the end of the game/end of the half clock management. Even the famous Tate/Holloway pass and catch was an accidental fluke (and some Drew Tate talent) caused by bad end of game clock management.

So, the coaches expect the players to improve their skills from year to year. My question: Why haven't Ferentz and O'Keefe addressed the issue of clock management? Why don't we see improvement in this area from one year to the next?

That's all I've got to say.