All the stats and no talent BS does not explain 2 losses in a row to Minnesota. These kinds of losses reflect very negatively on the Iowa program. It's embarrassing. Evidently the coaches are so out of touch with reality that they don't mind losses like that. Because if they did, it wouldn't happen over and over.
This post will probably tick everyone off
- Thread starter JonDMiller
- Start date
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
Awesome blog Jon, you nailed every one of my points I was attempting to make on Saturday and basically I got slammed off the board. This is my first time back and it may be a short stay if I keep seeing irrational posts/threads on firing this coaching staff.
There are no excuses to losing to Iowa State and Minnesota. I am with everybody on that and it infuriates me as well. We should be 7-1 right now analyzing the bowl projections, instead we are wondering if we will even go bowling this year. But having said that this team is not all that good and the staff is trying to put together a winning team using walk ons & true freshman. People point out how there are veterans in this lineup but there is a reason why they did not start their first 4 years here. Jon posted the ranks of our recruiting classes, those ranks are low and a handful of the top ranked recruits from those classes are not even at Iowa anymore. Go look at the 2007 class and imagine how good our team would be if we still had a few of those players around that left early or never made it (Everson).
One of the things this staff has been really good at is player development. I love turning on virtually any NFL game and seeing former Iowa players all over the place. This staff has done an awesome job at doing more with less. When this staff has to assemble a starting lineup out of 2 & 3 star prospects that leaves you with very small margin for error. Iowa does not have the talent to overcome mistakes either by the players or the coaches. There were drives in the first half where Iowa did not come away with any points that would have completely changed the game, good teams can overcome that. Not having the team prepared for a potential on sides kick was a coaching mistake, again good teams can over come that. All the great coaches make mistakes but most of the great coaches have the talent that can overcome those mistakes, this team does not.
Losing to a team you are supposed to beat happens, it is why they play the game. How would you like to be a Texas Tech fan to go from beating the #1 ranked Oklahoma to getting blown out at home against Iowa State? It happens, it hurts, but we move on. It is irrational to go out and fire a coaching staff over a couple mistakes. Look at the entire body of work of the staff before going off the deep end. Jon referenced the Basketball program, that is a classic example of a fan base with to high of expectations. I was among those excited about Alford coming in and now I sit here and wish we had the results Tom Davis produced year after year. Give Ferentz a chance to fix this, you blow up this coaching staff and I guarantee we will have to endure results like 1999 & 2000 before the new staff can get his players in here to run his system.
For those of you saying that the coach has lost his "fire" and "intensity", you must have been watching a different team these past 10 years as it is rare we ever see Ferentz go nuts on the sidelines and when he does it is usually at an official. Some of you think that unless a coach is going nuts that he does not have any fire or intensity, that is crazy. There are other ways of motivating a player than getting in his face screaming at him in front of 70K fans plus a national TV audience. Would you rather have Brian Kelly here acting like a moron on the sidelines? KF wants Iowa to win just as badly as any of us he just doesn't go off the deep end like some of us do when something bad happens.
Some of us need to step back away from the computer or at least take a break from the forums before getting all emotional on here. Some of the threads started on here were just plain stupid.
There are no excuses to losing to Iowa State and Minnesota. I am with everybody on that and it infuriates me as well. We should be 7-1 right now analyzing the bowl projections, instead we are wondering if we will even go bowling this year. But having said that this team is not all that good and the staff is trying to put together a winning team using walk ons & true freshman. People point out how there are veterans in this lineup but there is a reason why they did not start their first 4 years here. Jon posted the ranks of our recruiting classes, those ranks are low and a handful of the top ranked recruits from those classes are not even at Iowa anymore. Go look at the 2007 class and imagine how good our team would be if we still had a few of those players around that left early or never made it (Everson).
One of the things this staff has been really good at is player development. I love turning on virtually any NFL game and seeing former Iowa players all over the place. This staff has done an awesome job at doing more with less. When this staff has to assemble a starting lineup out of 2 & 3 star prospects that leaves you with very small margin for error. Iowa does not have the talent to overcome mistakes either by the players or the coaches. There were drives in the first half where Iowa did not come away with any points that would have completely changed the game, good teams can overcome that. Not having the team prepared for a potential on sides kick was a coaching mistake, again good teams can over come that. All the great coaches make mistakes but most of the great coaches have the talent that can overcome those mistakes, this team does not.
Losing to a team you are supposed to beat happens, it is why they play the game. How would you like to be a Texas Tech fan to go from beating the #1 ranked Oklahoma to getting blown out at home against Iowa State? It happens, it hurts, but we move on. It is irrational to go out and fire a coaching staff over a couple mistakes. Look at the entire body of work of the staff before going off the deep end. Jon referenced the Basketball program, that is a classic example of a fan base with to high of expectations. I was among those excited about Alford coming in and now I sit here and wish we had the results Tom Davis produced year after year. Give Ferentz a chance to fix this, you blow up this coaching staff and I guarantee we will have to endure results like 1999 & 2000 before the new staff can get his players in here to run his system.
For those of you saying that the coach has lost his "fire" and "intensity", you must have been watching a different team these past 10 years as it is rare we ever see Ferentz go nuts on the sidelines and when he does it is usually at an official. Some of you think that unless a coach is going nuts that he does not have any fire or intensity, that is crazy. There are other ways of motivating a player than getting in his face screaming at him in front of 70K fans plus a national TV audience. Would you rather have Brian Kelly here acting like a moron on the sidelines? KF wants Iowa to win just as badly as any of us he just doesn't go off the deep end like some of us do when something bad happens.
Some of us need to step back away from the computer or at least take a break from the forums before getting all emotional on here. Some of the threads started on here were just plain stupid.
taekwonthis
Banned
The bottom line is that Iowa's D-line is just not good. We lost three lineman that are playing on Sundays and one of them is starting with the other two seeing significant playing time. I was at the game Sat. and there is absolutely NO way we should have lost that game and imo the D-line was the reason we lost.......again. I watched the game when I got home which proved exactly what I thought I saw live. The D-line got zero penitration, they could not shed their blocks, and the couple of times they got in the backfield they lost contain (which was only after 4 seconds of great coverage down field). I'm just not used to seeing Iowa have such a bad D-line and that is what is most frustrating to me.
Shining example of what Jon is talking about. This is a losers mentaility and a what have you done for me lately mind set. It sucks loosing to the gophers. We were not predicted to be great this year. Yes we have had a couple of down years. As a Hawk fan I take the good with the bad. Would all of you negative Nancy's talk this way to the coaching staff or players? Talking on the internet in an anonymous fashion is brave. Is this the way you approach you personal lives when the going gets tough? Wow if it is? Guess what, we may not be done loosing this year, but I don't think we are done winning. Coach Ferentz has accomplished a ton at Iowa and he is not done yet. In the end everyone is entitled to their opinion. GO HAWKS!
hawkeyescott
Well-Known Member
So who's fault is it that players have left the program and this team doesn't have the talent to overcome mistakes made against a 1-6 football team that lost at home to New Mexico State?
Who's fault is it that allowed a QB to complete nearly 65% of his passes in a game when he was completing less than 49% on the season going into the game?
Who's fault is it that you elect to try a FG on 4th and 2 from inside the 5 when you have a RB that is getting you 6 to 7 yards a carry?
Who's fault is it that with 3 minutes to go down 1 with 2 timeouts and only needing a FG that you abandon the run with a RB that has over 250 yards and throw it 4 times?
Should I continue? I don't think these questions are irrational at all and should be answered, but they won't be.
Wow! Looks like people outside the Hawkeye Bubble are taking notice.
1hawkeye1
Well-Known Member
The man asks some legitimate questions
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
Loser mentality??
A loser mentality is when you accept defeat to the worst team in the Big Ten because after all we're just lil ole Iowa.
Hawkfromnorwalk
Well-Known Member
Agreed
HawkeyeState81
Well-Known Member
Jon your post doesn't address the pathetic in game decisions, incorrect use of personnel, the pahetic special teams and failure to defend against an onside kick, the 4 straight shot gun passes when we had plenty of time and they couldn't stop our run, Herman and White in the game at the end????? I could go on and on and on here, your post doesn't address any of this at all...
storminspank
Justin VanLaere
True, but he does address the people that want Kirk Ferentz fired.
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
Who's credit is it when we beat 14th ranked Missouri in the Insight Bowl? Who's credit is it when the 2009 team beats the ACC champion in the Orange Bowl? Who's credit is it when Iowa shocked the world in 2008 and beat #3 Penn State? Who's credit is it to finish 3 seasons in a row ranked in the top 10? Who's credit is it when the 2002 team set a record for most wins in a single season (11)? Who's credit is it when 2 teams in the past 10 years have been in discussion for the national championship? Who's credit is it when we have how many players in the NFL?
Shall I go on or you going to pick apart every single mistake the coaching staff has ever made? I wonder what you do for a living and if you have ever made a mistake in your job? Get my point?
HawkeyeState81
Well-Known Member
Yes, but those people who want him fired, a lot of them are fed up with what I stated above. We are all aware of Iowa's disadvantages but we are also playing against our inept game day coaching staff too. All these disadvantages are not why we lost on Saturday, the coaching staff had a larger then life role in that....
storminspank
Justin VanLaere
Knee-jerk, short-sighted reactions, though.
Sometimes you have to step back and look big picture.
It was a brutally executed, brutally coached game. This hasn't been the case the past 3, 5 or 10 years, though.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Never said that, and once again we enter the black and white only world here.
I do not expect for Iowa to be able to make BCS bowl runs every year, given the obstacles they have to deal with. Thanks to the great job Hayden and Kirk have done, Iowa has built a program that CAN and DOES do that every so often...and there are times when things line up, which was last year and that makes the missed opportunity sting all the more, because Iowa has to take advantage of those chances.
The thing I am proud of as an Iowa fan is that Hayden and Kirk have kept this program at a place for the majority of the last 30 years where they don't have to have a gimmick to win on a consistent basis, in a state that doesn't produce enough home grown talent to be at the level they are in.
While Iowa was in the midst of beating Penn State eight out of nine years or whatever it was, people only commented on the disgust with losing to NW five of six years...as if we should expect that sort of dominance out of Penn State and shouldn't question that sort of a streak.
The truth of the matter is you'd hope to be able to split with PSU over the course of a decade and beat NW three out of four times (at least from an historical perspective.)
Add those totals up, and Iowa had nine wins in 15 games against those two teams, which is at or one game ahead of what you can reasonably expect. But of course, the focus is not on the likely macro outcome, but 'Why can't we beat NW more?' while not questioning the quirkiness of owning Penn State.
That's unrealistic, and half sighted.
None of that makes losing to Minnesota this year easy to deal with, or last year. No one is saying the coaching staff shouldn't be questioned about this loss. But some people are just out of their minds, in my opinion.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
I think I said at least twice in the write up that the overview doesn't account for losing to Minnesota, and that criticism is certainly warranted. It's just the type of broad brush painting and psychotic overreactions by some that I have a problem with, and always will.
HawkeyeState81
Well-Known Member
We are seeing patterns developing here with this staff on special teams miscues and 2 minute offense inept play. Not too mention the sitting on the ball mentality that is KF's conservative demeanor. This team is being held back by its staff, we are not going to be consistent BCS contenders like you do mention, but losing games like this in the way we are losing has to be deemed unaccpetable at some point????
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
So just to make sure I understand your position, you would rather be 7-5 running a pro style Iowa attack, than 10-2 running a Northwestern brand of football?
