Watching Final TCU vs Georgia

If you are saying that Iowa is one hire away from being the next Georgia, I'd have to say you are delusional.
It's fair to say Iowa has been about 4 players short of the playoffs for several years but the players they would replace are not really P 5 caliber. Other than that Iowa matches up really well. This year it was the O entirely.
 
Has Iowa ever been top tier competitive? Very few programs are top tier. OSU, Ala, Georgia, and maybe Clemson have recently been in the top tier. Oklahoma has been close. We'll see what USC can do. LSU had a super year with Burrow et al.

I think Iowa fans who expect that level of performance will forever be gnashing their teeth. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of reasons.

Being at the level of tOSU or Georgia might involve adding several million in population to the state, changing our recruiting, being willing to bend a lot of rules, and possibly locating the entire state in the deep south.

OSU has always been in the top tier, and every year they recruit top 5 nationally. Sometimes #1. They recruit California, Florida, Texas, and their own populous state. Nobody else in the big ten comes close to them, unfortunately. OSU likely should've beaten Georgia, and could be celebrating a natty right now. Michigan beat them two years in a row, but when push comes to shove, they aren't it.

While I'm sad that Iowa can't close the gap to Georgia, I'm more saddened by the fact that no one will catch these top teams for quite some time. It makes college football boring.
What’s crazy is the difference between talent of teams on the field. Regardless of the portal pick ups Iowa get they have a LONG way to go to be top tier competitive… that makes me sad
 
Has Iowa ever been top tier competitive? Very few programs are top tier. OSU, Ala, Georgia, and maybe Clemson have recently been in the top tier. Oklahoma has been close. We'll see what USC can do. LSU had a super year with Burrow et al.

I think Iowa fans who expect that level of performance will forever be gnashing their teeth. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of reasons.

Being at the level of tOSU or Georgia might involve adding several million in population to the state, changing our recruiting, being willing to bend a lot of rules, and possibly locating the entire state in the deep south.

OSU has always been in the top tier, and every year they recruit top 5 nationally. Sometimes #1. They recruit California, Florida, Texas, and their own populous state. Nobody else in the big ten comes close to them, unfortunately. OSU likely should've beaten Georgia, and could be celebrating a natty right now. Michigan beat them two years in a row, but when push comes to shove, they aren't it.

While I'm sad that Iowa can't close the gap to Georgia, I'm more saddened by the fact that no one will catch these top teams for quite some time. It makes college football boring.

Georgia has had down years. OSU has had down years in the past. Prior to Saban at Alabama they weren't lighting the world on fire. Texas has more than they care to admit. I guess my point is they all do and every program is one coach away from sliding. But to your point, I think in a situation like Iowa, the perfect storm has to happen when a few of these top contenders slide at the very same time, which is not likely.

But, you still have to compete and have that NC carrot dangle in front of you if you are a Div 1 P5 program. What coach or fans are not going to say that ain't the carrot. I don't want to hang with those people, already defeated. I guess I hang on to hope, as painful as it is.

And I may add that Iowa plays 2 phases of the game at a very elite level on a national scale. Just got to somehow get that offense climbing up there to.
 
Has Iowa ever been top tier competitive? Very few programs are top tier. OSU, Ala, Georgia, and maybe Clemson have recently been in the top tier. Oklahoma has been close. We'll see what USC can do. LSU had a super year with Burrow et al.

I think Iowa fans who expect that level of performance will forever be gnashing their teeth. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of reasons.

Being at the level of tOSU or Georgia might involve adding several million in population to the state, changing our recruiting, being willing to bend a lot of rules, and possibly locating the entire state in the deep south.

OSU has always been in the top tier, and every year they recruit top 5 nationally. Sometimes #1. They recruit California, Florida, Texas, and their own populous state. Nobody else in the big ten comes close to them, unfortunately. OSU likely should've beaten Georgia, and could be celebrating a natty right now. Michigan beat them two years in a row, but when push comes to shove, they aren't it.

While I'm sad that Iowa can't close the gap to Georgia, I'm more saddened by the fact that no one will catch these top teams for quite some time. It makes college football boring.
I mean 02 yeah. Then the yr Stanzi got hurt we were in the conversation. But beyond that I'm less confident about including the 15 season with CJB. Felt like had we gotten in playoffs we'd have had our asses handed to us the way MSU did... Sustaining it at all is the trick even the good programs have. We obviously can't. We just hope to have the stars align for a great yr every so often and enjoy the shit out of it
 
Georgia has had down years. OSU has had down years in the past. Prior to Saban at Alabama they weren't lighting the world on fire. Texas has more than they care to admit. I guess my point is they all do and every program is one coach away from sliding. But to your point, I think in a situation like Iowa, the perfect storm has to happen when a few of these top contenders slide at the very same time, which is not likely.

But, you still have to compete and have that NC carrot dangle in front of you if you are a Div 1 P5 program. What coach or fans are not going to say that ain't the carrot. I don't want to hang with those people, already defeated. I guess I hang on to hope, as painful as it is.

And I may add that Iowa plays 2 phases of the game at a very elite level on a national scale. Just got to somehow get that offense climbing up there to.
It is painful to think Iowa can consistently hang with tOSU consistently. Good luck with that.

I'd like to win the big ten championship once every 5-10 years, and make it to the expanded CFP. Those are difficult but somewhat attainable goals.

I'll chase the carrot when Iowa wins the big ten again. That alone is a very tall order.
 
Has Iowa ever been top tier competitive? Very few programs are top tier. OSU, Ala, Georgia, and maybe Clemson have recently been in the top tier. Oklahoma has been close. We'll see what USC can do. LSU had a super year with Burrow et al.

I think Iowa fans who expect that level of performance will forever be gnashing their teeth. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of reasons.

Being at the level of tOSU or Georgia might involve adding several million in population to the state, changing our recruiting, being willing to bend a lot of rules, and possibly locating the entire state in the deep south.

OSU has always been in the top tier, and every year they recruit top 5 nationally. Sometimes #1. They recruit California, Florida, Texas, and their own populous state. Nobody else in the big ten comes close to them, unfortunately. OSU likely should've beaten Georgia, and could be celebrating a natty right now. Michigan beat them two years in a row, but when push comes to shove, they aren't it.

While I'm sad that Iowa can't close the gap to Georgia, I'm more saddened by the fact that no one will catch these top teams for quite some time. It makes college football boring.
Well said.
 
I mean 02 yeah. Then the yr Stanzi got hurt we were in the conversation. But beyond that I'm less confident about including the 15 season with CJB. Felt like had we gotten in playoffs we'd have had our asses handed to us the way MSU did... Sustaining it at all is the trick even the good programs have. We obviously can't. We just hope to have the stars align for a great yr every so often and enjoy the shit out of it
Had Banks started the year before, Iowa would have started the season higher. Several games could have gone either way including Purdue. Clark outrunning d backs... I can never forget.

The loss to ISU might not have occurred had Banks played the year before. Playing ISU that early with Wallace as QB was tough. Later in the year not a problem as ISU had depth problems. Never would have had to run into Reggie Bush.

The Stanzi team might have done it, but he was called Pick 6 Rick for a reason.
 
Being at the level of tOSU or Georgia might involve adding several million in population to the state, changing our recruiting, being willing to bend a lot of rules, and possibly locating the entire state in the deep south.

There have been 9 playoff years. Georgia has won two, Clemson has won two. Georgia has been runner up once, Clemson twice. Clemson and Athens are 75 miles apart. Clemson got insanely lucky because Florida State fell off a cliff right as they got good. There are no elite college teams in Virginia or North Carolina and so Clemson and UGA have the inside track on a lot of guys who want to "stay local." Tennessee may become a destination in this regard soon.

The level of talent in that pipeline plus the Atlanta area crushes the entire Midwest. And then when you have a good run you can cast a national net for aspirational five star QBs and stuff like that and actually start to win some recruiting battles.

Anyone who thinks Iowa has even a snowball's chance in hell of putting this caliber of talent on the field across several key positions is insane. It is never ever ever going to happen. Our best hope is to catch lightning in a bottle one year and make a run behind some stud QB we had no business getting.
 
There have been 9 playoff years. Georgia has won two, Clemson has won two. Georgia has been runner up once, Clemson twice. Clemson and Athens are 75 miles apart. Clemson got insanely lucky because Florida State fell off a cliff right as they got good. There are no elite college teams in Virginia or North Carolina and so Clemson and UGA have the inside track on a lot of guys who want to "stay local." Tennessee may become a destination in this regard soon.

The level of talent in that pipeline plus the Atlanta area crushes the entire Midwest. And then when you have a good run you can cast a national net for aspirational five star QBs and stuff like that and actually start to win some recruiting battles.

Anyone who thinks Iowa has even a snowball's chance in hell of putting this caliber of talent on the field across several key positions is insane. It is never ever ever going to happen. Our best hope is to catch lightning in a bottle one year and make a run behind some stud QB we had no business getting.
I don't think it's unreasonable to think Iowa could be playoff contenders in 1/2 of the years (not in the playoffs) given the money base. Once in, getting to the Championship a bit more than lightning in a bottle isn't so far off. It's not as unreasonable as expecting to be held to 7 points and 200 yards by an FCS Champion... is it? The odds can't be worse than TCU. Iowa's D and special teams are no worse than TCU's Offense. I do think (no way to prove) that Iowa exposed MSU's pass D and would have faired better if KF opened things up more on O.
 
I could be wrong but yes Iowa could be national championship contenders if our head coach believed it was possible and worth fighting for. Instead he has a mindset like many of the fans who say we’re just little old Iowa we could never compete with the big boys. As others have pointed out we’re 2/3rds of the way there. Our defense is one of the best in the country every year. Our special teams have been right there also. All we need is the right offensive coordinator and for Captain Kirk to hand him the keys to the offense to do his magic.
 
I'm not sure Tcu is that far ahead. In their 10 Big 12 games, they won 2 of them by more than 10 points. They had the 80th ranked defense and 13th ranked offense. Both teams have elite talent on one side of the ball. Not saying we have better overall talent, but there isn't that much difference.
There isn’t that much of a difference? Huh? The Iowa offense was one of the absolute worst in fbs football if not the absolute worst and they are mid pack or below to well below annnually.
 
There isn’t that much of a difference? Huh? The Iowa offense was one of the absolute worst in fbs football if not the absolute worst and they are mid pack or below to well below annnually.
Nope. Nowhere in my post did I say Iowa had a good offense, nor did I say they're better, just that they aren't in a completely different class than us. They have a terrible defense, we have a terrible offense. We're 122nd in scoring offense, they're 90th in scoring defense. We have a great defense, they have a great offense. 2nd ranked defense, 9th ranked offense. Their score, on average, 9 points more than their opponents, we score 5 more.
 
I could be wrong but yes Iowa could be national championship contenders if our head coach believed it was possible and worth fighting for. Instead he has a mindset like many of the fans who say we’re just little old Iowa we could never compete with the big boys. As others have pointed out we’re 2/3rds of the way there. Our defense is one of the best in the country every year. Our special teams have been right there also. All we need is the right offensive coordinator and for Captain Kirk to hand him the keys to the offense to do his magic.

No, we really couldn't. Our defense is very good, but three key elements of our defense being good are (a) our schedule, (b) weather, and (c) our offense sucks so bad that teams usually aren't out to run the score on us.

As you get into playing teams like Georgia you start to run into absolute freak linemen and WRs. Our lines can't deal with teams like Georgia (did you see how we looked against Michigan in the title game or in Columbus?). Our DBs are good but aren't good enough to consistently cover a cast of elite WRs.

Are you old enough to remember when we played Miami back in the '90's? We had some decent ball clubs and were outclassed in every facet by The U. The world is even more lopsided now.
 
Seems to confirm that # of wins does not directly correlate to the success of the program.

These sorts of statistics are trotted out to make it seem like going 15-0 one year followed by 6-6 the next year is less desirable than going 8-5 followed by 8-5. I do believe that I could deal with the indignity that LSU fans suffered through when Joe Burrow and that elite cast around him all went to the NFL the same year and they were below .500 the next year.
 

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