What was wrong? 2005-2007

Wasn't the season where we lost... 4(?) of our running backs? I think injuries played a big part. Lack of leadership is another culprit I think. I tend to forget that span of time to be 100% honest... it wasn't pretty.
 
I agree Swany. Yeah, most of the studs from the years leading up to 05-07 were bonafide NFL talented guys. You forgot to mention Herb. Remember that game he had up in Minny......brutal!
 
Jake Christensen--plain and simple...put all are eggs in one basket, and he wasn't the answer in 2006 and 2007 and coaches refused to pull him. In 2005 health issues.
 
Jake Christensen--plain and simple...put all are eggs in one basket, and he wasn't the answer in 2006 and 2007 and coaches refused to pull him. In 2005 health issues.

Jake played one game and one non-blowout series in 2006. Jake started in 2007.

2005 we had a great offense, but a weak D-Line and we could not get off the field on 3rd downs. The 2005 team was also 3 plays away from being B11 Champs again. They were not a great team, but they were not a bad one, either. They got crushed by tOSU, but lost in OT to Michigan and a freak game to NW.

2006 was pretty much a total implosion for a variety of reasons.
 
Wasn't the season where we lost... 4(?) of our running backs? I think injuries played a big part. Lack of leadership is another culprit I think. I tend to forget that span of time to be 100% honest... it wasn't pretty.

LEADERSHIP indeed was the culprit..........I love Edds and Angerer as our Leaders this year!
 
The biggest reason Iowa struggled those three seasons was line play. Iowa's success is predicated on line play and in 05-06 we struggled on the defensive line. In 07, the O-line was very poor. Since 02, those are the only times when Iowa had issues on the lines, and it coincides with the poor records. As to why those lines struggled, injuries had a lot to do with that. In 06 Iwebema and King had severe injuries that forced them to miss multiple games, but also limited their play the last half of the season. In 05 and 07, youth and inexperience played a huge part. In 04 and 03 we won 10 games with solid line play and mass injuries to skill positions on offense. If the lines play well, Iowa will continue to win, if not, we struggle.
 
In '05 it was more of a case of bad luck and inexperience on the d-line. In 06-07 it was a combination of some of the worst receivers I can ever remember and a lack of athleticism on defense. It didn't help matters any that Tate looked like he was ready to strangle his receivers all the time and JC couldn't hit the broad side of a barn...
 
I think we have evolved in coaching philosophy... before KF and crew would give too much emphasis on seniority when playing kids hence the debacle with JC... KF said it himself this year in a presser that while it has been hard he has changed his philosophy in that regard... somewhat. This isn't a rip on him at all I think he woudl admit it as well. I think he have one of the best coaching staffs in the country.
 
Let's not rule out a little "LUCK". Winning close games is a sign of a great team, but sometimes it just comes down to a roll of the dice. They've come up with some very fortunate plays this year. It's so much about confidence. One play could change the entire perspective.
 
I was watching the Iowa VS MICH state replay this afternoon, it was just scary

I watched it too, and found it amazinghow many players on that team LEFT the team rather shortly. The announcers even mentioned the C.Card debacle, but found a way to brag us up. They even mentioned how JC was always to "fire" the ball into his receivers, instead of making the play. So many players from that team were supposed to be good, but a lot never panned out.

And it's funny that we had a slim lead, late in the game, but still tried to sit on the ball and run-out the clock. It didn't work, so we eventually gave up an easy FG, then went into OT where we finally won it. (KF football theory.) It was nice to see our D really clamp down on MSU, tho. Hopefully, Saturday night we'll do the same thing, but move the ball consistently.

JC was horrible in that game, and it was NOT due to the O-line play!!
 
What happened to us. We didnt win close games yes, but thats not just it. What do you think?


success went to everybody's heads, thought they were entitled to wins..........plus other teams saw us as one of the "big boys". that's my guess. No team chemistry either. In 2007, jake + that OL = disaster
 
Recruitng, recruiting and recruiting - look at the recruiting classes from 2002 - 2004 and see how many names are familiar. Iowa can endure one off year recruiting but not 3 in a row. Captain Kirk got some good players from these classes but not enough to sustain great results.
 
Christiansen was certainly part of it, but he didn't have tons of help, so I would say "youth". Or inexperience. If you saw all of the players playing on that MSU-Iowa replay last night that are still playing (Sandeman, Cheney, Stross, VanderVelde, Donahue, Greenwood, etc.), it would have hit you.
 
The one guy I felt for during this stretch was Albert Young... that guy will always be one of my favorite Hawks. He was one of the greatest "team" guys to ever wear the Hawkeye uniform.
 
There were a couple things
1 poor team cohesiveness (no leaders, selfish players)
2 very poor QB play
3 terrible offensive play calling
4 poor use of guys talents
5 flat out paid off officiating going against us twice in 2005

3 &4 explained deeper: We tried to throw a lot of fade stops. We ran a lot of swing passes to (scared to be hit) Grisby and big slow Chandler. These are retarded things to do. We also ran very few slant routes. We didn't run one single "trick" play in 2006. We didn't make good use of all the RB talent in 2005 and 2006. We didn't make good use of Champ Davis' talents. He'd have been great catching and as a 3rd down back. Also that defensive play call @ ISU were we covered there 5 wide set at the end of the game staying in our base 4 - 3 and putting Klink 1 on 1 with the farthest outside WR with no help over top. That is still the dumbest defensive play call I've ever seen. I love Norm but, that play was insane.
 
In a word, talent. Look at how many guys from those teams are playing in the pros. I'm not really counting the 2005 team, because we had a 7-5 season and let a couple games get away. But you could tell there just weren't that many guys playing in 06 and 07 that were upper classman that were going to the next level.

Now look at us. Upper classmen galore that are just flat out players. I think we have eight guys on defense alone that have a legit shot at playing on Sunday.
 

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