Will Iowa football ever by in Top 10 nationally in anything?

tweeterhawk

tweeterhawk

Well-Known Member
Will Iowa football ever be in Top 10 nationally in anything?

Pre-season? Post-season? Recruiting class? (Positive) stats?

Seriously. The ranking of the current recruiting class suggests we won't be cracking anything near the Top 10 in anyone in the next several years. Seems a recipe for more mediocrity.
 
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If coach Ferentz ever lands a top ten recruiting class lookout because look how good he does with the low ranked classes he gets.
 
Here are the AVERAGE Recruiting Rankings for each team in the B1G over the past 13 years:

9 OSU
11 MICH
26 PSU
28 NEB
39 WISC
40 IOWA
42 IL
42 MSU
52 PU
59 MN
60 NW
63 IU


Wisconsin has never had a Top 25 Class. MSU just once and that was 10 years ago. They are not exactly parlaying their on-field success into top recruiting classes. NEB has had two Top 25 classes (2013 and 2005)

Looking at just the last 5 recruiting classes, Wisc is still ave #39 and MSU #34.

Number of Top 25 Classes since 2002:
13 of 13 OSU
12 MICH
7 PSU
2 NEB
2 IOWA
2 ILL
1 MSU
0 WISC
0 PU
0 MN
0 NW
0 IU
 
What's frustrating is to see how we recruit the same quality of players as WI and MSU, and yet we can't even come close to their success on the field. For recruiting in the upper 30 to low 40's, they've managed four Rose Bowl's. Granted OSU and UM haven't been their dominate self (but you could argue this is as good as they will be with SEC taking a lot of the mid west talent). The difference I think is WI and MSU have (or had) staffs that would go for the kill. We continue to do what we always do, and it's cost us against lesser teams. How often do you see WI and MSU lose to MAC teams?
 
The answer to this is a resounding no. Especially with all the momentum(other than wins) that has built up in Ames. In fact, with the way they have it rolling over there, I would be shocked if we were to ever be much of a factor again. I'm sure some of their fans/trolls will be over quickly to verify this. #allin # proudtobeone .
 
DBAHawkFan said:
What's frustrating is to see how we recruit the same quality of players as WI and MSU, and yet we can't even come close to their success on the field. For recruiting in the upper 30 to low 40's, they've managed four Rose Bowl's. Granted OSU and UM haven't been their dominate self (but you could argue this is as good as they will be with SEC taking a lot of the mid west talent). The difference I think is WI and MSU have (or had) staffs that would go for the kill. We continue to do what we always do, and it's cost us against lesser teams. How often do you see WI and MSU lose to MAC teams?
Click to expand...

Agreed. I think many of us identify with Wisc and MSU because we have historically been with them in that 2nd tier of B1G teams chasing OSU, UM, and PSU over the past 25 yrs. Now, MSU and WI do have some advantages over Iowa as it relates to built-in recruiting bases, especially MSU.
 
HawkIPA said:
4 Top 10 finishes in the last 12 seasons.

Major derp by the OP.
Click to expand...

well, except for those, will we ever finish in the Top 10? lol I kinda glossed over that just thinking about recruiting since it's signing day.

Aside from the glaring omissions, the OP does pose a good question, can we finish in Top 10 again in the near future? 2014 sets up, now the Hawks need to step-up and take advantage of it.
 
There's three key reasons as to why MSU and Wisky have passed us since 2010:

1. Attrition - While our recruiting rankings may have been relatively even, our attrition from the 2008-2009 classes were catastrophic and was the reason we had the records in 2011 and 2012 that we did. A developmental program like Iowa (or Wisky or MSU) can't have the kind of attrition Iowa had and not feel it.

2. Recruiting Misses - Not only did we have attrition in the 2008-2009 classes, but we had too many misses in the ones that stayed. When you throw those two things together for a developmental program like Iowa, it creates the perfect storm of suckitude.

3. Gameday coaching - Wisky, MSU and Iowa don't have the inherent talent top-to-bottom like the major players in college football or the conference at large. But what MSU & Wisky have figured out, that Iowa never has, is that to "even the playing field" up somewhat, you have to have top notch gameday coaching and be willing to take some chances during the game to tilt the game in your favor when you don't have all the horses that an OSU, UM, etc typically has. So you'll see those coaches go for fake punts and fake field goals with their special teams, blitz more on defense, and run more mis-direction and "exotics" on offense.

I think (hope) with the new, younger additions on staff that we have taken care of #1 and #2 moving forward. I feel like 2013 showed that when you have a good number of 3 and 4 year players that have stayed, have put in the work, have come up thru the program and learned the offense and defense and spent the necessary time in the weight room, that Iowa can be successful because while KF has quite a few warts, one of them is NOT developing middle-of-the-road players into NFL caliber players. Up until just recently, every single senior starter for KF had gotten either drafted or an NFL invite....every single one of them. That's development.

What I'm not quite so hopeful for, though, is the gameday coaching and the willingness to take chances. We saw it quite a bit on defense, but it remains to be seen if that was a real shift in philosophy or if that was done because of the talent we had at the linebacker spot. But I really feel that if we want to retake our spot as the top team in that 2nd tier, which we had at one point, we need to match MSU and Wisky's gameday coaching strategy and be willing to take some more chances.
 
Lots of kids don't pan out as projected. Whats most important is that they develop into top college football players, not BE TOP HS players.

Anyone can pick out the 5 star guys. Its that massive 3 star population. Example - Monte Ball = 3 stars. NFL I am sure has tons of kids that were not 5 stars.
 
NCHawker said:
Lots of kids don't pan out as projected. Whats most important is that they develop into top college football players, not BE TOP HS players.

Anyone can pick out the 5 star guys. Its that massive 3 star population. Example - Monte Ball = 3 stars. NFL I am sure has tons of kids that were not 5 stars.
Click to expand...

The average Star Ranking for the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks is 2.3.
They had 13-2star, 13-not rated, 9-3star, 4-5star, and 10-4star.

So almost half of their roster was 2-star and NR players.
 
HawkIPA said:
4 Top 10 finishes in the last 12 seasons.

Major derp by the OP.
Click to expand...

The OP question asked "will," not "did." Iowa finished 7th five years ago (2009), hasn't wound up in the Top 25 since then. The two coordinators who were instrumental in helping Kirk Ferentz-coached teams to those high national rankings are gone.

It is not an accident this question was posed on National Signing Day. At least based on recruiting services (I know, I know, Iowa's 3-star athlete is the SEC's 5-star), Iowa seemed to be able to attract a higher caliber athlete in the early 2000s, eventually helping those teams to final season rankings of 8 (2002, 2003, 2004), 20 (2008) and 7 (2009).

On internet web page, at least, there has been a marked drop-off in the level of athlete Kirk Ferentz and his staff are now bringing to Iowa City. Most analysts are putting Iowa's 2014 class in the middle to the lower third of the conference. Newcomers Maryland and Rutgers score higher.

This is not meant as a slam against the young men who signed their letters of intent and faxed (!) them in this morning. Welcome to Iowa football!

It just seems as fans we need to brace ourselves for more mediocrity out of Fort Kinnick. <sigh>
 
HawkinGoferLand said:
The average Star Ranking for the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks is 2.3.
They had 13-2star, 13-not rated, 9-3star, 4-5star, and 10-4star.

So almost half of their roster was 2-star and NR players.
Click to expand...

I'd be curious to know how many of the 4 and 5 star players were skill players. I believe it easier to "coach up" a lower rated player in the trenches than at the skill positions. I would think the skill positions are where the lack of highly rates recruits has the most negative impact on a college football team. The numbers could prove me wrong, though.
 
tweeterhawk said:
The OP question asked "will," not "did." Iowa finished 7th five years ago (2009), hasn't wound up in the Top 25 since then. The two coordinators who were instrumental in helping Kirk Ferentz-coached teams to those high national rankings are gone.

It is not an accident this question was posed on National Signing Day. At least based on recruiting services (I know, I know, Iowa's 3-star athlete is the SEC's 5-star), Iowa seemed to be able to attract a higher caliber athlete in the early 2000s, eventually helping those teams to final season rankings of 8 (2002, 2003, 2004), 20 (2008) and 7 (2009).

On internet web page, at least, there has been a marked drop-off in the level of athlete Kirk Ferentz and his staff are now bringing to Iowa City. Most analysts are putting Iowa's 2014 class in the middle to the lower third of the conference. Newcomers Maryland and Rutgers score higher.

This is not meant as a slam against the young men who signed their letters of intent and faxed (!) them in this morning. Welcome to Iowa football!

It just seems as fans we need to brace ourselves for more mediocrity out of Fort Kinnick. <sigh>
Click to expand...

technically it was 4 years ago we finished #7 but point taken ;)
 
According to Rivals rankings Seattle had only three 5star and eight 4-star.
Wide receiver Percy Harvin (Florida) was the only five-star prospect who made an impact in the Super Bowl last night. The Seahawks had two other former five-stars in running backs Christine Michael (Texas A&M) and Spencer Ware (LSU) on the roster.
A few notables were DE Cliff Avril (three stars), RB Marshawn Lynch (four stars), Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith (four stars) and QB Russell Wilson (two stars) on a team that demolished Denver by a 43-8 margin.

For Denver, Rivals had 13 players rated as 4 or 5-star.
What recruiting rankings did the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks get in high school? | AL.com

 
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