Worst Hawk team in a decade

J

jefehawk

Active Member
Too early to tell?
I think so but I can tell you for the last decade I usually get freaking geeked up for Iowa football before the season starts. I have the typical Hawkeye fan feeling of what it's going to be like to win the Big ten this year etc. Etc..

But not this year... Even before the season started I couldn't think of one player I was optimistic about watching play....not one!

I wanted my kids to have current players jerseys and I left the store empty handed..I didn't want to spend $80 on #16 and #6 jersey..glad I didn't.

I knew this was going to be a transition, rebuilding, whatever you want to call it year, but I wasn't expecting to compare it to a late 90's early 2000's kind of team this early in the season.

I predicted 4-5 wins at the beginning of the season and I'm still there. I'm optimistic this team will improve greatly as the season goes on and by next year my poor children will have a current player's jersey they can wear and their dad will be proud of! ;)

That being said...does anyone have any lightly warn Mitch King youth jerseys for sale?..you know, to get my boys through this season?

What say you? Worst team in a decade?
 


I personally thought that our offense would keep us in games this year and that our defense would be the liability. Our D is actually pretty darn good, which is a surprise. The biggest surprise is just how crappy the O is. They need to get creative and not give the other team the look and lack of execution that we've seen through 2 games. If not for Bullock, we easily lose to NIU. Vandy has been horrible two games into the year. The line improved greatly in game 2, but the WR and QB play were atrocious. Too many drops, too many ill advised passes, and no cojones when down inside the 5 yard line. Instead of having every single player up close, spread the WR's out to keep them from having 11 men in the box and think that we can just run right over them. We don't have a Gallery or Reiff to barrel over the opposing D lines.

Plain and simple, this is not going to be a good year, and right now I'd be shocked to see us with more than 5 wins. And most of those wins will be because of our Defense. No wonder Texas sacked Davis when they did. He's like a poor mans Ken O'Keefe.
 


MeanDrunkR2D2 said:
I personally thought that our offense would keep us in games this year and that our defense would be the liability. Our D is actually pretty darn good, which is a surprise. The biggest surprise is just how crappy the O is. They need to get creative and not give the other team the look and lack of execution that we've seen through 2 games. If not for Bullock, we easily lose to NIU. Vandy has been horrible two games into the year. The line improved greatly in game 2, but the WR and QB play were atrocious. Too many drops, too many ill advised passes, and no cojones when down inside the 5 yard line. Instead of having every single player up close, spread the WR's out to keep them from having 11 men in the box and think that we can just run right over them. We don't have a Gallery or Reiff to barrel over the opposing D lines.

Plain and simple, this is not going to be a good year, and right now I'd be shocked to see us with more than 5 wins. And most of those wins will be because of our Defense. No wonder Texas sacked Davis when they did. He's like a poor mans Ken O'Keefe.
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Our defense is better than our offense but both sides need serious work. The clowns were moving the ball at will in the first half which cannot happen once we hit B1G games.
 


Blackout said:
Our defense is better than our offense but both sides need serious work. The clowns were moving the ball at will in the first half which cannot happen once we hit B1G games.
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This - but it's all relative. Compared to expectations the defense is playing quite well on the whole but they still struggle to start the game. Fortunately, it's only been a against a couple 6-6 / 7-5 caliber teams so far, so things haven't gotten out of hand. Unfortunately, it's only been against a couple 6-6 / 7-5 caliber teams, so as the competition ramps up, things could easily get out of hand in the 1st half and the hole will be too deep even after halftime adjustments.

The Offensive is somewhere between unwatchable and impotent relative to both expectations and every other D-1 team. I'm not so sure that, even if the defense continues to improve in the 1st half (which they will) that whatever improvement The Offensive can muster will be enough because they have so far to go. Seriously, how many more opportunities can a D give? Is it going to take +4 turnovers before The Offensive can take advantage?
 


STILLBUSTER said:
This - but it's all relative. Compared to expectations the defense is playing quite well on the whole but they still struggle to start the game. Fortunately, it's only been a against a couple 6-6 / 7-5 caliber teams so far, so things haven't gotten out of hand. Unfortunately, it's only been against a couple 6-6 / 7-5 caliber teams, so as the competition ramps up, things could easily get out of hand in the 1st half and the hole will be too deep even after halftime adjustments.

The Offensive is somewhere between unwatchable and impotent relative to both expectations and every other D-1 team. I'm not so sure that, even if the defense continues to improve in the 1st half (which they will) that whatever improvement The Offensive can muster will be enough because they have so far to go. Seriously, how many more opportunities can a D give? Is it going to take +4 turnovers before The Offensive can take advantage?
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Agreed. It's tough to tell how good/bad this team will be come November, but at this point, it's looking like the worst team since 2000, or maybe even since '99. The 2001 team went 7-5, and I'm not sure I see the 2012 team going 7-5, unless they really improve before conference play starts.

Frankly, I'm not sure this year's Iowa team would be able to beat the 2000 team the way they were playing at the end of that season. The 2000 team was starting to find itself by the end of the season. Guess we'll have to hope for similiar improvement this year.
 


It's too soon to tell. I'm hoping that the players will settle into the new offense and find a rhythm. Otherwise this could be the worse team in ten years.
 


1977Hawkeye said:
The 2001 team went 7-5, and I'm not sure I see the 2012 team going 7-5, unless they really improve before conference play starts.

Frankly, I'm not sure this year's Iowa team would be able to beat the 2000 team the way they were playing at the end of that season. The 2000 team was starting to find itself by the end of the season. Guess we'll have to hope for similiar improvement this year.
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That 2001 team was actually pretty damn good and on the verge of breaking out with just a few points short in each of those losses. The last four games of the 2000 team was much better than what we've seen so far this year. Bob Sanders alone would have destroyed this offense.
 


PJHawk said:
That 2001 team was actually pretty damn good and on the verge of breaking out with just a few points short in each of those losses. The last four games of the 2000 team was much better than what we've seen so far this year. Bob Sanders alone would have destroyed this offense.
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Yep. I don't believe that 2001 team lost a game by double digits.. That wasn't far from a 9 or 10 win team. They just weren't quite there yet. Honestly, they might've won more games if Brad Banks had been our primary QB that year... 2002 was the year it all came together in a big way. 2003 & 04 were not quite as good as 2002, but were still a ton of fun.

I really miss the fire of those early KF teams. Bob Sanders, Matt Roth, Dallas Clark, etc. etc. etc.
 






I compare this team to Kirk's second year at Iowa. We just don't have the horses. It has been glaringly obvious against NI and ISU.

I was simply taken back by the Iowa team I saw in person Saturday. I thought this would be a case of a team bouncing back in a big way and looking like a completely different team. We looked just about the same as the NI game. Sadly, this is going to be a long year ... and it could be a long couple of years on the horizon.
 






I'm still unclear on how we got to this point. What chain of events occurred that resulted in such an inept group of players?
In the 14th year of being a head coach at a major program, why couldn't Ferrets put a higher quality product on the field??
 


Scorpio79 said:
I'm still unclear on how we got to this point. What chain of events occurred that resulted in such an inept group of players?
In the 14th year of being a head coach at a major program, why couldn't Ferrets put a higher quality product on the field??
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Attrition, AIRBHG, and draft jumpers.
 










DesMoinesHawki said:
I compare this team to Kirk's second year at Iowa. We just don't have the horses. It has been glaringly obvious against NI and ISU.

I was simply taken back by the Iowa team I saw in person Saturday. I thought this would be a case of a team bouncing back in a big way and looking like a completely different team. We looked just about the same as the NI game. Sadly, this is going to be a long year ... and it could be a long couple of years on the horizon.
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In 2000, Kirk's second year, the lack of talent was mostly a result of Hayden staying on a couple of years too long, and leaving the cupboard bare.

2012 is Kirk's 14th year. The lack of talent on the 2012 Iowa roster is 100% the responsiblity of Kirk Ferentz and his staff. The lack of accountability placed on Kirk by many Iowa fans (and most of the Iowa media) for the current predictament of the program is disturbing.
 


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