Worst Losses in the Past Decade
- Thread starter WilcoHawk
- Start date
I'm not sure why everyone is picking the '03 USC game as THE worst loss. You do realize that that team would've smoked tOSU or Miami and was by far the best team at the end of that season. This is a good loss in my book. Worst losses, to me, were NW and tOSU last year. I still am wondering why KF took a knee at the end of regulation against tOSU with the Rose Bowl on the line.
Fair point regarding USC. They were the best team at the end of the season.
I picked it as the worst loss for 2 reasons:
1. An Iowa victory would have assured a top 3 and probably runner up finish. 2002 would have no question gone down as the best team in the history of the program. I'm no expert on AP voting but my guess is that #2 or #3 would be Iowa's highest finish ever in that poll.
2. Horrible, nut punching, way to end a great season. Iowa was far better than they showed and got rocked on national TV in a highly viewed game.
JailBreak81
Well-Known Member
I figured someone would mention that game. We had ZERO chance of playing for the title even if we did go undefeated. OSU and Miami were both unbeaten. We were not ever jumping them in the polls. That loss seemed huge at the time, and ended up meaning less than nothing. That game is not even in the top 50, let alone 10.
thejumper5
Well-Known Member
'02 ISU. End of discussion in my mind. A distant second is '05 Northwestern.
thejumper5
Well-Known Member
Do we have 50 losses the past decade?
VenturaAce
Well-Known Member
2005 @ Northwestern, 2005 @ Ames and 2007 vs. Western Michigan both still pretty bad yet.
I can usually take a tough loss fairly well, but when you get beat by an inferior opponent, it really really hurts. Watching us pee NW down our leg was probably one of the toughest games to watch ever. Iowa State speaks for itself and, well, WMU, it's not that we were all that good that year, but when you have a bowl bid on the line, any bowl bid and lose at home to a MAC school, that's tough.
I can usually take a tough loss fairly well, but when you get beat by an inferior opponent, it really really hurts. Watching us pee NW down our leg was probably one of the toughest games to watch ever. Iowa State speaks for itself and, well, WMU, it's not that we were all that good that year, but when you have a bowl bid on the line, any bowl bid and lose at home to a MAC school, that's tough.
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JailBreak81
Well-Known Member
I suppose you have a point there. This is the most insignificant loss of the last decade then, or very close to it. The loss meant exactly nothing in the end. We would have probably played in the same game against the same USC team that wiped the floor with us. The NC game was completely unattainable even if we won against ISU.
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I knew someone would refute this point. Iowa and OSU schedules were pretty identical in SOS that year. In '02 the BCS computers factored in margin of victory. Iowa played close games with PSU and Purdue but all others were blowouts(within the big ten). OSU played virtually everygame close. All of the analysts that year thought Iowa was better than OSU anyway so without that loss they would have been ranked higher than OSU, probably in both polls. In my estimation they would have been higher in the BCS standings and would have played for the NC, but we will never know.
Hawkfromnorwalk
Well-Known Member
One that gets lost in the shuffle is Texas 2006. Season took a turn for the worse and we got an invite to the Alamo Bowl to face them. Got out to a decent lead and just when we were about to fire the kill shot the refs bring up the infamous "ineligible receiver" call. We lose momentum and Texas comes back to win. Could have been a bright spot on that shitstain of a season.
bws258
Well-Known Member
wrong, wrong, completely wrong
The polls hated OSU. We would've finished ahead of OSU, of this I have no doubt!
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JailBreak81
Well-Known Member
Guess we will have to agree to disagree. The name OSU would have kept them ahead of us. Of that I have no doubt!
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/pdf/bcs_2002.pdf
HawkI101, sorry but the computers loved Ohio State in 2002 with them never ranking lower than a composite 4.17 any week. Actually on November 11th, their computer ranking pushed them to #1 in the BCS rankings. Iowa actually had a poor computer average which kept them at #5 in the BCS rankings even though they were #3 in both polls.
2002 NCAA College Football Polls and Rankings for Week 1 - ESPN
bwsmoney, sorry but the pollsters never voted Ohio State below 12/13 and that was the preseason poll. In the BCS polls they were never below 4/6.
Also, you guys are forgetting that the 2002 BCS standings had a quality win component so OSU's victory over Washington State also helped them.
Sorry but the facts are that Iowa would have had almost no chance to overtake Ohio State for the #2 ranking.
HawkI101, sorry but the computers loved Ohio State in 2002 with them never ranking lower than a composite 4.17 any week. Actually on November 11th, their computer ranking pushed them to #1 in the BCS rankings. Iowa actually had a poor computer average which kept them at #5 in the BCS rankings even though they were #3 in both polls.
2002 NCAA College Football Polls and Rankings for Week 1 - ESPN
bwsmoney, sorry but the pollsters never voted Ohio State below 12/13 and that was the preseason poll. In the BCS polls they were never below 4/6.
Also, you guys are forgetting that the 2002 BCS standings had a quality win component so OSU's victory over Washington State also helped them.
Sorry but the facts are that Iowa would have had almost no chance to overtake Ohio State for the #2 ranking.
Yes, I understand that. But Iowa had the one loss on their record before the first BCS standings came out which would have never allowed them to get ahead of OSU, without that loss Iowa would have ended being ranked in the polls higher and would have overtaken OSU with OSU's lackluster Big Ten wins. You can't compare a good BCS team with 1 loss in the standings to a team with 0 losses -the 1 loss team will never be able to jump them. So your point doesn't make much sense.
If Iowa was undefeated they would have been ahead of OSU, maybe not to start with but by the end of the year.
HawkI101, I agree you cannot compare a 1 loss team to 0 loss team, but I just don't agree with your assessment. I think Auburn in 2004 and other teams have shown that voters don't regularly jump teams above others if they have the same record. I think there would have been a big debate for the talking heads on ESPN about Iowa or Ohio State but unfortunately Iowa was an unknown product in 2002. I could see Iowa possibly jumping Ohio State this year because of Iowa past decade of work, but in 2002 Iowa was an upstart.
Also, even if Iowa was able to ranked 2nd in both polls they would not have passed Ohio State in the computers. Add in the fact that Iowa had a weaker schedule (20th v 49th) which added over a point to Iowa's BCS score in 2002. Finally, OSU's win over Washington State gave them an extra 0.5 point deduction.
So in order for Iowa to have jumped Ohio State they would have had to have been ranked 2nd in both polls and have had a computer average of 0.68 better than OSU. I'm sorry but I just don't think that would have happened.
Also, even if Iowa was able to ranked 2nd in both polls they would not have passed Ohio State in the computers. Add in the fact that Iowa had a weaker schedule (20th v 49th) which added over a point to Iowa's BCS score in 2002. Finally, OSU's win over Washington State gave them an extra 0.5 point deduction.
So in order for Iowa to have jumped Ohio State they would have had to have been ranked 2nd in both polls and have had a computer average of 0.68 better than OSU. I'm sorry but I just don't think that would have happened.
