ADVERTISEMENT

Outsider Thoughts...

Nihilist Rodgers

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
363
288
63
scan the board from time to time... you guys seem to be a bit down. I think the problem is that the BIG has changed, the inclusion of Nebraska will thin you local talent pool out a bit. More problematic are the new teams in the east.. case in point Maryland 2014. Maryland wil never be a BIG champ, but they along with Rutgers will "out-athlete" Iowa/Minny/Indiana most of the time. Iowa has had a reputation for slowing down other teams and hammering out wins by playing clock ball.. with more athletes on the schedule your margin for error will be reduced. Even more problematic is PSU/tOSU/Mich doling out big money and recruting like the SEC north. The BIG will increase dollars and facilities for all teams, but I feel the did Iowa/Indiana/Minnesota/Wisconsin no favors as those teams are geographically even more isolated from recruiting hotspots.

I think Iowa has suffered, and I think you Wisky will be next.. the days of Wisky fielding teams with mediocre OLB's, CB's, and WR's and staying competitive will end soon--their coache bailed just in time. The BIG is entering a new era, as PSU/UM will no longer tolerate coaches who just win 9-10.. they will fire and re-hire if necessary...tOSU has never been a school to reward mediocrity. That PSU was able to win 2 in a row vs. Wisky speaks volumes at just how unathletic Wisky is.. and PSU was THIN.. with marginal athletes at key postions.. this has already changed, and UM is right there with them.. tOSU is has the most talented roster in the country at this moment.

What can Iowa do? I'm really not sure. You can continue to play hard-nose football, but you might have to consider 6-7 wins good years.. you are playing a in a larger and more competitive league. There may come a time when finishing 5th in this league is an accomplishment..every year that you kick off you are already out-manned and out-spent by tOSU, PSU, UM, and believe it or not Maryland.. the guy that owns Under Armor basically underwrites their program.. and Nebraska has never seen an arms race that they won't join.. it's a TOUGH LEAGUE.-sg
 
The last time we played OSU we held our own with talent. They still won the game but it wasn't a total mismatch from a skill perspective.

I would be fine trading any of our current East opponents for PSU this year or most years for that matter.

Do appreciate your perspective though.
 
I frankly think that the OP's post is pretty decent. One problem with the logic is that the poster doesn't seem to know about the finances of the various schools all that well. As past precedent has shown - Iowa is willing to spend big in order to be competitive in terms of having a "hot coach" and in terms of having excellent facilities.

However, there is obviously more to winning than just spending. What you have to do is find a formula that is sustainable for both your program AND your given geography.

This is where is the original poster is wrong about Wisconsin - as much as it pains me to admit. The weather plays the role of the 12th man for the Badgers and other teams that implement more pro-style offenses. Across the Midwest, once the cold fall winds really start howling ... it makes it ridiculously hard to consistently spread the field vertically with the passing game. Thus, a strong running game really is a "must." Wisconsin knows how to play with that constraint in mind - and it produces a winning formula given how many high-quality offensive linemen get developed in just their back-yard.

The ONLY problem that Wisconsin might have is that they're seemingly less willing to outspend the competition (at least as it applies to coaching staffs) - and this was a big part of why Bert left the Badgers.
 
I hate the Husker's.. I'm a PSU guy (if you read the post.. Nebraska hasn't beat Wisky at all LOL)

Sorry, I still couldn't tell you're a PSU guy from the post. Well, you're not exactly wrong about much as others have said (I'm not sure about the Maryland/Rutgers part). I just thought it read like a typical Nebraska fan's post when they want to rag on Iowa. The truth is, they haven't done much since joining the B1G although it admittedly has been a better overall showing than Iowa.
 
spending helps..but all the money in the world will not allow you to locate your school in the middle of Florida and still remain Iowa (maybe Jerry Jones would try..) that will always big Iowa's biggest obstacle.

As a PSU guy I'm looking forward to not having to play games with an arm tired behind our back. PSU still in for a tough year as OL will still be bad.. last year our OL ranked about 22nd in the conference.. HOW??.. there were the first 13 teams.. and we were not even close to the worse team. This year PSU's OL probab is the 12-14th best OL.. in 2 more years I think it will be top 3-4.. but it will take some lumps on the way. We at least have depth.. although the depth hasn't been in the weight room enough to be considered quality depth due the sanctions.

I don't think anybody will recognize PSU in the next 3 years.. the team will be INSANELY fast..they will be built to match the Bucks stride for stride.. we will have backups that can run past starters on all of the BIG teams sans maybe 2 or 3. Looking forward to 2016..15 will be another year of cursing and pacing every Saturday with no cakewalks... we now have enough depth that I'm done watching 9 walk-on's cover kickoffs every weekend LOL-sg
 
I hate the Husker's.. I'm a PSU guy (if you read the post.. Nebraska hasn't beat Wisky at all LOL)
Uh we beat wisky in 2012. If you're talking about winning records in the BIG since we joined we can talk about PSU vs Nebraska.
 
I believe the op's analysis is well thought out. The largest problem Wisky is having this year is getting highly rated players academically qualified. They have lost a number of 4 star studs.
 
Nebraska and Iowa really don't recruit against each other all too often outside of the occasional Offensive lineman from a bordering state. Nebraska doesn't recruit a lot in Iowa, and Iowa usually only gets Nebraska kids that Nebraska doesn't offer or Nebraska slow plays. (Not being negative with this remark, but for the most part Nebraska kids offered early by Nebraska go to Nebraska).

Outside of the 500mile radius, Nebraska recruits more in the South and out West. Iowa seems to do a lot more Upper Midwest recruiting. Nebraska really only cherry picks in Big Ten country.

In conclusion, Nebraska hasn't really affected Iowa recruiting all that much since jointing the Big Ten IMO.
 
Another child gets molested at pedo state. It's cool that you have to use Wisconsin because your team is trash and can't beat us.

How will it take for Nebraska to win the Big Ten. It was all we heard about when they weren't in the leagues and then it ramped up when they joined.

Maybe they should return to the weak big 12.
 
How will it take for Nebraska to win the Big Ten. It was all we heard about when they weren't in the leagues and then it ramped up when they joined.

Maybe they should return to the weak big 12.

Iowa's last outright Big Ten title was when? The 80s? Is that supposed to be impressive?
 
How will it take for Nebraska to win the Big Ten. It was all we heard about when they weren't in the leagues and then it ramped up when they joined.

Maybe they should return to the weak big 12.
Idk how it will take for nebraska to win the big ten. If you mean how long well I don't know that either. It's the beauty of college football. And not sure why you think the B12 is so weak considering TCU Baylor and Oklahomas success (I'd rather we stay in the big ten)
 
Idk how it will take for nebraska to win the big ten. If you mean how long well I don't know that either. It's the beauty of college football. And not sure why you think the B12 is so weak considering TCU Baylor and Oklahomas success (I'd rather we stay in the big ten)

nebby won the big 12 in football and hasn't been able to do the same in the Big Ten. Maybe they should go back.
 
Last edited:
scan the board from time to time... you guys seem to be a bit down. I think the problem is that the BIG has changed, the inclusion of Nebraska will thin you local talent pool out a bit. More problematic are the new teams in the east.. case in point Maryland 2014. Maryland wil never be a BIG champ, but they along with Rutgers will "out-athlete" Iowa/Minny/Indiana most of the time. Iowa has had a reputation for slowing down other teams and hammering out wins by playing clock ball.. with more athletes on the schedule your margin for error will be reduced. Even more problematic is PSU/tOSU/Mich doling out big money and recruting like the SEC north. The BIG will increase dollars and facilities for all teams, but I feel the did Iowa/Indiana/Minnesota/Wisconsin no favors as those teams are geographically even more isolated from recruiting hotspots.

I think Iowa has suffered, and I think you Wisky will be next.. the days of Wisky fielding teams with mediocre OLB's, CB's, and WR's and staying competitive will end soon--their coache bailed just in time. The BIG is entering a new era, as PSU/UM will no longer tolerate coaches who just win 9-10.. they will fire and re-hire if necessary...tOSU has never been a school to reward mediocrity. That PSU was able to win 2 in a row vs. Wisky speaks volumes at just how unathletic Wisky is.. and PSU was THIN.. with marginal athletes at key postions.. this has already changed, and UM is right there with them.. tOSU is has the most talented roster in the country at this moment.

What can Iowa do? I'm really not sure. You can continue to play hard-nose football, but you might have to consider 6-7 wins good years.. you are playing a in a larger and more competitive league. There may come a time when finishing 5th in this league is an accomplishment..every year that you kick off you are already out-manned and out-spent by tOSU, PSU, UM, and believe it or not Maryland.. the guy that owns Under Armor basically underwrites their program.. and Nebraska has never seen an arms race that they won't join.. it's a TOUGH LEAGUE.-sg

OP you seem to be forgetting about MSU. They're not going anywhere and are putting together some strong recruiting classes too.
 
OP has decent points. I think the bottomline is this: Others are moving forward while Iowa continues to plod along. PSU, OSU, MSU, Mich ... will continue to separate themselves from the Iowa's, Indiana's, Northwestern's ... If Iowa played in OSU's division it would be lucky to average 6 wins.

On a sidenote: I don't think Nebraska's entrance has anything to do with Iowa's recruiting. Nebraska recruits from all over. We are not usually in strict competition with the Huskers for recruits.

I see Maryland as a program to look out for. With its move to the Big 10, and with its recruiting base, I think this is a program that could do very well.

As I write I stop and think ... It's sort of sad to think about the state of Iowa football when looking at the reality everyone around us is/will be getting better. Even the lowly Goofers have passed us by... But as GareBare reminds us ... "Kirk is the right man for the job."
 
Iowa's last outright Big Ten title was when? The 80s? Is that supposed to be impressive?
Well, they shared one in 1990, 2002, and 2004.

They went 8-0 in conference in 2002, sharing it with Ohio State who they didn't play.

I would say that compared with Nebraska and PSU, since they joined the Big Ten, Iowa is doing ok.
 
PSU just went 2-6 in the B1G and 0-2 vs the West. Little early to be crowing about your ascension and patronizing Iowa fans.
 
Well, they shared one in 1990, 2002, and 2004.

They went 8-0 in conference in 2002, sharing it with Ohio State who they didn't play.

I would say that compared with Nebraska and PSU, since they joined the Big Ten, Iowa is doing ok.

Just saying the conference title era is a new era. It is much more difficult to win a conference title when there aren't shared titles. 2004 Iowa lost head up to the other "co-champion" and they miss playing the national champ in 2002. Those are some pretty convenient conference titles.

Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten they have 11 more overall wins than Iowa.
 
spending helps..but all the money in the world will not allow you to locate your school in the middle of Florida and still remain Iowa (maybe Jerry Jones would try..) that will always big Iowa's biggest obstacle.

I don't think anybody will recognize PSU in the next 3 years.. the team will be INSANELY fast..they will be built to match the Bucks stride for stride.. we will have backups that can run past starters on all of the BIG teams sans maybe 2 or 3. Looking forward to 2016..15 will be another year of cursing and pacing every Saturday with no cakewalks... we now have enough depth that I'm done watching 9 walk-on's cover kickoffs every weekend LOL-sg

The prior coaching staff of Purdue almost excessively recruited Florida - and did a great job of bringing in plenty of speed. The problem is that that never ended up translating to wins.

For a team to be successful, the following is typically required:

1. The coaches have to be good teachers
2. The personnel/players on the team need to "fit the system"
3. The personnel/players on the team need to "believe in the system"
4. The personnel/players on the team need to work hard to achieve/exceed their potential
5. The personnel/players have to have aptitude
 
The bigger issue the last 5 years imo we have just flat out been out muscled in the trenches. You cant boast a strong running game and not actually back it up with good running numbers. Likewise, we use to have a good to great D-Line every year but it has been weaker than normal lately. Shore those two spots up and we should be better. Loved Wiesman as a short yardage guy but will be nice to see an actual RB in that spot this year that can turn a 7 yard MW run into a 30 yard run instead.
 
Iowa's problem is that Kirk is ridiculously conservative, to a crazy degree. This helps out in games vs better teams as Iowa rarely gets blow. Out, but it also leads to Iowa losing games to crap directional schools, Iowa St, and is frankly why I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa struggles with Illinois St.

The play that sticks out to me most is the Nebraska-Iowa game in Iowa City a few years ago. Iowa is at like the 30 it like 4th & 6. It's super windy so a field goal is not an option, so what does Kirk so? He punts the ball for like a net 6 yards. Short of an interception for a TD, the worst possible scenario is Nwbraska gets a sack and is at like te 35 yard line.

Small decisions like that just highlight tithe problem with Iowa. I really don't understand how your fans put up with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JStandefer
Small decisions like that just highlight tithe problem with Iowa. I really don't understand how your fans put up with it.

Agree with your point, and would say that is an excellent example. As to the part above, fewer and fewer are putting up with it when the 3 to 5 year average record falls below 7-5.
 
I assumed he meant AAU....but where the heck does CCA come from? Leads me to think he meant something different than AAU or has no clue what he's talking about
 
I assumed he meant AAU....but where the heck does CCA come from? Leads me to think he meant something different than AAU or has no clue what he's talking about
LOL - leave it to an Iowa fan to try and make an argument about education and mess up the institution. If you can't get it done on the field, talk about your academics, or your band, etc..
 
Nebraska fans can make fun of Ferentz and what not. But if you take a closer look they hired the closest thing the PAC 12 had in coaches that is similar to KF in Mike Riley who is even older than him. Granted sure people can point out differences but his record at OSU (little worse than KF), elevating programs that had been down, interest from and connections to the NFL (Riley actually coaching briefly) and their personalities.
 
PSU just went 2-6 in the B1G and 0-2 vs the West. Little early to be crowing about your ascension and patronizing Iowa fans.

But, but,but... they have Christian Hackenberg at QB. Most overrated quarterback in college football.
12 TDs / 15 INTs. Yeah, they're pretty well set to take the B10 by storm this year.
 
ADVERTISEMENT