I was just looking at the schedule out of curiosity. Iowa opens vs Indiana then @ Iowa State. Pretty tough two weeks to start.
2021 Schedule
- Thread starter IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life
- Start date
We will practice so well in the week before each game. Our opponents are in trouble.
That isu issue has been beaten to death (I was going to say dead horse, but I don’t want peta on my case). The game unfortunately will be in ames.
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anon_8rcdnbko1jbe0
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Big Ten officials increasingly care more about marketing than tradition. Despite the fact that the conference is flush with cash, they think there needs to be more conference games at the beginning of the season to drum up interest to compete with other high profile games going on in September. Ferentz didn’t want it (we see why this season) but we were ultimately given what should have been an easy break (hosting IU). It’s the same with Friday night games - absolutely no compelling reason to do it. Iowa Minn has been played on Saturday for many decades. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. No reason to be playing conference games early. If that weren’t all bad enough, Iowa plays Wisconsin very early something like 2 or 3 out of the next for seasons. Why?? Again, Big Ten officials apparently want marquee matchups earlier in the season. Iowa Wisconsin should be played no earlier than late October every season.
Should be Iowa-Wisconsin last game of season to decide the winner of west like tOSU-Michigan in the east with both on Saturday.
Let Netra6hka play Minnesota on Black Friday moving forward from now on with them being a garbage program and whiny crybaby fans.
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anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba
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Yah, pretty tough. But just for a little context, check this out from the Hayden Fry years, including
FIFTEEN ranked teams in these 15 seasons. You might feel a little better about facing mighty Indiana and ISU next year:
NOTE: Nebraska and Penn State were not in the Big Ten in these years.
* 1979: #3 Oklahoma, #7 Nebraska, ISU
* 1980: #6 Nebraska, ISU, Arizona
* 1981: #7 Nebraska, ISU, #6 UCLA. (Iowa beat Nebraska [10-7] and UCLA [20-7] on the way to the Rose Bowl).
* 1982: #3 Nebraska, ISU, Arizona
* 1983: ISU, Penn State, #3 Ohio State (conference of course)
* 1984: ISU, #12 Penn State, #5 Ohio State
* 1987: #17 Tennessee, Arizona, ISU, K-State (4 non-con games / Tennessee was a "bonus" game called the "Kickoff Classic")
* 1988: Hawaii, K-State, Colorado
* 1989: Oregon, ISU, Tulsa
* 1990: Cincinnati, ISU, #10 Miami (Florida)
* 1992: North Carolina State, #1 Miami (Florida), ISU
* 1993: Tulsa, ISU, #14 Penn State
* 1994: Central Michigan, ISU, #6 Penn State
* 1996: Arizona, ISU, Tulsa
* 1999: #5 Nebraska, ISU, N. Illinois
Meanwhile, here are some representative non-conference schedules from the KF era. Amazing that he's been able to pile up all those wins against such a tough gauntlet of foes, including playing TWO ranked teams in these 15 seasons.
* 2000: #8 K-State, ISU, W. Michigan
* 2001: Kent State, Miami (Ohio), ISU [end of season]
* 2002: Akron, Miami (Ohio), ISU
* 2003: Miami (Ohio), Buffalo, ISU
* 2004: Kent State, ISU, Arizona State
* 2005: Ball State, ISU, UNI
* 2006: Montana, Syracuse, ISU
* 2007: N. Illinois, Syracuse, ISU
* 2008: Maine, Florida International, ISU
* 2009: UNI, ISU, Arizona
* 2010: Eastern Illinois, ISU, #24 Arizona
* 2015: Illinois State, ISU, Pitt
* 2016: Miami (Ohio), ISU, North Dakota State
* 2018: N. Illinois, ISU, UNI
* 2019: Miami (Ohio), ISU, Middle Tennessee State
Those are rankings at the time of the game, not where those teams ended up. I'd be surprised if that many actually did finish the season ranked.
In addition, it's offset by the Big Ten being much tougher during the Ferentz-era than during the Fry-era, but it's really a moot point, because there's zero incentive to schedule those matchups, other than fan enjoyment.
The CFP has shown that an undefeated P5 champ is not getting left out, making their non-con schedule moot; the vast majority of college AD's want at least 7 home games per season for ticket local business revenue, which leaves Iowa in a tight spot considering we get 4/5 conference home games per year and are locked in to the ISU home/home series, which leaves very little flexibility, considering any such matchup is at best going to be a home/home, and at worst a neutral-site. Iowa doesn't have the influence to get the LSU's, Clemson's, or Oregon's of the world into a guaranteed home/home series, and those teams are increasingly unlikely to leave their recruiting footprint for a neutral-site game.
In addition, it's offset by the Big Ten being much tougher during the Ferentz-era than during the Fry-era, but it's really a moot point, because there's zero incentive to schedule those matchups, other than fan enjoyment.
The CFP has shown that an undefeated P5 champ is not getting left out, making their non-con schedule moot; the vast majority of college AD's want at least 7 home games per season for ticket local business revenue, which leaves Iowa in a tight spot considering we get 4/5 conference home games per year and are locked in to the ISU home/home series, which leaves very little flexibility, considering any such matchup is at best going to be a home/home, and at worst a neutral-site. Iowa doesn't have the influence to get the LSU's, Clemson's, or Oregon's of the world into a guaranteed home/home series, and those teams are increasingly unlikely to leave their recruiting footprint for a neutral-site game.
Kirk, not HF, was coaching us in 1999 you dumbass.
Ugh. I can think of one time in my life when Iowa looked good in the first game of the season (there are more I'm sure, but right now I can only think of one). I like playing the scrappy FCS teams where there is room for Iowa to screw up and still win.
True, but the landscape has changed quite a bit. Back in Hayden's day, if you wanted to sniff a chance at being televised and provide exposure for your program, you needed to schedule games that the networks would want to put on national TV. Ranked teams would do that. Today, every game is televised and is essentially on national TV so scheduling the top 10 ranked teams isn't as necessary.
You spent a lot of time trying to create as much discrepancy in this comparison as possible. Pathetic.
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Agree, tough way to start. I am guessing next year is a 7 win time of year. And both Indiana and ISU likely will be ranked in those games. Then you have Northwestern, Wisconsin, and PSU which will likely be ranked, well at least the latter two but maybe Northwestern. So could be 5 ranked teams.
