Early lines: Iowa over/under at 7.5 Wins

[ichawk24]

-115 for both the over and the under. I like the over.

https://www.betdsi.eu/sportsbook-betting/college-football-odds/college-football-props/

Dochterman a short piece on them:
https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/big-ten-win-totals-2018-season-ohio-state-wisconsin-michigan

 

[LaQuintaHawkeye]

Sounds a little light....definitely take the over.

After all, Kirk has averaged 8-5 during his tenure at Iowa.

 

[CO_hawk]

Wasn’t Nebraska at 5.5 last year too?

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Over. The annual WTF and PSU. 10-2.

 

[20Hawkeye14]

Over. Have a good feeling about the next few years for the hawkeyes.

 

[Johnsoda123]

Kirk is in his last 4-5 years coaching, in my opinion. He will cement his legacy during that period. He might have the best recruiting team he has ever had. My expectation is 9+ wins a year for the next 4-5 years. Maybe even a conference championship and playoff spot.

 

[kcgolfer]

Under. Pay your mortgage.

 

[RoundRock620]

Over. More experienced QB and good lines. Iowa football.

 

[Suterman]

Over for sure. If it's under with this schedule, the pitchforks and torches will be out.

 

[jellyfish10]

Under. I think the early departures to the NFL and starting over with a new linebacking core will be tough to overcome. As odd as it sounds, I think Josey Jewel was under appreciated and was such a huge playmaker. I still don’t have much faith in the offense and many times last year, a stagnant offense was ignited by Akrum Wadley. I don’t see that type of player on the ‘18 roster. I wouldn’t mind being wrong about this though.

 

[Herkmeister]

Under. I think the early departures to the NFL and starting over with a new linebacking core will be tough to overcome. As odd as it sounds, I think Josey Jewel was under appreciated and was such a huge playmaker. I still don’t have much faith in the offense and many times last year, a stagnant offense was ignited by Akrum Wadley. I don’t see that type of player on the ‘18 roster. I wouldn’t mind being wrong about this though.

Good night Jelly. You’ll be more optimistic tomorrow.

 

[Herkmeister]

Man, no wonder Frost is trying to temper the hype in America’s worst state.

 

[millah_22]

Over. Iowa will hit 8 wins.

NIU, ISU, and UNI. 3 wins there.

Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, there's 3 more.

Lose to Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, and Northwestern like usual.

Beat Illinois and the Huskers for 8 wins.

 

[CO_hawk]

Over. Iowa will hit 8 wins.

NIU, ISU, and UNI. 3 wins there.

Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, there's 3 more.

Lose to Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, and Northwestern like usual.

Beat Illinois and the Huskers for 8 wins.

When going through the schedule in my head, I think you nailed what Vegas is thinking.

 

[Pepperman]

Over for sure. If it's under with this schedule, the pitchforks and torches will be out.

I was surprised to see you post that. I hope you will sing from the same hymnbook come December, should the under hit.

For the record, I have no view on this line. It is exactly where I would set it if anybody has asked me. I have no idea how good either line will be, how the new LBs will perform, if we'll get anything out of the WRs (BF seems to think we will positively surprise here) and then I assume we'll miss Wadley quite a bit, even though I'm a huge believer in Toren Young.

It wouldn't shock me at all to see this team go 7-5. Given that, I don't anticipate being one with a pitchfork or torch unless the final record is 5-7 or worse.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

I was surprised to see you post that. I hope you will sing from the same hymnbook come December, should the under hit.

For the record, I have no view on this line. It is exactly where I would set it if anybody has asked me. I have no idea how good either line will be, how the new LBs will perform, if we'll get anything out of the WRs (BF seems to think we will positively surprise here) and then I assume we'll miss Wadley quite a bit, even though I'm a huge believer in Toren Young.

It wouldn't shock me at all to see this team go 7-5. Given that, I don't anticipate being one with a pitchfork or torch unless the final record is 5-7 or worse.

Phil is safe no matter what and most people think there will be growing pains on the defensive side of the ball. 7-5 where the defense puts up some head scratchers but the offense finds the next gear....everybody good.

7-5 where the defense is still dragging the offense through games to be competitive....Brian in trouble.

 

[Dick Rambone]

OVER

 

[ichawk24]

A bad year defensively would have Iowa ranked something like #35 nationally. Phil will be under zero pressure.

 

[Johnsoda123]

A bad year defensively would have Iowa ranked something like #35 nationally. Phil will be under zero pressure.

I believe Iowa was in the top 20 in scoring defense last year, or bear it. Of course they had two consensus AA. The rush defense needs to improve this year.

 

[Pepperman]

7-5 where the defense is still dragging the offense through games to be competitive....Brian in trouble.

Well, like I said back when Brian was promoted to OC, "Kirk is doubling down on his own future now"... if the offense continues to stink (like it has a majority of the KF era) then both will eventually be gone. I wonder if we could somehow make Phil the head coach at that time or if he'd want out and it would be a total reboot.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Well, like I said back when Brian was promoted to OC, "Kirk is doubling down on his own future now"... if the offense continues to stink (like it has a majority of the KF era) then both will eventually be gone. I wonder if we could somehow make Phil the head coach at that time or if he'd want out and it would be a total reboot.

I had not thought of it as a double down concept but I 100% agree good or bad BF is KF's last O-Cord.

 

[LeftyLarry]

I don't see who you can lose to with that crazy WEAK schedule, aside from Wisconsin and PSU.
I think without Gesicki, Barkley and HAmilton, PSU isn't as formidable and WISCONSIN early, is a good break for you too.
Beat WIsconsin and you could be in for a huge season with that crappy schedule.
You even get Maryland a year early, next year the myriad of 4 stars they brought in last two seasons should be ready, this year, not really.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I don't see who you can lose to with that crazy WEAK schedule, aside from Wisconsin and PSU.
I think without Gesicki, Barkley and HAmilton, PSU isn't as formidable and WISCONSIN early, is a good break for you too.
Beat WIsconsin and you could be in for a huge season with that crappy schedule.
You even get Maryland a year early, next year the myriad of 4 stars they brought in last two seasons should be ready, this year, not really.

It certainly is a good break for the Hawks. Of course, the Badgers had a really good team last year too ... but they were also cursed with having a crazy-weak schedule too.

I anticipate that the 2018 Hawks have a chance to mirror the 2017 Badgers. We'll have to wait and see how things play out though ....

 

[JupiterHawk]

Well, like I said back when Brian was promoted to OC, "Kirk is doubling down on his own future now"... if the offense continues to stink (like it has a majority of the KF era) then both will eventually be gone. I wonder if we could somehow make Phil the head coach at that time or if he'd want out and it would be a total reboot.

While their were some pretty poor games offensively, I wouldn’t classify that it “stunk” last year. Their was hopeful signs for 2018

 

[LeftyLarry]

It certainly is a good break for the Hawks. Of course, the Badgers had a really good team last year too ... but they were also cursed with having a crazy-weak schedule too.

I anticipate that the 2018 Hawks have a chance to mirror the 2017 Badgers. We'll have to wait and see how things play out though ....

The year before we had the toughest schedule in college football.
Schedule makers have always liked Hawks.

 

[DodgerHawki]

The year before we had the toughest schedule in college football.
Schedule makers have always liked Hawks.

Stop trolling Larry. Iowa had the 5th toughest schedule in 2017 according to Sagarin. Some years the schedule is harder than others. 2018 appears to be a mix.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Well, like I said back when Brian was promoted to OC, "Kirk is doubling down on his own future now"... if the offense continues to stink (like it has a majority of the KF era) then both will eventually be gone. I wonder if we could somehow make Phil the head coach at that time or if he'd want out and it would be a total reboot.

Iowa's O was in a tough spot on so many fronts last year.

• 2 of 13 of our opponents were in the top 10 scoring Ds, 4 of 13 were in the top 20, 8 of 13 were in the top 30, and 10 of 13 were in the top 40! I don't care how you cut it - the implication here is that the Hawk O had to face a diversity of talented Ds this season!
• While facing such tough Ds, the Hawks were breaking in a first-year starter at QB ... a guy who was just a true sophomore too!
• On top of the above, the Hawks were implementing all new schemes on O.
• On top of the above, the Hawks were breaking in essentially an all-new staff on the O side of the ball. Brian was new at OC, Ken was "new" as our QB coach, Kelton was new as our WR coach, and Tim was new as our OL coach.
• On top of the above, Iowa was experiencing a pretty significant "transition" at WR. We had just graduated McCarron (the top producer in '16), we lost Jerminic Smith to attrition, Scheel left the team due to injuries, we lost Jonathan Parker to attrition, we lost Ronald Nash to attrition, Ryan Boyle moved back to QB, and Matt VandeBerg was coming off of 2 consecutive injuries to the same foot.
• On top of the above, while we obviously had talent at TE ... it shouldn't be lost on us that we were relying on a true sophomore and a redshirt freshman to start for us at such crucial positions for our O.
• And lastly, we had to contend with quite a bit of adversity on O ... Butler went down to injury and was lost for nearly half the season, we lost BOTH of our starting OTs to injury, and even our uber-talented C was dinged for much of the season!

Did Iowa's O struggle last year? Sure! However, putting the offensive performance in context ... and considering that we still managed to get 27 passing TDs ... how was that not a glowing positive coming out of the season?

I could be wrong ... but I'd imagine that "fixing" a passing game is usually a bit harder than "fixing" a running game. It was pretty obvious that a disproportionate emphasis last season was placed on trying to revive our passing game. Given how the Hawkeye passing game looked in '16 with a SR quarterback who even managed to see starts as a rookie ... I think that it is fair to say that substantial gains WERE made in the passing game. Given Brian's prior title as "run-game coordinator," the fact that Tim will likely to an even better job in '18 of coaching-up his guys, and the fact that Brian will now be coaching the FBs and TEs ... I expect that there will be plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our running game experiencing a "revival."

 

[LeftyLarry]

Stop trolling Larry. Iowa had the 5th toughest schedule in 2017 according to Sagarin. Some years the schedule is harder than others. 2018 appears to be a mix.

Oh pleeze, I've been following this stuff for years, Mich, MSU, OSU and IOWA always got the favorable schedules.

Barry finally figured it out and started screaming and we've done a little bit better of late, even get FAIR byes often now, but (2017) LSU, Mich, OSU, MSU in the same season and then PSU in the championship game, doesn't get any tougher.
After we beat a lot of those teams up, they weren't highly rated anymore but that was an impossible schedule.
At one point, if i remember correctly, we played MSU 3 times in a row on the road.

 

[Pepperman]

While their were some pretty poor games offensively, I wouldn’t classify that it “stunk” last year. Their was hopeful signs for 2018

It was a strange year because the offense couldn't do anything in a few games and then looked excellent in others.

I appreciate that I generalized quite a bit, and was not simply speaking about 2017. I believe advanced metrics even show that when you adjust for the style Iowa plays, the offense still is below average. This has been a KF-era issue in my opinion. Very good, if not excellent defensive teams, and very below average offenses.

 

[ichawk24]

Oh pleeze, I've been following this stuff for years, Mich, MSU, OSU and IOWA always got the favorable schedules.

Barry finally figured it out and started screaming and we've done a little bit better of late, even get FAIR byes often now, but (2017) LSU, Mich, OSU, MSU in the same season and then PSU in the championship game, doesn't get any tougher.
After we beat a lot of those teams up, they weren't highly rated anymore but that was an impossible schedule.
At one point, if i remember correctly, we played MSU 3 times in a row on the road.

Please come up with at least a tiny smidgen of evidence in your whining.

Wisconsin has never MSU 3 times in a row on the road. The last time they played MSU twice in a row on the road was 1980-81.

http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin...&end=2017&team1=Wisconsin&team2=MichiganState

Hilarious that you're bitching about Big Ten scheduling, then list LSU non-conf game and PSU title game matchup.

You're all over the place in your stupidity.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Please come up with at least a tiny smidgen of evidence in your whining.

Wisconsin has never MSU 3 times in a row on the road. The last time they played MSU twice in a row on the road was 1980-81.

http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin...&end=2017&team1=Wisconsin&team2=MichiganState

Hilarious that you're bitching about Big Ten scheduling, then list LSU non-conf game and PSU title game matchup.

You're all over the place in your stupidity.

Yes, he didn't answer my point that Iowa had the 5th-toughest schedule last year according to Sagarin. You can agree/not agree with Sagarin, but at least it is a methodology. Iowa State ended up being good last year, and Iowa had Ohio State, Penn State and MSU on the crossovers last year. So yes, Iowa's schedule in 2017 was difficult.

 

[Johnsoda123]

Iowa's O was in a tough spot on so many fronts last year.

• 2 of 13 of our opponents were in the top 10 scoring Ds, 4 of 13 were in the top 20, 8 of 13 were in the top 30, and 10 of 13 were in the top 40! I don't care how you cut it - the implication here is that the Hawk O had to face a diversity of talented Ds this season!
• While facing such tough Ds, the Hawks were breaking in a first-year starter at QB ... a guy who was just a true sophomore too!
• On top of the above, the Hawks were implementing all new schemes on O.
• On top of the above, the Hawks were breaking in essentially an all-new staff on the O side of the ball. Brian was new at OC, Ken was "new" as our QB coach, Kelton was new as our WR coach, and Tim was new as our OL coach.
• On top of the above, Iowa was experiencing a pretty significant "transition" at WR. We had just graduated McCarron (the top producer in '16), we lost Jerminic Smith to attrition, Scheel left the team due to injuries, we lost Jonathan Parker to attrition, we lost Ronald Nash to attrition, Ryan Boyle moved back to QB, and Matt VandeBerg was coming off of 2 consecutive injuries to the same foot.
• On top of the above, while we obviously had talent at TE ... it shouldn't be lost on us that we were relying on a true sophomore and a redshirt freshman to start for us at such crucial positions for our O.
• And lastly, we had to contend with quite a bit of adversity on O ... Butler went down to injury and was lost for nearly half the season, we lost BOTH of our starting OTs to injury, and even our uber-talented C was dinged for much of the season!

Did Iowa's O struggle last year? Sure! However, putting the offensive performance in context ... and considering that we still managed to get 27 passing TDs ... how was that not a glowing positive coming out of the season?

I could be wrong ... but I'd imagine that "fixing" a passing game is usually a bit harder than "fixing" a running game. It was pretty obvious that a disproportionate emphasis last season was placed on trying to revive our passing game. Given how the Hawkeye passing game looked in '16 with a SR quarterback who even managed to see starts as a rookie ... I think that it is fair to say that substantial gains WERE made in the passing game. Given Brian's prior title as "run-game coordinator," the fact that Tim will likely to an even better job in '18 of coaching-up his guys, and the fact that Brian will now be coaching the FBs and TEs ... I expect that there will be plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our running game experiencing a "revival."

Homer, if our WRs make progress and can become somewhat of a down field threat, think of what that will do for our TEs. Imagine if we had a WR that commanded double coverage.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

It was a strange year because the offense couldn't do anything in a few games and then looked excellent in others.

I appreciate that I generalized quite a bit, and was not simply speaking about 2017. I believe advanced metrics even show that when you adjust for the style Iowa plays, the offense still is below average. This has been a KF-era issue in my opinion. Very good, if not excellent defensive teams, and very below average offenses.

The very best Ferentz era Os typically have been pretty solid in terms of scoring O ... but mediocre at best in terms of yardage gained (total O).

better scoring Os:
2001:
394 yards per game, 32.6 points per game
2002:
425 yards per game, 37.2 points per game
2008:
370 yards per game, 30.3 points per game
2015:
386 yards per game, 30.9 points per game

better total Os:
2002:
425 yards per game, 37.2 points per game
2005:
432 yards per game, 30.0 points per game
2014:
400 yards per game, 28.2 points per game

Where does the 2017 O stack up?

330 yards per game, 28.2 points per game

Draw your own conclusions ....

 

[bagdropper]

Meh...talk to me in mid August when we have a clearer indication on what the depth chart really looks like.

Iowa football in early May is like a jigsaw puzzle that's about to come out. We can look at the photo used and it looks beautiful. But we currently don't know if the pieces of the puzzle can be put together within 12 game's time frame or not - nor whether there will be times when we're stuck searching for that right piece.

 

[kceasthawk]

Sounds a little light....definitely take the over.

After all, Kirk has averaged 8-5 during his tenure at Iowa.

Well we knew somebody had too, didn't they? LOL!...........

 

[kceasthawk]

Under. I think the early departures to the NFL and starting over with a new linebacking core will be tough to overcome. As odd as it sounds, I think Josey Jewel was under appreciated and was such a huge playmaker. I still don’t have much faith in the offense and many times last year, a stagnant offense was ignited by Akrum Wadley. I don’t see that type of player on the ‘18 roster. I wouldn’t mind being wrong about this though.

I could be all wrong here Jelly, but I just don't see the LB issue being as bad as many think. This is a recurrent theme with Iowa football. Three senior LB's graduate and we struggle getting the young pups up to speed. The difference this time I believe is that we won't be relying on freshmen to jump in as starters like with Morris and Jewell. This time we have guys who have been in the system for 3 or 4 years and look to be ready for their shot. If we end up playing Doyle, Mcdonald, or even the Juco guys, it will be because they stood out, and not out of need, like the last two times. Adding to that I think the DL and secondary will both be solid, and we may be as good at DE and safety as I can remember. I could see the Defense being very solid by BIG season.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Laquinta, you find me the sports book that has iowa at 7.5 and allows the bowl game to be included and I'll cash out my entire portfolio.

 

[Suterman]

I was surprised to see you post that. I hope you will sing from the same hymnbook come December, should the under hit.

For the record, I have no view on this line. It is exactly where I would set it if anybody has asked me. I have no idea how good either line will be, how the new LBs will perform, if we'll get anything out of the WRs (BF seems to think we will positively surprise here) and then I assume we'll miss Wadley quite a bit, even though I'm a huge believer in Toren Young.

It wouldn't shock me at all to see this team go 7-5. Given that, I don't anticipate being one with a pitchfork or torch unless the final record is 5-7 or worse.

I didn't say I would be breaking out the torches and pitchforks. I said they would be broken out. Not by me, by others.

 

[LeftyLarry]

Please come up with at least a tiny smidgen of evidence in your whining.

Wisconsin has never MSU 3 times in a row on the road. The last time they played MSU twice in a row on the road was 1980-81.

http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin...&end=2017&team1=Wisconsin&team2=MichiganState

Hilarious that you're bitching about Big Ten scheduling, then list LSU non-conf game and PSU title game matchup.

You're all over the place in your stupidity.

Had Iowa on the road twice in a row too.
How much more evidence do you need?
What decent program did we ever get twice in a row at home?
Additionally before Barry spoke up, years ago we’d get teams like Ohio St or who ever off a bye when we played two tough games in a row or after playing Iowa.

 

[hawkisak]

Had Iowa on the road twice in a row too.
How much more evidence do you need?
What decent program did we ever get twice in a row at home?
Additionally before Barry spoke up, years ago we’d get teams like Ohio St or who ever off a bye when we played two tough games in a row or after playing Iowa.

Certainly the Iowa game had no impact on the Badger season. Just another W..