Expectations

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

We all hear the "Ferentz sucks" and "Ferentz is great" arguments here enough.
What specifically do you consider a successful season, and what are your expectations for the Iowa football team?

My expectations are as follows -
Win 100% of the games on our OOC slate (considering our abysmal OOC scheduling)
Win 80% of the games vs. Purdue, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana
Win 50% of the games vs. Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Nebraska
Win 30% of the games vs. Michigan and Penn State
Win 20% of the games vs. Ohio State

We should realistically expect to start Big Ten play 3-0 every year. At that point, you're going to play a minimum of two conference cupcakes (usually three) which would make any good coach 6 or 7-0.
Going .500 in the remaining games gets you a 9-3 or 10-2 record each year, which is exactly what Wisky is doing. They are beating the teams they supposed to beat and most of the time splitting the rest, which is why they end up where they do, and exactly why I believe Ferentz is under performing.

Considering our resources, fan support, coach salaries, etc. why can't Ferentz and Co. deliver the above? Beat who you should, and go .500 in the rest? Is that too much to ask?

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

If only there were another thread about this exact topic.

 

[markfromj]

We only play 3 non-conf games.

 

[sober_teacher]

My minimum expectation is 7 wins each year. I say that because it does depend on who is on our schedule/returning players.

We currently have the 7th toughest schedule in the country. With so many questions at qb, receiver and coaching in particular I thought 7-5 likely unless we pulled an upset, which we did, so we have a good chance at 8-4. With the known turnover coming into the season plus the injuries we have had, I would consider this season a “good” year on paper.

Still a frustrating season because of how we lost those games, with a couple of them being very winnable.

Next year my expectations go up to 8-4/9-3 at minimum based on returning players and softer schedule.

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

We only play 3 non-conf games.

Correct. My mistake.

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

My minimum expectation is 7 wins each year. I say that because it does depend on who is on our schedule/returning players.

We currently have the 7th toughest schedule in the country. With so many questions at qb, receiver and coaching in particular I thought 7-5 likely unless we pulled an upset, which we did, so we have a good chance at 8-4. With the known turnover coming into the season plus the injuries we have had, I would consider this season a “good” year on paper.

Still a frustrating season because of how we lost those games, with a couple of them being very winnable.

Next year my expectations go up to 8-4/9-3 at minimum based on returning players and softer schedule.

My expectations are to win 9 games every year. Anything more is considered "over achieving" and anything less is "under achieving," all things considered....
I would most likely be on the 7-8 win expectation if we played a tough opponent in the OOC slate every year.

 

[Suterman]

7-5 is my minimum expectation. Probably not a good season but it's not disastrous.
8-4 is usually a good season but not great.
9-3 is always a good season, usually a great one with a bowl victory.
10-2 is a fabulous season. Anything more than this is a historic season.

6-6 or below is a bad season regardless of schedule or anything else.

 

[sober_teacher]

My expectations are to win 9 games every year. Anything more is considered "over achieving" and anything less is "under achieving," all things considered....
I would most likely be on the 7-8 win expectation if we played a tough opponent in the OOC slate every year.

But 9-3 requires 6 wins in conference every year. That’s a lot to expect on an annual basis without looking at who we play and who we have back. Did you truly expect 9 wins based on that criteria this year?

That’s just not a realistic expectation based on Iowa’s history.

 

[General Tso]

We all hear the "Ferentz sucks" and "Ferentz is great" arguments here enough.
What specifically do you consider a successful season, and what are your expectations for the Iowa football team?

My expectations are as follows -
Win 100% of the games on our OOC slate (considering our abysmal OOC scheduling)
Win 80% of the games vs. Purdue, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana
Win 50% of the games vs. Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Nebraska
Win 30% of the games vs. Michigan and Penn State
Win 20% of the games vs. Ohio State

We should realistically expect to start Big Ten play 3-0 every year. At that point, you're going to play a minimum of two conference cupcakes (usually three) which would make any good coach 6 or 7-0.
Going .500 in the remaining games gets you a 9-3 or 10-2 record each year, which is exactly what Wisky is doing. They are beating the teams they supposed to beat and most of the time splitting the rest, which is why they end up where they do, and exactly why I believe Ferentz is under performing.

Considering our resources, fan support, coach salaries, etc. why can't Ferentz and Co. deliver the above? Beat who you should, and go .500 in the rest? Is that too much to ask?

The part where you said win 100% of our games.

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

But 9-3 requires 6 wins in conference every year. That’s a lot to expect on an annual basis without looking at who we play and who we have back. Did you truly expect 9 wins based on that criteria this year?

That’s just not a realistic expectation based on Iowa’s history.

If you include a bowl game that would mean a 6-4 record in all remaining games.
I don’t think there’s any reason we should expect less than a 6-4 mark in conference + bowl game, and to beat all 3 of our OOC cupcakes.

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

The part where you said win 100% of our games.

You don’t expect to beat ISU and two directional Idaho schools every year?

 

[ScoutRefugee]

7-5 is basically a .500 coach, when you consider the 2 OOC cupcakes we have every year.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Agreed. What do you guys think the records would be without a "parker" on the sidelines for the last x years.

 

[Hawks_Rock_12]

Agreed. What do you guys think the records would be without a "parker" on the sidelines for the last x years.

Or Reese Morgan not running the OL,DL's it wouldn't be pretty.

 

[ScoutRefugee]

Or Reese Morgan not running the OL,DL's it wouldn't be pretty.

Reese Morgan was a great find, right in KF's back yard.

 

[Muskie5]

I expect the Hawkeyes to be competitive. Over the last 3 years (not counting bowl games and the CCG) the Hawks are 26-8 with 6 of those loses being 8 points or less. I would call that competitive since in all but 2 of 34 games, we were sitting there watching the Hawks winning or having a chance to win pretty much all the way to the end of the game. Pull out 1/2 of those 6 close loses and our regular season record over the last 3 years is 29-5 and puts us in fairly 'elite' company. Now Bowl games is a whole different discussion and I have no answers or excuses for what's been going on there.

Over the years, the biggest frustration for me (not that I spend too much time thinking about it) is how many 1 possession games Iowa has lost in the KF era. I think we had 1 yr. where every loss was 4 points or less. Oh well, that's football.

 

[naturalmwa]

Iowa is a 60% program. Anything better than 7-5 is a bonus.

 

[hawkcub]

To me 8-4 is my expectation.

7-5 I'm mildly disappointed.
6-6 I'm majorly disappointed.
Below .500-I'm thinking what is going on here.

On the flip side.

9-3-that was a good year
10-2-that was a really good year
11-1 and above-I'm loving life as a Hawkeye fan.

Also I think people get too worked up over the bowl losses. Yeah I want to win the bowl but there's too many variables that go in to a bowl. So the we lost 5 straight bowls comments silly.

 

[Birky]

Or Reese Morgan not running the OL,DL's it wouldn't be pretty.

Who hired those guys? That is essentially the most important thing a head coach/president/business owner does. Does the man not get credit for that? It is akin to saying an athletic director sucks if it weren’t for him doing such a great job hiring his football and basketball coach. How about, your kids are only great because you married such awesome Wife...yep. You’re business is only successful because you hired all the best employees...uh huh. That’s right.

If Ferentz weren’t so good at the things he is really good at, imagine how bad Iowa would be!!!!

 

[mlb1399]

8-4 should be the floor with how weak our non-conference games are. You get one blow up season every five years. We should also be winning 10+ twice every five years.

 

[Herky96]

8 games against a 12 game schedule should be the floor. When we used to play 11 games the floor was 7 games for me. Absent a reasonable excuse, corrective action should be taken to address shortcomings. For me, that has never involved firing KF yet. The program would need to string together 3-4 seasons of subpar performance with no year to year improvement for me to get on the fire or force retire KF bandwagon, we're not there yet.

 

[General Tso]

Beat the teams you're supposed to beat. We have one if the worst records in games where we are favored in KF's tenure. Too lazy to look up the source

 

[Birky]

Beat the teams you're supposed to beat. We have one if the worst records in games where we are favored in KF's tenure. Too lazy to look up the source

In that sense, this year has been pretty damn good, and I agree with you. Problem is that some of think we should beat everybody damn near every year.

 

[m.stoops2013]

If you beat the cupcake non con sched. Going .500 in conference should put us at 8 or 9 wins a yr min, drives me nuts losing to ndsu w.michigan & i st's & having uni give us all we can handle

 

[ScoutRefugee]

To me 8-4 is my expectation.

7-5 I'm mildly disappointed.
6-6 I'm majorly disappointed.
Below .500-I'm thinking what is going on here.

On the flip side.

9-3-that was a good year
10-2-that was a really good year
11-1 and above-I'm loving life as a Hawkeye fan.

Also I think people get too worked up over the bowl losses. Yeah I want to win the bowl but there's too many variables that go in to a bowl. So the we lost 5 straight bowls comments silly.

I agree with this post except for the Bowl game losses. Bowl games expose coaching deficiencies. Your staff vs their staff with 30-45 days to prepare. The teams should be fairly evenly matched, according to records and conference finish. A great staff wins more Bowl games then they lose and vice versa. The truth is, since Norm Parker became limited and retired, along with other staff changes, KF has lost more Bowl games. In fact, the last Bowl game we won was Norm Parker's last season as DC. That's no coincidence, I'm here to tell you.

 

[ScoutRefugee]

If you beat the cupcake non con sched. Going .500 in conference should put us at 8 or 9 wins a yr min, drives me nuts losing to ndsu w.michigan & i st's & having uni give us all we can handle

3 game OOC schedule now. One game being against ISU. ISU was a cupcake before KF got here but it's not the case any longer.