It'll be interesting to see what they ask him and how KF responds. Kanell has backed Iowa all season and Rusillo is one of the people in the media who hate having Iowa so high in the rankings.
Ferentz to appear on Russillo and Kanell Thursday
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the guys behind the mic want big powerhouse programs that have more TV's and Radios. They have an agenda in bashing Iowa and that is fine. You know they all want tOSU to pound Iowa and that's great; it's fun being hated by them all. Just need to use it as an extra motivator.
Kirk needs to back ihis team and think of recruits and recruiting in this discussion. No we're not sexy crap. Point out the facts, point out how we're doing it by being physical and playing a hard nosed tough brand of football; and let them know we welcome a game with anyone in the country.
here is a clip from today where they argue if Iowa is a worthy CFP team:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14106728
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14106728
Agree. I don't think he needs to come out firing, but come with the facts ready. Kannell is starting to arm himself and clearly knows the info more than Rusillo, but the stuff about the West and the overall schedule needs to be addressed. KF needs to be prepared to point out the West v. East head to head and the common opponents we have with some of these teams and the CFPs own stat from last night on Iowa having a better strength of schedule than any unbeaten behind them.
Its mind boggling watching Russillo and Kanell.
Russillo: Iowa doesn't belong because their resume is bad.
Kanell: What do you mean their resume is bad? They have road wins vs 2 top 25 teams - Wisconsin and Northwestern.
Russillo: Whatever, those aren't impressive to me.
I like Russillo, hes usually not stubbornly wrong, but he is in this case. Basically the only thing he cares about is his own personal eye test.
Russillo: Iowa doesn't belong because their resume is bad.
Kanell: What do you mean their resume is bad? They have road wins vs 2 top 25 teams - Wisconsin and Northwestern.
Russillo: Whatever, those aren't impressive to me.
I like Russillo, hes usually not stubbornly wrong, but he is in this case. Basically the only thing he cares about is his own personal eye test.
Kirk will stick pretty close to script ...,.... Hawkeyes playing tough and finding a way to win........ have responded well to adversity...... players "bought in" this year and have put in a lot of hard work to get where they are...... a lot of football left..... not worried about what the committee, totally focused on Minnesota, etc.
Those expecting him to come out blazing and eager to make a case for the playoffs will be disappointed.
Those expecting him to come out blazing and eager to make a case for the playoffs will be disappointed.
I'm so sick of the "eye test" bullshit. Were they looking thru the same eyes when they watched Alabama lose AT HOME to a team that is no longer ranked in the top 25, or when they stomped an unranked Tennessee by 5? Screw em
"Big Ten West just isn't that good"
Number of teams in CFP top 25:
ACC Atlantic - 2
ACC Coastal - 1 (ACC 3 total)
SEC East - 1
SEC West - 3 (SEC 4 total)
Big Ten East - 3
Big Ten West - 3 (Big Ten 6 total)
Big 12 - 4 total
Pac-12 South - 2
Pac-12 North - 1 (Pac-12 3 total)
AAC - 4 total
Notre Dame
I guess I just don't see how the Big Ten West comes off as "weak." It is clearly bias toward the big name programs. Russillo admits to being an "eye test" guy. Well, the problem is that you see what you want to see. And my wild guess is that a 12-person committee spending hours discussing and debating this topic know a little more as a whole than some sports talk show dude who watches a lot of football.
Number of teams in CFP top 25:
ACC Atlantic - 2
ACC Coastal - 1 (ACC 3 total)
SEC East - 1
SEC West - 3 (SEC 4 total)
Big Ten East - 3
Big Ten West - 3 (Big Ten 6 total)
Big 12 - 4 total
Pac-12 South - 2
Pac-12 North - 1 (Pac-12 3 total)
AAC - 4 total
Notre Dame
I guess I just don't see how the Big Ten West comes off as "weak." It is clearly bias toward the big name programs. Russillo admits to being an "eye test" guy. Well, the problem is that you see what you want to see. And my wild guess is that a 12-person committee spending hours discussing and debating this topic know a little more as a whole than some sports talk show dude who watches a lot of football.
Your right that this is what will happen. But this is an opportunity too sell our brand too to people on a national stage, and this includes recruits. I'm not saying going over the top or even making our case for the playoffs. Just sell who we are and what we're doing right now as a program.
I do hope KF speaks about the team and program in a very positive light, but yeah, highly agree he would never engage or debate the media beyond the script of playing for Floyd in a big Kinnick environment Saturday. Talking about more is getting ahead of the task (and his philosophy. Probably plenty of opportunity for that if and when the time comes. They are #5 with three (or 4) games still on the table, and can only be satisfied with that until the resume is complete. Beat Minnesota. Let the talkers talk.
He "might" talk about how incredibly difficult it is to go undefeated. Maybe.
He "might" talk about how incredibly difficult it is to go undefeated. Maybe.
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It's really amazing KF is getting interviewed , especially on being an unbeaten team. Who would have thought that !Usually, we are going through the ' fire Kirk Ferentz ' stage this time of year. Hope the Captain holds his own and doesn't sound his usual blah and doesn't give in to the media's ' not sexy enough' talk. He needs to step out of character for once and defend the Hawks , they are just getting plastered by the media. damn
Let's not forget to mention they were LOSING to that .500 Tennessee team midway through the 4th quarter. And they trailed Arkansas at the half and only led by 3 at the start of the 4th quarter in that one as well. Eye test indeed.
Of course the Vols and Hogs are in the SEC....so obviously that's essentially like playing a middling NFL team.
Yup, Kirk is going to be Kirk, It's his personality. As far as making a case for the playoffs, That case can be made on the field, No amount of talk will change it.
Anyone know what time?
I did find it funny yesterday when Russillo said something along the lines of, "Now I can't go to Waterloo without getting shot." and I was thinking isn't that pretty much everyone that ventures into Waterloo?
I did find it funny yesterday when Russillo said something along the lines of, "Now I can't go to Waterloo without getting shot." and I was thinking isn't that pretty much everyone that ventures into Waterloo?
Kirk was on North and Furman this morning. I only caught the last minute of the interview. North has been behind Iowa most of the year and now Furman is on board. Anyone else hear it? They have a transcript of part of the interview on their site.
Andy Furman: "Coach, some members of the media like our FOX Sports Radio teammate Colin Cowherd have been very outspoken about your team's strength of schedule. How do you respond to that?"
Kirk Ferentz: "Oh, I have no problem with that. The problem I did have is, and I'm not sure who said it, but somebody alluded to the fact that we may know our schedule five years ago, and that's misinformation if you look at it. Our Big Ten conference has changed a great deal. We've expanded to 14 teams. As you might imagine the conference has been shuffled and with that our schedule has been reshuffled a couple of times. And it will actually get reshuffled again because I think we're one of the first conferences that doesn't play a round robin to go to 9 conference games. We played good teams out of conference this year. We played Pittsburgh which is a very good football team, we played Iowa State which I don't think people outside of our state can appreciate the intensity of that rivalry and just how tough a game it is every year. We play the schedule we have, and we're proud of what our guys have done, and that's all we're worried about right now. Right now, quite frankly, all we care about is trying to beat Minnesota."
Andy Furman: "Not to beat a dead horse, Coach, but going back to this strength of schedule thing. One of the metrics that everybody brings up is a team's ranking in the ESPN Power Index. And just to give you an example of what a sham this is, you've got 3-loss USC, you've got 3-loss Ole Miss and 4-loss Tennessee all in the top 12 of this list. And you guys are undefeated and you're ranked 29th. That's got to piss you off a little bit Coach."
Kirk Ferentz: "(chuckles) Not to be offensive to those guys but I don't even know what that poll is (laughter). The only one I'm worried about right now is where we stand in our division and we're do well so far but we've got to run the race."
Read more: http://www.foxsportsradio.com/onair/fox-sports-daybreak-46874/kirk-ferentz-responds-to-the-strength-14118055/#ixzz3rI8dEk3n
Andy Furman: "Coach, some members of the media like our FOX Sports Radio teammate Colin Cowherd have been very outspoken about your team's strength of schedule. How do you respond to that?"
Kirk Ferentz: "Oh, I have no problem with that. The problem I did have is, and I'm not sure who said it, but somebody alluded to the fact that we may know our schedule five years ago, and that's misinformation if you look at it. Our Big Ten conference has changed a great deal. We've expanded to 14 teams. As you might imagine the conference has been shuffled and with that our schedule has been reshuffled a couple of times. And it will actually get reshuffled again because I think we're one of the first conferences that doesn't play a round robin to go to 9 conference games. We played good teams out of conference this year. We played Pittsburgh which is a very good football team, we played Iowa State which I don't think people outside of our state can appreciate the intensity of that rivalry and just how tough a game it is every year. We play the schedule we have, and we're proud of what our guys have done, and that's all we're worried about right now. Right now, quite frankly, all we care about is trying to beat Minnesota."
Andy Furman: "Not to beat a dead horse, Coach, but going back to this strength of schedule thing. One of the metrics that everybody brings up is a team's ranking in the ESPN Power Index. And just to give you an example of what a sham this is, you've got 3-loss USC, you've got 3-loss Ole Miss and 4-loss Tennessee all in the top 12 of this list. And you guys are undefeated and you're ranked 29th. That's got to piss you off a little bit Coach."
Kirk Ferentz: "(chuckles) Not to be offensive to those guys but I don't even know what that poll is (laughter). The only one I'm worried about right now is where we stand in our division and we're do well so far but we've got to run the race."
Read more: http://www.foxsportsradio.com/onair/fox-sports-daybreak-46874/kirk-ferentz-responds-to-the-strength-14118055/#ixzz3rI8dEk3n
That power index IS a scam. ESPN should be embarrassed to even release that.
And writers should be embarrassed to base their argument on it. I get the feeling that ESPN is giving some of their writers a mandate of sorts to use it more, and the result is some piss poor work. Obviously, I'm biased, but some of these arguments just defy logic. BTW, I think KF's response above is great....Kirk Ferentz: "(chuckles) Not to be offensive to those guys but I don't even know what that poll is (laughter). The only one I'm worried about right now is where we stand in our division and we've do well so far but we've got to run the race."
I wish I would have known he was on there or I would have listened, but those two are just loud mouth, yell louder than the other guy radio hosts. They are awful. I used to listen when Artrell Hawkins was with Furman because he balanced him out but those two are terrible, whether they are giving Iowa support or not.
I usually like R & K so I will have to listen to that, but Kirk interviews are usually all the same. He is getting the same questions over and over right now
this is why Kirk is one of the best in the entire business.
I only wish the new kirk would have always been here. Just look at how many close losses Iowa has had over his coaching career. Combine that with the fantastic job of getting players into the NFL and the "what could have been" card is fun to play.
I do think that he has hit on a great formula now. But, I don't feel comfortable that Iowa has another CJB in the pipeline and wish we could start fresh now with recruiting QB's for the future. I think he would be able to pull a higher caliber QB going forward than what is in the wings and the pipeline.
The FPI is crap, just like whatever ESPN's metric for college bball is. I think it predicted a 10 point Davidson win last year. Whoops.
Just gives them something to talk about even though it matters to the committee about as much what kind of toilet paper I use.
Just gives them something to talk about even though it matters to the committee about as much what kind of toilet paper I use.
"legacy media types" - like Russillo - will almost always (in our example) rip on the lesser story to them. They will support the bright shiny object...the Baylors (faster/higher scoring, a style that to them represents "cutting edge") and the historically big schools - because it both advances the network and their show by generating more listeners and more hits - more than "boring old Iowa".
Ex-players like Kanell and Joey Galloway - see the nuts and bolts of the sport itself and see that Iowa definitely is deserving of what they received Tuesday - with the caveat that it's a "so far" opinion.
It's all in understanding the context to which they are providing their opinion that one has to consider to quantify them.
Talking heads = grain of salt. Ex-players = carries more weight.
Ex-players like Kanell and Joey Galloway - see the nuts and bolts of the sport itself and see that Iowa definitely is deserving of what they received Tuesday - with the caveat that it's a "so far" opinion.
It's all in understanding the context to which they are providing their opinion that one has to consider to quantify them.
Talking heads = grain of salt. Ex-players = carries more weight.
I like how he ignored the question: "How many teams does the B1G West have in the top 25?"
I really don't understand the anti-Iowa/B1G crap. Didn't a B1G team win the National Championship last year?
I, like others, have been blown away, not with talking heads having doubts on Iowa or believing other teams are more worthy, but how ignorant and baseless their arguments are. There's just no substance to them.
Unfortunately, even former players can be blinded by bias. Think David Pollack. Honestly, I think the biggest variable is whether someone has actually seen the Hawks or not. One by one, the commentators who have called Hawk games are nearly all on board. I was shocked listening to Mike Patrick and Ed Cunningham last week. And Kelly Stauffer the week before. And Matt Millen. All of these guys have seen the Hawks from a much more in depth perspective and they understand what the Hawks are all about.
This. If they would argue that teams behind Iowa have more talent, I could buy that. It doesn't make them a better team but at least I could see that.
I think you're gonna be surprised how good Boyle is when the time comes. He's the second best quarterback on the roster and from what little I've heard from people who know behind closed doors is it's not that cost between wiegers and him but we're obviously not pulling that redshirt at this point. Very unfair statement by you about what might be coming down the lines at the qb position.
Um. No, he is not. Stop with this. (I think this is the 2nd time you have posted this)
He is a smaller version of AJ Derby. Probably faster and more athletic but he has serious arm "talent" issues.
I predict he never starts a game and never sees meaningful time unless the apocalypse hits. Good kid? No doubt. D-1, big time QB? Very, very unlikely.
Ed Cunningham does his homework and has always been complimentary of Iowa and KF.
Alabama took the lead with 2:24 remaining. At home. To a 4-loss team.
Yet I still hear pundits whine about Iowa "struggling" in a road game at 8-2 Wisconsin, a game that Iowa led the entire second half.
You kind of addressed it yourself by mentioning the question about the West. It is demonstrably true that the West has not had as many high-profile teams in 2014 and 2015. The East carried the banner in the NY6 and playoff games last year (MSU and OSU), so they get credit for past accomplishments. We, however, have an uphill battle to fight due to our lackluster 2014. When you look at the rest of the West, you see Nebraska and Minnesota have obviously fallen apart this year after decent to good 2014 seasons. That leaves us, Northwestern (an even bigger uphill battle for them, despite the Stanford win), and Wisconsin. Wisconsin has played SEC teams two years in a row in the preseason and lost both times. They have a schedule like ours, with few chances for good conference wins, so are probably about where we would be if our records were flipped.
I think last week we were on the radar and if people watched the Indana game they have no issue with the #5 ranking. If any of these guys watch the Hawks play THIS YEAR and still say there's more than 4 teams better than us out there they are trolling IMO.
The problem lies in people's bias. If the talking heads had picked Iowa to be really good this year you wouldn't hear all this backlash but they thought they wouldn't be any good so they have to explain why they were wrong and when it is a school like Iowa it's that they haven't played anybody, they don't have the talent, they are lucky, the division is down. However if it was a blue blood like Michigan than you wouldn't hear those things. Or even if Wisconsin had Iowa's schedule and was undefeated at this point you wouldn't be hearing it because people picked them to win the division this year.
The part that shocked me was when he said that'd he'd called 2 games for both tOSU and Clemson and not only could we play with them, but we could beat them. He seems like a guy that doesn't throw empty praise around, and in context of the current echo chamber criticizing the Hawks, I thought that was pretty weighty stuff.
