Iowa vs. Wisconsin (A 10 year comparison)

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

Head Coaches -

Iowa - 1
Wisconsin - 3

Overall record -

Iowa - 84-52
Wisconsin - 103-37

10 win seasons -

Iowa - 2
Wisconsin - 6

Big Ten Championships -

Iowa - 0
Wisconsin - 3

Avg. strength of schedule ranking

Iowa - 46
Wisconsin - 33

Avg. Big Ten recruiting ranking finish

Iowa - 7.82
Wisconsin - 7.09

What do we do to get back on track? The Wisconsin program has taken the next step and is now routinely considered a premier football program, whereas Iowa is stuck in the conversation with the Minnesota's and Northwestern's of college football.
It's also noteworthy that the "You don't remember the 70's crowd" doesn't mention the carousel at UW, or the times where a new coach actually rejuvenated a stale/struggling program.
It's time to move on, Kirk.

 

[TooMuchDumb]

Head Coaches -

Iowa - 1
Wisconsin - 3

Overall record -

Iowa - 84-52
Wisconsin - 103-37

10 win seasons -

Iowa - 2
Wisconsin - 6

Big Ten Championships -

Iowa - 0
Wisconsin - 3

Avg. Big Ten recruiting ranking finish

Iowa - 7.82
Wisconsin - 7.09

What do we do to get back on track? The Wisconsin program has taken the next step and is now routinely considered a premier football program, whereas Iowa is stuck in the conversation with the Minnesota's and Northwestern's of college football.
It's also noteworthy that the "You don't remember the 70's crowd" doesn't mention the carousel at UW, or the times where a new coach actually rejuvenated a stale/struggling program.
It's time to move on, Kirk.

But, but, but....our OL is young, Brian is still learning his job and blub, blub...in the class of '19.................

 

[hawkfeever]

Head Coaches -

Iowa - 1
Wisconsin - 3

Overall record -

Iowa - 84-52
Wisconsin - 103-37

10 win seasons -

Iowa - 2
Wisconsin - 6

Big Ten Championships -

Iowa - 0
Wisconsin - 3

Avg. Big Ten recruiting ranking finish

Iowa - 7.82
Wisconsin - 7.09

What do we do to get back on track? The Wisconsin program has taken the next step and is now routinely considered a premier football program, whereas Iowa is stuck in the conversation with the Minnesota's and Northwestern's of college football.
It's also noteworthy that the "You don't remember the 70's crowd" doesn't mention the carousel at UW, or the times where a new coach actually rejuvenated a stale/struggling program.
It's time to move on, Kirk.

How about we at least wait and discuss once we play them this season.

 

[icwesthawk]

But, but, but....our OL is young, Brian is still learning his job and blub, blub...in the class of '19.................

Don't forget young qb, injuries, oh and we still have a chance at 7 wins, blah, blah blah...

 

[TooMuchDumb]

Don't forget young qb, injuries, oh and we still have a chance at 7 wins, blah, blah blah...

lol..lol..lol..lol...........

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

LOL, anyone that has an Eastbound and Down screen name is OK in my book. I don't even care if you're DaCoach.

 

[KFsdisciple]

Strength of schedule was omitted from your numbers... Not that Iowa usually plays a big dog OOC, but outside of the most over-rated LSU team in years and BYU's worst team in the last 50 years, they don't challenge themselves by playing FAU and don't have an annual in-state rival.

 

[Rustys Dad]

But, but, but....our OL is young, Brian is still learning his job and blub, blub...in the class of '19.................

Okay, that made me laugh. Well done.

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

Strength of schedule was omitted from your numbers... Not that Iowa usually plays a big dog OOC, but outside of the most over-rated LSU team in years and BYU's worst team in the last 50 years, they don't challenge themselves by playing FAU and don't have an annual in-state rival.

Glad you mentioned that.

Avg. strength of schedule ranking

Iowa - 46
Wisconsin - 33

 

[LaFlamaBlanca99]

LOL, anyone that has an Eastbound and Down screen name is OK in my book. I don't even care if you're DaCoach.

Still greatest of all time.

 

[WorldSeriesChamps2015]

Kenny Flipping Powers!

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

Strength of schedule was omitted from your numbers... Not that Iowa usually plays a big dog OOC, but outside of the most over-rated LSU team in years and BYU's worst team in the last 50 years, they don't challenge themselves by playing FAU and don't have an annual in-state rival.

Haha, I don't think you're going to like it when those numbers are posted. You must have forgot Bama in 2015 as well.

***Edit*** Saw numbers above. Was not disappointed. Safe bet, when SOS is mentioned, as an Iowa fan, it is best to just shy away from it. On the bright side it looks like we'll beat them in SOS this year, so we have that going for us.

 

[LuciousBDragon]

Wisky benefited from a penalized O$U at the start of the decade and let's not forget a PSU that was banned for the unspeakable. Imagine those early B1G Championship games if O$U and Ped St were not ineligible. Cheese heads would have been home instead of Indianapolis eating cheese at least 2 of those years. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime scandal at Ped St + a mind-boggling departure off course for O$U to make Wisky appear in the Rose Bowl 3 years in a row.

Wisky good but lets not glorify them just yet.

 

[kceasthawk]

Head Coaches -

Iowa - 1
Wisconsin - 3

Overall record -

Iowa - 84-52
Wisconsin - 103-37

10 win seasons -

Iowa - 2
Wisconsin - 6

Big Ten Championships -

Iowa - 0
Wisconsin - 3

Avg. strength of schedule ranking

Iowa - 46
Wisconsin - 33

Avg. Big Ten recruiting ranking finish

Iowa - 7.82
Wisconsin - 7.09

What do we do to get back on track? The Wisconsin program has taken the next step and is now routinely considered a premier football program, whereas Iowa is stuck in the conversation with the Minnesota's and Northwestern's of college football.
It's also noteworthy that the "You don't remember the 70's crowd" doesn't mention the carousel at UW, or the times where a new coach actually rejuvenated a stale/struggling program.
It's time to move on, Kirk.

As has been discussed there is a common thread for Wisky. Barry Alvarez. He has obviously outperformed Gary Barta.

 

[desihawk]

What do we do to get back on track?

The first step is simply to win the games that are there for the winning. Put in a way that even Kirk could understand -- don't lose to isu and nw and Minn and directional unis. This is eminently doable -- I'm not going to type out on a phone the points how/why this is the case.

Eat the small fries consistently and even without doing anything too special one or two of the bigger fry will be there for the crunching. The recent loss to nw was one of the more disgusting ones almost entirely fashioned by the coaches.

 

[Rifler]

But the Badgers suck and we don't,... so you'll have that....

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

Wisky benefited from a penalized O$U at the start of the decade and let's not forget a PSU that was banned for the unspeakable. Imagine those early B1G Championship games if O$U and Ped St were not ineligible. Cheese heads would have been home instead of Indianapolis eating cheese at least 2 of those years. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime scandal at Ped St + a mind-boggling departure off course for O$U to make Wisky appear in the Rose Bowl 3 years in a row.

Wisky good but lets not glorify them just yet.

How did those situations affect Iowa? Did it not benefit them similarly?

 

[LuciousBDragon]

How did those situations affect Iowa? Did it not benefit them similarly?

They didn't. We shot ourselves in the foot those same years

 

[ChiHawk21]

It's a good point. I guess the question here - is this Ferentz Or Barta?

Alvarez has definitely surpassed Barta. Not even a question there.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

wiscy's been the better program in both major sports over the past 10 years, significantly better.
Tough to find an AD that could do what Barry did, but that would be a good first step.

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

They didn't. We shot ourselves in the foot those same years

We were 11-14 during those two years. We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot, we just were not good. Wisconsin was. Hence, this thread.

 

[LuciousBDragon]

We were 11-14 during those two years. We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot, we just were not good. Wisconsin was. Hence, this thread.

We hired Greg Davis. If that ain't shootin' yourself in the foot I don't know what is.

 

[r448chlpo]

It's a good point. I guess the question here - is this Ferentz Or Barta?

Alvarez has definitely surpassed Barta. Not even a question there.

Ferentz is much better coach than Barta is an Athletic Director. Alvarez, wish he would have been our Athletic Director, overbearing as some might think he is!

 

[David1979]

Alvarez has done a great job with that program. In addition Wisconsin has had NFL caliber RBs, Iowa has not. That is a huge difference. They have also had great olines. Iowa has not.

 

[ScoutRefugee]

How about we at least wait and discuss once we play them this season.

Irrelevant.

 

[ScoutRefugee]

Wisky benefited from a penalized O$U at the start of the decade and let's not forget a PSU that was banned for the unspeakable. Imagine those early B1G Championship games if O$U and Ped St were not ineligible. Cheese heads would have been home instead of Indianapolis eating cheese at least 2 of those years. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime scandal at Ped St + a mind-boggling departure off course for O$U to make Wisky appear in the Rose Bowl 3 years in a row.

Wisky good but lets not glorify them just yet.

It's a 10 year comparison! WTF else could you possibly be waiting for?

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

We hired Greg Davis. If that ain't shootin' yourself in the foot I don't know what is.

It sure is amazing how every single poster on here now agrees that GDGD was a terrible OC. For some reason I don't recall that being such a popular opinion while he was here. I do remember the buzz word "execution" being thrown out a lot, not that different than what I've seen this week.

His average Total Offense rank during his Iowa tenure was 85th. His replacement is currently sitting at 105. Just something to think about.

 

[bojihawk44]

They've been significantly better than us the last decade. I don't know why and it's definitely unsettling to me, but it's also important to keep in mind they've been significantly better than 95% of other programs in FBS during that time as well. Doesn't justify the disparity in results, but puts it into perspective a little more, in my opinion.

 

[icantfindausernamethatisntused]

Wisconsin and Iowa are very similar programs that try to do the same thing - run the ball on offense and have a tough defense. Defensively, both teams have been very good in the last 10 years.

The difference has been rushing offense - Wisconsin has completely outclassed Iowa. Wisconsin has finished in the top 3 in the conference in 9 of the past 10 years. Iowa has never finished in the top 3 in any of those years. Our best performance was finishing 4th in 2008 and 5th in 2015. For a team that prides itself in running the football, Iowa just hasn't been that good at it in the last 10 years.

When Iowa and Wisconsin can run the ball effectively, they win. Unfortunately for Iowa, we haven't been able to do that enough in the past 10 years.

 

[spbc7]

Wisky benefited from a penalized O$U at the start of the decade and let's not forget a PSU that was banned for the unspeakable. Imagine those early B1G Championship games if O$U and Ped St were not ineligible. Cheese heads would have been home instead of Indianapolis eating cheese at least 2 of those years. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime scandal at Ped St + a mind-boggling departure off course for O$U to make Wisky appear in the Rose Bowl 3 years in a row.

Wisky good but lets not glorify them just yet.

OSU and PSU were not affected by sanctions in 2010. Why would they have been at home in 2011?

 

[farhawks]

 

[Suterman]

Montee Ball
James White
Melvin Gordon
Jonathon Taylor
Corey Clement
John Clay
P.J. Hill
Brian Calhoun

vs.

Mark Weisman
Damon Bullock
LeShun Daniels
Akrum Wadley
Jordan Canzeri
Derrick Mitchell

This is your answer.

 

[LuciousBDragon]

OSU and PSU were not affected by sanctions in 2010. Why would they have been at home in 2011?

O$U subsequently vacated all wins from the 2010 season.

OSU and PSU were not affected by sanctions in 2010. Why would they have been at home in 2011?

2011 was the year the Big Ten made more headlines off the field. Ped St somehow mustered up a 6-2 Big Ten record while dealing with the Sandusky stuff (remember JoePa was fired late in season). We don't know what that season could have been for Ped St had there not been that whole child touchy-touchy stuff going on. 2011 was the gap year between Tresell-ball and Urban Meyer when Luke Fickell was handed the keys to the kingdom. O$U went 3-5 in conference that year.

My point is Whisky took advantage while the other premier teams in the then Leaders division went haywire. 2012 Wisky made it again despite a worse record than O$U. O$U had a post season bowl ban, not to mention ended up having to vacate all wins from the 2010 season.

Add to the fact Michigan was trying to find themselves with Brady Hoke and they were down too. Wisconsin shined during these years because the rest of the premier B1G teams decided to add some drama off the field:

- Ohio State - trade some pants & tats gets you NCAA sanctions stat
- Penn St - Small legal issue held them up for a bit
- Iowa - Greg Davis experiment and did not "execute"
- Michigan - Went soul searching for a coach for close to a decade
- Nebraska - was supposed to be premier but then joined Big Ten

The only other B1G team who had a pulse and did some work was Michigan State. Had the traditional power houses not lost themselves the rise of Wisconsin under Bielema and Sparty under Dantonio would have been toned down a notch or two. Easy to get recruits when you go to the Rose Bowl year after year.

Sad that Iowa could not capitalize during those years.

 

[HawkIDrummer]

1 head coach vs 3 head coaches.

Yeah... stability.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

It sure is amazing how every single poster on here now agrees that GDGD was a terrible OC. For some reason I don't recall that being such a popular opinion while he was here.

It's okay. I don't blame you for not being able to recall what everyone was thinking 4-5 years ago.........................

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

It's okay. I don't blame you for not being able to recall what everyone was thinking 4-5 years ago.........................

I do remember what a few specific posters were saying. Surprisingly, they are still parroting the same things today. I don't recall specifically what you said, but seeing that you liked my EB&D gif, I'll assume you were correct.

 

[anon_gjzkhykcp9iuj]

Wisky benefited from a penalized O$U at the start of the decade and let's not forget a PSU that was banned for the unspeakable. Imagine those early B1G Championship games if O$U and Ped St were not ineligible. Cheese heads would have been home instead of Indianapolis eating cheese at least 2 of those years. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime scandal at Ped St + a mind-boggling departure off course for O$U to make Wisky appear in the Rose Bowl 3 years in a row.

Wisky good but lets not glorify them just yet.

We had the same opportunities, same conference, same down teams at the top. Wiscy took advantage and catapulted their program. Iowa stayed where it was, or perhaps even went backwards.

 

[HawkIDrummer]

It sure is amazing how every single poster on here now agrees that GDGD was a terrible OC. For some reason I don't recall that being such a popular opinion while he was here.

joking... right?

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

joking... right?

Not at all. You see pretty much the same group of loyalist posters saying the same things now. Once Greg "retired", those same posters took on a different tune and switched from saying "it's all about execution" to "yeah, Davis wasn't very good".

A great deal of the posters who would be in the "Ferentz Fatigue" group now were the vocal ones against GDGD.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

I would add coach's salary. Paul Chryst makes significantly less than Ferentz.

Sadly, coaching salary is about the only thing Iowa-football related that is making the Top 15 these days. Here's a link for those interested: http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

Why does that matter? Because it shows Iowa could go out and get more bang for their buck if they wanted to.

I will say, though, that the comparison isn't completely apples to apples. Wisconsin produces way more D1 level recruits than the state of Iowa does and doesn't have another in-state D1 program to compete with. With that said, as others have pointed out, Barry Alvarez has flat out got it done at Wisconsin and has established an expectation of excellence. Not the case at Iowa. And truth be told, until someone brings a more exciting brand of football to Iowa City, recruiting will continue to be subpar, which IMHO has a lot to do with Iowa's consistent mediocrity.