Loss of confidence-anyone else?

[herecomethehawkeyes]

i don't think too many had high expectations going into the season. Iowa is bowl eligible six games into the season. There is something wrong if you can't enjoy the ride.

Iowa appears to be getting the bounces and such that was lacking the previous years it seems.

 

[LuteHawk]

In the first half , who was the guy who dropped the pass
in the end zone from Beathard? Nobody was near that
Hawkeye and he just dropped the ball and we had to
settle for a field goal.

 

[22*43*51]

My biggest concerns are Ike's ankle and the coaching staff running Canzeri until he disintegrates.

 

[who r u]

Yeah, you're overreacting.

NW is getting blown the f*ck out by Michigan right now. Maryland is bad. Indiana showed signs last week, but got blown the f*ck out by a very average Penn State team. Minnesota doesn't have an offense. Purdue took it to MSU, but hasn't been good in their other games. Nebraska is 3 plays from being undefeated, but has 3 losses and a head coach with players who don't fit his system.

indiana started a back up qb and rb and had to go to the third qb so i wouldnt write them off.

 

[Dauminator]

Perhaps you lawyer type trolls might want to read the directions on your stay flow packages.

Huh? I'm neither lawyer nor troll, and I have no idea what a stay flow package is.

Yep, you're overreacting and any confidence you had that the Hawkeyes will "run all over" any conference opponent was misplaced.

My pregame prediction was 23-17. It's the way those d-lineman did whatever they pleased and the amount of injuries piling up that gives me pause.

Well, that's just it though.

Yes, it's good to see them overcome adversity. But, the injuries are piling up. Add in that CJB is taking a beating and JC cannot keep up this pace physically...there is "cause for concern".

Not panic button time. I just wish the bye week was this coming week more than anything else.

This, basically.

Like father...like son...

It's in your DNA to give up on Iowa...

I didn't say I gave up on them. I just said that I no longer have the same confidence I did before the game. Although my head said to expect a total bomb of a year, I had a sneaking suspicion we were going to surprise people. As the games got underway, I felt a lot like 2009-that this team just knows how to win. It's why I still predicted victory despite all signs pointing to a letdown game. Yes, they did find a way again today, but this team is not as good as 2009 to my eyes. I am seeing flaws piling up that teams can exploit. So my confidence is waning.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I expected the very sort of game we observed.

You expected us to squander 2-3 scoring opportunities to make the score "better/less close" than the game was?.....Nice.

If what you expect to happen happens....then maybe you should "expect" Iowa to win by 20 every game (i.e. finishing scoring opportunities inside the 15) from here on out so we don't have to sweat so much.

 

[SansSouci]

D-line has no pass rush, o-line is battered and not good, LBs make too many mistakes. They are who I thought they were. Lucky as hell so far. If Iowa doesn't get their tackles and smith back this week...not good. The luck is over.

I'm also sure CJ's leg is the cause of his horrible accuracy. That's just obvious though.

I'm just happy LaShun is hurt so we don't have to watch Kirk's foolish ass run him up the middle for 2+ or 2- yards loss. He's been underutilizing Canzeri for years. I'm done...here comes the slide. Book it.

The Hawks are playing and hitting hard though and I'm loving it. HAWKS!!!

 

[Birky]

Sans. Um, you're an odd duck. You should probably get back your medication.

 

[ft254]

Despite gutting out the win, and even though I expected a tough game, I've lost my confidence in this team. Am I the only one?

Say what you will about Cubit's sorcery, this is not a good team, but they made Iowa look like chumps on the lines. Illinois is bad enough they couldn't capitalize. NW will annihilate us if our lines play like this. And what is so wrong with our backup RBs that KF and GD think giving Canzeri 43 carries is the best choice? Injuries are piling up. The only bright spots were Canzeri's studliness (though that comes with the downside of him building up the punishment), J Smith's emerging promise, and CJB making enough plays to find a way to win.

Am I overreacting here?

Any wins over 8 is frosting. 6 down.

 

[ThorneStockton]

D-line has no pass rush, o-line is battered and not good, LBs make too many mistakes. They are who I thought they were. Lucky as hell so far. If Iowa doesn't get their tackles and smith back this week...not good. The luck is over.

I'm also sure CJ's leg is the cause of his horrible accuracy. That's just obvious though.

I'm just happy LaShun is hurt so we don't have to watch Kirk's foolish ass run him up the middle for 2+ or 2- yards loss. He's been underutilizing Canzeri for years. I'm done...here comes the slide. Book it.

The Hawks are playing and hitting hard though and I'm loving it. HAWKS!!!

I think you've tried too hard to appear unbiased or maybe there's something else going on.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

D-line has no pass rush, o-line is battered and not good, LBs make too many mistakes. They are who I thought they were. Lucky as hell so far. If Iowa doesn't get their tackles and smith back this week...not good. The luck is over.

I'm also sure CJ's leg is the cause of his horrible accuracy. That's just obvious though.

I'm just happy LaShun is hurt so we don't have to watch Kirk's foolish ass run him up the middle for 2+ or 2- yards loss. He's been underutilizing Canzeri for years. I'm done...here comes the slide. Book it.

The Hawks are playing and hitting hard though and I'm loving it. HAWKS!!!

not sure what I think of this.....probably like 75% just human bial.....but yes Go Hawks (25%)

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

You expected us to squander 2-3 scoring opportunities to make the score "better/less close" than the game was?.....Nice.

If what you expect to happen happens....then maybe you should "expect" Iowa to win by 20 every game (i.e. finishing scoring opportunities inside the 15) from here on out so we don't have to sweat so much.

Sorry it doesn't work that way. What I "expect" is based on the conditions leading into the given game.

I had been stating all week that I had concerns about execution because of injuries. I knew that the Illini DL was legit and was capable of forcing Iowa to work for what it got. I knew that the Illini secondary was decent too. Much of our passing yardage was on broken plays ... fortunately we have Beathard ... and thank goodness Jerminic made some plays (we needed them).

It was frustrating seeing us get the Illini to 3rd down only for them to convert ... but that too was somewhat expected because Lunt is one of the few QBs who can do that to us.

If it helps ... I expect that the Iowa D should be able to contain the Northwestern running game. That is a positive ... but I need to think more on the other match-ups.

 

[SansSouci]

You idiots talking about fan base pussies and no confidence. Do you watch or understand football? Iowa will lose two to three games in the BT. This team has too many holes due to injury and just plain lack of talent right now to run the table. It's going to get ugly.

 

[StormHawk42]

Damn who pissed in your Cheerios?

 

[GoodGuyFerentz]

You idiots talking about fan base pussies and no confidence. Do you watch or understand football? Iowa will lose two to three games in the BT. This team has too many holes due to injury and just plain lack of talent right now to run the table. It's going to get ugly.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Sorry it doesn't work that way. What I "expect" is based on the conditions leading into the given game.

I had been stating all week that I had concerns about execution because of injuries. I knew that the Illini DL was legit and was capable of forcing Iowa to work for what it got. I knew that the Illini secondary was decent too. Much of our passing yardage was on broken plays ... fortunately we have Beathard ... and thank goodness Jerminic made some plays (we needed them).

It was frustrating seeing us get the Illini to 3rd down only for them to convert ... but that too was somewhat expected because Lunt is one of the few QBs who can do that to us.

If it helps ... I expect that the Iowa D should be able to contain the Northwestern running game. That is a positive ... but I need to think more on the other match-ups.

Yeah, Thorson (or whoever they have in there) passing vs our defense could be a big difference maker....


The only thing that I'm worried about is Fitzy doubling down on recovering Northwestern's running game after tallying 38 total yds against Michigan.

 

[SansSouci]

We just need our tackles back and Smith. I'm good with that. Iowa can beet any big ten team with those three. In the west, I should clarify that.

 

[soybean]

You idiots talking about fan base pussies and no confidence. Do you watch or understand football? Iowa will lose two to three games in the BT. This team has too many holes due to injury and just plain lack of talent right now to run the table. It's going to get ugly.

OK, we're listening. Which of the 6 games remaining on our schedule is out of reach...you know, when its going to get ugly?

 

[Hawkeyecurtis81]

OK, we're listening. Which of the 6 games remaining on our schedule is out of reach...you know, when its going to get ugly?

Yeah im thinking the explanation should be interesting. We should be favored in all our home games and at Purdue.
I don't see any reason some of the 2nd and 3rd teamers can't come in and perform for the injured 1st teamers. Daniels Smith and the oline should be healthy after the bye week. So far I like the improvement from guys like J Smith and other 2nd teamers from week to week.

 

[sloehawk]

Every team experiences adversity during the course of the season. Today was ours and yet we hung tough and got the win. Also, I think it is fair to say the Illini are a much better team than most people realize.

Agreed. I was surprised at the number of really good players Illinois had. That team was a handful today, and I don't think it was because Iowa played bad. It was a Football Game between two fairly evenly matched teams, and Iowa did what they had to do under duress to pull off a nice win. Not a pretty win, but nice win regardless.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

I don't think anyone honestly thought iowa was Alabama or ohio st or something, coming into the year

what I view as a good year is beat iowa st beat maybe a Wisconsin or a Nebraska, get floyd of rosedale trophy, make it to a good bowl and win it, that's a pretty darn good year

 

[sloehawk]

In the first half , who was the guy who dropped the pass
in the end zone from Beathard? Nobody was near that
Hawkeye and he just dropped the ball and we had to
settle for a field goal.

I assume that was the one that Smith dropped (don't recall which quarter that was in), but in his defense it was a poor throw that was behind him. He got his hands on it, probably could have caught it, but it wasn't a good throw from CJ.

Then he let one slip thru his hands late that was right on target and would have sealed the game with a 1st down at the 5 or so. THAT was all on him. The kid DID however make some great plays in the 1st half (I don't believe he had a catch in the 2nd half, and finished with 118 receiving). He was money in that 1st half. Kid's got a pretty decent looking future at Iowa.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

there is a lot of pressure on smith #9 as a freshman, with tevaun out, he showed some pretty good skills for a freshman , I was impressed, yeah he dropped a few, so what

 

[Suterman]

Well...we are 6-0, not 0-6. It's been a great ride so far and everybody has injury issues. We have every chance to win in Evanston next Saturday.

 

[83Hawk]

The Hawks have exceeded my expectations so far this year, particularly at RB and on defense (I knew CJ would be an upgrade at QB).

The injuries are concerning. The Hawks simply cannot afford to have anyone else go down. Hopefully we'll start getting guys back on the field soon.

It will be an interesting home stretch. A win next week will put Iowa firmly in the drivers seat for the West division crown. Wouldn't that be great?

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

You idiots talking about fan base pussies and no confidence. Do you watch or understand football? Iowa will lose two to three games in the BT. This team has too many holes due to injury and just plain lack of talent right now to run the table. It's going to get ugly.

Yeah, you're obviously right, Iowa should probably just pass on the road trip to Evanston because they're so obviously outclassed by all of their remaining opponents. SansSouci has a far better ability to analyze overall talent and team play that even insinuating otherwise forces him into calling the rest of the Iowa fanbase names on a message board because it's very important to listen to his unerring and truthful analysis. Let's lock up that FosterFarms Bowl right now so we don't have to worry about being passed over by our superior opponents.

I guess I'll just bide my time until basketball season starts and enjoy that at least until SanSouci says it's not worth my time to do so as they'll certainly be proven flawed by early December due to his superior evaluation skills and understanding of the game.

SMH

 

[TomKakert]

For the life of me, it's like when we win no one can have an opinion. No knew can comment because you're overreacting.

These are reasonable concerns. The team doesn't look great. A win is a win but I think we have the right to point out the apparent issues with the team.

Here's the thing that I think you are not grasping here. You believe that opinions are a one way street. You can have your opinion and that's fine, but others, might be of the opinion that the view is an overreaction. That is called having an opinion as well.

No one is saying there aren't concerns and everything is perfect. It never is, but some seem to seek refuge in looking for every little flaw and waiting for the sky to cave in on this team, without giving any consideration to praising the work that they have accomplished to start the season 6-0. My sense is those looking only at the critical side are simply laying the groundwork for a future date when a loss might happen to then gleefully return here to point out how they were right about their concerns. Either that or they are just trolling. That's my opinion.

Again, and I have written this for years, I think most people are fine with posters being critical. But, the best way to approach it is to also sprinkle in some positives they saw as well. Balanced posting is usually well received and creates a reasonable discussion.

 

[ANYCHawk]

Balanced posting is usually well received and creates a reasonable discussion.

yeah but it's way less fun.

WE'RE GOING UNDEFEATED!!!!!!! TCU BETTER WATCH OUT!!!!!!!

 

[ABYPFCS]

Actually, I have more confidence in the team after taking care of business and beating Illinois. Not sure this team is going to blow out anyone remaining on our schedule, but could win all the games, or possibly suffer a loss or two. We are 6-0 and I am enjoying it.

 

[Hawk8595]

Here's the thing that I think you are not grasping here. You believe that opinions are a one way street. You can have your opinion and that's fine, but others, might be of the opinion that the view is an overreaction. That is called having an opinion as well.

No one is saying there aren't concerns and everything is perfect. It never is, but some seem to seek refuge in looking for every little flaw and waiting for the sky to cave in on this team, without giving any consideration to praising the work that they have accomplished to start the season 6-0. My sense is those looking only at the critical side are simply laying the groundwork for a future date when a loss might happen to then gleefully return here to point out how they were right about their concerns. Either that or they are just trolling. That's my opinion.

Again, and I have written this for years, I think most people are fine with posters being critical. But, the best way to approach it is to also sprinkle in some positives they saw as well. Balanced posting is usually well received and creates a reasonable discussion.

"Perhaps you lawyer type trolls might want to read the directions on your stay flow packages."

This was in response to the OP early on. There were others. It goes both ways.

On a positive note, there are many excellent posts in this thread.

 

[TomKakert]

"Perhaps you lawyer type trolls might want to read the directions on your stay flow packages."

This was in response to the OP early on. There were others. It goes both ways.

On a positive note, there are many excellent posts in this thread.

Sure it does. Never said anything different. Been doing this for quite a few years. More than a decade. Based on my experience here, and this is a generalization and not every case, but many who are critical come back and basically bristle at the idea that anyone can have an opposing opinion to what they write. It is as if they are the only one allowed to have an opinion, when they say, why won't you let me have an opinion. It's fine to have it, but some will disagree and they get upset that someone dares to disagree with them. It's not a one way street.

 

[Rustys Dad]

Despite gutting out the win, and even though I expected a tough game, I've lost my confidence in this team. Am I the only one?

Say what you will about Cubit's sorcery, this is not a good team, but they made Iowa look like chumps on the lines. Illinois is bad enough they couldn't capitalize. NW will annihilate us if our lines play like this. And what is so wrong with our backup RBs that KF and GD think giving Canzeri 43 carries is the best choice? Injuries are piling up. The only bright spots were Canzeri's studliness (though that comes with the downside of him building up the punishment), J Smith's emerging promise, and CJB making enough plays to find a way to win.

Am I overreacting here?

We're freaking 6-0 and your keyboard clanks out this drivel!? Holy cow some people are truly "glass half-empty" people in life. Imagine you complain about everything at work, too? Just a guess.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Yeah, Thorson (or whoever they have in there) passing vs our defense could be a big difference maker....


The only thing that I'm worried about is Fitzy doubling down on recovering Northwestern's running game after tallying 38 total yds against Michigan.

I definitely think that Iowa CAN win.

However, there is definitely a difference between Iowa's D and Michigan's D. Opposing Os have reached the red-zone against Michigan's D only 6 times ALL YEAR! Iowa has been very respectable in that category ... with opposing Os getting in the red-zone 13 times (with a few of those being helped out by turnovers by the O). Still, there is a difference between "smothering" and very good.

 

[Ed Horton]

Yeah, I don't get the hate or glass is half empty either and the slide is coming. Team is near the top in several stats including sacks, but we have no pass rush, 2nd in scoring, 2nd in time of possession, punting, etc. ? I think a lot of people just want to hate on the coaching and recruiting and won't let it go. They are 1 of 12 remaining unbeaten power 5 conference teams and they have played a tough schedule. Then add the toughness and character this team has. Who cares what the haters think because the facts are different

 

[GPRHAWK]

I would have predicted 3-3 or 4-2 at this point prior to the season. We look much better than I thought but at no point this year have I thought this is a great team. Just seems like a team that knows how to win. Pretty much every game we have remaining is a possible loss. If we can continue to win the close games , it could be a great season.

 

[desihawk]

I do understand the pov of both half-full and half-empty sides. The team is 6-0 (the schedule has been tough) because they earned each one and are solid in all phases. The hawks should be in every game down the stretch. It is also true that the team is disproportionately (compared to opponents) injured. CJ also seems a bit hobbled and is becoming almost human. It's this fine balance between yin (team's ability) and yang (team's health) that manifests as bravado and/or angst.

The only solution is to just enjoy the effort put forth by this set of guys, it's obvious they have camaraderie and resilience.

 

[HobbieHawk]

The season is over
The defense gave up a rushing Touchdown
May as well get ready for basketball

 

[tedboy78]

Do we need to get better in some areas? Yes. Do some new players have to step up? Yes. Can we improve? Yes. Is any of it guaranteed? No. That said, our run blocking was great at times against a pretty stout D-line. We damn near put up 40 with a little better execution. I also think we need to blitz a little more so we don't have to defend the pass for so long. But to watch football yesterday and feel better about Northwestern's team than the Hawks is ludicrous.

 

[trombone96]

People should just be happy the hawks are 6-0. Nothing is going to be perfect, but at least they're doing what they can to win.

 

[Scott559]

I have no idea how the season will play out, What I do know is that it is fun watching this team. They represent everything we as Iowan's should be proud of, They play tough, They play hard, They genuinely seem like a good group of young men that play the game the right way.
I feel sorry for many of the fans who after last year said they were done watching the football team until K.F. was replaced, they are missing out on a fun season.