It grew enormously...yes. I think it grew right after getting shelled by Tennessee and understanding ( probably with the help of Brian) that another year doing the same ol stuff was going to be a death sentence to the entire staff.
Most Hawk fans had it wrong...
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It grew enormously...yes. I think it grew right after getting shelled by Tennessee and understanding ( probably with the help of Brian) that another year doing the same ol stuff was going to be a death sentence to the entire staff.
Kirk Ferentz is now, and has been an excellent coach and developer of young men. This is essentially the same offense with players executing much better. You can see with your eyes how much better the linebackers have gotten in a year. The same thing has happened with CJ. Kids get better. Brad Banks has said he was NOT ready in 2001. We all saw how ready he was in 2002. You may have noticed Jake Rudock has played pretty darn well at Michigan. Does he look the same? Yeah, pretty much, but the players around him are playing much better than they did the last few years.
Not bagging on JR but he has thrown 7 picks this year to 8 tds. Horrible ratio. I contend if Michigan had a QB that was more like CJ, they may be the team that is unbeaten. CJ was better than Jake last year and he is miles better this year.
Don't get me wrong I love it tha KF has shown willingness to adapt and change..... And he has. We did not flip the playbook upside down but we are playing players we should play, we are putting key people in critical spots to make plays (DK on Kicks and the right linebackers on the field), an aggressive attitude, etc. KF is leading in a different way and I applaud him for that! Keep staying ahead of the curb. If he did NOT do these things we would have lost another 5-7k in ticket sales and the record would be close to .500. I just don't see how others do not see this? It's not a bad thing by the way. What a great story....after being in one spot for so many years, how many people can make these types of changes? Not too damn many.
Don't get me wrong I love it tha KF has shown willingness to adapt and change..... And he has. We did not flip the playbook upside down but we are playing players we should play, we are putting key people in critical spots to make plays (DK on Kicks and the right linebackers on the field), an aggressive attitude, etc. KF is leading in a different way and I applaud him for that! Keep staying ahead of the curb. If he did NOT do these things we would have lost another 5-7k in ticket sales and the record would be close to .500. I just don't see how others do not see this? It's not a bad thing by the way. What a great story....after being in one spot for so many years, how many people can make these types of changes? Not too damn many.
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That, and most of the staff has only been here 3-4 years. Obviously had things to work out a group
I think people are underestimating the multi-year impact that the workout/rhabdomyolysis episode had from ~2011. That probably set the program back at least 2-3 years, with impacts on the players at the time, and more restrictions/scrutiny on the players workouts. And as I recall, that was something the players had done 'themselves', outside of any coaches pushing them to do it.
I believe some of the players who incurred problems from those workouts never fully recovered and others may not have reached their full potential. We are now >4 years past that, so none of the players are still around from when that happened, and it's in the rearview mirror for recruiting as well.
Surprisingly I was very optimistic heading into this season but don't think I would've thought that we would be undefeated this far into the season. It seems that Beathard simply inspires our team to win games and makes plays when we need them the most.
The difference so far this season is that they have won the games they should win. You can attribute that to multiple things - style, QB, etc. If they continue to win the games they should year in and year out I'm fine with Kirk. If they revert to losing to crappy ISU and directional Michigan schools and Big Ten bottom dwellers 2-3 times per year when they shouldn't, then he can leave. Only time will tell.
2013 was an 8 - 4 regular season with wins over Michigan and Nebraska and a competitive bowl appearance against LSU.
Criticism of that season overall is not in fact justified.
Without the hammer (weisman) we don't win more than 5 games those years as the other backs in the stable were non-existent. Hats off to the big guy.
Those are good points. I think for a lot of teams each season can go significantly different based on just a few minor things that either go your way or don't. If we don't get a 50+ yard field goal against Pitt and Wisky's QB doesn't trip over his own feet on the two yard line, we're off to a decent but not great start. And how different would the team's mindset have been for their home opener sitting 3-2 / 0-1 instead of 5-0? Bottom line is it wouldn't take much to make last season and this season look pretty similar. I think the results have changed a lot more than the team.
JR cost them the Utah game and had this for his 1st Q stat line against MSU:
-2 yards passing
-4 yards rushing
the guy is just a gamer, Kirk sure can spot that talent wee doggy!
I don't know that you can definitively say that regarding the Pitt and WI games. If we don't get the 57 yard FG against Pitt we go to OT, at home. The Wisconsin QB didn't trip over his own feet, one of his OL stepped on his foot because he was driven into the backfield by an Iowa DL. That play very likely ends up with lost yardage and Wisky has to settle for a FG rather than a TD.
All that said, absolutely little things often make the difference between a 7-8 win season and a 10 win season, particularly when it's several "little things". Probably the obvious ones so far but for example:
- improved QB play. CJ is just a gamer
- LB play much improved over last year
- Kidd has improved greatly in the punting game, and we know KF-Ball is big on playing the field position game.
- tackling almost across the board by the defense has been night and day from last year, when I'm not sure I've seen a KF team tackle so poorly
- 4 very good RB options, all with slightly different skillsets
Kirk has changed. He benched the starting SR QB for a more athletic riskier option, he has 2 fake fg's on the year, he's not running a 240 pound FB at RB, team actually comes out fired up, he has gone for 4th down's when we probably should have kicked the fg (although I loved it), an opposing team's coach punted from our 34, and he is actually using time outs before half to get something going. AKA New Kirk.
Quit acting like "oohh we stayed behind and look we are right." No you are not, he changed and if he didnt he's gone. Glad to see it
Quit acting like "oohh we stayed behind and look we are right." No you are not, he changed and if he didnt he's gone. Glad to see it
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and will believe what they will. I'd absolutely agree on the QB change, but we all know that doesn't come easy for KF yet it's not the first time either. It was unfortunate we had little or no other RB options last year (Canzeri/Daniels were hurt most of the year and Wadley was a fumble waiting to happen), and I think we probably went for it on 4th down more last year than we have this year.
I'm not saying I don't think some things have changed from the last few years, I just feel it's 1) Kirk getting back to what made Iowa football successful and 2) a product of the talent on the roster this year and KF having confidence in being more aggressive. Again, he was the first to say when taking a hard look last year he felt he'd been overly distracted with fundraising and other PR stuff around the new facilities and needed to spend more time & focus on playing good (Iowa) football. I simply don't think he has fundamentally changed, but rather refocused along with having a team that is playing much better this year. I'm seeing the same things this year that I've seen over the past 15 years when Iowa is successful.
We didn't bring it up. Someone wants to re-write history and say" Kirk hasn't changed." Bull.
"The offense is the same" Bull.
Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.
I think a lot of it has to do with CJ. He has skills that no other QB has had here. Yes, he should have been playing last year, but you know what, he wasn't. It was a mistake by the staff and it is time for those who like to keep dwelling on it to let it go. I have no idea why people like to keep dragging that into these threads, but for some reason they do, over and over again. It gets so old. I had a wife that liked to bring up mistakes from years ago She was a blast, and thus is now my ex-wife.
Is he dressing better now? Just curious.Old Kirk had always gone out of his way to do social media photo ops with recruits. right? year after year we had seen that.
"A lot"?? I was one of those that predicted a 9-3 season, but believe me, I was in the minority! Feel free to go back and review the literally hundreds of posts predicting more than 4 regular-season losses this fall.
To your point, yes, they could lose their last 3 games. Although this is possible, it is highly improbable. I don't sweat the things that are extremely unlikely to happen, otherwise I'd be swamped with fear about most things in life. I suggest you focus on the much more likely possibility that the Hawks will win the next 2 games, and (slightly less likely) the Nebby game.
There was nothing incorrect or illogical with being upset with KF about the last 5 years.
Iowa had an even easier schedule last year and look what happened, there's still no excuse for that. There's still no excuse for 2010. He flat out dropped the ball big time.
1 out of 6 years is not good enough when the other 5 are all underachieving.
All is not forgiven in my book. This is a great start but it can't go back to another 5 years of mediocrity after this.
Iowa had an even easier schedule last year and look what happened, there's still no excuse for that. There's still no excuse for 2010. He flat out dropped the ball big time.
1 out of 6 years is not good enough when the other 5 are all underachieving.
All is not forgiven in my book. This is a great start but it can't go back to another 5 years of mediocrity after this.
And there we have it. People with this mentality should seriously just go away. It's over, the past, move on. If our worst years are filled with bowl games against Tennessee and LSU then we are in pretty decent shape. We are IOWA people, it's not going to be 9,10,11 wins here every year. IT NEVER HAS AND IT NEVER WILL BE. If that is an issue for you, go be an Ohio State fan
I don't think anyone is expecting 9, 10, 11 wins every year, just to beat all of the inferior teams that you should beat. It's not like Iowa ever has a killer non conference schedule.
you mean not losing to a 2-10 ISU team is too much to expect? crazy ass fans! how can we beat ISU! stupid fan expectations!!!!!!!
People who think it's acceptable to lose to the likes of ISU Maryland and Northwestern on consistent basis need to go away.
People who try to gloss over the details of reality with vague generalizations need to stop wasting their time.
Since you specifically mentioned the last 5 years a few posts ago, can you help me out by pointing out our "consistently losing to Northwestern" over that period?
New Kirk must think having an actual punt returner fielding punts instead of a sure hand All State fair catcher is a good thing this year. Yay New Kirk!
he said "likes of"
dont twist peoples comments if you want to be taken seriously. We had been consistently losing to NU, we have gotten back on the right track against them. Kudos to KF & staff for altering their gameplan against that program. It took a few years, tough losses, and post game jabs from NU players to realize that but hey, it happened.
It's comical you would give me advice about being taken seriously, particularly on the football board. I'll give you credit though, that may be the first time I've ever seen you type "kudos to KF".
I personally think the "new" Kirk is doing things a bit differently. I would say he is tweaking a few things but hasn't thrown out the old game plan. He has the benefit of a better QB. Unfortunately he had that in 2010 with Stanzi so this can't be all QB related. If some of you want to call him "old" Kirk who got back to success by using his old formula which includes being more hands on an passionate about coaching, then so be it. New Kirk may be Old Kirk because he returned to his roots. Two sides of same coin.
I'm assuming that you either end up blacked out or in jail every time you party since you obviously are incapable of thinking about past experiences or future ramifications.
Lame. I would've enjoyed your post more if you had blamed the fans for unsold tickets while admitting you haven't been inside Kinnick for decades.
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