Remember that year we had a Heisman runner-up

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Yah, the guy KF had split time at the position the year before. I guess Banks had a helluva summer before his senior year. LOL

Your observation is just more evidence that KF has NO IDEA what the hell a real QB looks like. And to bookend that fact, he ran Deacon Hill out there for almost an entire season! A guy who was headed to Fordham before the Bud Man snagged him, a guy who was a slow, talentless, turnover machine. A guy who transferred to Utah Tech (look it up). The only hope Iowa has ever had on offense under Ferentz is if he gets the hell outta the way. Lester knows offense and QBs. Leave him alone, and Iowa will be the surprise offense in the country this season.

Meh. The more I look back at the games in that 2001 season, the more I accept that everything worked out the way it was meant to (except for that f***ing Iowa State game) for 2002.

Banks becoming the main starter in 2001 wouldn't have made much of a difference, and in fact, I'd argue could've even hurt things for that special 2002 season.

Teams just weren't ready for Banks with Iowa's offense in 2002. A modern day comparison would be us buying say a C.J. Stroud/Justin Fields for a season with NIL and winning the B10 out of nowhere because teams couldn't adjust to Iowa suddenly having an athletic playmaker at QB running their ball control pro style offense.

The other overlooked aspect of those early Ferentz teams were that they had some of the best college receivers in program history helping Banks.

Guys like Mo Brown, C.J. Jones, Ed Hinkle, and even a potential HOF TE in Dallas Clark.

 

[BrotherHawkeye]

at QB? <and> KF was the Head Coach? Feeling a little nostalgic.

Historically, 4 runner-ups for the Hawkeyes.

 

[GeorgePeeples]

1957. I remember it well.

 

[Dauminator]

You won’t recognize these Hawkeyes.

That team was stupid talented. What a fun time to be a Hawkeye. Helps I was a student there at the time, and being in the band meant I got to see most of those games live.

and a killer defense.

Killer defense not so much. Not a bad one - talented but raw and inconsistent. The stats were skewed because of what the offense was doing to fools, but we couldn't rely on that defense to get a stop if needed. Nothing like recent years.

We lost to Iowa state

A QB's jacked up thumb, a swiss cheese defense, an all-time playmaker for the opposition, and momentum will do that. We also nearly lost to Miami (OH). Remember playing them IN Ohio? That team certainly needed time to get it together.

Guys like Mo Brown, C.J. Jones, Ed Hinkle, and even a potential HOF TE in Dallas Clark.

Was just going to post about that group of pass catchers. What a crew.

Funny to think that we today are farther away from 2002 than 2002 was to 1985.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

That team was stupid talented. What a fun time to be a Hawkeye. Helps I was a student there at the time, and being in the band meant I got to see most of those games live.


Killer defense not so much. Not a bad one - talented but raw and inconsistent. The stats were skewed because of what the offense was doing to fools, but we couldn't rely on that defense to get a stop if needed. Nothing like recent years.

A QB's jacked up thumb, a swiss cheese defense, an all-time playmaker for the opposition, and momentum will do that. We also nearly lost to Miami (OH). Remember playing them IN Ohio? That team certainly needed time to get it together.

Was just going to post about that group of pass catchers. What a crew.

Funny to think that we today are farther away from 2002 than 2002 was to 1985.

And now just a year from being as many years between B10 titles as we were during the dark ages..............

 

[uihawk82]

They sure were. While Hayden's 1st Rose Bowl team might be my favorite team of all time just because he made us relevant again, watching that team just steamroll the opposition week after week was just something. The 34-9 victory at Michigan where we just physically whipped them all over the field was so memorable. I still find it interesting that after that we never really could either recruit another so called duel threat guy or just stopped trying. Talent all over the field.

Drew Tate????