Really satisfying season following an incredibly disappointing one. Excited to see Ferentz not just make small incremental changes, but actually shift his philosophy from a conservative "play not to lose" to an aggressive "play to win the game". I am actually shocked to see that rather than have him revert and be skittish in his decisions to "go for it" on 4th down or run a fake, he seems to be coaching with reckless abandon, or letting his coordinators and coaches do the same.
We as fans have seen the shift in philosophy and we are all-in. The team has a great senior class and a great leader in CJ and they are all-in. Awesome.
The greater college football community - writers, analysts, fans of other teams, and the coaching community - probably aren't as ready as we are to dive back into the Hawkeye pool the way that they did in '02-'04 or '08-'09. I think there are multiple reasons for that:
This year more than many, I have really enjoyed flying under the radar. I don't really care who is paying attention, and honestly, I think we are better off to still be able to pull off a few guerrilla warfare campaigns before we are featured on College Gameday and show up on the cover of Sports Illustrated (that really happened in '09).
The only way that we can earn national respect this year and get into the CFB playoff is by winning out. Win every remaining scheduled game, and then win the B1G Championship. That simple. Whatever results we see short of that can still be successful, even a big success given where we stood one year ago, but the only respect we will get is by defeating opponents week in and week out.
No matter where we end up, it's been a fun ride to this point. Just like everyone, I want to get greedy and win them all. When we do that, we will have taken respect through brute force, not begged some writer or opposing fan base to give it to us.
On Iowa, Go Hawks
We as fans have seen the shift in philosophy and we are all-in. The team has a great senior class and a great leader in CJ and they are all-in. Awesome.
The greater college football community - writers, analysts, fans of other teams, and the coaching community - probably aren't as ready as we are to dive back into the Hawkeye pool the way that they did in '02-'04 or '08-'09. I think there are multiple reasons for that:
- Style of Play - When Iowa is chugging along and hanging up W's, we tend to see a few things happening. Really exciting concepts, like great line play, stout defenses, and winning the turnover battle. It seems that these elements of winning football don't necessarily win over the average football fan, especially in areas where the offensive forward philosophy is most prevalent. I actually think that many of the analysts and coaches respect our philosophy, but it brings up what I think may be there biggest hang-up with the Hawks...
- Once Bitten, Twice Shy - There was a time when everyone in the college football world was smitten with Iowa. Other than Jim Rome, he had the full support of the media, especially the ESPN "talking heads". Even when Iowa went into slumps like '05-'07, people still stuck by Ferentz's side and gave him and the Hawks the benefit of the doubt, thinking they would "sneak up on people" or picking them as a darkhorse to win the conference. It wasn't until we started to slip to mediocrity after the Orange Bowl (post 2010 in my opinion) that people were gun-shy to start to put faith back in the Hawks. Now people don't want to sound like fools and they are being much more cautious in getting back on the bandwagon.
- Winning "Thin" - When I think about Iowa's wins, one of which was via a 57 yd FG and another during a game where we forced five turnovers, one of which was a goal line fumble, Iowa has to have things go it's way. This includes all sorts of intangibles, including turnovers, but also things like injuries. As people see the injuries start to stack up against the Hawkeyes, they assume that the run will come to an end. I was one of those who thought that Iowa was just too thin coming into Evanston last week, and that they might lose a close one and then limp into the bye week. I was wrong, but having lots of things go your way isn't something that you can depend upon. That said, many people believe that you make your own luck, and I think there is truth to that.
This year more than many, I have really enjoyed flying under the radar. I don't really care who is paying attention, and honestly, I think we are better off to still be able to pull off a few guerrilla warfare campaigns before we are featured on College Gameday and show up on the cover of Sports Illustrated (that really happened in '09).
The only way that we can earn national respect this year and get into the CFB playoff is by winning out. Win every remaining scheduled game, and then win the B1G Championship. That simple. Whatever results we see short of that can still be successful, even a big success given where we stood one year ago, but the only respect we will get is by defeating opponents week in and week out.
No matter where we end up, it's been a fun ride to this point. Just like everyone, I want to get greedy and win them all. When we do that, we will have taken respect through brute force, not begged some writer or opposing fan base to give it to us.
On Iowa, Go Hawks
