ADVERTISEMENT

The national media has a hard time with Iowa…

The explanation is simple.

The press guys understand something that most Iowa fans understand but fanatics don't. Iowa is a very very hard place at which to win BIG. We have everything working against us that could work against us. Iowa is in the short end of every social trend, every demographic trend, everything breaks against Iowa. I don't mean as in cheated, its just the hard realities of life.

Although, in the 80-90s we were on the cusp of blue blood status in basketball and we did get brutally raped by the Big Ten, at the time very happy with the way things were and lacking in any public access or accountability.

Right now, things are looking up. We have had very good recruiting in Boys BBall and Football. Girls BBall apparently only signs top 100 players. Three consecutive excellent football recruiting classes. Right now Iowa's winning against the odds. That is good coaching.
 
As far as the media having a hard time with Iowa, there are a lot of reasons for that but all of them added up together amount to exactly nothing. The media pundits like shiny things and thus they always value offense more than they should and defense less than they should, and honestly don't value special teams at all. Anybody that takes a "deep dive" into Iowa football the first thing that jumps off the page is that this team wins with turnovers on defense, a stat that is viewed as more fluky and impossible to reproduce, and thus more wins are attributed to us being "lucky." Also, while I personally love it, the Iowa brand of football is not loved by the masses. We are in an offensive age. So considering Iowa's offense was one of the worst statistically in college football and there does not seem to be any additions of high ranking recruits or impact transfers, it is no wonder the pundits don't have faith in this team. Its cool though, its why they play the games.
 
In order to get year after year praise Iowa has to routinely beat Purdue and Northwestern… I think every year just when Iowa does something spectacular against a team that no one thought they would and all the National guys start favoring them here comes Purdue or NW’ern or a game against Wisconsin where the D can’t win the the game and O looks stale and filled with 3 and outs.. If Iowa can avoid some of that witchcraft for a few years in a row the perception may start to change..
 
And have for several years. Seemingly basketball and football both. I don’t like giving fuel to the local message board critics but the reality is they are a very, very tough team to understand.

Kirk Ferentz and staff are highly thought of and appreciated among all circles yet we notoriously piss down our legs a couple times a year. Now to be fair that’s not just an “Iowa thing” but I’ve noticed over the last several years they really struggle to pick Iowa to win the west…

If I understood the article I just read correctly. Iowa got the third most votes behind Wisconsin and Minnesota. And I get it, I’m not upset about it. But I assure you Minnesota doesn’t have more talent than we do and I’d be shocked if Wisconsin did!

Which always leaves us in this very weird; highly respected, yet never really counted on place in the college football landscape.

It’s quite bizarre to listen to broadcasts and hear them routinely rave about Iowa and their staff, yet Wisconsin with quarterback issues & Minnesota with quarterback issues are the favorites over them to win the West!

It’s super strange to be a fan of this team! Even this year I’ve been a little nervous because we’ve heaped so much praise on them and they’ve got a lot of individual and team defensive accolades. Yet at the same point in time are barely in the top 25 in most polls… Which should bode well for us but… It’s strange, very strange!

It isn’t complicated. They’ve seen the offensive side of the ball product and remain skeptical. QB1 at Iowa was ranked 110th at one point last year or preseason to last year. The same QB returns.

What more do you need to know goober?
 
The explanation is simple.

The press guys understand something that most Iowa fans understand but fanatics don't. Iowa is a very very hard place at which to win BIG. We have everything working against us that could work against us. Iowa is in the short end of every social trend, every demographic trend, everything breaks against Iowa. I don't mean as in cheated, its just the hard realities of life.

Although, in the 80-90s we were on the cusp of blue blood status in basketball and we did get brutally raped by the Big Ten, at the time very happy with the way things were and lacking in any public access or accountability.

Right now, things are looking up. We have had very good recruiting in Boys BBall and Football. Girls BBall apparently only signs top 100 players. Three consecutive excellent football recruiting classes. Right now Iowa's winning against the odds. That is good coaching.
Wrong. Iowa is a good enough place to produce elite defenses and special teams. Quite simply, Kirk's offensive philosophy is straight dogshit and he's too proud and stubborn to admit it and too much of a control freak to outsource it to someone who knows what they are doing. That's it.
 
Wisconsin has had much better offensive lines than Iowa and their defense has been better than ours for years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: littlez
Not at all surprised Wisky is voted ahead of Iowa. They have earned that right by winning the West many times.

I am surprised by Minny tho - I thought they lost a ton from last year.

Hard to win in football with a poor offense. Even the best defense is going to struggle a bit if they are on the field the whole game, especially when the opponent gets the ball in great field position after an Iowa 3 and out. Thankfully the Hawks have a great punter, or it would be even harder on the D.

Iowa needs to be able to possess the ball longer and put up a few more points. Then the D can dominate.
 
That have had 1st round type running backs. Made a huge difference over this span. Like when they had Ron Dayne.
Yep basically since 10' and beyond Wisconsin has produced so many good RBs who have made the NFL with another one currently on their roster (one being an iowa decommit with Melvin Gordon....). Wisconsin has also had more consistent OL play and thus has been so much more effective playing the ground and pound game. Our Ds have been pretty similar over the years both being pretty stingy but we have had some huge clunkers in losses to them on the offensive side of the ball even counting the 15' game we won. Still remember in 17' after big OSU win we go up to Madison next week and only score only 2 TDs on Josh Jackson pick 6s and end up with like 65-70 yards of total offense.
 
Wrong. Iowa is a good enough place to produce elite defenses and special teams. Quite simply, Kirk's offensive philosophy is straight dogshit and he's too proud and stubborn to admit it and too much of a control freak to outsource it to someone who knows what they are doing. That's it.
I disagree with your take that KF's philosophy is dogshit. KF's philosophy is sound and that same philosophy has won at all levels as well as been dominant at all levels. It is no secret that the overall philosophy is based on running the football, and that is something that Iowa has not done very well in a long time. To run the ball effectively means that you control the time of possession, limit possessions, create low-risk makeable explosive plays via play-action and have a higher probability of turning the ball over less by keeping it on the ground. So it is not the philosophy that kept them from running the ball effectively, it is the poor offensive line play as well as lack of elite running backs that has mostly kept that from happening. A team like Iowa should be regularly producing NFL draft picks at the RB position and it hasn't happened in a long time.
 
With the two transfers and maybe some recruiting that went on, me thinks there may be a little extra something special in the sauce for Purdue game this fall.
I sure hope not because if there is a little something extra, it won’t be from us. Our cupboards have been empty when it comes to playing Purdue. Our only hope is that Brohm forgets who they are playing that week.
 
I know the offense needs a lot of work, but we got to have a more solid defense against Purdue. They Tecmo bowl us with their offense. It is maddening knowing what we have and how they usually play.
Purdue's offense can't score any points when they are on the sidelines. A better Iowa offense keeps them there. Keeps the Iowa defense fresher as well!
 
Not at all surprised Wisky is voted ahead of Iowa. They have earned that right by winning the West many times.

I am surprised by Minny tho - I thought they lost a ton from last year.

Hard to win in football with a poor offense. Even the best defense is going to struggle a bit if they are on the field the whole game, especially when the opponent gets the ball in great field position after an Iowa 3 and out. Thankfully the Hawks have a great punter, or it would be even harder on the D.

Iowa needs to be able to possess the ball longer and put up a few more points. Then the D can dominate.
It's really quite simple. Those rankings are an indictment of KF: the fact that in spite of the entire
football world seeing the problem with our offense, the coach can't figure out how to put an entire team on the field.
 
Iowa purdue games…the officials drive me nuts. Purdue dbs can grab n hook Iowa receivers but if an iowa defender has any Contact… flag
Like the field and replay officials missing the Purdue player leaping across LOS and not a single other player on either team move is somehow not a penalty. No human, especially in slow mo, could possibly have thought Iowa moved or that 1 Boiler didn't jump offsides.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ree4 and hawkguy90
KF is 20-18 against the current B1G west coaches.
1-4 vs Brohm
1-0 vs the Beluga
7-9 vs Pat
2-5 vs Chryst
5-0 vs Fleck
4-0 vs Frost

That may have something to do with the media having a hard time with Iowa.
 
The Wisconsin Iowa gap has been pretty big for awhile. They are actually able to win with average to below average QB’s. And we really haven’t figured out their defense at all. It’s unheard of to gain less than 100 yards of offense in a game like we did against them. The record over the last 10 years speaks for itself. And if we can’t figure out their run blitz again this year it’s not going to be pretty. Mertz has shown little to nothing in his time at Wiscy. Maybe we can beat them 10-9.
 
Because Iowa can't close the deal.

Just when we get a shit load of national attention, we lose to a team we have no business losing to.

Rise.
Repeat.
Basically this, if we're trying to simplify it.

It's because we always hover right around that 8 win line and the games that make or break us in that regard, aren't usually against the very top teams in the Big Ten................it's Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.

Here's who we've lost to since 2016-

2016: NW, PSU, Wis (8-5, 6-3)
2017: PSU, MSU, NW, Pur, Wis (8-5, 4-5)
2018: Wis, PSU, Purdue, NW (9-4, 5-4)
2019: Mich, PSU, Wis (10-3, 6-3)
2020: Pur, NW (6-2)
2021: Pur, Wis, Mich (10-4, 7-2)

5 losses to Wisconsin, 4 losses to Northwestern, Penn State. and Purdue. Throw in a couple losses to Michigan and one to MSU and that's who we've lost to in the last 6 seasons of B10 play.


P.S. One DYK nugget, our unfortunate loss in the Citrus Bowl this past season was our first out of conference loss since 2016..........
 
ADVERTISEMENT