The possible irony for ISU if Iowa wins ....
- Thread starter ghostOfHomer777
- Start date
I think the game is a toss-up, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if either team wins by 2 TDs. That said, if ISU does lose, it wouldn't "suck that they're not good enough". There's no shame in losing to iowa on their home field. tOSU lost there and still won their league. ISU can still have a really good season despite a loss on Saturday and compete in their conference. The season is more than one game.
I was thinking more of the frustrating impact it would have on the fans. The fact that ISU beat the Hawks in '02 still irks me today!
----------------------------------------------------
i·ro·ny1
ˈīrənē/
noun
noun: irony
- a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects
Feel free to correct me with greater precision. The scenario I painted still seems to have shades of irony. Isn't this explicitly a scenario where the state of affairs is (potentially) contrary to perception/expectation? Is it that my argument is still so reliant on the hypothetical assumption that they'll lose?
Where do you even come up with this crap.
Fant 30-494- 11tds to Allen's 4-39-0 tds.
Easley 51-530-4 tds to Butler's 41-697-7tds.
ISM 18-187-2 to Jones 28-273-0tds.
How are those gaps, based off last years stats anywhere the same.
Its obvious you haven't watched both teams much, if your going to say Easley is anywhere to close to the receiver Butler is. Nobody would even try to compare the two units or the top players within each unit. Yes, if you throw in the TE's Iowa gets closer and Fant & Hockenson are great end zone targets but they won't stretch the field like WR's. But in my post I never tried to compare the TE's and I said that was no comparison.
The reason Hakeem Butler's numbers are close to Easley is because the depth of WR's ISU had, and probably the reason Easley caught 51 balls is because Iowa didn't even have a 2nd quality WR(Vandeberg could have been the guy but he was obviously hindered by injuries from the previous year). Easley did some nice things but he has no where near the potential Butler does.
Butler only tied for 3rd in catches at 41 and Jones dipped from 37 catches in 2016 as a FR. to 28 last year(notice on the only possession Sat. night he took a screen pass 55 yards for the TD). Their numbers of course were going to be lower because last year he brought in 2 WR's Murdock & Eaton to an already stacked position. So last year you had Lazard at 71, Ryen 47(graduated), Murdock 41, Butler 41, Jones at 28 and Eaton who came on the last half at 21 receptions but 4TDs. Yes, Lazard, Murdock & Ryen moved on but most people feel pretty comfortable with the 3 WR's returning and a couple other new ones contributing more this year in Akers and possibly Tarique Milton.
We can credit part of the WR production at ISU due to not utilizing a TE in the passing game but nobody that watches the two teams will try and equate the Iowa WR's with the kind of production or potential the ISU Wr's have, that's just plain silly.
In fairness, Hawkeye fans would LOVE to have Butler in Iowa’s team. He would be option #1 immediately.
This game had nothing to do with how good Butler or any other WR for ISU was. Neither did it have anything to do with how good of a back David Montgomery is.
This game was won in the trenches and the dominance of Iowa on the DLine did not allow Kempt, Montgomery or Butler (or anyone else in the ketchup and mustard) to show off what skills they had. I suspect ISU’s playmakers will have plenty of opportunities the rest of the year, but Iowa’s Defensive line just dominated this game.
I think the Offensive line for Iowa was superior to ISU’s defensive line, but ISUs scheme of attacking the LOS and Iowa’s inability to call plays which would take advantage of that over-aggressiveness kept the OLine from showing that they were a dominating force.
Out-coached, IMHO, but the defense was just that much better. Iowa’s defense saves the day yet again.
Back to the original post - I think Homer is right in that ISU looks to have an even better team in 2019, but so will Iowa. In fact the 2019 ISU team would be good enough to beat almost all but the very best Iowa teams in the past, but the 2019 Iowa team is shaping up to be really special. (Assuming no early entrances to the NFL).
We shall see, but in the meantime both squads could realistically go on to have great years THIS year. It is a shame about Kempt’s injury.
This game had nothing to do with how good Butler or any other WR for ISU was. Neither did it have anything to do with how good of a back David Montgomery is.
This game was won in the trenches and the dominance of Iowa on the DLine did not allow Kempt, Montgomery or Butler (or anyone else in the ketchup and mustard) to show off what skills they had. I suspect ISU’s playmakers will have plenty of opportunities the rest of the year, but Iowa’s Defensive line just dominated this game.
I think the Offensive line for Iowa was superior to ISU’s defensive line, but ISUs scheme of attacking the LOS and Iowa’s inability to call plays which would take advantage of that over-aggressiveness kept the OLine from showing that they were a dominating force.
Out-coached, IMHO, but the defense was just that much better. Iowa’s defense saves the day yet again.
Back to the original post - I think Homer is right in that ISU looks to have an even better team in 2019, but so will Iowa. In fact the 2019 ISU team would be good enough to beat almost all but the very best Iowa teams in the past, but the 2019 Iowa team is shaping up to be really special. (Assuming no early entrances to the NFL).
We shall see, but in the meantime both squads could realistically go on to have great years THIS year. It is a shame about Kempt’s injury.
The Hawks missed opportunities against ISU's D too. Toren was a shoelace tackle way from breaking 2 big runs. As in game 1, Iowa had missed opportunities too ... we'd have self-inflicted wounds due to penalties, dropped passes, and poor passes. There's still a lot to clean up. I don't think that it was solely due to it being a poorly called game.
If you read the Gazette ... Marc Morehouse and I seem to be lock-step in agreement concerning ISU's D. ISU's D played the best defensive ball I've seen from them in 20-some years (even better than their '05 D).
Concerning the main theme of the thread ... ISU's DL definitely was legit in the game ... and EVERYONE returns next year for them. Their D will lose some quality guys in Payne, Peavy, Ruth, and Harvey ... however, 3 of the 4 are more DB-types (2 CBs and a glorified safety). Ordinarily, losing such firepower from the secondary would be more of an issue ... however, the benefit of playing a B12 schedule is that it forces you to rotate guys in the secondary. Consequently, they'll continue to be developing depth in the secondary as the season progresses.
In addition to returning an awfully good DL ... they'll also be returning 2 starting LBs ... we already knew that Spears was a stud ... but Rose appears legit too.
As for the Cyclone O ... they lose some backup O-linemen ... and a few lesser-used WRs ... but otherwise they don't lose too much on O. Frankly, their biggest gains will be on the OL ... and that likely will be their biggest weakness on O this year.
