I remember 1973 when I was shocked at the thinking of many Hawkeye fans. Many wanted the pain to be over. They wanted a change. They openly wanted Iowa to go 0- 12. I remember about midseason when Iowa was 0 - 5. I then became convinced too. Let's go 0 - 12 so that there's no excuse to send Frank Lauterbur packing. If we hadn't, perhaps there would not have been a Hayden Fry at Iowa. I am not saying I wish for Iowa to go 1 - 11 this year. I am hoping for a miracle. But, if Iowa is 2 - 5 after the Ohio State game, hell yes, please lose the next 5 games. Maybe it will end this crap.
The similarities: 1973 vs 2022
- Thread starter radicalhawk
- Start date
I agree it was torture, but most folks wanted Lauterbur gone (and Ducky)!
You seem to forget there was a Bobby Como in between. Not saying the message is incorrect but it should be remembered that there will be pain with any substantive change. Good Captn fatigue is really high right now for all of us with a pulse and ability to see what is happening.
Bob Commings and his stubborn belief that the single wing offense was still viable. Kirk Ferentz who is convinced that his complex series of up the middle runs and 3 yard passes can continue to be a winning formula. We seem to be watching a successful head coach slowly deteriorate after having painted himself into a corner.
But do you remember going to the championship in 1972?
A
anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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I get it….but I have serious reservations that 1-11 would even get the job done…I could see Barta saying in 23 years Kirk has built up enough good will to attempt to right the ship….and Kirk being too stubborn to retire…
I was around in the 70s and there are no similarities between then and now. Sure, the offense is bad right now, but there are players that give hope to improve, particularly when some of the injured come back. In the 70s before Fry, we never really had that hope. Defense and special teams today are elite. There was nothing elite about the Hawkeyes in the 70s. It is hard to find a comparable for this team. Maybe the closest is 1981. That offense was pretty bad and the team was carried by the defense and special teams. The offense did improve through the year (Rose Bowl not included).
Current defense has pretty good talent and fantastic management with Phil Parker. So that makes current situation better than the 70's when both defense and offense were bad.
The Current offense with BF/KF one could argue the coaching has become similar to Bob Cummings. Petras is a similar QB talent to Bob Cummings Jr. There was Nepotism by Cumming in playing his son as QB and there is neportisim in KF making his son the offensive coordinator.
When you get to 131 out of 131 in offense you can't claim the offense is getting good coaching. The raw talent is bad but not 131 ranking bad. The scheme is bad and execution is bad and the QB is bad. Hayen Fry in his prime woud fire BF on the spot, get in a real offensive coordinator, send Petras to the bench, and get enough juice in this offense to have a team somewhat like the Rosebowl team of 1980.
There is enough talent of current offense to be scoring 17-21 ppg with better coaching. That is enough scoring to win a lot more games than offense scorring 5ppg . Petras/BF have scored 3pts on a 6 yard field goal drive and 7 points on a <20 yard TD drive.
In 1973, we had the Fat Man running onto the field to grab the kicking tee. There is nothing remotely that exciting today.
Correct. I get that people are upset/frustrated. Mostly because with even a mediocre or meh offense this team could reasonably win 8-9 games or more with some breaks. The program was in a far different place in the 1970s.
The 1981 offense could at least scratch out some points with a few drives here and there as Gales and Bohannon were both kind of mobile. Offense was much different back then compared to today. It was much more common to be in a low-scoring game back then.
I don't see a real bright conclusion to this season (2022). Yes, if Johnson and Ragaini come back that will help some. But the die was cast in the off-season by going with just the QB's that were on campus and in not changing much with the system. Nevada is so bad defensively that it's probably Iowa scores 24 this weekend and staff will cite "improvement." The test will come the following 3 games against Rutgers, Michigan and OSU. I would expect those contests to be ugly. What happens after that, no idea.
So in 1972 we played in the conference championship and went to a New Years Day bowl?
that was the same question that popped into my head and i checked.
3–7–1 in 1972
I would argue that the root cause of all of this is roster management. We live in a world of players leaving early for the NFL and leaving early via the xfer portal. Overall, attrition is a bigger issue now than it used to be and that will likely continue....especially via the portal. I don't see any offensive players heading to the NFL any time soon.
You have to backfill those losses or you're playing shorthanded. At WR....we're literally shorthanded. At O-line, we just don't have enough bodies at that position to field a competent line. You need enough scholarship players to allow your players to grow/learn for a couple years before you throw 'em out there. You also need enough to compensate for some misses here and there. When other teams lose players, they look for transfers to backfill. We seem reluctant to do that. I get not wanting current players to feel like you've "recruited over" them, but a sophomore shouldn't get bent out of shape if in bring in a 1 or 2 year player to fill in for a lost player with similar eligibility.
Shrug - Charlie didn't give us a chance to backfill really, which is why I have a lot of animosity towards him. Other players (at all positions) were not 11th hour losses. We had a chance to try to cover those and instead simply accepted our fate of having a young, inexperienced line and crippling lack of depth at WR.
Throw in a QB who has the yips and can't make the makeable plays when the opportunity arises and you have the worst offense in FBS.
Unfortunately, Charlie's success at Purdue is really gonna hurt our recruiting. Coaches are going to be in the ear of any skill position players telling them they'll squander their opportunities playing in the Iowa offense. They'll point to Charlie and say "see the difference between playing at Iowa and playing in a program that values offense?"
You have to backfill those losses or you're playing shorthanded. At WR....we're literally shorthanded. At O-line, we just don't have enough bodies at that position to field a competent line. You need enough scholarship players to allow your players to grow/learn for a couple years before you throw 'em out there. You also need enough to compensate for some misses here and there. When other teams lose players, they look for transfers to backfill. We seem reluctant to do that. I get not wanting current players to feel like you've "recruited over" them, but a sophomore shouldn't get bent out of shape if in bring in a 1 or 2 year player to fill in for a lost player with similar eligibility.
Shrug - Charlie didn't give us a chance to backfill really, which is why I have a lot of animosity towards him. Other players (at all positions) were not 11th hour losses. We had a chance to try to cover those and instead simply accepted our fate of having a young, inexperienced line and crippling lack of depth at WR.
Throw in a QB who has the yips and can't make the makeable plays when the opportunity arises and you have the worst offense in FBS.
Unfortunately, Charlie's success at Purdue is really gonna hurt our recruiting. Coaches are going to be in the ear of any skill position players telling them they'll squander their opportunities playing in the Iowa offense. They'll point to Charlie and say "see the difference between playing at Iowa and playing in a program that values offense?"
No, its more like 1998.
Had some good D players and a terrible offense.
Jared Devries=Jack Campbell
Had some good D players and a terrible offense.
Jared Devries=Jack Campbell
LOL...comparing this team to the early seventies teams. Geez, that's like comparing Geselle to Rosanne. Our defense will keep us in every game, maybe save Michigan and Ohio State...every other game is winnable if we can just get something out of the offense and generate turnovers on defense.
KF is a o-line guy. He needs to tell Barnett to go sit in the corner and he needs to lead that group to improvement. Which I think he will do. I expect serious improvement over the next three or four weeks. We are likely to be 3-2 heading to Illinois...but by then...our offense should be able to fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
KF is a o-line guy. He needs to tell Barnett to go sit in the corner and he needs to lead that group to improvement. Which I think he will do. I expect serious improvement over the next three or four weeks. We are likely to be 3-2 heading to Illinois...but by then...our offense should be able to fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
You were hoping for 0-12 in 1973? Did you think Iowa would get a bowl bid with an 0-11 record?
…………..
I remember that year well. They went 0-11 because they only played 11 games. But other than the Illinois game that offense was more fun to watch than this years offense so far.
No one plans for injuries to 3 wide receivers with one very slowly healing. Also Charlie departing post spring practice was not great timing.
Not like there is an allowance to add extra if injuries happen during camp.
Hey, Petras sucked, unable to hit open receivers. But having said that, to be fair, there were a couple of drops, including one over the middle to Bruce fairly late in the game.
If Iowa loses to both Rutgers and Illinois, I don't think you'll need to worry about them winning any more games. Today we might have a chance against the likes of N'western and Nebby, but by late October this defense will be absolutely exhausted, in addition to the offense still being total trash. I don't picture a 2-5 Iowa team finishing anything but 2-10.
Wick had one go through his hands too. The kid that caught everything in practice they said.
1978 offense is a solid comparison to 2022. Badly outdated scheme, lousy QB play, well below average OL.
However, the 78 team scored 20 in their win vs NW, 38 vs Wisconsin, and 20 in loss to Minnesota. Skeptical that the 2022 offense can put up three games with 20 plus points in conference play.
However, the 78 team scored 20 in their win vs NW, 38 vs Wisconsin, and 20 in loss to Minnesota. Skeptical that the 2022 offense can put up three games with 20 plus points in conference play.
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