This is why I want fewer bowls

[bdg8]

Why play in a Super Bowl in a contract year? Just another meaningless game right? Screw my teammates and Coaches and the fans and the TV contracts, what's in it for me? Why ever practice? People get hurt in practice all the time, for damn sure as much as they ever have in Bowl Games. Why hop in a car? People get killed in car crashes every day, but not potential Millionaire Athletes right? Too much risk on the way to the bank! LOL!

Why play in games leading up to a College National Championship? Your chump teammates that aren't in line to make millions don't deserve to walk in your shadow, so why bother for them? What's in it for you? A ring, a t-shirt and a hat? Phoooey, you can buy all that with your millions and pretend you were a part of it.

At the end of the day there is no I in TEAM, and there is risk involved with every aspect of life.

I'd much rather be remembered as the guy who played, and History suggests the large majority feel the same way. There is a reason for that, but you clearly wouldn't get it.

Notice how you say “I’d rather be”. And I get it , I just think your ideas are about some issue with yourself versus trying to understand what these athletes are feeling .
I live in reality , you can live in your world of magical ideals. I respect all players decisions about what they do in regards to their future and their body

 

[HawkRugged17]

Oh no! He's dead!

 

[bhawk24bob]

It is absolutely NOT ridiculous. Every scholarship athlete signed a contract agreeing to provide a service in return for tuition, room and board, access to medical services, etc. The LOIs are specific in what will be provided for them. Not a single player is forced to sign that contract at gunpoint.

We can go through the ins and outs of a LOI but it’s irrelevant. I’ve never compensated an intern by telling them that their compensation is experience. That’s morally and ethically wrong. I make money on them while they gain experience, and they’re paid appropriately. There is no integrity behind not paying athletes when colleges across the country use them as their primary visual marketing arm

 

[grayhair81]

We can go through the ins and outs of a LOI but it’s irrelevant. I’ve never compensated an intern by telling them that their compensation is experience. That’s morally and ethically wrong. I make money on them while they gain experience, and they’re paid appropriately. There is no integrity behind not paying athletes when colleges across the country use them as their primary visual marketing arm

Do your interns make 100k per year?

 

[HawkRugged17]

 

[Smokinthereiff]

All Bowl games matter. If you don't believe me, then why do all schools brag to recruits, "We have played in so many consecutive, or so many bowl games the past _______ years." ?? "We won so many bowl games, we won the ________ bowl last season..... They matter. Most of the kids playing are not in the running for being a first or 2nd round pick in the NFL after their final season of playing college football. They want to play. They earned the privilege and opportunity. If a handful of guys opt out, so be it. That tells me a lot about the program's leadership and the players. Me, Me, Me is the message. Justin Fields expressed that he was going to be there for his brothers because he loves them all. That is the sign of a close knit program. Yes, Fields was talking about an injury, but that attitude also translates into participating in a bowl game even though you may be a 1st or 2nd round pick in April. The guys that announce they are entering the draft early (after playing in their bowl) is a totally different scenario. They played the entire season, including the bowl. They did not bail on the teammates they worked and sacrificed with all season.

I think bowls are a nice "Vacation/trip" to end a long off-season of training and season of football. My point is if not in the "championship" picture/playing for it why not use as a spring board for the next season and mix/play all the players you'll need the next year to see what you have and get much needed game reps/film to evaluate?

Rankings should be done for all teams except the final 4 (or 8 or 16 if they expand) at the end of the regular season/conference play. Players with Pro asperations should skip and train for career. Players needed to fill that role should get heavy rotation and real game time.

How did beating USC in Holiday bowl help Iowa this year? Would Iowa have benefited from SP getting the reps that game last year? Would he have performed differently with the experience of having already had a game under his belt against NW/Purdue this year? I say yes.

Would you trade the Holiday bowl win for those first two games this year? I mean the stakes were pretty high and Iowa wins those 2 its another stratosphere and playing for all the marbles potentially.

 

[bhawk24bob]

Do your interns make 100k per year?

Depends where I’m living at the time but I’ve never paid one under that when benefits are thrown in, which I’m sure is what you’re getting at. I don’t fill 70k seat stadiums so people can watch them and sell the product for millions to watch on tv though

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Why would any American want less football?

 

[pahawk68]

I’m not buying the players not caring about playing in one of the premier bowl games the cotton bowl, but rather they were decimated by Covid and without 16 players, credit to Florida for even showing up to play unlike the pansies in Missouri and Michigan.

All these bowl games this year should have big ole asterisks next to them in the record books

Yes, Michigan and Missouri need to be called out!

 

[hawkifann]

I think this is the forebearer of athletes skipping entire SEASONS to prep for the NFL draft. In fact, that would actually be preferable because if they declare with sufficient notice, the coaching staff can transfer the scholly to a walk-on that's paid his dues.

This would ONLY make sense for 2nd year sophomores who are locks for top NFL picks. If you’ve completed your three years post-HS, why would you take a year off? If you think you’re ready, then just go hit that year’s draft. If you’re not getting top draft notice, I would tend to think additional game tape is what would be needed.

Remember, if you skip a season (in a non-COVID season, I get those, at least to a point), you’re finishing your college career in December/January, hoping to get drafted in 15-16 months with your next game being 19-20 months away. Who is going to do that?

 

[hawkifann]

NS got his run/time in spades all year, playing in aMEANINGLESS bowl game didn’t do shit for Iowa except have to sit through losing first twogames while SP went through live game situations for the first time.

Why stop there? When Iowa lost to Michigan and PSU back-to-back, they were out of playoff contention. When they lost to Wisconsin a few games later, they were out of B1G West title talk. Why shouldn’t Iowa have benched all the seniors and likely draft entrants after the Wisconsin game? Those wins over Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska were meaningless.

I do love that this thread showcases both the “bench seniors“ argument once a team is out of playoff/NY6 discussion and the complaints about player opting out.

 

[pahawk68]

Why would any American want less football?

Only for those teams that take a knee! As a vet, college football player , coach ( football, wrestling and track), I boycott the nfl. Collegiate teams that don’t stand for the Anthem, I don’t attend in person. I have 3 season tickets, live in PA and fly to games. Covid had nothing to do with requesting my money back! There is no taking a knee on my team. It is one team unified abd one mission! No distractions. The BS in America , BLM, Antifa caused me to take a time out!
I’m watching closely. Studying/ evaluating and assessing the current cutkture/ situation.
As players say they have made personal decisions, so have I with my season tickets, plane tickets, rental cars , hotels!
Right now I’m undecided for season tickets next year. I’m 200% in support of Kirk and the staff.
The team has sacrificed and given/ performed 200% better than anyone could have ever expected under the Covid constraints! That def an A for the players sacrifice and dedication.
I will be blunt and honest ( my opinion), the summer of distraction and racial tensions, player allegations and suit, had to be a major distraction on the team and coaches. It is just my opinion, this did have an impact on those 2 first games. Yes, we had many new starters on both sides of the ball and a new QB. All those are major challenges for both the players and coaches. Then throw in Covid requirements, the racial issues, the damn B1G with their off , then in again.
The coaches and players had a lot of thongs thrown at them. Everything from spring practice, can’t practice , rules changing by the day. It’s a lot to throw at players / coaches. I’m trying to conduct a root cause analysis and impact of the racial things that impacted the program. External forces and outside the program influences had a major impact.’
The first two game were razor close with no margin for error. When you shake it out, after being up 17-0, the reality we were 1 point away from being in the conference championship game.
When you look at the entire NCAA football season, I can’t think of one team that stood out, dominated, won 6 in a row more than Iowa. Iowa was playing as well as any team in America. That includes those in the playoffs. Bama is Bama. Buckeyes shoes they belong.
Point is, Iowa was as successful as any team in the top 25 after those first 2 losses. That is a tribute to the coaches/ players.
This goes back to the first two games ( losses) due to distractions. If we, indeed had racial / cultural issues, the team/ coaches responded in a phenomenal positive manner. Beyond impressive. If the internal/ external thongs didn’t happen, we would have been in the championship conference game.
I’d like to
Meet with Broderick Binns and other members of the staff abd some players to discuss the issue of taking a knee during the anthem. I know Coach had military vets in, including a former seal?
I’d like to have some discussions with those people. I’d guess from a self assessment, a teachable moment for even myself. I would be considered old school. Bottom line , I believe we had some unplanned/ unexpected distractions that impacted the start of the season. I also believe we had some significant corrective actions by coaches/ players that resulted in player buy in, which led to the dominant 6 straight wins. Throw in Covid, 2020 has been a year no player or coach has ever has had to go through. This team and this staff overcame many obstacles, that most teams could even come close to the success we had . We beat many good teams on the road and at Kinnick.WE also learned this year, we were fortunate to have a head coach that has experience, seen almost everything, has stability in the program and sustainability. That paid dividends. Most programs would have packed it in after those first 2 losses! Look how many schools are again removing coaches . Many are in the 3-4 Th coach in 8–10 years! I’ll support out coach and give total credit to the players that sacrificed/ responded to the shitshow they had to deal with this year! Since I live in PA, thanks for beating Penn State. Go Hawks. As Kirk says, we have a few things to clean up. That’s football! 👍😊🏈🏈

 

[Smokinthereiff]

Why stop there? When Iowa lost to Michigan and PSU back-to-back, they were out of playoff contention. When they lost to Wisconsin a few games later, they were out of B1G West title talk. Why shouldn’t Iowa have benched all the seniors and likely draft entrants after the Wisconsin game? Those wins over Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska were meaningless.

I do love that this thread showcases both the “bench seniors“ argument once a team is out of playoff/NY6 discussion and the complaints about player opting out.

Hey Jack turd, BIG and regular season games matter. IMO lower tier bowl games do not. Still plenty to play for in regular season. Bowl games are consolation prizes and should be treated as such. If i'm not mistaken i think the staff says they give the younger guys more run during bowl prep anyhow?

Do the 2nd and 3rd string guys not contribute all season? Did they not put in the work/training/film study and meeting? Why are you against them getting real PT and game film for player growth and stronger team going forward?

So you and you buddies can have a few beers and rush online to get the Music City/Detriot/New York/Holiday bowl swag so you feel good at you local dive bar? Or you want the coaches to get those nice bonus's and that trophy and banner?

This is the future. Wake up gramps. Be ahead of it not behind it.

 

[chuck285]

Yes, Michigan and Missouri need to be called out!

While we're throwing out these two teams I think Indiana should be punished also. Their feelings were hurt so they covered up their B1G logo and took it off their helmets. I think they should have some of their money from the B1G deducted! If they want to go to another conference, so be it. There are other programs that would love to join the B1G and get the millions beside!!!!

 

[grayhair81]

While we're throwing out these two teams I think Indiana should be punished also. Their feelings were hurt so they covered up their B1G logo and took it off their helmets. I think they should have some of their money from the B1G deducted! If they want to go to another conference, so be it. There are other programs that would love to join the B1G and get the millions beside!!!!

Totally agree. Iowa got jobbed by the committee as much as Indiana did. They were planning and preparing in good faith for a lower-tier bowl game despite the slight. The "no one wants us there, chip-on-the-shoulder" attitude runs hollow pretty quickly. Indiana WAS a very good team when Penix was playing. They became very average without him. Allen looks like a comete jackass.

 

[hawkifann]

Hey Jack turd, BIG and regular season games matter. IMO lower tier bowl games do not. Still plenty to play for in regular season. Bowl games are consolation prizes and should be treated as such. If i'm not mistaken i think the staff says they give the younger guys more run during bowl prep anyhow?

Do the 2nd and 3rd string guys not contribute all season? Did they not put in the work/training/film study and meeting? Why are you against them getting real PT and game film for player growth and stronger team going forward?

So you and you buddies can have a few beers and rush online to get the Music City/Detriot/New York/Holiday bowl swag so you feel good at you local dive bar? Or you want the coaches to get those nice bonus's and that trophy and banner?

This is the future. Wake up gramps. Be ahead of it not behind it.

Jack turd? Nice. I’m not against anyone getting PT. In a normal year, they have about 3 weeks of extra practice going in and I think a huge chunk of that time is a great window to let some of the guys who have been pounded on all season rest and recover a bit while those new guys get good practice reps and exposure with the coaches. If some of them elevate themselves, that’s awesome. I think it’s also a great opportunity for guys who have not played the maximum time to wreck a redshirt season a window to some additional PT.

I just think it’s a game on the calendar and I don’t find it any less meaningful than a late season cross-division matchup between two B1G teams that are out of the hunt. Play to win the game. Every win helps the program to some degree. If Iowa gets a rep as a team that (outside of NY6 and playoff games) benches a lot of starters for young guys and, as a result, has a tendency to get beat in bowl games, it’s going to make Iowa less attractive to bowls - which could eventually hurt Iowa in consideration for NY6 games.

I think the gain from the three weeks of bowl prep pale anyway to what you get in spring ball and fall camp. It just so happened that this year was the perfect storm for Petras:

• COVID led to cancellation of spring ball
• B1G indecisiveness played havoc on fall camps, with a start, hold then restart
• COVID scheduling eliminated non-conference games and opportunities for Petras to get some time against lesser foes

I’d even argue that as things went, Petras wasn’t bad at all in his debut. He went 22-39 against Purdue for 265 yds and no picks. What killed Iowa in that game was the two lost fumbles, especially the one by Sargent late when Iowa was clearly moving the ball towards another score. Even the Northwestern game was less about Petras not having enough reps under his belt and more about Brian Ferentz abandoning the running game in favor of throwing the ball 50 times. Getting Goodson & Sargent a combined 17 carries while Petras was struggling was just awful. The lowest combined carries for the pair the rest of the season was 23, and that came in the blowout of MSU - most of the time they were close to 30 carries or more between them.

I don’t really see the compelling difference of “meaningful” between a late-season B1G where both teams are out of contention for much and a bowl game. Looking back over the years, I’m pretty sure I can tell you with better accuracy most of the time what happened in Iowa’s bowl games than I can whether they were the 2nd or 6th best B1G team that year.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Let my start by saying I'm not a proponent of this concept, I just think it's interesting to consider:

Some of the discussion here got me thinking...what if only players that would be returning to play the next year were allowed to play in bowl games (other than the playoffs)? I know it was thrown out there that coaches should do it to prepare for the next season, but there's another interesting aspect. If only returning players are allowed to play, we'd get to see a bunch of inter-conference games with meaningful matchups prior to the start of the season. This adds another data point for judging relative strengths of the conferences that would facilitate more accurate standings....especially the computer rankings.
This would probably hurt developmental programs like Iowa from a ranking perspective because we'd be fielding players that didn't have that additional nine months of workouts/practice/etc. Also, we'd be missing true freshman that might be playing the next season as well. OK, not that intriguing actually, so never mind.

 

[Smokinthereiff]

Let my start by saying I'm not a proponent of this concept, I just think it's interesting to consider:

Some of the discussion here got me thinking...what if only players that would be returning to play the next year were allowed to play in bowl games (other than the playoffs)? I know it was thrown out there that coaches should do it to prepare for the next season, but there's another interesting aspect. If only returning players are allowed to play, we'd get to see a bunch of inter-conference games with meaningful matchups prior to the start of the season. This adds another data point for judging relative strengths of the conferences that would facilitate more accurate standings....especially the computer rankings.
This would probably hurt developmental programs like Iowa from a ranking perspective because we'd be fielding players that didn't have that additional nine months of workouts/practice/etc. Also, we'd be missing true freshman that might be playing the next season as well. OK, not that intriguing actually, so never mind.

This is what I'm saying. I also feel ranking teams before any games is beyond dumb. Let the season play out 6 weeks or so and rank off the actual season.

Teams get credit for beating a "highly ranked" opponent early based off Name recognition. A team that "comes out of no where" has almost 0 chance to break top 4 in most cases unless perfect. But a team that was "ranked high" preseason can trip on own D*ck and still have a chance because rankings n all.

 

[Hawk and Awe]

This is like saying “I want fewer golf tournaments”.... I get there used to be less and now the crappy ones feel less special.... but I don’t understand how someone’s enjoyment of the big bowl games is at all impacted by these silly meaningless games.

The lesson as always - just don’t watch

 

[Hawk_4shur]

This is like saying “I want fewer golf tournaments”.... I get there used to be less and now the crappy ones feel less special.... but I don’t understand how someone’s enjoyment of the big bowl games is at all impacted by these silly meaningless games.

The lesson as always - just don’t watch

Yup. Complaining about bowl games is like complaining that some family that you don't know in another city likes to go to the Wisconsin Dells for vacation. Sure, you might think it sucks, but if they enjoy it and it does nothing to harm you, why complain about it?

p.s. My family enjoyed a few trips to the Dells!