Tuesdays with Torbee
Tory Brecht | Columnist
Keeping Floyd was a step in the right direction, but is this Iowa team turning a corner?
Well we know Iowa football isn’t going to tease us as a contender for the College Football Playoff final four this year like they did during last year’s Cinderella run to 12-0.
After Saturday’s hard-fought, non-aesthetically pleasing, survival mode victory over Minnesota, we can also now reasonably assume Iowa will not be historically, epically bad like many of us feared after the Northwestern loss.
So where does that leave us as Hawkeye fans? What should we be looking for?
I have an interesting goal for the 2016 squad to reach:
Make us like you.
I mean, we are all Iowa fans, so we are pre-disposed to cheering for anyone who dons the black and gold and represents the Tigerhawk. That is a given. What I am talking about, though, goes beyond the usual brand affinity we have for all Hawk teams. I’m talking about making us find something in your team DNA – beyond pure wins and losses – that will cement you as a fond memory in our collective remembrance.
Think about teams like the 2001 Iowa team that came off a dreadful 3-9 season the year prior, struggled to a 4-4 ho-hum start, and then finally notched a win in the Alamo Bowl, Iowa’s first bowl win since 1996. That season had ups-and-downs, including the deflating late-season loss to Iowa State after Grant Steen fumbled a sure-fire interception return for a touchdown. There were also heartbreaking, but hard-fought losses to good Wisconsin and Michigan teams that had Iowa fans starting to believe a Kirk Ferentz-led Iowa program could compete toe-to-toe with the conference big boys.
Or how about the 2008 team? It also did not compete for a conference or national title, but coming after the debacle of 2006, that Shonn Greene led team earned our collective admiration by bouncing back from a heartbreaking 27-24 loss in Champaign to the Illini to finish on a four-game winning streak, including a trouncing of SEC power South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.
Both those teams had some compelling players and storylines that made them fun to follow, even if they weren’t exactly tearing it up on the national stage. As I’ve said before, college football still has a lot of charm as a rivalry-fueled, regional sport, and Iowa has managed to retain two of its traveling trophies this season by destroying Iowa State and doing enough to hold off the hated Gophers in Minneapolis. That’s a start, at least.
Of course, given the sky-high expectation surrounding this year’s team, some fans will not be sufficiently satisfied even if (although extremely unlikely) Iowa manages to win every remaining game on the schedule. I understand where the “championship or bust” crowd are coming from, but that’s not the kind of fan I choose to be, primarily for my own mental health. Instead, I choose to re-evaluate and re-set my expectations based on results to date. And that brings me back to the “make me like you” theme.
To be honest, this team really hasn’t been that likeable so far. Sure, some of that is due to failing to live up to (perhaps unfair?) expectations, but I don’t think that’s the only issue. For me, it’s the inconsistency in doing all the little fundamental things right that has bothered me so far. I’m not used to seeing Iowa offensive lines not gel and let mechanical errors derail the consistency needed to pass protect and get a surge on run blocks. Nor am I used to safeties and linebackers getting out of position and not wrapping-up on tackles. Penalties at critical junctures wiping out big gains, dropped passes, questionable decisions by the quarterback – all of these issues have popped up enough in the last four games to make Iowa pretty hard watch for passionate fans.
After both the Rutgers and Minnesota wins, the sense was more of fatigued relief that the game was over and nothing terrible had happened than the usual unadulterated joy that comes from a conference road win.
I feel like Saturday was a step back in the right direction, however. Sure, some of those aforementioned issues (especially the dropped passes and penalties) were still prevalent, but the fight and grit was there. You can make up a lot of ground with Iowa fans by showing grit, tenacity and fight. And despite not having their grade A stuff, the Hawkeyes showed remarkable resiliency and toughness in a tough environment on Saturday.
I want to like this team, and I feel like if we can get the defense to play the rest of the season like it did against Minnesota and the offense to play like it did against Northwestern or Iowa State, the Hawkeyes can still create some magic and make some fond memories.
A good start would be handling Purdue the way a conference champion contender should handle a bottom feeder, even on the road. If Iowa can head into a home showdown with Bucky sporting a 5-2 record and hopes of a West Division title still a realistic possibility, worries about this being a “lost season” could conceivably be put to rest.
Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and @12Saturdays.
Tory Brecht | Columnist
Keeping Floyd was a step in the right direction, but is this Iowa team turning a corner?
Well we know Iowa football isn’t going to tease us as a contender for the College Football Playoff final four this year like they did during last year’s Cinderella run to 12-0.
After Saturday’s hard-fought, non-aesthetically pleasing, survival mode victory over Minnesota, we can also now reasonably assume Iowa will not be historically, epically bad like many of us feared after the Northwestern loss.
So where does that leave us as Hawkeye fans? What should we be looking for?
I have an interesting goal for the 2016 squad to reach:
Make us like you.
I mean, we are all Iowa fans, so we are pre-disposed to cheering for anyone who dons the black and gold and represents the Tigerhawk. That is a given. What I am talking about, though, goes beyond the usual brand affinity we have for all Hawk teams. I’m talking about making us find something in your team DNA – beyond pure wins and losses – that will cement you as a fond memory in our collective remembrance.
Think about teams like the 2001 Iowa team that came off a dreadful 3-9 season the year prior, struggled to a 4-4 ho-hum start, and then finally notched a win in the Alamo Bowl, Iowa’s first bowl win since 1996. That season had ups-and-downs, including the deflating late-season loss to Iowa State after Grant Steen fumbled a sure-fire interception return for a touchdown. There were also heartbreaking, but hard-fought losses to good Wisconsin and Michigan teams that had Iowa fans starting to believe a Kirk Ferentz-led Iowa program could compete toe-to-toe with the conference big boys.
Or how about the 2008 team? It also did not compete for a conference or national title, but coming after the debacle of 2006, that Shonn Greene led team earned our collective admiration by bouncing back from a heartbreaking 27-24 loss in Champaign to the Illini to finish on a four-game winning streak, including a trouncing of SEC power South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.
Both those teams had some compelling players and storylines that made them fun to follow, even if they weren’t exactly tearing it up on the national stage. As I’ve said before, college football still has a lot of charm as a rivalry-fueled, regional sport, and Iowa has managed to retain two of its traveling trophies this season by destroying Iowa State and doing enough to hold off the hated Gophers in Minneapolis. That’s a start, at least.
Of course, given the sky-high expectation surrounding this year’s team, some fans will not be sufficiently satisfied even if (although extremely unlikely) Iowa manages to win every remaining game on the schedule. I understand where the “championship or bust” crowd are coming from, but that’s not the kind of fan I choose to be, primarily for my own mental health. Instead, I choose to re-evaluate and re-set my expectations based on results to date. And that brings me back to the “make me like you” theme.
To be honest, this team really hasn’t been that likeable so far. Sure, some of that is due to failing to live up to (perhaps unfair?) expectations, but I don’t think that’s the only issue. For me, it’s the inconsistency in doing all the little fundamental things right that has bothered me so far. I’m not used to seeing Iowa offensive lines not gel and let mechanical errors derail the consistency needed to pass protect and get a surge on run blocks. Nor am I used to safeties and linebackers getting out of position and not wrapping-up on tackles. Penalties at critical junctures wiping out big gains, dropped passes, questionable decisions by the quarterback – all of these issues have popped up enough in the last four games to make Iowa pretty hard watch for passionate fans.
After both the Rutgers and Minnesota wins, the sense was more of fatigued relief that the game was over and nothing terrible had happened than the usual unadulterated joy that comes from a conference road win.
I feel like Saturday was a step back in the right direction, however. Sure, some of those aforementioned issues (especially the dropped passes and penalties) were still prevalent, but the fight and grit was there. You can make up a lot of ground with Iowa fans by showing grit, tenacity and fight. And despite not having their grade A stuff, the Hawkeyes showed remarkable resiliency and toughness in a tough environment on Saturday.
I want to like this team, and I feel like if we can get the defense to play the rest of the season like it did against Minnesota and the offense to play like it did against Northwestern or Iowa State, the Hawkeyes can still create some magic and make some fond memories.
A good start would be handling Purdue the way a conference champion contender should handle a bottom feeder, even on the road. If Iowa can head into a home showdown with Bucky sporting a 5-2 record and hopes of a West Division title still a realistic possibility, worries about this being a “lost season” could conceivably be put to rest.
Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and @12Saturdays.
