Phil Steele Mag Highlights for ISU

[cloneluke80]

Meyer ranked 44 nationally among QBs

Blythe ranked 28 nationally among WRs

Bowen ranked 11 nationally among OLBs

Big XII ranked 3rd among conferences behind SEC and PAC10, Big 10 was 4th

Iowa picked to be 6th most improved team nationally

Toledo was picked to be 3rd most improved team nationally

Colorado was picked to be 22nd most improved team nationally

Iowa was picked to be 11th biggest surprise team for 2007

ISU picked last in big XII north.

Steele didn't seem too happy about Mac being gone.

Misery picked first in the north. Oklahoma in the south.

Iowa picked 4th in the big 10. But he says because of schedule they could win it.

ISU 11th in Big XII in 2007 recruiting

ISU 63rd in special teams nationally

ISU 11th in Big XII power rankings


Had CHIZIK classified as "big shoes to fill"category for new coaches.

ISU 43rd nationally in team experience rankings
ISU 4th in the Big XII for team experience

ISU 105th in power poll. This is horrible! But hey we deserve it after last season.

ISU has 24th toughest schedule

Iowa was 43rd toughest schedule

Nebr 17th toughest schedule

Overall pretty dismal view of ISU this year.

There are too many unknowns to expect him to come up with any other conclusions.

I still love this mag. It is jam packed with info and great for scouting teams we play.

[Prone2Clone]

Iowa picked to be 6th most improved team nationally
Iowa was picked to be 11th biggest surprise team for 2007
Iowa picked 4th in the big 10. But he says because of schedule they could win it.

So what's the reasoning behind this? I get the schedule part (no OSU, UM), but what fantastic improvements do these people expect out of a team that lost to Indiana, Northwestern, and Minnesota? Is it just blind faith that the greatest college coach in the nation (Ferentz, of course) is going to get great improvements out of a marginal 2006 team?

Might happen. But they could go 6-6 just as easily.

By the way, how can they be the biggest surprise when they get picked to do well every freakin' year? Didn't ESPN have them in their college football "Final 4" last pre-season? What a joke.

[darts180]

First of all, "biggest shoes to fill???" That eliminates all credibility right there.

[Wesley]

Size 9 shoes to fill?

[brianhos]

repeat after me: Chizik, Chizik, not chizek. That is the only time on the web I will be a spelling nazi.

[isucyfan]

repeat after me: Chizik, Chizik, not chizek.

Thank you for that, breanhos, e am starteng to get tered of that messpelleng, too.

[AirWalke]

So what's the reasoning behind this? I get the schedule part (no OSU, UM), but what fantastic improvements do these people expect out of a team that lost to Indiana, Northwestern, and Minnesota? Is it just blind faith that the greatest college coach in the nation (Ferentz, of course) is going to get great improvements out of a marginal 2006 team?

Might happen. But they could go 6-6 just as easily.

By the way, how can they be the biggest surprise when they get picked to do well every freakin' year? Didn't ESPN have them in their college football "Final 4" last pre-season? What a joke.

It's not favoritism. Steele bases this stuff off analyzing team trends, and I beleive Iowa falls into two categories that 9 out of 10 times indicates an improved team the following season... turnovers and close games. I don't have my magazine close, but Iowa had a bunch of games last year decided by a TD or less, and were -11 in turnovers out of all their games. (The games that they did lose the turnover battle were those Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern games..)

EDIT: Keep in mind, this was the only preseason mag to predict our turnaround in 2004, and even the only one to suggest that Nebraska would be the one that would be faltering in the Big 12 north. He also makes a lot of bold predictions that, more often than not, turn out to be true.

[C.John]

repeat after me: Chizik, Chizik, not chizek. That is the only time on the web I will be a spelling nazi.

I fixed it for you, Merry Christmas.

[CyCloned]

It's not favoritism. Steele bases this stuff off analyzing team trends, and I beleive Iowa falls into two categories that 9 out of 10 times indicates an improved team the following season... turnovers and close games. I don't have my magazine close, but Iowa had a bunch of games last year decided by a TD or less, and were -11 in turnovers out of all their games. (The games that they did lose the turnover battle were those Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern games..)

EDIT: Keep in mind, this was the only preseason mag to predict our turnaround in 2004, and even the only one to suggest that Nebraska would be the one that would be faltering in the Big 12 north. He also makes a lot of bold predictions that, more often than not, turn out to be true.

So, did Phil Steele pick the Hawks to flounder in 2006? I highly doubt he did. And what about the turnovers? Now that Tate the wonderboy has graduated, are the turnovers going to go down? (Heck, a couple more TOs in the ISU game and they would have lost that too.)

I really do think the Hawks are going to be decent, not great, and the schedule does help them, but I do get tired of the national media constantly pimping the Hawks and KF based on what happened 3-4 seasons ago. They are 13 and 12 over the last 2 years! I suppose if they win 8 games this year h could claim that mathmatically they showed great improvement.

[darts180]

I know nobody on here wants to think about it, but if the Hawks get to Wisconsin unbeaten, and win there, they easily could run the table.

Some of the people in the know are saying that their lines are coming together. If that is the case, especially defensively, then they can take pressure of the glaring weakness on their team, the secondary.

Who knows what will happen, but it is conceivable that Iowa wins 9-11 games this year, without stretching too much.

[jdoggivjc]

I know nobody on here wants to think about it, but if the Hawks get to Wisconsin unbeaten, and win there, they easily could run the table.

Some of the people in the know are saying that their lines are coming together. If that is the case, especially defensively, then they can take pressure of the glaring weakness on their team, the secondary.

Who knows what will happen, but it is conceivable that Iowa wins 9-11 games this year, without stretching too much.

God help us if this actually happens. Not that I'm worried about Iowa being better than us (because I wonder just how much better they truly are and convinced Chizik's closing that gap quickly), it just makes me sick that due to SOS alone if Iowa does run the table the talk of "national championship" and "elite national program" will increase fivefold when all they did was beat the teams they should have beaten over the last 2 disappointing years and avoid Ohio St and Michigan. I can just imagine the conversation:

Hawk Fan: We ran the table! We deserve to be in the national championship! Our QB should be in the running for Heisman!

Cyclone Fan: Dude, you guys didn't play Ohio St or Michigan - Michigan only lost to Wisconsin and OSU only lost to Michigan. How could you possibly consider yourselves better than them when you didn't even play them?

Hawk Fan: We beat Wisconsin - would have kicked their ***** if we played them this year

Cyclone Fan: Just like you said you were going to the last two years and got smoked all four times? Michigan and OSU dominated the conference. You guys squeaked through every game. Tell me, why would you have beaten Michigan and OSU?

Hawk Fan: Because Michigan and OSU suck! Besides, we kicked your ***!

Cyclone Fan: You guys beat us by a touchdown and had several questionable calls go your way. You were physically dominated by us in most aspects of the game except the final score.

Hawk Fan: So what - Iowa State sucks! We're going bowling and you guys are staying home

Cyclone Fan: It was Chizik's first year and he was fielding a team full of McCarney's players! And he still managed to go 5-7 and pull off a few stunners in the Big XII. Remind me - what did Ferret-face do in his first year at Iowa?

Hawk Fan:

Cyclone Fan: Let me remind you - it was 1-10. Another thing - did you even go to school at Iowa?

Hawk Fan: Uh... no

Cyclone Fan: So remind me, where did you go to school at?

Hawk Fan:


Personally, I'd rather this be a 7-win or less season by the Hawkeyes. I live deep in the heart of Hawkeye country, and other than the fact I've loved the Hawks mired in mediocrity the last two years, besides the talk about this being an opportunity season with Michigan and OSU off the schedule, Hawk fans have been eerily quiet in these parts this year. Personally, I'd love for at this time next year for Hawk fans to be verbally questioning the job Ferentz is doing at Iowa and for him to be on everyone's hot seat. That could be fun