Why Iowa finishes 6-6....and miss a bowl game...

IMO iowa will lose one of their two remaining games....not sure which will pull the upset, but, IMO either Minnesota or Western Michigan pulls the upset...here's how...

Iowa is ranked 109 in scoring offense, obviously their offense is inept at best. They have had injuries and are getting healthy, but, they haven't had season long injuries and all the injuries have been to wideouts. Iowa's offense has always been focused on being able to run the ball...that's simply not happening. So, your relying on a qb that is suspect at best...I like our 3* qb a lot more then their 4* qb.....Iowa must establish a running game against these two opponents that both have top 45 offenses in the nation to both keep their defense off the field but also the weakness of both defenses is the running game. The problem is they both have very pourous defense, but, as bad as their defenses are ranked, so is Iowa's scoring offense so thats a push, expect them to avg 18-24 points each of the two final games.

Iowa's defense which has been spectacular one week and a swiss cheese the next. Their weakness is passing, they're extremely difficult to run against. The teams that have beaten iowa this year have thrown the ball - ISU(78 rated passing game), Purdue(20), Penn St(76), Indiana(46), and wicsonsin(64) - point being that all of these teams haved passed on Iowa to win the game, none of have won the game based on a running game. However, Minnesota's scoring offense is ranked #30 and passing is 49th in the nation and Western Michigan scoring offense is 45 and their passing game is ranked 43rd. Those offenses will put up points. Therefore, the pressure to win, to perform at a perfect level over the two remaining games will be the undoing of their season....

My predictions:
Minnesota 41 Iowa 31
Iowa 21 Western Michigan 10 -

This just may be me hatin but, if they lose to Minnesota, they could easily lose to a Western Michigan team that will see this as their SUPER BOWL just as Iowa St. did - in hawkeye's opinions.....get over fellas, your dominance of ISU is over.....call it whatever you want, we will can it a trend!!!!!!

I honestly think they win out including their bowl game to go 8-5.

I kinda want that to happen, makes beating them that much sweeter.

While it would not bother me to see IA lose, I am kinda looking forward to betting against them in their bowl game should they make one.

I do think IA has success running against minny, after losing to ND ST. I would not not put too much faith in them on the road.

IA offense has averaged 31 pts last 2 games, I don't seee minny (Scoring D 37 pts/gm) stoping the hawks enough to win.

who really cares?

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Originally Posted by ISU BET

who really cares?

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ISUBET - i care because its taken me a long time to develop this hater mentality and i like to dispel when i see threads that speak to which bowl game their going too thats why i care, i care to hate......

I'm the biggest Iowa hater you'll find but I think they have a better shot of losing to W. Michigan than Minnesota. The Gophers are flat out awful this year...not that Iowa is a whole lot better I guess. Still, I think Iowa wins their last 2. :(

Western Michigan actually played pretty well the other night. Might have been better if their star WR didnt get booted from the game.

Even though they have such a poorly rated offense, lately they've been running the ball well. Iowa by two touchdowns against minnny and 4 Td's vs. western mich.

Depends on if Minny and W Michigan do the same thing that Mich State and Northwestern did. If EIU's opponent keeps their 1st team defense in the first half and their practice squad in the 2nd half, then the Chicken hawks have a chance. I guess Michigan State and Northwestern felt sorry for the hawks since they have a birthright to Jan 1 bowls and they knew they couldn't get there if either one of them had played a complete game.

Even if Iowa goes 6-6 they'll make a bowl game due their fans traveling well. Add in the the Big 10 bowl contracts, and there's no way they get left out.

Bryce, could please keep your Hawkeye love in the closet? This is a public forum.

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Originally Posted by CrossCyed

Even if Iowa goes 6-6 they'll make a bowl game due their fans traveling well. Add in the the Big 10 bowl contracts, and there's no way they get left out.

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Actually, no. If Indiana makes it to 7 wins (they have Purdue and Northwestern, so it's quite possible), and Iowa only gets to 6-6, and the Big 10 only puts one team in the BCS, Iowa will probably not go to a bowl game. The Big 10 only has 7 tie-ins, and those have to be filled by 7 win teams before any 6 win teams get consideration. An at-large berth could only occur if other bowls need teams (i.e. their tie-ins fall through), and there are no more 7-5 teams left in D-1A football. That's right - Tulsa and UCF could well go bowling and Iowa could be left out.

Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin already all have 7 wins. If Indiana gets to 7 wins, that fills all 7 tie-ins, and leaves the 6-6 teams sitting at home.
Even if the Big-10 gets two teams into the BCS, that leaves only the Motor City bowl left for the 6-6 teams to get chosen for. This tier could potentially include Iowa, Michigan State and Northwestern.

Iowa has been playing decent football in the second half lately. Sims has come alive (where has he been all year?), and Minnesota is horrible. I think Iowa probably wins out, but you never know. They certainly don't deserve much above a low tier bowl game, IMO.

I certainly don't think you can chalk up either game as a lock solid win for them. They should beat both teams, but their offense sucks so bad that they don't have a lot of margin for error.

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Originally Posted by Cyclonepride

I certainly don't think you can chalk up either game as a lock solid win for them. They should beat both teams, but their offense sucks so bad that they don't have a lot of margin for error.

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The last two games - against a good defense and a poor defense - they have averaged 31 points. Remember, most of those points have come in the 2nd half of both games.

Just sayin'

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Originally Posted by akclone

I do think IA has success running against minny, after losing to ND ST. I would not not put too much faith in them on the road.

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I agree that UI will beat Minn, they are just plain bad, but using ND St as a reason does not hold water. ND St is as good as UNI and a lot of people in this state think UNI would beat UI.