Grade the 2011 Season

**cyclones500** · 01-02-2012, 01:36 AM

I’m as interested in the explanation for your letter-grade, as I am for the grade itself.

My grade: C-plus
What I liked: There have been seasons when ISU would have tanked each of those first 3 games. In previous ISU seasons, mighty have lost the KU game, too.

Bump-up: High-mpact upset of the 2nd-ranked team. Didn’t mail it in after that win, either, playing well for 5 of the following eight quarters vs. OU & KSU, on the road. Crushing Tech after its shocker over OU was sweet, too. Got the Iowa-futility monkey off our backs for at least one year (in exciting fashion).

Drop-down: Finished 6-7. That’s a losing record. Probably the most exciting non-winning season I can remember, but plenty of cause for pause. First half vs. Texas. Gave Missouri its largest margin of victory in the Big 12. Lost the bowl game, and looked awful in the process. Only two wins over bowl teams.

**motorCYcle** · 01-02-2012, 01:45 AM

I went with a B+. Highly unexpected and would have been an A with a better effort against Rutgers, Texas, and Mizzou. (Not necessarily wins)

**jsmith86** · 01-02-2012, 01:48 AM

My grade: A
What I liked: Winning 6 games on a schedule where most experts picked us to win only 2, and knocking off the number two team in the nation for a ton of national exposure. Oh, and we beat the hawks.

What I didn't like: We lost games that we should have won. Offense, especially QB, was atrocious at times. O-linemen made so many mental errors in holding and false starts that it boggles my mind. We lost our last game in NYC to a team that should have been very beatable.

Overall: We still won 6 games and went to a bowl. We got huge national coverage with the OSU win and resulting video of the field storming. The ESPN bowlweek commercial is practically an ISU/CPR ad. This team took the next step, but unfortunately played its last game with an assistant coach who spent the game daydreaming of his future in Columbus. While the last game wasn't the best, the season overall was great.

**cyclones500** · 01-02-2012, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by motorCYcle

I went with a B+. Highly unexpected and would have been an A with a better effort against Rutgers, Texas, and Mizzou. (Not necessarily wins)

I was at B-plus prior to the final 3 games. Even one win in those three (or even if OU game was as close to winnable as K-State) I'd be in the high-B-range.

**eastman** · 01-02-2012, 01:51 AM

B for sure

CyBer · 01-02-2012, 02:12 AM

B, because I said so thats why.

**NATEizKING** · 01-02-2012, 02:14 AM

Originally Posted by eastman

B for sure

I was thinking along the B lines until we sucked in the bowl game and I dropped to B-.

**Drive4cy** · 01-02-2012, 04:59 AM

-Win over Iowa
-Win over top 25 team on road
-Win over top 2 team on national stage
-Qualified for a bowl game

Pretty solid season for Iowa State football, particularly at this juncture of all junctures.

**cyrobb** · 01-02-2012, 07:27 AM

I vote B, for single games I thought we were all over the board. With an A+ game against OSU. That game will be one to tell my grandkids about in 30 or so years. If this poll had been about enjoyment it would have been an A. Just in the preseason there was alot of talk about maybe winning 2 games and I think I prepared myself for that. All in all it was a great season and I think anything under 6 wins next season may get a worse grade. CPR may become a victim of his own success, but I hope as a base we can not be to crictical of when the lows come.

**Cyclonepride** · 01-02-2012, 07:29 AM

B+. Some huge games in there (TT and OSU), and the achievement of a bowl invite is awesome, and makes the season a big success overall. Would have had to add one or two to get an A.

**swarthmoreCY** · 01-02-2012, 07:30 AM

B-, bumped it up knowing it was Herman's last year

**jbindm** · 01-02-2012, 08:01 AM

B+. They tripled their projected win total against a brutal schedule, and you just can't discount that. I gladly would have bumped it up to an A- had they won the bowl game, and all the way up to an A if they had done that plus beat Mizzou, AtM, or any of the other conference mid tier teams they just couldn't get past. Next year...

**MartyFine** · 01-02-2012, 08:44 AM

I went B+. Did not expect this team to make a bowl game with this schedule. Only the bowl game kept them from an A this year.

**longtimeclone** · 01-02-2012, 09:03 AM

I went B+. We could have done a little better at times but after watching the first 3 games we managed to pull a W in 3 close games where it would have been easy for ISU to fold up. I think we played everyone competitively except Missouri. Which I think it pretty good since it seems we usually get blown out by more than 1 and we played one of the most difficult schedules in the nation. We beat the #2 team. We won 6 and made a bowl game. I think this a well above average year and almost excellent year for ISU football.

**Omaha Cy** · 01-02-2012, 09:14 AM

I went C+ here. I figured with Rhoads always proving the team to be gritty over the course of the season, that they would be a 5-7/6-6 type team. They matched my expectations there. And in true Rhoads fashion, they did it in a manner that no one would predict.

I thought they could have played better in more games though.

They had 3 games where they played exceedingly well(Iowa/Tech/OSU) but outside of that struggled in the other 3 wins. Had a couple ugly defeats where the game was over by halftime(UT/Mizzou).

Some of the victories are becoming more and more impressive here in year 3, but there's still some of those "old time" losses smearing things a bit. Great effort vs KSU, but came up short. Really the only loss of its kind. I think the team will show real improvement when it can go to a bowl game and yet have a handful of "what if" losses. Then we'll know ISU can compete each and every single week no matter who or what scheme is on the schedule.