Has Paul Rhoads run out of gas? Is this the year we lay an egg?

[Rabbuk]

I corrected myself earlier I meant 4 or less.

[Rabbuk]

I'm not trying to be negative, I just don't get where people are pulling like 7 or 8 win seasons out of. We play in the Big 12 and are on the right track but pump the brakes. That was more my point.

[cyhiphopp]

We're competitive now. More than we've been since the 70's! The talent is better than perhaps ever. The coaching staff is the best ever in my opinion. The reality remains that we play in the Big 12. Realize who we are - where we've been - where we are and adjust your mindset. Iowa State doesn't get the same recruits that traditional powers get. Iowa with all their success does not get the same recruits the traditional powers get. Our football program is in great shape. At Iowa State that may not mean 10 wins. Yet. Maybe ever. Who knows. But we are competing and in games that we've NEVER been in. Fixing and establishing a consistent winner in Ames is a marathon. But we have the right coach. Posts like this baffle me. Questioning the state of our FB team right now is delusional. Putting things in context seems to be a lost art. If someone can't get behind what's happening with ISU fb at this point in time - they never will. I suggest buying some Alabama gear.

Exactly!
I get the feeling that too many people expect too much too fast out of the football program. With the disadvantages this team has it is unrealistic to expect 8, 9, or 10 win seasons right away. Just ridiculous.
We are the farthest North of any Big12 school. It is nearly impossible to get the same caliber recruits as teams in Texas when they just have to travel around their home state to recruit. Despite that, CPR and staff are consistently bringing in solid recruits. They are slowly building up the lines and bringing in quality skill players.
We are in the Big12 with big time programs that have been having sustianed success for a long time. It's not easy to just get to the level that beating solid teams is expected.
Just recently we've been able to beef up our facilities but we are still behind most of our conference. That's a big deal to coaches and recruits. We have an AD and coach in place that are making these things a priority whereas in the past, that wasn't always the case.

Look where CPR started. He inherited a team that had gone 5-19 under Chizik. 5-19! To average 6 wins the next three years is a positive step.
We may not get past 6 wins this year, but that does not mean that no positive steps have been taken. A big limiting factor will be the QB position. We may not have a starter currently that can take us to that next level. That starter may be a few years off in Richardson or Rohach. We just don't know. But we are at least bringing in quality recruits and doing what we can to develop them.

Give it time people. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will an ISU football team that reach the top level of the Big12.

[Cyched]

Let me go ahead and disagree with you. The Iowa game shouldn't have been close. Our own mistakes kept them in the game with us.

Kansas State is a game that we were in, and had a chance to win. I'm pretty sure there weren't very many turnovers in that game.

Oklahoma has beaten us into the dirt in the last decade. Last year's game was the first time I can honestly say that we deserved to be on the same field as them. We competed with Oklahoma, a team that was considered a national championship contender.

We didn't expect to beat Oklahoma State, but we definitely deserved to be on the field with them.

The Missouri game was the game last year that made no sense. It's like the team wasn't the same. I'd love to hear some details on what was going on in the locker room at halftime, on the sidelines during the game, and on the trip down to Columbia. Those guys in the ISU uniforms were imposters.

The reality is we only had two "guaranteed" wins looking at the schedule last year, and Rhoads still got us to a bowl game. If Mac was still around I doubt we'd have gone to a bowl game. We definitely wouldn't have beaten OSU, as Mac almost never beat the teams he wasn't "supposed to." That's the great thing about Rhoads; his teams compete, compete, compete and believe that they belong on the field with anyone.

Is it possible we could have a down year? Sure, we don't know what'll happen. But if Rhoads truly does believe that he has his best team this year, expect them to come out with that fight we've seen him instill in his teams the past couple years. I don't want to predict anything yet, but 2012 will be a fun season for us. Let's hope we make the most of it.

[ribsnwhiskey]

I'm not trying to be negative, I just don't get where people are pulling like 7 or 8 win seasons out of. We play in the Big 12 and are on the right track but pump the brakes. That was more my point.

You really haven't said anything of substance to back up your opinion, other than "I think last year was a fluke" and "We haven't upgraded our talent significantly".

I mean, do you watch college football at all? Have you watched ISU football in the past? Did you really pay attention during McCarney's tenure? Or Chiziks?

Yeah, we don't have 5 first round draft picks or a heisman caliber QB. That doesn't mean our talent isn't getting better every year. And how was last year any more of a fluke than 2009? Even in 2010, we won 5 games playing basically the same schedule as last year.

[Lloyd88]

At the Waterloo tailgate tour CPR said that to stay on track they need to keep going after kids that fit the program and are very coachable with lots of potential....his staff has done a great job picking the 2 & 3 star kids that will run through a wall for him......getting 4 or 5 star recruits would be great only if they fit the culture of ISU and the team.

[Rabbuk]

No one else has said anything to substantiate why they think 7-8 games is realistic other than rainbows and sunshine.

[rebecacy]

can we just play the games and find out?

[Rabbuk]

can we just play the games and find out?

This is what I think too haha, I was just initially giving a gut feeling. But it didn't sit well apparently.

[PabloDiablo]

You really haven't said anything of substance to back up your opinion, other than "I think last year was a fluke" and "We haven't upgraded our talent significantly".

I mean, do you watch college football at all? Have you watched ISU football in the past? Did you really pay attention during McCarney's tenure? Or Chiziks?

Yeah, we don't have 5 first round draft picks or a heisman caliber QB. That doesn't mean our talent isn't getting better every year. And how was last year any more of a fluke than 2009? Even in 2010, we won 5 games playing basically the same schedule as last year.

This is a good point, remember in '09 when our back up running back was Jeremiah Schwartz? That was just 2 short years ago. Now our #1 guy goes down and our #2 runs for 750 yards, not to mention Woody bulldozing fools all over the 4th quarter. That's just one example, I know, but it's a good *** example of what is happening in Ames.

[ribsnwhiskey]

No one else has said anything to substantiate why they think 7-8 games is realistic other than rainbows and sunshine.

Here's something simple: Last year, we had 2 QBs with zero D1 experience. We still won 6 games. This year, we have 2 QBs with 13 games combined under their belts. Yet you think we will be worse. Sorry for the sunshine and rainbows. I guess ISU players are the only guys in the country who can't improve from year to year.

[ISUFB]

What the **** is wrong with this guy?

[Rabbuk]

I think if you think Jared Barnett and Steele Jantz are Big 12 caliber quarterbacks you're wrong. But I guess we'll see.

[TFEccles]

I think if you think Jared Barnett and Steele Jantz are Big 12 caliber quarterbacks you're wrong. But I guess we'll see.

We won with them before, it's not unreasonable to think we can do it again when they are more experienced. There is obviously a legitimate chance we will get 4 wins, but I think we can expect more.

[Cyclonestate78]

Yes - the last thing ISU needs is a coach with the 2nd most victories of all-time for a D1 Coach, 2 National Championships, 14 CONSECUTIVE seasons of finishing in the TOP 5, an 11 game bowl winning streak during his career and 21 bowl victories

The sitting on his "***" and coasting as you referenced resulted in never having less than 7 wins during the season, 4 ACC/division Championships and 6 Top 25 finishes. You rival the original poster for ridiculous post of the day.

Also, everyone needs to take a look at ISU recruiting history before making baseless comment - in the past 10 years we have never had more than 2 verbal commits by the end of May. 1 time was last year where it was a family member - Luke Knott - and a family tie-in with Grant Rohach that led to the early commitments. The other time was Phillip Bates (who transferred) and Anthony Green (who was done before he played). Austen Arnaud didn't even commit until June 20 when he was being recruited. We generally start getting some commits during/after summer camps on campus, and I expect we will see that again. If we only have 5-7 verbals heading into mid-November/December, then we can raise the question appropriately. However, I doubt that will be the case as CPR has put together the best staff (throughout his tenure, including Ash and Elliott and now Douglas) that ISU has had since the Earl Bruce days.

Ok... let me put this in terms that someone like you would understand. I avoided this because after I post this the heavens will fall, the oceans will rise, and the Danny Mac faithful will bring on the appocalypse.

Most people agree that Bobby Bowden stayed too long at FSU. He was coasting down the stretch thanks to what he thought was a lifelong deal to be the coach at FSU thanks to his earlier accomplishments, (FYI... having several 7 win seasons at FSU is pathetic considering they are a national power).

To put this in an ISU perspective since we aren't on FSU's level you can look at Dan McCarney. He brought the program out of the toilet, took them to bowl games, etc... and then when he felt he had accomplished enough to secure being the ISU coach for as long as he wanted he started coasting. The results were catastrophic for the program and he got his butt run out of town.

On a similar level that is exactly what happened to Bobby at FSU. His coasting down the stretch led to less then the expected results at FSU and he got his butt run out of town.

Take CPR... he rolls into ISU and takes over a disaster of a program that D-Mac and Chizik left for him and he takes them to 2 bowl games in 3 years (should have been 3 for 3), he is beloved by CycloneNation, just got awarded the fattest contract a football coach at ISU has ever received, and yet still understands that no matter what his results are in the future his job at ISU is never guaranteed. Sounds like a guy that understands his accomplishments early on won't be enough to allow him to coast later on and survive as the head coach at ISU if the results aren't there.