Time for an "I hope we don't hurt Tulsa's feelings on Monday" thread

[CycloneErik]

We are not losing to Tulsa. We just aren't.

I fully expect a win. I won't be surprised if we beat them down, and I like it.

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

I don't think I could be any more unexcited for a bowl game. I'm still excited, don't get me wrong, but I feel there should be more. It just feels weird. Hard to explain.

[theyork]

I am getting so sick of reading these threads prior to games. It sounds more like we are a Big East little crap team lucky to be in a bowl. In the prediction thread 6 posts in the first two pages call for us to lose. No, they are not losers with their first 5 posts hiding as Cyclone fans either. Do we have that many pathetic fans with an inferiority complex? Did I accidentally log on to Loserfanatic instead of Cyclonefanatic? I would understand a hesitancy if we were playing a good BCS level team and we were hesitant, but you do realize that Tulsa didn't pick up some mid year trades from BCS schools right? Iowa State is nowhere near the level we were at in game one and we have been playing BCS level talent, not Conference USA opponents all year. No, we are not playing sisters of the poor but we are a BIG XII team who has already beat this team and will be about to do it again in a much better fashion with Richardson. Givens is back as well as others that were dinged up. If you people have to expose all of your deepest fears, please go visit a priest and share and keep from looking like a Tulsa fan on our site. Thanks for cleaning it up for the rest of us Cyclone fans!!!

yes the big east is far below the mighty cyclones. i remember just last year when we played a "Big East little crap team" and beat the living...wait, no that was Rutgers who took us to the woodshed.

take a look in the mirror, what exactly makes us so superior? our stunning 6-6 record? our 9th place finish in a conference with only 10 teams? or is it how we backed our way into a bowl game by losing at home to an unranked team?

I am predicting a win for the cyclones, but you sir sound like a hawk fan with your superiority complex. we were an average team this season. nothing more, nothing less.

[CycloneErik]

yes the big east is far below the mighty cyclones. i remember just last year when we played a "Big East little crap team" and beat the living...wait, no that was Rutgers who took us to the woodshed.

take a look in the mirror, what exactly makes us so superior? our stunning 6-6 record? our 9th place finish in a conference with only 10 teams? or is it how we backed our way into a bowl game by losing at home to an unranked team?

I am predicting a win for the cyclones, but you sir sound like a hawk fan with your superiority complex. we were an average team this season. nothing more, nothing less.

No, he doesn't. He sounds like a fan expecting to handily beat a team we've already beaten handily.

Sure, beating a team twice is difficult, but we should do it, as we are the better team.

[clonedude]

yes the big east is far below the mighty cyclones. i remember just last year when we played a "Big East little crap team" and beat the living...wait, no that was Rutgers who took us to the woodshed.

take a look in the mirror, what exactly makes us so superior? our stunning 6-6 record? our 9th place finish in a conference with only 10 teams? or is it how we backed our way into a bowl game by losing at home to an unranked team?

I am predicting a win for the cyclones, but you sir sound like a hawk fan with your superiority complex. we were an average team this season. nothing more, nothing less.

I completely agree with this assessment. We were an average team this year, and our record indicates that. I don't see how anyone can come on here and predict we win by 4+ TDs, that's just crazy talk IMO.

My concern is that I think Tulsa kept improving as the season went on, and I'm not so sure I can say that about the Clones. Tulsa was probably our best game of the year, and after that we were pretty average.

With all that being said, I hope and pray we demolish Tulsa. Listening to the idiots over here in eastern Iowa on 1600AM on my way home from work and they were doing their bowl picks. 2 or 3 of them picked Tulsa, and one of them even laughed at us because once again we were practicing in the snow and wind for a crappy bowl game, and then proceeded to pick Tulsa to beat us AND beat us bad. That's what irritates me the most about stupid Hawkeye fans.... they aren't even smart enough to shut their mouths when we have beaten them 2 years in a row and they aren't even going to a bowl game at all.

But unfortunately under Rhoads, we've performed poorly in bowl games. I think he lets the guys have a bit too much fun sometimes at these bowl games, but how can you blame him? The guys should be rewarded for making it there. I just hope we put forth a better effort than we did against Rutgers. If we don't, we will get killed. This Tulsa team is better than last year's Rutgers team IMO.

[NATEizKING]

I completely agree with this assessment. We were an average team this year, and our record indicates that. I don't see how anyone can come on here and predict we win by 4+ TDs, that's just crazy talk IMO.

My concern is that I think Tulsa kept improving as the season went on, and I'm not so sure I can say that about the Clones. Tulsa was probably our best game of the year, and after that we were pretty average.

With all that being said, I hope and pray we demolish Tulsa. Listening to the idiots over here in eastern Iowa on 1600AM on my way home from work and they were doing their bowl picks. 2 or 3 of them picked Tulsa, and one of them even laughed at us because once again we were practicing in the snow and wind for a crappy bowl game, and then proceeded to pick Tulsa to beat us AND beat us bad. That's what irritates me the most about stupid Hawkeye fans.... they aren't even smart enough to shut their mouths when we have beaten them 2 years in a row and they aren't even going to a bowl game at all.

But unfortunately under Rhoads, we've performed poorly in bowl games. I think he lets the guys have a bit too much fun sometimes at these bowl games, but how can you blame him? The guys should be rewarded for making it there. I just hope we put forth a better effort than we did against Rutgers. If we don't, we will get killed. This Tulsa team is better than last year's Rutgers team IMO.

We were better against TCU, Baylor, and Kansas.

I was being sarcastic on the 5 TD's, but I think we win by more this time around. 4 TD's may be crazy talk, but losing this game seems equally as crazy talk.

[CyCloned]

It is my hope that with a new OC the team will not be running moronic plays like they did in last year's bowl. Rutgers was crashing everyone in from the outside and ISU kept trying to throw screen passes to the edge and run wide against it instead of throwing down field and running right at them. Unbelievable bad. I still don't think Rutgers was any better than ISU, just coached better.

[Sigmapolis]

I'm very guarded about this game. Here is why:

* Tulsa played better as the season went along, while we seemed to peak in the TCU/KSU neck of the woods

* We played a very even game with them earlier this year statistically... take away our 3-1 turnover advantage and it might look different

* Sammy Football has looked good... in two outings... still no way to be sure what we have with SR

* Jake Knott has played his last in cardinal and gold, and it is hard to overstate his impact on defense

Tulsa is a good football team, but so are we. For a rematch, this game is much more interesting than most garden-variety bowl games given our status as an average/below-average major conference team and them being one of the best mid-majors in the country. How do we stack up against each other at the end of a long, hard season?

We will just have to see. I am optimistic and trust our guys, but, then again, we did not show up much for Rutgers in New York last year. We cannot do that again and expect to win. This is a good team, and if we don't play well (maybe not our absolute best, but well) it could easily go against us.

[GMackey32]

I completely agree with this assessment. We were an average team this year, and our record indicates that. I don't see how anyone can come on here and predict we win by 4+ TDs, that's just crazy talk IMO.

My concern is that I think Tulsa kept improving as the season went on, and I'm not so sure I can say that about the Clones. Tulsa was probably our best game of the year, and after that we were pretty average.

With all that being said, I hope and pray we demolish Tulsa. Listening to the idiots over here in eastern Iowa on 1600AM on my way home from work and they were doing their bowl picks. 2 or 3 of them picked Tulsa, and one of them even laughed at us because once again we were practicing in the snow and wind for a crappy bowl game, and then proceeded to pick Tulsa to beat us AND beat us bad. That's what irritates me the most about stupid Hawkeye fans.... they aren't even smart enough to shut their mouths when we have beaten them 2 years in a row and they aren't even going to a bowl game at all.

But unfortunately under Rhoads, we've performed poorly in bowl games. I think he lets the guys have a bit too much fun sometimes at these bowl games, but how can you blame him? The guys should be rewarded for making it there. I just hope we put forth a better effort than we did against Rutgers. If we don't, we will get killed. This Tulsa team is better than last year's Rutgers team IMO.

Tulsa "kept improving" because they played in the 13th ranked conference (according to Sagarin) out of 12 FBS conferences. UNI's conference was harder than the C-USA. Also, Tulsa lost to a 4-8 Arkansas team (Who, outside of Tulsa, beat Kentucky, Auburn, and Jacksonville State). Tulsa only appeared to "improve a bunch" because they played in the worst conference in FBS and folded like a cheap lawn chair against a terrible SEC team.

[Erik4Cy]

but if we don't think that we'll lose...how can we win?

[ISUFan22]

We got best by Rutgers last year. We barely beat a bad Gopher team (they literally handed it to us via their QB's knee) the year before. I love Rhoads yet IMO, his ability to prep for the bowl game has room for improvement.

I do expect ISU to win on Monday yet I'm not gonna be arrogant about it as our offense is average and bowl performance under Rhoads not spectacular.

[NATEizKING]

Well we had a long time to prep for Tulsa the first time and we have a long time to prep for Tulsa this time.

[EvilBetty]

for those rationalizing a big win because we already beat them by two touchdowns, here are some points to consider:

A) our best offensive player (arguably) SJ who had a 100yrd game rushing against tulsa will not play
B) our best defensive player (knott) who caused a key fumble late in the game will not play
C) it was a home game. yes we will bring more fans than tulsa, but a true home field advantage will be taken away.

i still think we win, but those calling for a blowout seem a bit out there. i may be mistaken, but i think this game was the most evenly picked across the board in yahoo's bowl mania. there's probably a reason for that.

[TOFB4ISU]

I expect to win by more that 3 TDs and if we don't or even lose, I look forward to next year.

[NATEizKING]

for those rationalizing a big win because we already beat them by two touchdowns, here are some points to consider:

A) our best offensive player (arguably) SJ who had a 100yrd game rushing against tulsa will not play
B) our best defensive player (knott) who caused a key fumble late in the game will not play
C) it was a home game. yes we will bring more fans than tulsa, but a true home field advantage will be taken away.

i still think we win, but those calling for a blowout seem a bit out there. i may be mistaken, but i think this game was the most evenly picked across the board in yahoo's bowl mania. there's probably a reason for that.

White averages almost a whole yard more per carry. We've had time to replace Knott, Kansas was majorly a run first team and we held them pretty well without him. 98% of people in the pick'em probably don't know ISU and Tulsa already played, they just look at 10-3.