2013 Big 12 Power Rankings From ESPN (includes all major conferences)

**cycloneML** · 01-09-2013, 05:45 AM

is this groundhog's day?

Early 2013 power rankings 010813 - College Football Nation Blog - ESPN

**State43** · 01-09-2013, 06:01 AM

Surprised? I think we end up ahead of KSU and WVU too but I also said we would be higher then 9th this season so....

**ISUAlum2002** · 01-09-2013, 06:45 AM

Looks about right for us, but not so sure about the top half of their rankings. OSU at #1? Don't think so. TCU at #2? I know they qualified it by saying it assumes Pachall will be back, but I don't think he will be.

We won't get any respect from the media, and we shouldn't, until our coaching staff and players can figure out how to win more than 3 conference games in a season.

**HFCS** · 01-09-2013, 08:35 AM

Picking us 9th in football this year or next year is oh...a billion times more realistic than the coaches and everyone else who picked ISU 8th in basketball this year.

**Bigman38** · 01-09-2013, 08:46 AM

Realistically that's where we should be in preseason polls whether you like or not. This team has a lot to prove next year.

**BringBackJohnny** · 01-09-2013, 08:55 AM

At least we are not 10th! but no way should we be anywhere but 9th after getting crushed like a bug again in the post season.

**Daserop** · 01-09-2013, 08:59 AM

#9! what a surprise!

**NATEizKING** · 01-09-2013, 09:33 AM

I felt like ISU and Kansas in football are the TCU and TT of basketball.

**DSM4Cy** · 01-09-2013, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by NATEizKING

I felt like ISU and Kansas in football are the TCU and TT of basketball.

I know they're located in Texas, which makes recruiting a lot easier...but we used to say this about Baylor what, 5 years ago?

What was K-State before Bill Snyder?

How many years did it take Coach Mac to even get us to a winning record? His 6th season. The most successful ISU coach in the 30 years before Paul Rhoads got here was Dan McCarney. And he finished with a 56-85 record (although his record from the Insight Bowl year on was 43-43).

Building a program at ISU requires not just getting your own recruits in (4-5 years). It requires getting your own recruits in, achieving success with those recruits, and then bumping up your caliber of recruited players gradually. We're going after mostly 2* and 3* guys now. If CPR can achieve a 7 or 8 win regular season (which in our deep conference, is going to be much harder than it would have been in the old Big XII structure with only 8 conference games and the North Division), we may start to see more 4* guys then the norm be willing to commit - because we've allowed CPR to build a brand around ISU football. It takes time for little ol' Iowa to get noticed and really get into the conversations around the country. All of our big wins and CPR's personality help with that.

I firmly believe Paul Rhoads is the best coach ISU could possibly have right now. And, I think he's going to get this program to a higher level than we've ever been. I'd argue that we're already a deeper team than we've ever been (well, at least since I've been alive) and our average ability level is much higher than it's ever been. We're still missing the elite skill players, though, that we've had in the past (Lane Danielson, Seneca, Troy Davis, Reggie Hayward). But we'll get there.

Quite a few teams in the Big XII will be softer next year. K-State, WV, and I think Texas Tech - Kingsbury hasn't been a BCS head coach. He'll be good for them but it will take him at least a season to get comfortable. We've turned into a much more consistent team, especially on the road (rarely have we been blown out in the CPR era). With getting the 3 of the 4 projected top teams in the Big XII at JTS and playing most of the lower teams on the road next year (exception, KU), we may be able to pull off that 4 or 5-win conference season we're all waiting for.

I'm going to call a 7 win year next season. UNI, Iowa, we'll get Tulsa (they have no real home-field advantage - not a big crowd or stadium), KU, WV on the road, we'll upset K-State in Manhattan, and win one of our other home games against Texas, OSU, or TCU. And we'll be competitive every week.