Does Iowa State have the toughest schedule next year

[cyclonefan1983]

4 teams are going to be top 10 teams in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska and even Utah is going to be good and might be top 15 end of the year as well.....

[4Shaw]

It's definitely a tough schedule, but it's a good test for a good team. Visiting 3 Top 10 is going to be ridiculously hard on any team, but at least we get tough in-division tests (Nebraska and Mizzou) at home. I see this squad as a 8-4 or a 9-3 team and if we make it to Halloween Weekend with 3 or less losses, I think there's a good shot at the North.

[1100011CS]

It's definitely a tough schedule, but it's a good test for a good team. Visiting 3 Top 10 is going to be ridiculously hard on any team, but at least we get tough in-division tests (Nebraska and Mizzou) at home. I see this squad as a 8-4 or a 9-3 team and if we make it to Halloween Weekend with 3 or less losses, I think there's a good shot at the North.

I'll have what you're smoking.

[DaddyMac]

I'll have what you're smoking.

I fear he may have those numbers transposed.

[tazclone]

4 teams are going to be top 10 teams in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska and even Utah is going to be good and might be top 15 end of the year as well.....

People will say we will be but it isn't as bad with the winnable games at home.

Texas will be but not so sure Oklahoma will be top ten. They finished out of the top 25 last year and play FSU, Cincy, and Texas before us. If they win all those they will be top ten, lose one and not so much. Utah loses 11 starters and finished 18th last year. Nebraska will be interesting to see if the media buys the self promotion. They finished 14th, they have no offense and lost a bunch from defense. Iowa will drop out of the top ten when we beat them. Even further when NW beats them like they have 4 out of the last 5 years

[4Shaw]

I'll have what you're smoking.

It's good stuff, but I'll stand by my blind faith for now.

I think it's more a feeling I have about this team than anything else. Paul's turned me into a believer and if our front 7 is better than most expect it to be, I can't see a couple of upsets being out of the question.
I think this is a 6 victory team that is learning how to win. I'd be happy with 6-6, but I'm hoping for more.

[Al_4_State]

It's definitely a tough schedule, but it's a good test for a good team. Visiting 3 Top 10 is going to be ridiculously hard on any team, but at least we get tough in-division tests (Nebraska and Mizzou) at home. I see this squad as a 8-4 or a 9-3 team and if we make it to Halloween Weekend with 3 or less losses, I think there's a good shot at the North.

I've always admired your unfailing optimism.

I think there are 8-9 winnable games, but I have a gut feeling (due to a lifetime of Cyclone letdowns) that we'll lose some winnable games. I think we go 6-6, and win our bowl, which would be an improvement in actual play from last year.

[Al_4_State]

I fear he may have those numbers transposed.

No way in hell this team wins only 3 games. That's almost as ludicrous as 9-3.

[4Shaw]

I've always admired your unfailing optimism.

I think there are 8-9 winnable games, but I have a gut feeling (due to a lifetime of Cyclone letdowns) that we'll lose some winnable games. I think we go 6-6, and win our bowl, which would be an improvement in actual play from last year.

I think you're probably right. But I think we'll see something like a win over Nebraska(which will keep us in the hunt for the title) followed by a loss to Colorado(which will knock us out), and a win over Mizzou (which will just dig the knife deeper for the loss to Colorado)

[dualthreat]

I've always admired your unfailing optimism.

You must be paying close attention to his 4 posts..

Aside from that, I think people put far too much stock into the sure losses. I always hear people say that the years we play texas and oklahoma are off years- or years we intentionally set low expectations for our team. Really people? Ok- so we don't go 12-0. But there are still a lot of winnable games on this schedule.

NIU, Utah, UNI, Kansas, Tech, Mizz @ home... = all very winnable games.

Kansas State, @ CU, = winnable games

Thats 8. 8 wins cyclone fans. How amazing does this team have to be to beat 6 average teams and 2 above average teams? For those of you saying 4 win seasons, I understand why if your protecting your heart, but please, the negativity surely rubbs off.

[istater7]

You must be paying close attention to his 4 posts..

Aside from that, I think people put far too much stock into the sure losses. I always hear people say that the years we play texas and oklahoma are off years- or years we intentionally set low expectations for our team. Really people? Ok- so we don't go 12-0. But there are still a lot of winnable games on this schedule.

NIU, Utah, UNI, Kansas, Tech, Mizz @ home... = all very winnable games.

Kansas State, @ CU, = winnable games

Thats 8. 8 wins cyclone fans. How amazing does this team have to be to beat 6 average teams and 2 above average teams? For those of you saying 4 win seasons, I understand why if your protecting your heart, but please, the negativity surely rubbs off.

move CU into very winnable and mizz and tech into winnable

[alarson]

Its tougher than last year from a teams played standpoint, but from a W-L standpoint its not that awful compared to last year.
I posted this before, and i figured id just add it into this thread.

For sure, we get the tougher rotation, and i thought it looked awful to begin with but at least for 2010, our conference schedule isnt *that* awful compared to last year in terms of straight w-l.
-We get the team from the south that we are most likely to have a chance against at home. Just like we did last year with Baylor.
-we sub Texas A&M and OSU for Texas and OU, but lets be honest, TAMU and OSU weren't exactly pretty games last year either, so w-l wise, thisll be a wash compared to last year.
-we get colorado on the road. of anyone to play on the road, theyre a good one, especially since their season will probably be over by the time we play there.
-we get KSU at a neutral site, when i believe it wouldve been @KSU this year. We're getting the benefit this year of losing our home game last year.

And this doesnt take into account that we could be a better team in year 2 with paul rhoads.

The biggest thing that sucks about the schedule is that we play Utah. Playing Utah was just dumb. Between a tough big 12 schedule, and playing Iowa on the road, its not like we needed to make our SOS any more difficult. (Hell, the chances of us being in BCS contention are so low, one could make the case that since the remaining bowls look mostly at W-L and not SOS when comparing conference opponents, that SOS should almost *never* be a consideration for scheduling non-cons for our schedule).

The schedule that sucks is 2011.
Opening @Utah? I hope we buy out that game.
then Iowa at home
Then @UConn
Then UNI and KSU at home
Then TTU on the road
OU and Texas at home
Then @kansas, @nebraska, colorado, and @missouri.

Just a rough schedule. I REALLY hope we buy out the @Utah game in 2011, that is a no win scenario. And depending on how much it would cost to buy out, we could probably make just as much with a home game.

[Al_4_State]

The 2011 season will really suck, especially if Edsall is still at UConn. The only thing going for us is that we should have a salty defense that year.

[pulse]

Remember most of you thought we'd win 2 or 3 games last year. See what you know. Personally I voted for 12-0, but I was still happy.

[tazclone]

Its tougher than last year from a teams played standpoint, but from a W-L standpoint its not that awful compared to last year.
I posted this before, and i figured id just add it into this thread.

For sure, we get the tougher rotation, and i thought it looked awful to begin with but at least for 2010, our conference schedule isnt *that* awful compared to last year in terms of straight w-l.
-We get the team from the south that we are most likely to have a chance against at home. Just like we did last year with Baylor.
-we sub Texas A&M and OSU for Texas and OU, but lets be honest, TAMU and OSU weren't exactly pretty games last year either, so w-l wise, thisll be a wash compared to last year.
-we get colorado on the road. of anyone to play on the road, theyre a good one, especially since their season will probably be over by the time we play there.
-we get KSU at a neutral site, when i believe it wouldve been @KSU this year. We're getting the benefit this year of losing our home game last year.

And this doesnt take into account that we could be a better team in year 2 with paul rhoads.

The biggest thing that sucks about the schedule is that we play Utah. Playing Utah was just dumb. Between a tough big 12 schedule, and playing Iowa on the road, its not like we needed to make our SOS any more difficult. (Hell, the chances of us being in BCS contention are so low, one could make the case that since the remaining bowls look mostly at W-L and not SOS when comparing conference opponents, that SOS should almost *never* be a consideration for scheduling non-cons for our schedule).

The schedule that sucks is 2011.
Opening @Utah? I hope we buy out that game.
then Iowa at home
Then @UConn
Then UNI and KSU at home
Then TTU on the road
OU and Texas at home
Then @kansas, @nebraska, colorado, and @missouri.

Just a rough schedule. I REALLY hope we buy out the @Utah game in 2011, that is a no win scenario. And depending on how much it would cost to buy out, we could probably make just as much with a home game.

I'm already sick of people whining about the schedule this year. Even with Utah this year, they lost 11 starters from last years's squad. You already mentioned the winnable games at home. Next yearr they are allon the road and the games we are most likely to lose are at home. Next year is the schedule that is brutal and it makes this year seem like a cupcake.