ESPN predicts Iowa will not finish last in 2008 Big Ten Football....

SouthernHawk · 02-21-2008, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by hoocher

Lets see...ISU won three games last yr....lost to Kent St.,Toledo, and Iowa. How can ISU be on the upward climb if you won only 3 games this year and won 4 under Mac the previous year? Some of you posters really need to get a grip on where your program is.

*cough* ISU beat Iowa *cough

mwitt · 02-21-2008, 02:18 PM

So when they finish better than 10th, they can brag about how they did better than they were supposed to.

jdoggivjc · 02-21-2008, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by hoocher

Lets see...ISU won three games last yr....lost to Kent St.,Toledo, and Iowa. How can ISU be on the upward climb if you won only 3 games this year and won 4 under Mac the previous year? Some of you posters really need to get a grip on where your program is.

Umm... we LOST to Iowa last year? Would you like to tell me which game YOU were watching? Because IIRC we ended up knocking off the sleeper Big 10 champion with 5 field goals. Maybe you Sqwak fans should get a grip on where your program is at as well...

ISUFan22 · 02-21-2008, 03:06 PM

clones_jer · 02-21-2008, 03:07 PM

Originally Posted by SouthernHawk

*cough* ISU beat Iowa *cough

wow. i had to get you rep SH cause I know how hard it must've been to type.

write this down. I gave SH rep.

BryceC · 02-21-2008, 03:18 PM

Iowa wins 8 games next year.

djcubby · 02-21-2008, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by hoocher

Lets see...ISU won three games last yr....lost to Kent St.,Toledo, and Iowa. How can ISU be on the upward climb if you won only 3 games this year and won 4 under Mac the previous year? Some of you posters really need to get a grip on where your program is.

I never stated that we were on a upward climb, I simply stated that we are trying to build a better program, which looks to have a bright future. While Iowa, once a powerhouse in the big 10, has struggled to reach .500 the last couple of years, and is drowning in police blotter showings.

If you want to talk about an upward climb, sure they lost to Kent St and Toledo, but only lost to OU by 14 (when was the last time that happened), Beat KSU, and played Mizzou tougher than anyone expected, at Mizzou, all in the second half of the season.

MontyBurns · 02-21-2008, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by hoocher

Lets see...ISU won three games last yr....lost to Kent St.,Toledo, and Iowa. How can ISU be on the upward climb if you won only 3 games this year and won 4 under Mac the previous year? Some of you posters really need to get a grip on where your program is.

We played very poorly in our first four games (Kent State, UNI, Iowa, & Toledo) because we had a completely new coaching staff, new formations, and new plays....and the result was a lot of mistakes (wrong routes, false starts, bad snaps, you name it). It was essentially like taking the field with 85 freshmen players. Hence we only won one of the four non-conference games....the easiest one.

We eliminated those mistakes and played much better toward the end of the season which is one reason to be optimistic about our upward trend.

The other reason to be optimistic is that our schedule changes and we don't play the top teams from the south -- Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech -- this year.

Cy Heavy · 02-21-2008, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by atlantacyclone

As long as ISU beats them I could care less if they win the rest of their games. Actually, the better they do the better the win feels!

I'll always look back, fondly, at 2002 when we crushed EIU's National Title hopes...in Iowa City...

MontyBurns · 02-21-2008, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by BryceC

Iowa wins 8 games next year.

We're talking about football, not basketball.

ISUFan22 · 02-21-2008, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by BryceC

Iowa wins 8 games next year.

Would not surprise me at all. Easier schedule and Iowa seems to perform better when expectations are down or at least not very high.

MontyBurns · 02-21-2008, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by ISUFan22

Would not surprise me at all. Easier schedule and Iowa seems to perform better when expectations are down or at least not very high.

Iowa was not competitive against Purdue or Penn State -- essentially they couldn't even get a first down. The same with Indiana, and that game is on the road. They usually play Wisconsin close regardless of talent, but Wisconsin has beaten Iowa two years running and is much better than Iowa. They play a road game at Pittsburgh which beat WVa in their last game and will be in the top 25, maybe top 15. That's five very likely losses. They will be underdogs at Illinois (top 25 team) and at Michigan State, and I believe we will beat them. They should beat Maine, Florida Intl, and probably Northwestern. I can see 3 wins for sure, but I can't see them winning more than 5 or 6 at the most. They've performed well when expectations were down before (see 2001-2003) but they had a lot of talent then -- look at how many players from those Iowa teams are now in the NFL. This year's Iowa team will send more players to prison than to the NFL.

kingcy · 02-21-2008, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by djcubby

While Iowa, once a powerhouse in the big 10, has struggled to reach .500 the last couple of years, and is drowning in police blotter showings.

I dont think they ever were a powerhouse, better than average yes. Very good for a few years yes. They did have some good years but they had their ups and downs.

Bobber · 02-21-2008, 09:25 PM

It's just blows me away ESPN is picking them to be on the bottom. Wow...

Hawk fans should be concerned. This is not a good trend for them.

Yeah I think they'll end up doing better then that, but they sure are paying Kirk a lot to finish in the bottom half of the Big 10?

jumbopackage · 02-23-2008, 12:47 PM

While I love watching Iowa's Fball program suffer, I don't think they will be THAT bad next year. They'll have 7-8 wins and probably go bowling.

It's years like this that they end up overachieving. I think last year was a wakeup call for the whole staff, Ferentz included. I really do think he's a very good coach, and he's going to do alright.

That being said, there are a LOT of questions to answer on that team. If I were them, I'd honestly treat Pitt and ISU like conference games. Those are two improving BCS conference teams, and I think both games are "must wins" for Iowa. I wouldn't guarantee wins against ANY of the teams they beat last year.