REALISTIC expectations for 2023 football season
- Thread starter Pope
- Start date
This year I wouldn't bet on the Iowa/Iowa State game no matter what. While I don't see Iowa hanging 30 on us, I do think their O has better skill positions than last year. On the flip side, we have better coaches than last year and better than Iowa.
It's all going to come down to which team's OL and WR groups improved the most in the offseason.
It's all going to come down to which team's OL and WR groups improved the most in the offseason.
Obviously some bias here but I’m going to guess we’re better at those position groups. I don’t think their OL is going to improve much. That’s part of the reason why I think Cade’s not going to be as good as their fanbase believes he’ll be. He had the best OL and RB’s as well as very good WR’s during his time at Michigan. He won’t have any of that at Iowa.
He's still going to be better than Petras, which isn't hard. Still going to be in a Brian (Kirk) Ferentz offense though.
Oh no doubt that's a given lol. Petras was arguably a bottom five P5 QB last year and funny enough there were 2-3 other QBs in the Big 10 who joined him on that list (Rutgers and Northwestern QBs).
Late to the party on this, but to "hang 30" you have to at least score 30...
Alabama, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Florida, Ok St, TCU and others were all in the market for a QB this off-season.
The SEC would have paid $750k+ at least for a quarterback that they felt could lead their team. None of these teams sniffed McNamara and they let him walk to one of college football's worst offenses. I'm not scared at all of a guy that teams in "Win Now" mode don't even think twice about.
I mean SHOOT, Florida went out and paid Graham Mertz...
I'll be scared of Kaleb Brown when I see Cade complete some passes.
You're severely underrating McNamara. He's not necessarily a guy that strikes fear in you but he's an above average college QB which is frankly all Iowa needs when you have the defense they have. He's probably their best QB since Beathard.
McNamara is no doubt better than Petras and he's better than Nate Stanley most likely but Iowa still doesn't have the firepower Beathard or Stanley had, nor do they have a good offensive line.
McNamara had a solid year at Michigan two years ago, there's no doubt about that, but he doesn't have Michigan offensive talent around him and it's not even close.
He has better tight ends at Iowa but that's about it. Based on recruiting rankings they do have some talent on the O Line but they will need to take a step forward if they want to compete for the west. Receiver wise if Kaleb Brown doesn't step up then it's a massive drop from what Michigan had.
Agreed. I’m just not holding my breath. I wasn’t a big fan of his at Michigan. I’ll reiterate he’s monumentally better than Petras and Iowa’s schedule is way easier being on the West side. 9 wins is likely but that’s like being the skinniest fat guy when discussing that side of the conference.
Iowa might have Shannon out, and we might have Lee out…. those cancel each other out.
Now if Iowa is also without McNamara, Kaleb Johnson, Lachey, and a starting tackle…. it will be an even fight.
Also…. I didn’t realize how small McNamara is…. he is the same exact size as Purdy and Rocco.
Now if Iowa is also without McNamara, Kaleb Johnson, Lachey, and a starting tackle…. it will be an even fight.
Also…. I didn’t realize how small McNamara is…. he is the same exact size as Purdy and Rocco.
