Has Paul Rhoads run out of gas? Is this the year we lay an egg?

[klerme]

I wouldn't worry too much about the recruiting. Your initial thought is most likely correct. ISU scored a landmark victory on national tv and the media has absolutely fallen in love with CPR. Notice how his name seems to come up nearly every time a high level job opens up? Recruits will take notice of this success and media coverage too. It sure seems like the last couple of years ISU has set their sights a little higher in the recruiting game and those are the guys that take their sweet time in making a committment.

As for CPR's comments I think you are correct. Nothing is certain in the coaching profession and only a fool would say they are going to stay at a school until they retire. Nobody can predict the future, ISU's needs, CPR's needs, etc.... If he had answered the question by stating that he is going to coach for the rest of his career at ISU and retire here then people would have needed to start worrying. The last thing ISU needs is a coach with BBS (Bobby Bowden Syndrome). We don't want a coach that accomplishes some great things, wins some big games, gets ISU more media coverage, bowl games, etc... and then thinks that he can sit on his *** and coast the rest of his career because he has accomplished enough to be untouchable.

Yes - the last thing ISU needs is a coach with the 2nd most victories of all-time for a D1 Coach, 2 National Championships, 14 CONSECUTIVE seasons of finishing in the TOP 5, an 11 game bowl winning streak during his career and 21 bowl victoriesbaffled:

The sitting on his "***" and coasting as you referenced resulted in never having less than 7 wins during the season, 4 ACC/division Championships and 6 Top 25 finishes. You rival the original poster for ridiculous post of the day.

Also, everyone needs to take a look at ISU recruiting history before making baseless comment - in the past 10 years we have never had more than 2 verbal commits by the end of May. 1 time was last year where it was a family member - Luke Knott - and a family tie-in with Grant Rohach that led to the early commitments. The other time was Phillip Bates (who transferred) and Anthony Green (who was done before he played). Austen Arnaud didn't even commit until June 20 when he was being recruited. We generally start getting some commits during/after summer camps on campus, and I expect we will see that again. If we only have 5-7 verbals heading into mid-November/December, then we can raise the question appropriately. However, I doubt that will be the case as CPR has put together the best staff (throughout his tenure, including Ash and Elliott and now Douglas) that ISU has had since the Earl Bruce days.

 

[Rabbuk]

Yes, the Iowa game could have ended up going either way in the end, but we dominated that game IMO. We coughed up the ball twice inside Iowa's 10 yd line and we missed a chip shot FG too. We should have won that game by at least 10 pts in regulation they way we played.

However, I will agree with you that I'm not sold on this year's team either. I think the defense could actually be pretty darn good if they aren't on the field all day long. But I won't have any confidence in our offense until they can prove me wrong. We've had a horrilbe offense for years and years now, there's really no way to sugarcoat it.

I don't think any of us are sold on our QB position yet, even Rhoads. WR's, besides Lenz, are young and unproven. We lost both KO and Hicks on an O-line that was already overrated last year, so unless some of our young talent is really as good as Bliel says they are, which hasn't been the case yet since he's been here, then I won't believe it. Every year, Bliel and Rhoads say the O-line is going to be really good and be a strength, but it doesn't pan out. It has to be the most overrated group on the team IMO. They were average last year IMO, and that was with both KO and Hicks, who are now gone.

I'm hoping for some better playcalling now that Mr. Offensive Genius Tom Herman is gone, but I will believe that when I see it too, since it seems we aren't going to change much.

It's going to be another 4-6 win season IMO. Anything more than 6 would be a great year with our schedule.

This is exactly what I wanted to say just better put. Granted I'm typing on my ipod.

 

[CYISFLY]

WOW just WOW. Have a little faith. What the program has done so far is way more than what the average Clone fan could have expected. I love ISU, but the 5 star recruits aren't coming here by the droves. What the man has done so far with what he has definately has peaked some interest. Excuse me if I'm too positive for you

 

[Clark]

You serious Clark?

 

[isulive2train]

Trolling aint easy!

 

[BringBackJohnny]

This year's team will be better on offense and in the box on defense. Hands down!

If you can't get excited about the following you have no pulse
- 2 QB's with game experience and ability to win football games
- RB duo that is downright sneaky good (even isu fans don't give White credit)
- D-Line that can send more fresh legs in the game than Russia did in WWII
- 2 All-BigXII Linebackers
- Mahoney gone!
- Crazy amounts of young speed comming onto the field
- Walley the pirate

 

[PabloDiablo]

This year's team will be better on offense and in the box on defense. Hands down!

If you can't get excited about the following you have no pulse
- 2 QB's with game experience and ability to win football games
- RB duo that is downright sneaky good (even isu fans don't give White credit)
- D-Line that can send more fresh legs in the game than Russia did in WWII
- 2 All-BigXII Linebackers
- Mahoney gone!
- Crazy amounts of young speed comming onto the field
- Walley the pirate

Made me laugh. Must spread rep.

 

[VeloClone]

Maybe beards make people look slow because it makes them look older. This must just be the perception CPR is trying to give the other coaches so he will appear weak. Bill Snyder figured this out years ago which is why he looks 10-15 years older than he really is and manages to win games.

Well played CPR you sneaky cyclone.

Is it really possible to look 10-15 years older than 160?



Seriously, the dude turns 73 this year. That is old in any profession unless you are the pope.

 

[klamath632]

I think last year was kind of a fluke, and I don't really believe we have upgraded significantly at a lot of positions. You take out the Iowa win which could have gone either way, and the Ok. St. game which I don't think anyone will say they expected we win. Then you have a 4 win season. We might be "better" in terms of talent marginally, but baby jesus doesn't hand out wins like he did for us last year sometimes. It's not a knock on cyclone football.

Let me go ahead and disagree with you. The Iowa game shouldn't have been close. Our own mistakes kept them in the game with us.

Kansas State is a game that we were in, and had a chance to win. I'm pretty sure there weren't very many turnovers in that game.

Oklahoma has beaten us into the dirt in the last decade. Last year's game was the first time I can honestly say that we deserved to be on the same field as them. We competed with Oklahoma, a team that was considered a national championship contender.

We didn't expect to beat Oklahoma State, but we definitely deserved to be on the field with them.

The Missouri game was the game last year that made no sense. It's like the team wasn't the same. I'd love to hear some details on what was going on in the locker room at halftime, on the sidelines during the game, and on the trip down to Columbia. Those guys in the ISU uniforms were imposters.

 

[Doc]

I think that some of you may underestimate just how hard it is to win in college football, especially at place like Iowa State. Even if the coaching staff does a great job, sometimes it can still be a 2 steps forward, 1 step back process. In my eyes, the curb stomping we took at Mizzou has just as much predictive value to the program going forward as the win against Okie State.

 

[kberyldial]

We're competitive now. More than we've been since the 70's! The talent is better than perhaps ever. The coaching staff is the best ever in my opinion. The reality remains that we play in the Big 12. Realize who we are - where we've been - where we are and adjust your mindset. Iowa State doesn't get the same recruits that traditional powers get. Iowa with all their success does not get the same recruits the traditional powers get. Our football program is in great shape. At Iowa State that may not mean 10 wins. Yet. Maybe ever. Who knows. But we are competing and in games that we've NEVER been in. Fixing and establishing a consistent winner in Ames is a marathon. But we have the right coach. Posts like this baffle me. Questioning the state of our FB team right now is delusional. Putting things in context seems to be a lost art. If someone can't get behind what's happening with ISU fb at this point in time - they never will. I suggest buying some Alabama gear.

 

[cycloneworld]

I think last year was kind of a fluke, and I don't really believe we have upgraded significantly at a lot of positions. You take out the Iowa win which could have gone either way, and the Ok. St. game which I don't think anyone will say they expected we win. Then you have a 4 win season. We might be "better" in terms of talent marginally, but baby jesus doesn't hand out wins like he did for us last year sometimes. It's not a knock on cyclone football.

I don't understand why you think it was a fluke? And how have we not upgraded talent? Last year, we had:

-Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year [When was the last time we had one of those?]
-Offensive New Comer of the Year
-TWO players on the First Team All-Big 12 teams
-THREE players on the Second Team All-Big 12 teams
-FOUR players with Honorable Mentions

We didn't play well for a 4 game stretch to start the Big 12 season but after that we:

-Whipped a then-ranked Texas Tech team on the road
-Beat #2 OSU
-Hung with #9 Oklahoma on the road
-Lost a close one against #8 Kansas State on the road

Add in beating Iowa and winning at UCONN, and I would argue it was the opposite of a fluke...that made huge progress.

Unfortunately we played 7 Top 25 teams (3 Top 10 Teams). But I think from a competitive standpoint, it was our most successful season in a long, long time.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Yes - the last thing ISU needs is a coach with the 2nd most victories of all-time for a D1 Coach, 2 National Championships, 14 CONSECUTIVE seasons of finishing in the TOP 5, an 11 game bowl winning streak during his career and 21 bowl victoriesbaffled:

The sitting on his "***" and coasting as you referenced resulted in never having less than 7 wins during the season, 4 ACC/division Championships and 6 Top 25 finishes. You rival the original poster for ridiculous post of the day.

Also, everyone needs to take a look at ISU recruiting history before making baseless comment - in the past 10 years we have never had more than 2 verbal commits by the end of May. 1 time was last year where it was a family member - Luke Knott - and a family tie-in with Grant Rohach that led to the early commitments. The other time was Phillip Bates (who transferred) and Anthony Green (who was done before he played). Austen Arnaud didn't even commit until June 20 when he was being recruited. We generally start getting some commits during/after summer camps on campus, and I expect we will see that again. If we only have 5-7 verbals heading into mid-November/December, then we can raise the question appropriately. However, I doubt that will be the case as CPR has put together the best staff (throughout his tenure, including Ash and Elliott and now Douglas) that ISU has had since the Earl Bruce days.

Thanks for looking up the details on verbals historically. I knew we usually didn't have many at this point but wasn't sure how many.

People need to stop freaking out over stupid crap.

 

[VeloClone]

I think last year was kind of a fluke, and I don't really believe we have upgraded significantly at a lot of positions. You take out the Iowa win which could have gone either way, and the Ok. St. game which I don't think anyone will say they expected we win. Then you have a 4 win season. We might be "better" in terms of talent marginally, but baby jesus doesn't hand out wins like he did for us last year sometimes. It's not a knock on cyclone football.

Let me go ahead and disagree with you. The Iowa game shouldn't have been close. Our own mistakes kept them in the game with us.

Kansas State is a game that we were in, and had a chance to win. I'm pretty sure there weren't very many turnovers in that game.

Oklahoma has beaten us into the dirt in the last decade. Last year's game was the first time I can honestly say that we deserved to be on the same field as them. We competed with Oklahoma, a team that was considered a national championship contender.

We didn't expect to beat Oklahoma State, but we definitely deserved to be on the field with them.

The Missouri game was the game last year that made no sense. It's like the team wasn't the same. I'd love to hear some details on what was going on in the locker room at halftime, on the sidelines during the game, and on the trip down to Columbia. Those guys in the ISU uniforms were imposters.

You could play the woulda, shoulda, coulda game all day long. Yes, some things went ISU's way. Other things didn't; klamath points out several. Think about the injury situation. What if Knott wasn't fighting injuries all season, or KO, or anyone else on the O-line? What if Jantz didn't injure his leg? What if our starting RB didn't go down with a season (career? <crosses fingers>) ender? Think about a 1,2,3 punch of Johnson, White, Woody rather than White, Woody, Hollis. What if, what if, what if...

I'm not about to take an eraser to any W on the ISU schedule last year, just as I'm not going to change any L's to W's last year. You are who your record says you are. They earned a bowl last year. Quit trying to make that team out to be less than they were. They made up for some lack of flash with a whole lot of heart.

 

[State43]

 

[Clark]

Thanks for looking up the details on verbals historically. I knew we usually didn't have many at this point but wasn't sure how many.

People need to stop freaking out over stupid crap.

:twitcy: Yeah that's not gonna happen.

 

[Rabbuk]

I guess we'll see in a few months. I'm putting us at less than 4 wins. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[VeloClone]

I guess we'll see in a few months. I'm putting us at less than 4 wins. Hope I'm wrong.

1, 2 or 3 wins? That's a pretty bold prediction!

 

[Rabbuk]

1, 2 or 3 wins? That's a pretty bold prediction!

4 or less rather haha.

 

[VeloClone]

4 or less rather haha.

Okay, that makes a little more sense. I hope you are wrong too. Being a long time Cyclone I can't blame you for being gunshy. I'm trying to not be too pessimistic nor too optimistic.