Peterson: Don’t book yet, but think about Iowa to Houston
Like a few of us have been saying for a few weeks:
Do not be surprised if Iowa plays in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston on Dec. 31. It’s at 11 a.m. and the game is played in the NFL Texans’ Reliant Stadium.
A few of us were thinking Houston even before the boss of the Florida-based Gator Bowl told the Orlando Sentinel saying he prefers a Florida-Ohio State game. It’s the Urban Meyer factor – ex-Florida coach and likely soon-to-be Ohio State coach.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
The Sani-Flush Toilet Bowl.
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People…go spend your money elsewhere. There are better ways to throw away money than go watch a mediocre team like this one.
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Hey Goof, every team in America is mediocre accept 10 or so…LOL GOOF !!!
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Well said. Unless you live in Houston, get free tickets and parking and have nothing better to do, don’t go. This mediocre team doesn’t deserve a bowl game and the University certainly not your hard-earned dollars. Another “Nobody Cares” Bowl to follow up the Insight Toilet Bowl. Congrats.
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They’ll go bowling because they’re bound by Big Ten rules on mandatory participation. They certainly haven’t earned it – and now everyone will have to write the same obligatory “player development” stories that come out of the bowl practices every year. Except once again, Iowa will be going to another non-BCS game……
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I will be going, yes it was a down year for us I guess. Considering a new qb (pretty much) 2 new starters on the d-line 2 new linebackers for the most part, new fs and ss starting for us. I believe 2 new starters on the o-line. Also a rb that has only two career starts. You guys can be pissed at the coaches all you want, but we need to support the players, especially the seniors.
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jdotss:
This isn’t tee ball; you miss the bigger picture. Do you know WHY we had so many new defensive starters, including walk-ons? Because once again there’s been major attrition the past two seasons and we’ve got NOBODY behind them. That’s on the coaches.
Couple that with crapping out last year with “all that NFL talent” and you decide how impressed you are with this year’s staff – and don’t forget the mental and psychological no-shows this year: Minny, PSU, MSU, Nebbie. Oh wait, that’s nothing to do with the coaches; it’s their jobs to say “oh well, we tried anyway”…..
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The last thing the Hawks need is fair-weather fans talking trash and telling people to not support the bowl game! How can any true Hawk fan call their team mediocre in context in which you have and show nothing but disrespect! Any true Hawk fan knew that with the amount of talent we graduated last year, this year would be a tough one! I believe we had a pretty good year if you take a realistic look at just how young the talent is! All that put aside please support the Hawks through the good and the bad! That’s the loyalty a real fan possess! Some people just make me sad!
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143:
Please see my response above to jdotts.
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Hey westside
Are you old enough to remember when Lute Olson was pressured out of the Iowa job in BB because he couldn’t “win the big one”? How about Tom Davis? Losing those men really helped the BB program at Iowa didn’t it? Kirk Ferentz and his staff are the REASON that guys like you are so unhappy with a couple of 7-5 seasons. Fans at Iowa State are thrilled with a season that might end up 6 and 6. Get some perspective! Good coaches leave when they feel their fan base no longer appreciates their efforts. I am sure other programs would be very happy to have Kirk Ferentz!
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david:
Yes, I do remember Lute leaving – but to blame it all on the fans is ridiculous. Arizona was primed to explode, and they did. Blaming fans is lazy and uninformed.
Dr. Tom got progressively further away from winning a lot of big games once Raveling’s players graduated. He compounded the problem by allowed the best talent in-state to go to Kansas without much of a fight. That’s what got him canned – to even lower depths, unfortunately.
Yes, KF is the reason that we’re unhappy with 7-5. After 3 straight years of 10-11 wins (02-04), we’ve had exactly ONE in the past seven! Everyone wants to talk about how hard recruiting is = “we’re just little ‘ol Iowa” = yet in the next breath brag about all the NFL talent we produce. Yet with “all that NFL talent”, we’ve lost at least 4 games a year (6 times five or more) five of the last seven seasons.
When Hayden had down years, much could readily be attributed to staff transistions, as he had umpteen coaches leave for promotions around the country. How many of KF’s crew has been promoted elsewhere? 3? 1? Yet the staff proudly does the practically the same stuff year after year = except the most of the last 7 years, it’s produced mediocre results on the football field. I care more about wins and losses at Iowa than how many guys we have playing on Sundays.
Perspective? Mine is that this staff did well in the past but judging by recent records, is either growing stale or complacent. You can keep them up on a pedestal all you’d like – but some of us simply look at the numbers and believe something different and question why there’s been such a falloff.
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I think the point that westside is trying to make, albeit in an odd approach, is that this program has gone 7-5 two seasons in a row. Once with a roster full of NFL talent and now with a roster full of greenies.
If 7-5 is all we can expect, regardless of talent level, then we are justified to question authority.
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Well, Westside, you have “selective memory” on both Lute and Tom Davis. That being said, you remind me
of some of the high school parents I met during my 36 years of coaching. Most parents thought their kids were the most talented in the conference. After all, they were THEIR kids, and NO OTHER parents could have equal or better talent at other schools. I understand that philosophy of parents but not of “informed” sports fans. I believe it was just a couple of years ago that Iowa won the Orange Bowl and also defeated a fairly talented Missouri team last season in bowl competition. Don’t you think there are fans just like you at Indiana, Illinois, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, Iowa State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, etc. etc.? Can they all expect to win 9-10 games each year? Should they not expect, or be satisfied with, a 7-5 year a few times or–heaven forbid– a losing season once in awhile? Kirk Ferentz was a good coach 3 years ago and is a good coach now. He did not go to sleep one night and wake up stupid! And I am as much a Hawkeye fan as you: and I, and many like me, do not want to see the “naysayers” force a coach like Kirk Ferentz to seek different employment. There were many years that he could have left Iowa after outstanding seasons. He stuck with the Hawks; we need to stick with him!
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By the way, Westside, you like to throw numbers out like they are so terrible in the last few years. Iowa has a combined record of 35-16 in the last 4 years. If they happen to win a bowl game this year it will be 36-16 or an average of 9-4. That’s not too shabby for a staff that has become “complacent.” Ferentz is 6-3 in bowl competition; not too bad either. That’s what I mean about perspective!
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david:
Thanks for both of your posts. I love discussing the Hawks with those with a different (wrong?) opinion. The “average” is 9-4 with a win – correct. That ACTUAL is much worse per season save 2009, which skews the average. If you go back to 2005 (which was the end of the 3-year run of 10 or more wins = which has caused much of the consternation with me and others), the overall record is 55-34, which is an average of about 8-5 = not bad, but 2009 REALLY helps that average too (but not as much as it does when it’s part of the 4 seasons you stated).
So based on previous records, you can surmise the KF administration two ways: you can say they overachieved in 02-04 and we should just accept the fact that Iowa is a 7-5/8-4 school with very occasional 10-win seasons; or, Iowa is 9-3 (average) school with more frequent (NOT every year!) 10-11 win seasons. I’m not calling for KF to be fired – I’m just asking how, with “all that NFL talent” that we’ve had the past several year how we’ve had two 8-win seasons (including bowl games) and only one 10+ win season.
I just expect more – not because we always have 5-star recruits, but because this staff USED to have the same kind of talent and win more than they do now. While the competition level in the Big Ten increased even more this year with Nebraska joining, it overall was down compared to previous years. With our schedule, I have higher hopes than 7-5 (9-3/10-2 was more like it). Considering how many games we seemed to “no-show” in most facets (Minny, PSU, MSU – would have lost anyway probably, Nebbie) and the hot-and-cold performance of our strongest unit all season = offense = despite our obvious talent levels forces me to question the direction of the program.
As a coach you know how statistics can be misleading. You also know more about the inner workings about the team atmosphere – though as an official for over 10 years, I’d like to think I could notice certain characteristics that were common in winning teams. I certainly can’t pinpoint such things for KF and staff – but then again, I’m just a fan and it’s their job to figure out what’s not working and take corrective action(s). Sometimes fresh ideas and energy can help – but you can’t get fresh ideas if the staff rarely changes/moves on.
As for the high school parent attitude: seen it, HEARD it, ejected it, etc….of course, as a coach you can’t take step #3!
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Back out the 1-AA teams and cupcakes that we pay a six or seven figure fee to come in and laydown for a home game and what does that record look like? I bet it is a lot closer to .500. Or are you on of the brain surgeons that celebrates a win against Tenn. Tech or La.-Monroe like a BCS Game. Which games can you point to this year and say that you are proud of? Pitt? The only reason Iowa came back in that game is because Pitt stop applying pressure and dropped back into a prevent too early.
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Nah, leave them in. They do what they have to do to generate money – and losing non-conference games won’t do it – even to strong competition. There’s no way people would ever had a good feeling about the team or program if we started every Big Ten season with a losing record – even it was to USC, Alabama, etc. I don’t hold the patsies against KF because what he does isn’t special to Iowa or anyone else. The glorified scrimmages actually ARE good for them IF they actually work in young guys to give them game reps and ready them for the rest of the season at different positions.
Although, it didn’t make a dang bit of difference this year at RB, safety, etc.
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EVERYONE expects more and wants more (especially the coaching staff), but reasonable people understand when you do not always GET what you expect. The numbers are the numbers. Don’t “skew” the math to make your point more plausible. Yeah, I am proud of the Pitt win, the Michigan win, the Purdue(on the road) win, the Northwestern win–actually all the wins and even some of the losses. Let’s see, Iowa has defeated Michigan 3 times in a row now?? Of course this team underperformed at times: all teams do! They also over-performed at times. By the way, “cupcakes” are getting harder to find. I don’t think UNI would appreciate being called a cupcake. I think the Hawks were fortunate to defeat them two years ago when the Hawks won the Orange Bowl. ISU barely beat them this year. “youwantthetruth,” I find it interesting that Iowa won against Pitt because Pitt screwed up, not that Iowa performed well. You just can’t find anything good to say about this team can you. And, of course, it is the coaching staff that is at fault for all losses, and the opposing coach at fault for all Iowa wins. Glad you were never my boss!
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david:
Stop using logic, common sense and rational observations. They have NO PLACE here in an anonymous commenting forum!
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