Win at Texas could be program changing...

[AmesCloneFan]

... from a recruiting standpoint. It has been said several times that a big draw for potential recruits in Texas is that we play Texas schools and that if a player comes to play for ISU then that player's family will have multiple opportunities over his career at ISU to watch him play locally. From here on out, that draw changes from simply having the chance to watch a game (but probably a loss) to watching that family member legitimately compete and have a good chance to win against the likes of UT, Tech, A&M, etc.

Yes, there's a little bit of Kool-aide talking here, but there's no arguing that CPR will give these guys a good chance to win against any Big 12 opponent, and that will make a world of difference on the recruiting trail.

 

[GoShow97]

Huh, I guess I never thought of it this way. I'm glad you shared this perspective. Great insight.

 

[RavenousUte]

I don't see what the hoopla is about..

I predicted you guys would steal one of your next two road games two weeks ago...

 

[CloneState1028]

This win won't impact this year's recruiting class as much as it will next year's.

 

[helechopper]

This win won't impact this year's recruiting class as much as it will next year's.

Correct. Even if we don't go bowling this season (I think we will), we'll have something to hang our hat on. Something that definitively says our football program is headed in the right direction.

 

[jsmith86]

Also, next year we play them at home. And now we know it can be done.

 

[acgclone]

I doubt many recruits look too closely at one game. We are starting to see a trend though, that we can upset good teams on the road (NU last year included), which is a positive.

I do think that a win like this can spur someone who is sitting on the fence, or leaning towards committing anyway.

Another trend that yesterday's win can help is bowl games. If we can go 2 for 2 in CPR's first two seasons, I think that is a very good trend to help with recruiting.

 

[Tre4ISU]

anyone who thinks that win doesn't matter, is out of touch with high school kids. Kids in Texas and out of Texas saw that. Perhaps there were even guys at the game who ISU may be interested in. That win matters much more than any other win we could have and it matters more than Nebraska of last year. Sure, the score was close but we, IMO looked liked Texas and they looked like your daddy's ISU. There was constant pressure. Our DBs made plays they should and our WRs made the plays we needed to beat a team like Texas. Many have given Arnaud a bunch of grief. He's not the best QB to ever play the game but he has thrown numerous balls like he did to Lenz yesterday that a play wasn't made on. I will confess I only watched about the first third of the game. I was at another homecoming with friends, but I saw the throw he made to ARob early. A little 10 yard lob over a defender but just low enough he could grab it. On a scale of 1-10, that pass is a nine on the difficulty scale. It's so short with so little speed on it, it's just a tough throw when you are trying to play in game speed. I won't say he was the reason we won. He wasn't. We won for the same reasons every other team wins. We won, possibly even dominated the line on both sides of the ball. Lattimer looked to be a huge handful on the outside. His speed and the way he used his hands were very impressive. It's not like he was going up against a former 2 star tackle from NIU either. He was going up against a guy that had a little talent. If he continues to do what he has did there, he gives us a lot better shot at winning games.

 

[Tre4ISU]

I doubt many recruits look too closely at one game. We are starting to see a trend though, that we can upset good teams on the road (NU last year included), which is a positive.

I do think that a win like this can spur someone who is sitting on the fence, or leaning towards committing anyway.

Another trend that yesterday's win can help is bowl games. If we can go 2 for 2 in CPR's first two seasons, I think that is a very good trend to help with recruiting.

I don't think it's like kids are looking to see who won the Texas ISU game. I think it more like this: They sit down in the afternoon to watch football. On the halftime show they see what happened. All of a sudden they go from not know who the Cyclones even are to having that little memory. If you are a high school football player in Texas, you remember who beats Texas, especially if it's someone like ISU. I think sometimes people underestimate how important football in Texas is. It's not like Iowa. Some of those kids are perhaps kids we will offer or contact this spring. They may be sophomores or juniors right now. I don't think its about swaying a kid to us. It's about those kids having something to identify ISU with.

 

[jsmith86]

I don't think it's like kids are looking to see who won the Texas ISU game. I think it more like this: They sit down in the afternoon to watch football. On the halftime show they see what happened. All of a sudden they go from not know who the Cyclones even are to having that little memory. If you are a high school football player in Texas, you remember who beats Texas, especially if it's someone like ISU. I think sometimes people underestimate how important football in Texas is. It's not like Iowa. Some of those kids are perhaps kids we will offer or contact this spring. They may be sophomores or juniors right now. I don't think its about swaying a kid to us. It's about those kids having something to identify ISU with.

This. I went to school in Oklahoma up until the end of jr. high and then came to Iowa for high school. The 8th grade team in Ok could probably have put up a good fight against my high school's varsity team. It is insane how devoted the players here in the south are to the sport.

 

[AggieClone]

As someone with kids in HS here in TX, I see 2-4 D1 players on the field each week between our local team and their opponent. You're familiar with one from this part of Texas (Tiller). Bottom line, Texas has 25M people, and football is #1, #2, and #3. A&M and tu only have so many scholarships, and Texas is big enough that Ticka-Tech may as well be in Iowa. TCU, Boise State, and Utah have shown teams can be built with recruits from elsewhere. TV exposure and the ability of family and friends to see them play live a couple times a year is a big deal if you're trying to convince a kid to move 1000 miles from home. Nebraska and Colorado are making big mistakes, the recruiting pipeline to Texas will close, and I doubt made up for with California and Florida. I'm sure CPR can convince kids they're wanted at ISU, but they need to be primed to consider an offer.

 

[justcynn]

The program IS CHANGING, the Texas win is just more evidence of that. There will be more bumps, but the highs are higher than any high ever before, the lows while familiar will fade once we get more CPR guys in here and build the depth necessary to bring it like we did against Texas for 13 games. I don't buy the idea that we saved up for this effort, but at the same time - its hard to overacheive in every effort - getting the Roster up to level of the Coaching will be huge for the future of Cyclone Football. A win against Texas helps recruiting immensely, but is just more evidence of where this program is headed!

 

[mustangcy]

The program IS CHANGING, the Texas win is just more evidence of that. There will be more bumps, but the highs are higher than any high ever before, the lows while familiar will fade once we get more CPR guys in here and build the depth necessary to bring it like we did against Texas for 13 games. I don't buy the idea that we saved up for this effort, but at the same time - its hard to overacheive in every effort - getting the Roster up to level of the Coaching will be huge for the future of Cyclone Football. A win against Texas helps recruiting immensely, but is just more evidence of where this program is headed!

Man, great post. My thoughts exactly! It could be another 2-3 more years though before we really see what CPR can do...may more. It took Gary Pinkle about 6-7 years before Mizzou really turned the corner. I'd imagine it might take CPR the same...maybe a few years less.

 

[justcynn]

Man, great post. My thoughts exactly! It could be another 2-3 more years though before we really see what CPR can do...may more. It took Gary Pinkle about 6-7 years before Mizzou really turned the corner. I'd imagine it might take CPR the same...maybe a few years less.

I look at what he is doing with what probably could be called the 10th or 11th most talented roster in the league and think about the possibilities of what can be done with a 5th or 6th most talented. Winning the Big 12 in the new format would be absolutely amazing, I think you are right its probably 5-7 years away. In the current format - possibly could have been sooner, heck we were close to playing in the one Game that mattered before, and could be close again this year. Playing everyone will make it much harder though in the future.

 

[CycloneErik]

I look at what he is doing with what probably could be called the 10th or 11th most talented roster in the league and think about the possibilities of what can be done with a 5th or 6th most talented. Winning the Big 12 in the new format would be absolutely amazing, I think you are right its probably 5-7 years away. In the current format - possibly could have been sooner, heck we were close to playing in the one Game that mattered before, and could be close again this year. Playing everyone will make it much harder though in the future.

In the current format, we'd be really close already.

Still, I know they're all tough, but CPR has a great record against the state of Texas. The state of Oklahoma is a problem, but he'll overcome that.

I think winning the whole thing is probably 5-6 years away, but we can make a run sooner than that. Good times ahead!

 

[RavenousUte]

As someone with kids in HS here in TX, I see 2-4 D1 players on the field each week between our local team and their opponent. You're familiar with one from this part of Texas (Tiller). Bottom line, Texas has 25M people, and football is #1, #2, and #3. A&M and tu only have so many scholarships, and Texas is big enough that Ticka-Tech may as well be in Iowa. TCU, Boise State, and Utah have shown teams can be built with recruits from elsewhere. TV exposure and the ability of family and friends to see them play live a couple times a year is a big deal if you're trying to convince a kid to move 1000 miles from home. Nebraska and Colorado are making big mistakes, the recruiting pipeline to Texas will close, and I doubt made up for with California and Florida. I'm sure CPR can convince kids they're wanted at ISU, but they need to be primed to consider an offer.

Personally, I don't think Colorado is making a mistake... The Big XII media contract is broken, more now with Texas and OU getting their own TV networks. Moving to Pac 12, commissioner Larry Scott has already hinted that the new TV contract will give equal billing to all the teams, just like the TV receipts are going to be split equally. That means equal media exposure for all the teams.

Now that the Pac 12 has a Conference Championship Game, expect them to move ahead of the SEC as the top conference. Already, this year they are a stronger conference with more parity than the SEC. Part of that is their conference wide tradition of having tough OOC schedules. You can knock Oregon State for their record but throw out Sagarin's garbage ratings and look at the teams they have played.

Tough opponents make for a better football team and I hope the Clones continue to schedule tough opponents, even though like Utah they will only have 3 OOC games per year.

Yaman made a really good point about this game being huge as recruiting goes. There is plenty of loathing for Texas' arrogance and kids are even going to watch rebroadcasts of the game just to see Texas get waxed at home. I know I missed the 1st quarter and am going to watch the game tonight at midnight here. How many people nationwide do you think didn't even know about the Cyclones and Utes being our respective mascots??

With the information age being what it is cable, satellite & the internet has made even more games accessible to watch. No more are people limited to games on the big 3 broadcasting networks like when I was a kid. Notre Dame is learning that hard lesson.

 

[InCytful]

Personally, I don't think Colorado is making a mistake... The Big XII media contract is broken, more now with Texas and OU getting their own TV networks. Moving to Pac 12, commissioner Larry Scott has already hinted that the new TV contract will give equal billing to all the teams, just like the TV receipts are going to be split equally. That means equal media exposure for all the teams.

Now that the Pac 12 has a Conference Championship Game, expect them to move ahead of the SEC as the top conference. Already, this year they are a stronger conference with more parity than the SEC. Part of that is their conference wide tradition of having tough OOC schedules. You can knock Oregon State for their record but throw out Sagarin's garbage ratings and look at the teams they have played.

Tough opponents make for a better football team and I hope the Clones continue to schedule tough opponents, even though like Utah they will only have 3 OOC games per year.

Yaman made a really good point about this game being huge as recruiting goes. There is plenty of loathing for Texas' arrogance and kids are even going to watch rebroadcasts of the game just to see Texas get waxed at home. I know I missed the 1st quarter and am going to watch the game tonight at midnight here. How many people nationwide do you think didn't even know about the Cyclones and Utes being our respective mascots??

With the information age being what it is cable, satellite & the internet has made even more games accessible to watch. No more are people limited to games on the big 3 broadcasting networks like when I was a kid. Notre Dame is learning that hard lesson.

Much as I like Utah and Oregon (and dislike USC, though they're good when not on probation), I think it'll be a long, long time before the PAC 12/10 is better conference than the SEC. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it, but the overall level of the top half of the SEC in most years is better than the other conferences. I'd love to see Oregon scoring a point per minute on Gene Chizik's boys, (or Utah), but I just can't see the SEC being number 2 conference that soon. More athletes still, and tons of media bias.

 

[Rickybaby]

The key to improving recruiting in texas is sustained improvement. Last year we over achieved; went to a bowl game and won there too. This year we beat TT and now we beat UT. I believe we have opened some eyes were they were closed before. Do well again next year and I think we will start pulling in some of these better recruits. Just my opinion.

 

[aauummm]

I don't see what the hoopla is about..

I predicted you guys would steal one of your next two road games two weeks ago...

Yep, and that was a great call! Good one!

 

[DurangoCy]

Who messes with Texas??

Paul Rhoads messes with Texas.

Hilarious.
:smile: