What is the peak for ISU's football program

[HandSanitizer]

Just like none of us thought we would be a top 5 team in basketball 6 years ago...it's achievable in football too.

it is. just harder as you need like a zillion players and injury chances are greater. and played in the weather.
Plus you have a different element of coaching with coordinators that can cause issues.

just easier to turn a bball program around with 1-2 guys.

 

[CyCy]

There are only 2 ways to predict the future.
A) Look at the past
B) Take a wild guess

Using Method A our peak is about 7-8 wins.
Using Method B our peak is undefeated National Champion

 

[JWIL4CY]

7 wins is our peak, maybe 8 if every bit of luck goes our way.

 

[Clark]

Just like none of us thought we would be a top 5 team in basketball 6 years ago...it's achievable in football too.

who said that? ISU had proven they can have elite basketball teams. That doesn't sound like much of a fan

 

[dualthreat]

Is our peak any lower than Iowa, KANSAS, or Kansas State? They've all won 12 games in the past 10 years.

 

[HandSanitizer]

7 wins is our peak, maybe 8 if every bit of luck goes our way.

I think a peak season would be
go 3-0 non conference


4-4/ 5-4 conf.

so 7-9 would be really good. That gets you fired at a lot of good football schools.

 

[CYCLNST8]

I can guarantee we'd see more wins if we cut down the penalties, out-rushed our opponents, & won the turnover battles. Create fundamentally sound players and you'll eventually see positive results on the field. We also need a staff that exudes confidence even when a few plays don't go our way. This program has historically gotten deflated too easily when something goes wrong and they just allow things to snowball.

 

[Jambalaya]

We peaked when we beat OSU and its all been downhill since.

< This

AJ & Knott were sophomores. J. George was a frosh. After that game, recruiting decent linebackers should of been a EASY sell.

They failed miserably. But the future looks brighter with our roster and a new coaching staff.

I won't miss Rhoads' stubbornness

~ no player's lounge in the FB facilities. (sorry, but players love those amenities)
~ Smoke on the Water. good riddance. simply awful
~ The 'lunch pail' approach. 2-10 and 3-9 seasons to show for it
~ Wearing the hard hat, literally--even walking off the field for the last time in 2015. Stubborn to the end

 

[Judoka]

The SEC is the best league in America

Are we sticking with that still? The top of the SEC West tends to include top teams every year. The SEC East has been average at best and the non elite teams of the SEC West have lots of out of conference losses that don't look all that great.

 

[ISU_phoria]

I don't think the OP is a troll at all - it's an interesting question and since this is a message board, every response should be assumed to be complete speculation/opinion and not taken as fact.

Frankly, I don't think the playoffs are attainable at ISU - maybe a 1 in 500 chance, but that's essentially an impossibility. We've never even won a conference championship.

With that said, I do think sustained success (6-8 wins per year) is certainly possible and I think we could have an occasional 9+ win season. Above that, I just don't see it happening, but I would certainly love to be proven wrong!

 

[DeereClone]

Just like none of us thought we would be a top 5 team in basketball 6 years ago...it's achievable in football too.

Our basketball history, while not anything special on a national scene, is literally 100X better than our football history, so it isn't even a comparison from that angle. On top of that, football is much harder to break through in - you need so many good players to make an impact, where in basketball 1 or 2 really good ones will make a huge difference.

 

[Buster28]

Our peak is the maximum number of wins you can get. Is that realistic? Probably not, but there is no way you can say that's impossible at any point in the future. We have to keep in mind that Iowa State's MOST successful seasons ever have produced only 9 wins and that happened just two times (1906 and 2000). Other programs can rise up from the ashes (or from nothing at all) and see their fortunes change - Kansas State, Kansas, Oregon State, to name but three. It may not last (see today's Kansas football program), but it IS possible to be better than we ever have been before. Is 2016 the year it changes? Who knows? But it's nice to think of the possibilities with a new captain helming the ship.

 

[abd4cy]

I have been wondering this lately and would like some input from the folks here. While this site has varying opinions on almost everything (and that's good), we can all agree that Iowa State will never play for a National Championship in football. In fact, I am convinced that with the balance of power and built-in advantages of southern schools, that Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oregon are the only "cold weather" programs that can do it.

Would be curious to hear the thoughts. My opinion: I think a 10 year period with an average of 7.5 wins per year would be phenomenal. This would likely include a couple 9-10 win seasons along with a couple of 4-5 win seasons.

The SEC is the best league in America, but you could argue ISU has one of the toughest setups in that they are a cold weather team in a warmer weather conference, and getting enough athletes on the defensive side of the ball to stop Big 12 offenses is challenging.

Your thoughts?

The bolded is a line of thinking that really bothers me. Will it be extremely hard, yes, but saying never is absolute. Eventually the playoff will expand to 8, and the Big 12 will expand as well. With the right schedule, and a little luck along the way we could end up in the top 8 and make the playoffs. Then at that point you have a chance. So to answer your question the peak would be a National Championship (its the same for every P5 program in the country, and every Non P5 if the right circumstances present themselves).

I am a firm believer in that you make your own luck, and the first step is to change that line of thinking. If the staff, fans, alumni, admin all start thinking it can be done eventually the players will too. We start winning more and more consistently and the national narrative will change as well. When that happens more talent may come in, and lead to more wins. If this process is done enough ISU can be a winner. I am sorry to go off on a tangent, but speaking in absolutes really bothers me because anything can happen. We have to change whats between our collective ears before anyone else will.

 

[Jambalaya]

my interpretation of a program/record each season

6-6 - mediocre and a 4th-tier bowl
7-5 - decent season (what ISU fans would crave right now)
8-4 - Good team and an Alamo/Holiday bowl type invite
9-3 - Excellent team. (see Ole Miss) Possible Cotton bowl or similar 2-tier
10-2 See above

 

[Cyclonepride]

I think a realistic goal or expectation would be a bowl about every other year, with the occasional 7-8 win season, and the occasional rebuilding year or two where it drops to 4 or 5.

 

[CyBobby]

The Michigan State and Iowa examples prove my point further.

it is harder to win the NC today because you have to win a 2-game playoff against elite competition. Previously, teams like Colorado and Georgia Tech have been able to share NC's by being voted #1 in a poll.

MSU had a great season (probably their best ever), but in the end, they didn't have the horses to compete with Bama.

And for the record, Wisconsin and Nebraska have built in advantages over the ISU's of the world, and I don't expect to see either of them win a title either.

Stick a Fork in Nebraska ...The Huskers are Dead Meat in the B1G..........It will be a Cold Day In Hell before Nebraska ever sees another Natl Champs.

 

[CyBobby]

Our basketball history, while not anything special on a national scene, is literally 100X better than our football history, so it isn't even a comparison from that angle. On top of that, football is much harder to break through in - you need so many good players to make an impact, where in basketball 1 or 2 really good ones will make a huge difference.

A friend of mine and a Kansas B-Ball fan has said that Iowa State is becoming just like KU.....

My response: I cant wait for our er ISU's next regular season basketball title.........

We R a Basketball School quoting Jamie Pollard..............& I Agree

 

[RustShack]

Making the playoffs isn't impossible, just not realistic... At all.

Let's string together a couple 8 or 9 win seasons first.

 

[CYCLNST8]

In the short term, 7-8 win seasons really isn't asking that much and is very much realistically achievable. Let's worry about that before we start talking about conference titles and playoffs. In order to get to a point of sustainable success, our AD has to get better at scheduling non conference opponents since we only get to pick two (the 9 game conference schedule isn't going away with expansion). We need two absolute cupcakes every season.

 

[BigJ4CY]

My thoughts?

Your either a ****** canoe or troll.

And you sir are a ****!