Who do we have a chance to beat?

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ketelmeister

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2006
4,269
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63
We have a chance:
North Dakota State- Home
Kent State- Home
Army Home
Kansas State
Baylor- Home
Texas A and M
Colorado- Home
Little chance
Iowa- Home
Nebraska
Oklahoma State- Home
Mizzou
Kansas
 

jsmith86

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2006
7,629
250
63
Cedar Rapids
We have a chance:
North Dakota State- Home
Kent State- Home
Army Home
Kansas State
Baylor- Home
Colorado- Home
Iowa- Home---due to the fact that we have not lost here since '03 and it is our rivalry game, teams sometimes have more motivation here than during the rest of the season.

We Maybe have a chance:
Texas A and M

Little chance
Nebraska
Oklahoma State- Home
Mizzou
Kansas
 

SeattleClone

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,189
452
83
Good chance:
North Dakota State- Home
Army - Home
Kansas State - KC
Colorado- Home

50/50 chance:
Iowa - Home
Kent State- Away
Baylor - Home
Texas A&M - Away

Little chance
Nebraska - Away
Oklahoma State- Home
Mizzou - Away
Kansas - Away

Play the odds on the 50/50 and that's 6-6. I'd take it. Right now it's easy to say I know better than to expect it, but we'll see how grounded I am mid-August when the summer won't end fast enough.
 

kucyclone

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2008
2,647
128
63
Seattle
I'm not sure what gives ISU better than a 50% chance against KSU. They return almost everyone except their QB from a team that was better than ISU a year ago, and lost an incompetent coach for one of the better coaches historically. I assume KSU will be favored.

Also, I'm not sure ISU would be favored over Colorado either. They should be solid.
 

cstrunk

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2006
14,244
4,499
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Longview, TX
Great chance:
North Dakota State - Home (win)
Army - Home (win)

Good chance:
Kent State - Away (win)
Kansas State - Neutral (home) (win)
Colorado - Home (win this or Iowa)

50/50 chance:
Iowa - Home (win this or Colorado)

Little chance:
Baylor - Home (loss)
Missouri - Away (loss)
Texas A&M - Away (loss)

Slim chance:
Nebraska - Away (loss)
Kansas - Away (loss)
Oklahoma State - Home (loss)

I think we'll win 4 games... maybe 5. More is possible but can not be expected with a new staff.
 

SeattleClone

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2006
6,189
452
83
I'm not sure what gives ISU better than a 50% chance against KSU. They return almost everyone except their QB from a team that was better than ISU a year ago, and lost an incompetent coach for one of the better coaches historically. I assume KSU will be favored.

Also, I'm not sure ISU would be favored over Colorado either. They should be solid.

Considering we were 3 yards (twice) from beating them at CU this year, I like our chances next year. Our players will have massive chips on their shoulders, and our coach will still have both feet in the door. Can't say KSU scares me that much either, but it would be better at home.
 

benjay

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2006
5,141
372
83
I'm not sure what gives ISU better than a 50% chance against KSU. They return almost everyone except their QB from a team that was better than ISU a year ago, and lost an incompetent coach for one of the better coaches historically. I assume KSU will be favored.

Also, I'm not sure ISU would be favored over Colorado either. They should be solid.

I agree about KSU. I don't know how we would be favored to win. About Colorado though... they were supposed to be "solid" this year. We almost beat them in Boulder. That's saying something.
 

Clone9

Well-Known Member
Nov 12, 2006
3,201
959
113
Boston, MA
The only games I see as nearly sure losses are Ok St and at KU. I think we will have a decent chance at the rest of the games. I predict we probably won't even win a majority of the games, but I don't view any of those other games as certain losses.
 

Wesley

Well-Known Member
Apr 12, 2006
70,923
546
113
Omaha
Anybody ready to go to Shreveport? Have a new Dir of football Operations that sounds good.
 

Clonehomer

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
21,976
17,701
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I'm not sure what gives ISU better than a 50% chance against KSU. They return almost everyone except their QB from a team that was better than ISU a year ago, and lost an incompetent coach for one of the better coaches historically. I assume KSU will be favored.

Also, I'm not sure ISU would be favored over Colorado either. They should be solid.

According to their last depth chart they appear to lose 3 offensive linemen and 2/3 of their defensive linemen. Plus a starting WR. From my count they lose 8/22 starters. I wouldn't say they return almost everyone.
 

CubsnClones

Member
Dec 18, 2008
292
6
18
West Des Moines
Watch Nebraska to be a 6 and 6 team next year at best. They'll be minus their only two offensive threats in Nate Swift and Joe Gantz.

I see Nebraska having more than they can handle from ISU next year...:yes:
 

CarolinaCy

Well-Known Member
Apr 18, 2008
4,518
219
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Watch Nebraska to be a 6 and 6 team next year at best. They'll be minus their only two offensive threats in Nate Swift and Joe Gantz.

I see Nebraska having more than they can handle from ISU next year...:yes:

Also gone are Marlon Lucky (underutilized), Todd Peterson, 2 o-linemen (Slauson and Murtha), maybe 3 d-linemen in Steinkuhler, Potter, and Suh (if he goes pro).

Pelini inherited a decent amount of talent from Callahan. That's a ton of production to replace for next year. I think it's pretty likely they take a step back next season.
 

LeBron

Well-Known Member
Nov 12, 2008
1,099
28
48
North Dakota State (W) There's no way we should lose
Iowa (W*) Maybe. We don't usually lose at home to Iowa
Kent State (W) Probably
Army (W) Probably

We might be looking at a 4-0 start

Kansas State in KC (L*) Maybe. Should be close
Kansas (L) Probably not
Baylor (W*) Maybe since it's at home
Nebraska (L) Don't think so
Texas A&M (L*) Another close one
Oklahoma State (L) No
Colorado (W) We should win this
Missouri (L*) Can't really see us winning in Columbia, but should be close

*= Game could go either way

So best case scenario- 7-5
Worst case scenario- 4-8
 

Omaha Cy

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 1, 2007
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Mizzou should be moved to a winnable game...possible inexperienced soph qb, and all the big guns in the passing game are moving on.

Mizzou will be back, but most likely take a year to rebuild.
 

kucyclone

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2008
2,647
128
63
Seattle
I think most of you are focusing too much on the number of starters other teams are losing. To be fair, the media also focuses too much on this. For instance, KU lost only two defensive players (both starters) on the two-deep from it's outstanding 2007 defense to 2008, but undoubtedly got much worse. On the other hand, KU lost half of their offensive starters from '07 to '08, but hummed along just fine.

Assuming good coaching (and now that Ron Prince is out of the Big XII, I think everyone in the league has it), and unless they are replacing elite players (Jeremy Maclin is going to be hard to replace; Nate Swift shouldn't be as hard, etc.), it's not too hard to find an adequate replacement for most starters.

I think our focus when predicting next season should instead be on our own team, which for some reason is talked about a lot less on this board than other teams' losses. I think our offense should be fine; we have good young players all over the field. However, our defense was not good last year (notwithstanding the Iowa game and the 1st half of the KU game). And I don't see many players who can get us to the level we need to be to consistently win games. If LJ can take the next step and become a lockdown corner who we can roll coverage away from, and if we can get some consistent pressure on the QB (Chris Lyle looks like he could take the next step and be a consistent force in the backfield), then we could be a decent defensive team. Going off of what we saw last year on defense, though, I'm not sure how people are predicting that we win half our games this year, despite the fact that we lost our last ten games. Add the fact that coaching changes rarely generate more wins in year 1, and I don't see us winning any more than 3-4 games.
 

gocubs2118

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2006
18,593
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Illinois
I'm not sure what gives ISU better than a 50% chance against KSU. They return almost everyone except their QB from a team that was better than ISU a year ago, and lost an incompetent coach for one of the better coaches historically. I assume KSU will be favored.

Also, I'm not sure ISU would be favored over Colorado either. They should be solid.

KSU is going to be pretty damn bad next year. Just because you return everyone doesn't mean your going to get better at all. I give us better than 50/50 odds to beat them next year. Same with Colorado. We should have beaten them this year but of course couldn't hold on to a 4th quarter lead. Maybe I am drinking too much kool aid but I see us winning those 2 games.
 

nickwc

Well-Known Member
Mar 27, 2007
1,586
41
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Denver, CO
i think isu knocks off ksu for sure. not a fact but i just feel that isu will get pumped for a game in kc while im not sure k state can/will. I don't really know why. it just seems like isu gets up for games like this. nfl stadium, isu will feel like they have more to play for. i really want isu to go bowling so bad. my senior year of college, never been to a bowl game while ive been in college.