Playing 6 road games

[LarryISU]

I agree that the Big 12 def. coddles Texas, and for that matter all of the teams from down south, but I still don't see us getting a major advantage. Now, if it's as cold as that KU game...then okay. I'll say we have a leg up on anybody that's south of the Kansas border in that case. As far as the Texas game on Halloween, it was awesome beating them up, but they were terrible that year as far as TX standards go. (Finished 5-7).

For the sake of looking it up. Other games we've lost in November/Late October against the southern teams: Tech in '14, TCU in '13, A&M in '08, and Tech in '06.

Obviously it is not an "always, no exceptions" type of observation. But I was at both of those games I cited (Texas and Texas Tech) and what I saw was a bunch of kids from the South who were mentally and physically hampered by the cold weather. I can't prove it of course, but I thought it was clearly evident.

Back more to the original topic, I thought it was interesting that if you go to Cyclones.com and look at our future schedules, for 2019 they have us at home with Iowa and UNI. Then they have the third out of conference game simply listed as "at ______."

So clearly there is an intentional effort by ISU to always have two home games and one away game for out of conference. Thus we are always going to have only the 6 home games every other year. I guess living in Omaha I see the Huskers every year with 7 home games and it seems such an advantage for them, I have often wondered why would a team do anything else? Surely our players would rather have more home games if given the option.

 

[chuckd4735]

We don't pay FCS teams close to $1 mil to come to JTS. As I posted, we paid NDSU $350,000, and I believe we pay UNI $500,000 for this year's game.

Yeah I have no idea what we pay teams. I'm sure there are numbers that would support playing 7 home games a year, I'm just not sure what they are. Also, I'm confident JP would be doing it if it would make ISU money.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Probably like the road test early in the season. Also, helps build strength of schedule which is something you need if you are a legit team looking to win championships.

 

[Jjflm62]

I see a lot of complaints about playing UNI. Would you all rather play a decent FCS school (UNI) or a lower tier FBS school (like Kentucky)?

 

[jkclone]

I see a lot of complaints about playing UNI. Would you all rather play a decent FCS school (UNI) or a lower tier FBS school (like Kentucky)?

I'd rather play a team like Kentucky. The real goal is to play poor FCS schools or poor FBS schools in G5

 

[Cydkar]

Not a big fan of playing Northern Iowa.

Coach Farley always has his teams extra motivated when they play Power 5 schools, and then his teams tank after that. Last season, the Panthers preceded to lose 4 of their next 5 games after beating us. And it's not just us. In 2012, UNI lost to Wisconsin by only 5 points and to Iowa by only 11 points. They then preceded to lose 4 of their next 5 games as well.

I'm going to disagree for 2 immediate reasons:

1) We've lost to UNI because we pretty much sucked (our fault). Bringing up the opposition's motivation for us losing the game is the weakest of sauces, even if true.

2) Your post sounds identical to Hawk fans talking about ISU. I can't say much more than that.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

I think it's been proven that paying someone to come here for a 7th game instead of doing a two year home and home would lose ISU money. Until we get to the point where we need that 7th home game for a better bowl game, it's pointless to pay for it.

Even if this is true, it wouldn't be pointless for a few reasons: 7 home games has a higher chance of more wins than 6 home games, 7 home games is better for the fans, and 7 home games would be pretty huge for the local Ames economy too. Even if it does cost the AD some money, they're getting a real return out of it.

We basically have 11 games locked in with Big 12, Iowa, and annual FCS opponent. I think we should at least try to get 2-for-1s against MAC/Sun Belt/MWC type schools for that 12th game instead of home-and-homes. Ideally, we would switch to one-off buy games with them all played at Jack Trice.

 

[Tornado man]

I see a lot of complaints about playing UNI. Would you all rather play a decent FCS school (UNI) or a lower tier FBS school (like Kentucky)?

Why would Kentucky play at JTS?

 

[CyBobby]

I see a lot of complaints about playing UNI. Would you all rather play a decent FCS school (UNI) or a lower tier FBS school (like Kentucky)?

Put me down for Kentucky btw in the 1975 season we played UCLA in LA and Florida State in Tallahassee........I would much rather play a lower p5 team than a cross state rival who has everything to gain and nothing to lose......and when UNI does win they bad mouth us for one whole stinkin year......

Much rather lose to Kentucky, UCLA...or Florida State than lose at home to UNI...................

 

[jkclone]

I'm going to disagree for 2 immediate reasons:

1) We've lost to UNI because we pretty much sucked (our fault). Bringing up the opposition's motivation for us losing the game is the weakest of sauces, even if true.

2) Your post sounds identical to Hawk fans talking about ISU. I can't say much more than that.

To the first point yes a lot is our fault, but you also have to look at how that hurts efforts to build something.

To the second point no it is nothing alike. Iowa fans complain about us but we are both p5 schools. UNI is a FCS school. They complain about playing a team that is equal levels to them. We are complaining about playing a school two levels below us. Also it isn't that we don't want to play them. We just think we need wins until we can sustain quality play.

 

[dualthreat]

I think a couple things are being overlooked.
1. Finding a MAC school to agree to a 2-1 or 3-1 or 2-0 is going to be tough.
2. If you do find a school that will agree to it, we're going to have to pay them much more than standard rate. Home football games offer much more to a school/town than just gate sales.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

I think a couple things are being overlooked.
1. Finding a MAC school to agree to a 2-1 or 3-1 or 2-0 is going to be tough.
2. If you do find a school that will agree to it, we're going to have to pay them much more than standard rate. Home football games offer much more to a school/town than just gate sales.

For #2, why? The "standard rate" already bakes in all of that stuff. There are tons of G5 schools that take money for these games, we would just be another school in the market for them.

It is actually more common for Sun Belt/MAC teams to get a buy game without a home game in their contracts with Power 5 schools than for them to get a home-and-home like ISU currently does. ISU is doing the less common thing as it is.

 

[Cydkar]

To the first point yes a lot is our fault, but you also have to look at how that hurts efforts to build something.

To the second point no it is nothing alike. Iowa fans complain about us but we are both p5 schools. UNI is a FCS school. They complain about playing a team that is equal levels to them. We are complaining about playing a school two levels below us. Also it isn't that we don't want to play them. We just think we need wins until we can sustain quality play.

I would describe what it sounds like to whine about playing an FCS school but this is a family-friendly forum.

 

[chuckd4735]

Even if this is true, it wouldn't be pointless for a few reasons: 7 home games has a higher chance of more wins than 6 home games, 7 home games is better for the fans, and 7 home games would be pretty huge for the local Ames economy too. Even if it does cost the AD some money, they're getting a real return out of it.

We basically have 11 games locked in with Big 12, Iowa, and annual FCS opponent. I think we should at least try to get 2-for-1s against MAC/Sun Belt/MWC type schools for that 12th game instead of home-and-homes. Ideally, we would switch to one-off buy games with them all played at Jack Trice.

The AD doesn't get any kick back from the Ames economy. Also, we currently don't have a home field advantage in football, so it pointless to pay money to have an extra game. Get this team to the point where it's making a difference and I'm all about it. But right now, it seems pointless to pay for an extra home game.

 

[chuckd4735]

For #2, why? The "standard rate" already bakes in all of that stuff. There are tons of G5 schools that take money for these games, we would just be another school in the market for them.

It is actually more common for Sun Belt/MAC teams to get a buy game without a home game in their contracts with Power 5 schools than for them to get a home-and-home like ISU currently does. ISU is doing the less common thing as it is.

Some of those schools benefit in money and recruiting, as well as exposure when they go to a bigger name school. ISU doesn't offer much, so the price becomes higher for ISU to pay G5 schools.

 

[CloneConer]

I'm also going to throw out that game attendance is going to be much higher for UNI, so we probably pull in much more revenue playing them than out-of-state opponents with no history or ties to our program.

 

[theshadow]

I can remember when the grate Donnie Duncan had 8 home games

Never happened.

1979 (6/5) - Big 8 4H/3A; Non-conf 2H/2A
1980 (6/5) - Big 8 3H/4A; Non-conf 3H/1A
1981 (7/4) - Big 8 4H/3A; Non-conf 3H/1A (first home game vs Iowa)
1982 (5/6) - Big 8 3H/4A; Non-conf 2H/2A (at Iowa, at Tennessee)

 

[OnlyCyclones]

The AD doesn't get any kick back from the Ames economy. Also, we currently don't have a home field advantage in football, so it pointless to pay money to have an extra game. Get this team to the point where it's making a difference and I'm all about it. But right now, it seems pointless to pay for an extra home game.

All things being equal, we definitely have a better chance of winning at home than away. When you're winning three games per year, it might not feel that way, but it's true. As to whether it's worth it, I'm trusting Pollard. If Campbell takes the program to the heights we think he can, maybe we won't have to in the future.

 

[OnlyCyclones]

I really like the game at Akron. It's financially savvy, it's smart for recruiting, and in the short run, if we can't win at Akron and finish with five wins, we didn't deserve a bowl anyway.

 

[chuckd4735]

All things being equal, we definitely have a better chance of winning at home than away. When you're winning three games per year, it might not feel that way, but it's true. As to whether it's worth it, I'm trusting Pollard. If Campbell takes the program to the heights we think he can, maybe we won't have to in the future.

A little over 60% of our wins since CPR took over have come at JTS. I agree we have a better chance at home, but our home record in that time has been horrible.