***2021 Iowa HS FB Playoffs Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
Xavier lost when they chickened out on the 2pt attempt after the 1st OT score. No guts, no glory.
The turf is even poor. They don’t have field turf. It’s better than the old carpet but that’s about the extent.
I live near Cedar Falls, and agree that the dome needs to make improvements, but moving it down to DSM would be really disappointing. I think the IAHSAA/IGHSAU (moreso IAHSAA) are incompetent ********, but the one thing they do well is having the state finals in different areas of the state. Basketball/track in DSM, football in CF, volleyball in Cedar Rapids, softball/XC in Fort Dodge, they split up baseball this past year.
There is usually a good portion of the people in the dome that are HS teams going to watch the games all day, or at least it used to be. I think the dome certainly helps that. It still is a goal to get lots of people there. The dome seems to be a good way to achieve that, and I think it being indoors is a big reason.
A lot of times the weather is perfectly fine, but there have been some real nasty, cold days. I loved playing in the dome, but for me, the hotter the better when playing, so I'm not sure I'm very representative.
The new surface is pretty good. It's got a rubber infill like a traditional field turf it just isn't 'overfilled' like a traditional field turf is because it has to come up. Same surface they use in a bunch of buildings including the Dome in St Louis.
The last turf was cheap junk but this stuff is made by Field Turf.
I think Illinois is at soldier field. But that turf is a joke regardless. Nope looks like northern Illinois stadium.
The girls do a good job of mixing it up. The boys are basically DM and the dome since that is the only dome.
This is the sad reality, things like atmosphere aren't a concern with these things. It's going the way of Vets Auditorium. FB will get stuck in a generic venue like basketball and wrestling eventually.
Exactly. This is the weekend that UNI hosted Carolina a few years ago and then had a football game afterwards. We had to move 10 inches of snow to tailgate.
I wasn’t impressed when I was on it and my son said it has an odd feel and it feels like it is giving out and moving underneath you when you run and cut.
I’ve been on it a couple of times. It’s not complete trash but it’s really, really far from good. Watch kids slip on it today during games.
We'll see what we get post-reno. I've seen the renderings and it looks great but it's all in execution. I have zero faith in the administration doing everything correctly so let's hope we get a great contractor that knows what they're doing.
If we don't get it right, it's not just the HS playoffs that are in jeopardy, its the long term viability of UNI Athletics as well.
If we don't get it right, it's not just the HS playoffs that are in jeopardy, its the long term viability of UNI Athletics as well.
As good as UNI football has been, it surprises me that they can’t get better donors or a stronger fan base to pack the dome. Are the grads that cheap or what is going on?
The whole point of moving the semifinals to the dome was to take weather out of the equation. Ironically it seems like more years than not anymore, playoff football weather has been pretty pleasant. The semi's will stay at the dome.
I don't understand why they went with this style of turf when the replaced the old field a few years back.
I would say look at their grads and the careers. The one's I know are not in high paying fields. My uncle is a big supporter and donor (was honored during a game earlier this season) but he is far from Mel and Kathy Weatherwax or the Sukups.
Another interesting metric would be how many of their grads have season tickets/donate to Iowa and ISU.
