Blame Bruce for the current football scheduling

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

alarson

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 15, 2006
53,743
61,537
113
Ankeny
On that same level, playing easier games does nothing to prepare you for Big 12 play. One could argue that the late comeback that fell short against Iowa last year helped ISU beat West Virginia.

Eh. Id argue playing tougher games really doesnt do a whole lot other than making the 12 game grind tougher. The 'late comeback' against iowa was more about iowa going into its prevent d than us coming back.
 

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
Man, you know things are getting concerning when multiple posters don't even want us to schedule UNI.
SMH
Well, we sure can't seem to beat them on a consistent basis. Also, there isn't much more embarrassing that losing to UNI.
 

Goothrey

Well-Known Member
May 5, 2009
4,863
583
113
Dayton via Austin
I'd rather watch ISU play Iowa over some team ranked 100+ out of 125 schools any week of the season. I have no interest in watching us play FCS teams. Not sure how inflating our record is helping build our program "the right way". Beating exceptionally weak teams doesn't say anything.

Baylor didn't become top of the Big 12 because of their cup cake non conference schedule. They became Big 12 champs by beating conference foes. But they are routinely made fun of because of their weak non conference schedule.
 

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
On that same level, playing easier games does nothing to prepare you for Big 12 play. One could argue that the late comeback that fell short against Iowa last year helped ISU beat West Virginia.
I don't think us almost coming back against Iowa on Sept. 14 had anything to do with us beating an awful WVU team on Nov. 30.
 

chuckd4735

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 29, 2006
28,774
10,495
113
40
Indianola
Eh. Id argue playing tougher games really doesnt do a whole lot other than making the 12 game grind tougher. The 'late comeback' against iowa was more about iowa going into its prevent d than us coming back.

I understand that, but it did help teach that team what to do with their back against the wall when in a big hole. Probably valuable when it came to the WV game.

Not arguing it one way or another, just saying the argument could be made.
 

RubyClone

Active Member
Mar 21, 2014
3,110
17
38
Man, you know things are getting concerning when multiple posters don't even want us to schedule UNI.
SMH

If you're including me in that, I'll defend myself by saying that it was a few years back and I was playing the traditional-hawkeye card of that game being a lose-neutral proposition for ISU. You know the drill - we win, no big deal as we were supposed to We lose, season is effectively over before it begins. We were making the bowl games semi-regularly (cough, cough) and I really thought we were a bit past 1-AA schools and wanted to see our SOS improve to get out of the Independence bowl rut. Well, it may have been a little more recent than that. I'm thinking after that miracle comeback in 06.

Stupid me. Didn't see 3-9 and two losses to the Panthers on the horizon.

Anyway, it was made perfectly clear that I was wrong and that UNI fans buy a ton of tickets. Hence, the game will remain a feature part of the schedule.
 
Last edited:

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
We play an FCS team every year so I don't know why people talk like they want to add and FCS team. 2 wins against FCS teams just means we need to win 7 games to become bowl eligible.
 

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
I understand that, but it did help teach that team what to do with their back against the wall when in a big hole. Probably valuable when it came to the WV game.

Not arguing it one way or another, just saying the argument could be made.
I know most will want to deny it, but WVU did more to lose that game than we did to win it.
 

RubyClone

Active Member
Mar 21, 2014
3,110
17
38
We play an FCS team every year so I don't know why people talk like they want to add and FCS team. 2 wins against FCS teams just means we need to win 7 games to become bowl eligible.

Is that the way it is? Or has been?

We have several cases where we went bowling on 6-6 including a FCS. Most recently 2012 (and 2011) (and 2009)

Edit. NM. Read that wrong. Was thinking of that old 1 FCS win every x years for eligibility.
 
Last edited:

alarson

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 15, 2006
53,743
61,537
113
Ankeny
We play an FCS team every year so I don't know why people talk like they want to add and FCS team. 2 wins against FCS teams just means we need to win 7 games to become bowl eligible.

Nobodys talking about adding 2 fcs teams. But id like our FCS team to be a bad FCS team that even toledo could put away in the first quarter, and i want our FBS team to be at home every year and preferably against an FBS team that is not much better than any FCS team. We want easy wins.
 

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
Nobodys talking about adding 2 fcs teams. But id like our FCS team to be a bad FCS team that even toledo could put away in the first quarter, and i want our FBS team to be at home every year and preferably against an FBS team that is not much better than any FCS team. We want easy wins.
I figure if we can't beat UNI, our team probably isn't deserving of a bowl game anyways.
 

CarolinaCy

Well-Known Member
Apr 18, 2008
4,518
219
63
...I've mentioned before...be a better football team, and the Big 12 schedule isn't an issue.

It's only an issue for a program that can't hack it.

Oh, so we should just be better. I can't believe none of our coaches or ADs have thought of that over the last 30 years. It's so simple!
 

alarson

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 15, 2006
53,743
61,537
113
Ankeny
I figure if we can't beat UNI, our team probably isn't deserving of a bowl game anyways.

Plenty of teams will make bowls every year with worse losses thanks to bowl selection having no SOS component.

And its not just about beating UNI. Its about having a win that you can not just guarantee but a coasting game guaranteed.
 

awd4cy

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
26,234
17,758
113
Central Iowa
Plenty of teams will make bowls every year with worse losses thanks to bowl selection having no SOS component.

And its not just about beating UNI. Its about having a win that you can not just guarantee but a coasting game guaranteed.
True, I can see the benefits of adding a Western Illinois type opponent.
 

RubyClone

Active Member
Mar 21, 2014
3,110
17
38
Plenty of teams will make bowls every year with worse losses thanks to bowl selection having no SOS component.

And its not just about beating UNI. Its about having a win that you can not just guarantee but a coasting game guaranteed.

Who is this mythical team we can schedule as a coast game?

If there is one thing that has become clearly evident to me in 25 years of being an ISU fan - there isn't a team in the country above 3A in IHSAA that we can't lose to. Much less a team that's a guaranteed coast.
 

CycloneWarning

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2008
3,520
860
83
Sounds like the Big Ten is going to ten games before too long. If that happens, bye bye cyhawk

Very interesting. But with the SEC deciding to stay at eight, I think there is zero chance B1G will go to ten.

But for sure, if B1G goes to ten, Iowa will drop ISU and I would not blame them.
 
Last edited:

GWad

Member
Aug 22, 2013
807
6
18
Losing to UNI and going to a bowl game are mutually exclusive. If we cannot beat UNI, a bowl game will not happen,..........................EVER.

It means we are just plain bad, like last year.
 

aeroclone

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2006
9,770
5,768
113
Oh, so we should just be better. I can't believe none of our coaches or ADs have thought of that over the last 30 years. It's so simple!

Exactly! That is what people just can't seem to get about this scheduling thing. You have to learn how to walk before you can run, and ours is a program that is trying to learn how to walk in the middle of the 100 meter dash at the Olympics. Instead of figuring out a way to build ourselves up over time, some posters on here think the solution is to lace up the running shoes and hope for the best.

We don't have the talent to just magically start winning in this league. And most of the talent at that level isn't going to consider us because we are a losing program. The only way to change that image is winning consistently over time, something we have never been able to do partly because of our schedule.

This isn't like hoops where a good coaching hire and a couple recruits can turn it all around. We have a lot of history working against us, and changing perceptions will take a lot of time.