JP holds all the keys - He has taken a difficult first step - The next step is...

[cyfanatic1968]

GET THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE RIGHT!!

JP made the difficult but correct first step in dismissing Rhoads & changing the coaching staff. After JP hires our new ringer he needs to step up and fix the bone-headed non-conference scheduling that is hamstringing ISU. ISU was in a very good position to win the Toledo, Iowa, Oklahoma State, and KSU games - in fact probably should've won all those games if not for major coaching blunders.

CPR also made some bad hires and obviously is not as much an X&O guy as he is a passionate motivator. CPR was dealt a bad hand with the conference realignment and the new Big 12 10 team round robin. JP needs to rip a page out of the Tom Osborne/Bill Snyder playbook and start scheduling FBS patsies for the non-conference schedule. We now have a 61,000 seat stadium that small FBS schools should love to come to and make some money. I remember when the Huskers used to play Pacific-Azusa and other various patsies. Bill Snyder resurrected KSU by scheduling patsies. ISU needs to follow that play book.

Get the WINS, get the extra practice time and bowl game, get the national exposure, and ultimately improve the quality of recruits.

The next coach coming in has a nice nucleus of players - the next coach needs to demand from JP to get rid of the non-conference FCS teams like NDSU and Toledo and UNI etc....Also - we might be wise to scuttle the Iowa series - as much as people may whine about that.

Get our new coach and program set up for long term success. The bottomline is we need the non-conference wins to compete for a bowl trip and ultimately compete in this "new" Big 12.

 

[canker2323]

The bottomline is we need the non-conference wins to compete in this "new" Big 12.

Or stop blowing big leads.

 

[Spam]

So who do you want to play in non conf? We've got to play somebody. No FCS, no FBS and no non P5 FBS

 

[cyfanatic1968]

So who do you want to play in non conf? We've got to play somebody. No FCS, no FBS and no non P5 FBS

Play weak FBS teams. Period.

 

[chuckd4735]

A good coach will never lose to UNI.
The Iowa game is going no where.
CPR only lost 2 (7-2 record) non-con games against non-Iowa, non-FBS (Utah 2010 and Toledo 2015)

 

[19clone91]

I agree with alot of what you said. Scheduling a great Toledo team is not good for a program trying to gain footing. I know these are scheduled in advance, but Toledo has been decent for a long time.

At the same time, we had opportunity and should have beaten Iowa, Toledo, OK St, and K State. at the End of the day that is what people remember. We win those 4 games and we are sitting at 7-4 right now. Easy as that.

 

[sdillon500]

The non-conference schedule isn't holding ISU back. ISU already plays an FCS team almost every year that sells out the stadium (UNI). ISU isn't giving up the ticket sales for this game, and an FCS team should always be a win for a Big 12 team.

Iowa State also plays Iowa every year, a rivalry game that sells out the stadium. ISU isn't going to stop playing Iowa anytime soon, and the past 15-20 years have shown this game should be a win about 50% of the time.

Other non-conference teams are scheduled pretty far in advance. I'd guess the Toledo home and home was scheduled in 2008 or 2009, when Toledo was 3-9 and 5-7, respectively.

Iowa State isn't loading up the non-conference schedule with Alabama and USC every year. The AD is scheduling FCS and MAC teams, teams Iowa State should beat if they had any kind of pulse in football.

 

[cyfanatic1968]

The bottom-line is ISU has a 100+ year history of losing. Start scheduling weak non-conference teams and make sure, as best we can, to get 6 wins EVERY YEAR! We should accept no less.

 

[CyFan61]

A good coach will never lose to UNI.
The Iowa game is going no where.
CPR only lost 2 (7-2 record) non-con games against non-Iowa, non-FBS (Utah 2010 and Toledo 2015)

And those two teams you mentioned were unusually good those years. Utah was ranked as high as #6 that year as a Mountain West team and finished 10-3. Most people think we should have beaten Toledo with good coaching this season, too. Not a real concern.

 

[CyFan61]

Since the Big 12 was formed, we've only gone 5-7 one time (i.e. missed a bowl by one game) - that was 2010, the year we played that great Utah team.

I am totally in agreement that we should not be playing another team like that in our 3rd non-con slot along with Iowa and an FCS. But it looks like that won't be happening again anyway so we're good.

Next year is perfect: Iowa, UNI, and San Jose State. They're currently 5-6 in the Mountain West this year.

 

[cstrunk]

I don't like it and most people aren't going to like it, but the OP is correct. The best way to improve the football program is to get wins and go to bowl games. The easiest way to do that right now is to schedule 3 cupcakes (get rid of Iowa).

This is also why expanding the Big 12 back to 12 teams with 8 conference games and 4 OOC games would benefit ISU. Whatever we need to do to get more wins, needs to happen.

 

[dualthreat]

The bottom-line is ISU has a 100+ year history of losing. Start scheduling weak non-conference teams and make sure, as best we can, to get 6 wins EVERY YEAR! We should accept no less.

We have had an uncanny ability to schedule a cupcake 10 years in advance, only to catch them during a breakout year.

 

[Judoka]

Since the Big 12 was formed, we've only gone 5-7 one time (i.e. missed a bowl by one game) - that was 2010, the year we played that great Utah team.

I am totally in agreement that we should not be playing another team like that in our 3rd non-con slot along with Iowa and an FCS. But it looks like that won't be happening again anyway so we're good.

Next year is perfect: Iowa, UNI, and San Jose State. They're currently 5-6 in the Mountain West this year.

And I assume they're going to be a senior laden team next year ready to peak.

 

[Bobber]

Have found it curious why this hadn't been done a long time ago. We certainly talked about the same issue 10 years ago. Nothing has seemed to change.

 

[HoopsTournament]

A good coach will never lose to UNI.
The Iowa game is going no where.
CPR only lost 2 (7-2 record) non-con games against non-Iowa, non-FBS (Utah 2010 and Toledo 2015)

I think you meant non-Iowa, FBS non P5 (Utah and Toledo are not non-FBS)

 

[HoopsTournament]

I don't like it and most people aren't going to like it, but the OP is correct. The best way to improve the football program is to get wins and go to bowl games. The easiest way to do that right now is to schedule 3 cupcakes (get rid of Iowa).

This is also why expanding the Big 12 back to 12 teams with 8 conference games and 4 OOC games would benefit ISU. Whatever we need to do to get more wins, needs to happen.

Even if Big 12 expands, they will NEVER go back to 8 conference games. TV will not allow it.

 

[chuckd4735]

I think you meant non-Iowa, FBS non P5 (Utah and Toledo are not non-FBS)

I meant non FCS.

 

[khardbored]

Agree in general with OP. Would not like to see the Iowa game go away (I could handle every-other-year), but the other two games should be as fluffy as possible.

For FBS teams, we should be playing the likes of Delaware State, Texas Southern, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, etc. Schedule only 2-3 years out, if possible. If one of them a year or 2 out looks to be turning into a N. Dakota State, buy out of the game. Avoid the top 15 teams in FCS at all costs.

For the "group of 5" teams, same, pick the weakest teams you can find (I'm thinking lots of Sun Belt Conference teams...). I know this is harder because of scheduling changes, but get them at home whenever possible even if not as financially gainful. Basically we should be using some of the Big 12 money to "buy" nearly guaranteed wins.

 

[isulive2train]

Happy to be here...reading...judging...

 

[spitfyr36]

Iowa game is not going anywhere. When schedules are made 8 years in advance you can't tell who will be good. Only real way for isu to be consistently competitive barring a complete change in culture, is a 12-14 team Big12 with divisions