Lets talk football..please

[aeroclone]

I love how we go 6-6 last year with a soft schedule and a miracle win against Nebby, then squeek by an awful Minny team in a minor bowl game, and all of a sudden we are looking to take on the world. We sucked for 3 years, then we were decent for one and hell yeah, bring on one of the toughest schedules in the nation!

I don't want to hear any complaining from anybody making that claim when we lose to Utah or Uconn in the next couple years and miss out on a bowl by one game... or miss out on bumping up to a nicer bowl. No complaints about being stuck at home for the holidays, or about heading to Shreveport and not San Antonio. None.

I agree with alarson, since we are really never going to be in the national title hunt, we pretty much gain nothing from schedule strength. The other bowls look more at W/L and fan travel. I suppose there is TV money, but ISU Utah or Uconn isn't going to be a real hot TV matchup either. We are trying to build a program from the ground up, these games do nothing for us. We have Iowa, OU, UT, and Nebraska if we want to measure ourselves against someone. For the other games, we need wins, momentum, and bowl bids.

 

[alarson]

But this is a fan base that longs to add an additional BCS team to our schedule on a yearly basis,

It is? I think this fanbase longs more to be in a bowl game on a yearly basis. As it is without utah we play a high level team in Iowa, and instead of playing an easy I-AA team , we play one of the best in UNI. With iowa alone i bet our non-con SOS is higher than a good chunk of the big 12. Playing utah hurts our chances of making a bowl.

And you know what a bonus is of making a bowl? You get to play another BCS conference team or if not a team thats often bcs-level that year.

 

[BryceC]

I don't like scheduling Utah and UConn. I'm all about dropping Iowa actually and scheduling 4 home games against teams we should beat. It worked for KU and KSU.

That said, Utah will be way down this year. We should win that game.

 

[Wesley]

I don't like scheduling Utah and UConn. I'm all about dropping Iowa actually and scheduling 4 home games against teams we should beat. It worked for KU and KSU.

That said, Utah will be way down this year. We should win that game.

That said, in a given year, we should be able to beat UCONN....

 

[Al_4_State]

That said, in a given year, we should be able to beat UCONN....

UConn's been a lot better than us over the past 5 years. Not an easy game by any stretch.

 

[JustRedman]

The pictures of this weekends scrimmage made it look like we might run some sort of split-back pistol formations. Arnaud was only 4 yards behind center and the two RBs were about 1 to 2 yards behind him.

Could be interesting...

That, and I fully expect MUCH more of the fast-paced offense we used against MN in the bowl game. They had to call 2 TOs I believe in the first half just to get aligned right. That will help a ton.

 

[VeloClone]

I don't like scheduling Utah and UConn. I'm all about dropping Iowa actually and scheduling 4 home games against teams we should beat. It worked for KU and KSU.

That said, Utah will be way down this year. We should win that game.

I'm pretty sure KSU would say it didn't work for them last fall.

 

[Al_4_State]

I'm pretty sure KSU would say it didn't work for them last fall.

There's a difference between scheduling 2 BCS teams and the best mid-major in the country and scheduling 2 FCS teams. We could schedule 1 FCS, Iowa, and 2 low mid majors, and it would be a smarter strategy than playing Iowa, UConn, Utah, and UNI.

 

[besserheimerphat]

I'm curious to know how much input Rhoads gets when it comes to changing the schedule. Obviously most of the time the coach just deals with whatever schedule was made years in advance. But when schedules are altered, are coaches consulted or does the AD just tell them "Hey we changed some games around."?

 

[Cyclonestate78]

There's a difference between scheduling 2 BCS teams and the best mid-major in the country and scheduling 2 FCS teams. We could schedule 1 FCS, Iowa, and 2 low mid majors, and it would be a smarter strategy than playing Iowa, UConn, Utah, and UNI.

This. Until our program is at the point where going to a bowl game year in and year out becomes a reality we need to schedule smarter. I don't mind them scheduling a tougher non conference matchup in our 2 year rotation when we get the easier South teams. I just don't understand loading up the non conference schedule when we have Oklahoma and Texas on there. That is just stupidity.

 

[trueclone2]

i have officially gotten tired of the negativity about the mens basketball..i say lets forget about that for a while, enjoy baseball, and pray to god CPR and the team can save us for a while

This is exactly why I don't come on here much lately. It aslo shows how much of a basketball school that we still are. I personally would rather talk football 365.

It is the week of the spring game already and it is time to talk more football. More importantly how to get more people to the spring game.

The bugeaters to the west (NU) have 83,000 tickets sold and we would be lucky to get 10,000 people there for free. What do we need to do to have a better showing?

 

[Al_4_State]

This is exactly why I don't come on here much lately. It aslo shows how much of a basketball school that we still are. I personally would rather talk football 365.

It is the week of the spring game already and it is time to talk more football. More importantly how to get more people to the spring game.

The bugeaters to the west (NU) have 83,000 tickets sold and we would be lucky to get 10,000 people there for free. What do we need to do to have a better showing?

I think it has to with media coverage. The Hawks don't get that many for their spring game either. Hell, they don't even have one every year. It's just not a big deal in the state of Iowa, period.

 

[Bader]

What do we need to do to have a better showing?

Years of inbreeding reducing people to believing that the only things worth doing in life are wearing corncobs on your head, watching grainy replays of "epic" battles against The U from the 80s, and getting your Starter jacket ready for football season.

 

[j_crow]

To play devil's advocate, couldn't it be argued that playing early-season games against higher quality teams like Utah and Iowa get us better-prepared for our early Big 12 games? Personally, I'm glad we're scheduling better competition in the non-conference. Besides generating more fan interest (and attendance) and giving us all a more exciting game to watch, I think it goes along well with the no-fear mentality that this team is seeming to develop. I say, bring it on.

 

[jdoggivjc]

It is? I think this fanbase longs more to be in a bowl game on a yearly basis. As it is without utah we play a high level team in Iowa, and instead of playing an easy I-AA team , we play one of the best in UNI. With iowa alone i bet our non-con SOS is higher than a good chunk of the big 12. Playing utah hurts our chances of making a bowl.

And you know what a bonus is of making a bowl? You get to play another BCS conference team or if not a team thats often bcs-level that year.

I don't know how you miss the dozens of threads annually during football season about ISU fans sick and tired of playing Northern Iowa or multiple teams from the MAC and how they'd rather be playing against another BCS school...

 

[swarthmoreCY]

To play devil's advocate, couldn't it be argued that playing early-season games against higher quality teams like Utah and Iowa get us better-prepared for our early Big 12 games? Personally, I'm glad we're scheduling better competition in the non-conference. Besides generating more fan interest (and attendance) and giving us all a more exciting game to watch, I think it goes along well with the no-fear mentality that this team is seeming to develop. I say, bring it on.

Nothing generates excitement more than winning.
The benefit of better preparation from playing tougher opponents at the beginning of the season does not outweigh the benefit of guaranteed wins. Plus, getting smacked around early in the season is likely to do just as much damage to the mindset as it may do positive.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

I don't know how you miss the dozens of threads annually during football season about ISU fans sick and tired of playing Northern Iowa or multiple teams from the MAC and how they'd rather be playing against another BCS school...

How have you missed the dozens of years of fans bummed from not going bowling?
Are we playing another BCS? No, we are playing a low reward game against Utah/UConn/NIU.
I bet the difference in fans between the UNI (and even the NDSU/SDSU games) and the Utah/UConn games is pretty small. Even though a BCS team likely would not come to play in JTS, I am guessing if one did, it would have little impact on attendance.
If we string together a good 5-8 year run of 8+ win seasons, then perhaps we become more aggressive.

 

[LoyalSon]

I would agree that scheduling tough non-cons like Utah/Uconn/NIU/UNI is pretty risky, given the state of our program and how accomplished it would be to get another bowl bid this year. And perhaps a tougher schedule is a bit premature--when we have the groundwork set and our program has reached the next level, additional BCS non-cons then might be more appropriate.

I guess from my perspective on why I don't highly disagree with our schedule the next couple years like many of you, is that I'm excited to watch us play NIU, Uconn(next year) and Utah. I'm actually looking forward to who we're playing, and not just that we are playing.
The last few years I was always jacked for the SDSU/NDSU games because it was the start of the year and another ISU season, not because it was SDSU/NDSU. This year I'm pumped to see Utah and to see UNI/NIU--three very high quality programs.
Yes the risk/return tradeoff isnt in our favor, but for me, Im just excited to watch some good teams that I rarely see in person.