Schlabach: ISU heading in wrong direction

[Aclone]

I would have gone with 1, but I'm a realist - and would love to be proven wrong.

Amazing how pessimists continually claim to be realists.

I'm trying to figure out what the "recent success" is this guy is referring to. Is he really saying CPR has the program going downhill since the last Insight Bowl??? In that case, he's an idiot. Or didn't bother to look at the facts--which is the same thing.

 

[cyfanatic]

True, nationally we haven't done much except get a **** load of youtube hits but for people on the inside, it's clear that we are turning around the attitude of Cyclones all over.

The attitude at the end of last season was not a positive one at all. It was one of embarrassment. Maybe it is just my perception and only mine...but after that CU game I came away from that season depressed! I had always argued we had a very difficult schedule...but we had our chances in the end and got thumped! Looked like we were not ready to play in what was our biggest game of the season because we were playing for a bowl game.

 

[Cyhart]

The attitude at the end of last season was not a positive one at all. It was one of embarrassment. Maybe it is just my perception and only mine...but after that CU game I came away from that season depressed! I had always argued we had a very difficult schedule...but we had our chances in the end and got thumped! Looked like we were not ready to play in what was our biggest game of the season because we were playing for a bowl game.

Agree, the CU game still makes me sick. But it was one afternoon.
I think overall, Rhoads is making progress.
It all depends on how you look at this poll too. Like Kirk mentioned.
I dont think our "direction" has anything to with any other team.
I may be the weakest guy in the gym, but if I keep bettering myself and acheiving new milestones, then I am heading in the right direction. No matter what anyone else is doing.

 

[CarolinaCy]

Amazing how pessimists continually claim to be realists.

I'm trying to figure out what the "recent success" is this guy is referring to. Is he really saying CPR has the program going downhill since the last Insight Bowl??? In that case, he's an idiot. Or didn't bother to look at the facts--which is the same thing.

In 2009, ISU won 7 games, including a bowl. In 2010, ISU won 5 games, and lost 3 blowouts (4 if you count CU). The facts would say that 2009 was a better season than 2010, hence the "going in the wrong direction" rating.

However, giving UT a rating of 4 when they went from 12 wins and BCS runner-up to 5 wins and no bowl completely contradicts the same logic he used to rate ISU. So yes, he's an idiot.

 

[rholtgraves]

Hey just remember, the Hawks under Ferentz were 1-10 and 3-9 his first two seasons and after that has never been below .500. So far CPR is doing better than that.

 

[cyfanatic]

Agree, the CU game still makes me sick. But it was one afternoon.
I think overall, Rhoads is making progress.
It all depends on how you look at this poll too. Like Kirk mentioned.
I dont think our "direction" has anything to with any other team.
I may be the weakest guy in the gym, but if I keep bettering myself and acheiving new milestones, then I am heading in the right direction. No matter what anyone else is doing.

Fair enough...I am sure that last game is lingering in my thoughts...I need to let it go! As you said...it was one day.

 

[LutherBlue]

Agree, the CU game still makes me sick. But it was one afternoon.
I think overall, Rhoads is making progress.
It all depends on how you look at this poll too. Like Kirk mentioned.
I dont think our "direction" has anything to with any other team.
I may be the weakest guy in the gym, but if I keep bettering myself and acheiving new milestones, then I am heading in the right direction. No matter what anyone else is doing.

Except in football it does matter what anyone else is doing because we have to play those teams. If we improve by 20% every year while our opponents improve by 21%, we are losing ground.

 

[Clonefan32]

The fact remains that we have been average to below average program for the past...well the history of our program. Whether or not we are currently trending slightly up or down really seems like a trivial matter to me...

 

[Tedcyclone]

i agree that just going with current coaches, and no history.. p rhoads has isu going in the best possible direction this program will be able to go. where that is we shall find out. i hope somewhere past an occasional once every 10 years 7-8 win season.

 

[brett108]

we are most def a 1. No doubt about it. i think ISU had the 2nd to lowest total of wins out of all D1 football programs next to Duke in last 10 or 20 years... our program is terrible. we have had a few decent seasons... we have only won 8 reg season games once since ive been a fan.. Sage's senior year. That is it!
*** But you could argue a 3, because Paul is doing all he can to change this.


Now i dont think we are the 2nd worst team in D1, but based on our history and results you could argue it easily. no way around the truth. we have 2 bowl wins in school history. that doesnt lie.

read #1. It says.. below avg program with little to no past or current success.. that would be ISU. now i think Paul Rhoads is doing everything in his power to change that, i do. but that doesnt change the truth, not yet. I believe in Paul but only time will tell.

as for the time we have had already, ISU has sucked, and anyone with a brain knows that. Seriously we will be an underdog in maybe every single game we play this year against a d1 team. maybe we will be favored in 2, maybe.

Rant much? I can think of three bowl wins off the top of my head, beating Minnesota, Miami(OH), and Pittsburgh.

 

[Tedcyclone]

The fact remains that we have been average to below average program for the past...well the history of our program. Whether or not we are currently trending slightly up or down really seems like a trivial matter to me...

also correct... trivial. ISU football program since the 80s has been one of the worst BCS programs in the country... based simply on wins, and bowl wins... maybe the worst. look it up.

i love our current coaching staff and think they will get the most out of this University that is possible...

 

[MeanDean]

I think the "rating system" is stupid. Using that, it is impossible for a team to be trending the right direction while still having less than mediocre results (however they define mediocre).

+1 This. Anybody can put together 5 poorly thought out rating descriptions then try to fit all the square pegs in the round holes he just created.

 

[Tedcyclone]

Rant much? I can think of three bowl wins off the top of my head, beating Minnesota, Miami(OH), and Pittsburgh.

shoot, you are right... i think that is 4 total bowl wins then... that was dumb. those 3, plus one in the 70s.

however the rest is correct, i hope. im sure i looked up the wins last year in my attempt to defend us.

 

[Cyhart]

Except in football it does matter what anyone else is doing because we have to play those teams. If we improve by 20% every year while our opponents improve by 21%, we are losing ground.

It all depends on how you look at this.
To me, if we are improving 20% every year, we are heading in the right direction.
I see the argument you are making as well.
We obviously have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be. Rhoads may never get there. But, we are heading in a positive direction.

 

[Tedcyclone]

here are the teams that have a worse win % all time than ISU per Wikipedia... up to the 2010 national title game..
WIN % / YEARS
Iowa State .442 /115
Eastern Mich .432/ 115
Rice .422/ 95
K State .416 /111
Northwestern .416/ 118
New Mexico State .414/ 111
Buffalo .408/ 17 ?not sure
Temple .406 /108
Indiana .405 /119
Louisiana-Mon .402/ 60 again? must be total wins and years just D1?
Wake Forest .396 /105
Texas El Paso .395 /89
Idaho .380 /91
Kent State .369/ 84
Florida International .259 /8
Western Kent .083 /24


Iowa State47655646.4421151078Big 12Eastern Michigan42851547.432115990MACRice41553732.42295984Conference USAKansas State45960441.4161111104Big 12Northwestern45860044.4161181102Big TenNew Mexico State41655831.414111100WACBuffalo33946328.40817830MACTemple40754352.4061081002MACIndiana43359144.4051191068Big TenLouisiana-Monroe24033819.40260597Sun BeltWake Forest41159333.3961051037ACCTexas-El Paso35852029.39589895Conference USAIdaho29846126.38091785WACKent State30048528.36984813MACFlorida International22630.259885Sun BeltWestern Kentucky2220.083224Sun BeltIowa State47655646.4421151078Big 12Eastern Michigan42851547.432115990MACRice41553732.42295984Conference USAKansas State45960441.4161111104Big 12Northwestern45860044.4161181102Big TenNew Mexico State41655831.414111100WACBuffalo33946328.40817830MACTemple40754352.4061081002MACIndiana43359144.4051191068Big TenLouisiana-Monroe24033819.40260597Sun BeltWake Forest41159333.3961051037ACCTexas-El Paso35852029.39589895Conference USAIdaho29846126.38091785WACKent State30048528.36984813MACFlorida International22630.259885Sun BeltWestern Kentucky2220.083224Sun Belt

 

[bluestarcyclone]

In 2009, ISU won 7 games, including a bowl. In 2010, ISU won 5 games, and lost 3 blowouts (4 if you count CU). The facts would say that 2009 was a better season than 2010, hence the "going in the wrong direction" rating.

Exactly.

In 2010 we handily beat:
Northern Illinois
UNI (thanks mostly to our defense)..

Got embarrassed by:
Iowa
Utah
OU
Colorado

We had close losses to
Kstate
Nebraska

Failed to put any points up against Missouri (also OU, but already covered in 'embarrassed')

Had an unimpressive win against Kansas (compared to how everyone else in the conference just pounded the crap out of them)

Beat the most down Texas team in forever. It means something in a 'we've never done that' way, but judging the season? They got beat by most of the big 12.

And had an out of nowhere offensive performance against TTU

Overall... i dont see a lot to cheer about except our offensive performance in the TTU game.. and thats about it. 3-4 'should never happen' embarrassments, and most of our 5 wins werent anything impressive

 

[Clonefan32]

Exactly.

In 2010 we handily beat:
Northern Illinois
UNI (thanks mostly to our defense)..

Got embarrassed by:
Iowa
Utah
OU
Colorado

We had close losses to
Kstate
Nebraska

Failed to put any points up against Missouri (also OU, but already covered in 'embarrassed')

Had an unimpressive win against Kansas (compared to how everyone else in the conference just pounded the crap out of them)

Beat the most down Texas team in forever. It means something in a 'we've never done that' way, but judging the season? They got beat by most of the big 12.

And had an out of nowhere offensive performance against TTU

Overall... i dont see a lot to cheer about except our offensive performance in the TTU game.. and thats about it. 3-4 'should never happen' embarrassments, and most of our 5 wins werent anything impressive

My thoughts exactly. I like Coach Rhoads and everything he is doing, but we are a somewhat flukey upset of Nebraska and an "upset" over Texas away from doing very little more than we did under Chizik.

 

[huntt26]

The fact remains that we have been average to below average program for the past...well the history of our program. Whether or not we are currently trending slightly up or down really seems like a trivial matter to me...

I agree. I can't disagree with Schlabach's analysis. I don't think we're necessary trending down, but with the schedule and history of the program: that certainly doesn't help anything.

Moving forward, I see ISU as a .500 ish team. Some years they'll win 4 or 5 and others 6 and 7 games. Then there will be some outliers of 8 or 9 wins and 2 or 3 wins. It's just how it is. We won't be a BCS buster anytime soon, that's for sure.

Facilities improvements and season tickets are the fuel to the fire. Keep increasing both of those, and the program will rise.

 

[cyfanatic]

My thoughts exactly. I like Coach Rhoads and everything he is doing, but we are a somewhat flukey upset of Nebraska and an "upset" over Texas away from doing very little more than we did under Chizik.

I think that is a completely fair statement to make.

 

[huntt26]

My thoughts exactly. I like Coach Rhoads and everything he is doing, but we are a somewhat flukey upset of Nebraska and an "upset" over Texas away from doing very little more than we did under Chizik.

Agreed, but I feel like ISU has more raw talent and athleticism than we did in 2008.