Steve: The best part about Brad Madison (DE- Mizzou) isn't even his field or classroom work. He is a Christian and was at church fourth of July weekend in his hometown
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Steve Deace's 2011 Predictions
- Thread starter CFanatic21
- Start date
In the end, it wasn't a top five toughest schedule. I think it finished the year around 15-20. Utah flamed out as did Texas and iowa. Those three teams really brought our schedule ranking down. This year it starts out as one of the top 2-5 but we will see.
I have to agree with Hawkfan(man that is painful). We lost our C, QB, RB, #1 WR, and a TE that is going to an NFL camp. Our offense has done nothing but get worse since the coaching change and we have seen very little player development on that side of the ball. Yet, people are expecting equal/better results this year against a tougher schedule. I myself think we will be in the 4-7 win category but a lot has to happen for us to get 7 wins
One thing I see people ignoring as they go through the schedule is the home and away part of the schedule. Home field advantage is very big in college football and a lot of our "winnable" games are away. UConn, Baylor, Texas Tech, and Kansas State are all away and all long road trips (KSU maybe not). Realistically we split those toss ups as you win some and you lose some.
I have broken down the schedule by wins. Losses and toss ups with a lean on the toss ups. Some of these could change but this is my mood today
UNI-Win. This is one we have to win and just can't ever lose.
iowa-Toss up/loss- iowa lost a ton of players but so did we. I would like to say ISU win but iowa has handed it to us the last couple of years so I can't until I see our offense do something, heck anything.
@UConn-Toss up- I really think we will be the better team. UConn lost their coach and their RB but this is a long road trip and I can't think of a time when ISU has traveled well to the East Coast
Texas- Toss up- I really have a good feeling about this game but I just can't say a win. Texas had more issues than people think last year and they basically have a whole new staff. We catch them early, in our house, a week before OU. Our guys will be looking to prove last year wasn't a fluke. Just like nebraska last year
@Baylor-Toss up/loss- I actually think we lose this game. Baylor returns an incredibly explosive offense and I have yet to see our offense do enough to keep up. I really think this games ends up like Texas Tech last year. For comparison, Baylor is a much, much better team than Colorado of last year and it is a longer road trip.
@Missouri-loss- We usually play Mizzou tough and if Rhoads is to pull out a big upset this year, I think it will be this game but I am not counting on it happening.
aTm-loss- Not sure I believe all the hype surrounding the Aggies but they should beat us
@ TT-toss up/loss- Another toss up game on the road with a long arse road trip. Year two of a new coaching staff should mean a better TT team. I think ISU/TT are at the same level so I give the nod to TT with home field.
Kansas-win- I saw absolutely nothing from Gil last year that makes me think he can turn that team around. Nothing
OSU-loss- More talent, great staff and they own us the last few years.
OU-loss- I would love to see Rhoads pull of another "first time ever/since" type of win but I don'tee that happening.
@KSU- toss up/win- Another toss up game on the road. KSU has beaten us the last coupl of years on a neutral field so I don't know why I think this is a win. Ijust feel this is the year we get them.
So that breaks down into
2- confident wins
1- Toss up win
2- toss ups
3- Toss up losses
4- Confident losses
I see 5-7 wins max but 3-4 is certainly possible and anyone looking from the outside in, without cardinal colored galsses would certainly be looking at the 3-4
Four of those games are on the road and all four are teams that we are probably equal to in terms of talent and coaching. Kinda hard to win all of those toss up road games.
I am by no means saying it won't/can't happen. Just saying it is a little unrealistic to think we win all of them.
Of course he wants an easier schedule and he should get it in the non con. In the end, to go bowling or to elevate the program he will need to beat conference foes head to head. Much like Mizzou, KSU, OSU, TT, Baylor all had to do to get to the levels they have reached. Schedule soft non con games and save yourself for conference. If we want a program that will be consistently 7-5 to 9-3. We will have to beat conference foes.
Steve's not an outsider.
I agree, lets say we split them and continue our streak of one major road upset; that's five wins.
I'm just saying a 3 win prediction is kind of weak. We will win more than three games. It takes zero analysis to look at ISU's schedule and say, "they'll beat UNI, KU sucks and they finally win a close one vs. KSU."
I'd like to see someone explain why we lose to UCONN and Iowa; I am by no means saying we'll win, in fact CPR hasn't proved his team can even show up vs. Iowa but not considering last seasons W-L records and simply looking at returning personnel, why do we lose?
I think the 2011 Cyclones are more likely to go to a bowl than win 3 games.
We also seem to lose a game that we should win. See Colorado last year and KU the year before.
Look at it from a non ISU fan standpoint.
UConn- Returns a darn good defense that gets a lot of pressure on the QB which will face our OL that has two new starters. That defense will also face an offense that has not been all that good and will have a new QB and a WR corp that has yet to produce. UConn's offense isn't anything to write home about but neither is our defense. Now, I expect our DL to be greatly improved but this game will come down to whose defense stops who. I just don't have the confidence in our offense. Plus it is a long road trip which does have a negative effect. I am not saying we can't win this game and I actually think we should but IMO it is a toss up.
iowa-You explained why we are expected to lose to iowa. We have yet to show anything when we play iowa. You want to talk returning personnel then great. We lose just as much on offense, if not more. iowa at least has proven production at RB, WR, and even QB. On defense, iowa replaces a ton and we return a ton. Thing is our returners were ranked 87th in total defense and 76th in scoring defense last year. Not exactly great. iowa also has a history of reloading on defense
I am not saying we lose both but I can see exactly why somone on the outside looking in would predict us to lose
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