Just Got Home..Hate Them, But Iowa City Real Deal

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akgopher

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It is what it is, Iowa City is a fabulous college town. The student section is hostile, the pre-game lots are a sight to see, the Hawkeye Express is really cool, Iowa City is the Green Bay of the Big Ten. I have to admit I suspect that many of the fans never attended a class beyond junior high, let alone on campus- more of what I would expect to see if I went to a NASCAR race. I couldn't believe all the beer cans, bottles, empty cardboard laying all over the ground, and even saw someone urinating in the open in a lot. But it was wild and I can see why they get 4 Star kids from out of state to go to school there. I was especially impressed with the campus and Iowa City.
 

It looks like a tough place to play, even on tv. They kept commenting on how close the fans were to the sidelines. Pretty hard to win in that stadium.
 

allthgoodnamesrgone said:
It looks like a tough place to play, even on tv. They kept commenting on how close the fans were to the sidelines. Pretty hard to win in that stadium.
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Yeah Central Michigan which lost big today and Iowa State found it hard to win there. Can we stop with the excuses.
 

Just got back home myself. First time ever in Iowa City, very impressed with the game day experience. Fans not confrontational at all, lots of good tailgating, decent stadium, crowd I-O-W-A chant around stadium pretty cool. Not nearly the drunken obnoxiousness I was expecting; could have brought my kids along with no problems whatsoever. We sat in the very front row which was great because you are pretty much right on the field and the seats are VERY VERY tightly crowded; nice to have plenty of room in front of us, any other row and you would have knees in your kidneys all game. As far as the game goes, in the big picture a young team on the road in the Big10 opener with a back-up QB (not necessarily meant to run the coaches' preferred type of offense) has pretty much everything go wrong in the first half. They then come out and completely shut down the Hawkeye offense in the second half. Just too big a hole to crawl out of against a decent defense that's playing with a big lead. Not too mention 4 turnovers versus 0 for the Gophers. The pick-6 late in the fourth quarter on 4th down and six to go? What choice did he have with tight coverage? He couldn't eat it, he couldn't run for the first, he HAD to throw it into tight coverage and the D-back simply took it away from the receiver. Everybody take a deep breath, the season is not over by a long shot; two weeks off and Grey will be back and the Gophers will be at home in the Bank. Look out Wildcats.

Go Gophers!
 

Mick Turition said:
Just got back home myself. First time ever in Iowa City, very impressed with the game day experience. Fans not confrontational at all, lots of good tailgating, decent stadium, crowd I-O-W-A chant around stadium pretty cool. Not nearly the drunken obnoxiousness I was expecting; could have brought my kids along with no problems whatsoever. We sat in the very front row which was great because you are pretty much right on the field and the seats are VERY VERY tightly crowded; nice to have plenty of room in front of us, any other row and you would have knees in your kidneys all game. As far as the game goes, in the big picture a young team on the road in the Big10 opener with a back-up QB (not necessarily meant to run the coaches' preferred type of offense) has pretty much everything go wrong in the first half. They then come out and completely shut down the Hawkeye offense in the second half. Just too big a hole to crawl out of against a decent defense that's playing with a big lead. Not too mention 4 turnovers versus 0 for the Gophers. The pick-6 late in the fourth quarter on 4th down and six to go? What choice did he have with tight coverage? He couldn't eat it, he couldn't run for the first, he HAD to throw it into tight coverage and the D-back simply took it away from the receiver. Everybody take a deep breath, the season is not over by a long shot; two weeks off and Grey will be back and the Gophers will be at home in the Bank. Look out Wildcats.

Go Gophers!
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Good to hear you had a good gameday experience! The final stats were surprisingly close for both teams (except the turnover margin). Tough place to play, but at least it seems Iowa now has a bit of respect for the Gophers after the last two seasons.
 


allthgoodnamesrgone said:
Good to hear you had a good gameday experience! The final stats were surprisingly close for both teams (except the turnover margin). Tough place to play, but at least it seems Iowa now has a bit of respect for the Gophers after the last two seasons.
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Good point. The radio network emphasized how the Gophers only trail Iowa State in rivalry passion. I stopped for gas in a tiny town before Waterloo and a young girl was giddy that we weren't undefeated anymore. I don't think a high school girl working at a gas station in Royalton would know Iowa's record and be so excited about a victory. As backward as that place is, I respect the statewide support for the program.
 

I was surprised, there was no heckling before the game whatsoever. I think Iowa fans were a little nervous.
 

Rickman55 said:
Yeah Central Michigan which lost big today and Iowa State found it hard to win there. Can we stop with the excuses.
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Ha ha ha....ahhhh... that's just funny.
2002 Home record 6-1 (iowa state)
2003 Home record 6-0
2004 Home record 6-0
2005 Home record 5-1 (michigan OT)
2006 Home record 4-3 (ohio state, northwestern, wisconsin)
2007 Home record 4-2 (indiana, western michigan)
2008 Home record 6-1 (northwestern)
2009 Home record 6-1 (northwestern)
2010 Home record 5-2 (wisconsin, ohio state)
2011 Home record 6-1 (michigan state)
2012 Home record 2-2 (Iowa State, Central Michigan)
Home since 2002 - 56-14
Opponent winning percentage = 20%
Minnesota's last win at Kinnick = 1999
(and I hate that I posted this)
 




kisarazu said:
Ha ha ha....ahhhh... that's just funny.
2002 Home record 6-1 (iowa state)
2003 Home record 6-0
2004 Home record 6-0
2005 Home record 5-1 (michigan OT)
2006 Home record 4-3 (ohio state, northwestern, wisconsin)
2007 Home record 4-2 (indiana, western michigan)
2008 Home record 6-1 (northwestern)
2009 Home record 6-1 (northwestern)
2010 Home record 5-2 (wisconsin, ohio state)
2011 Home record 6-1 (michigan state)
2012 Home record 2-2 (Iowa State, Central Michigan)
Home since 2002 - 56-14
Opponent winning percentage = 20%
Minnesota's last win at Kinnick = 1999
(and I hate that I posted this)
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Not to mention, a lot of those wins were total meltdown losses in unbelievable fashion. ISU 02, NU in 08, NU in 09 (Stanzi gets injured), Wisconsin fake punt to win in 10 along with the Ohio State converting on 4th and 10 to win that same season, CMU 12. Should have had 3 straight years at home unbeaten too, that Michigan game in 05 was completely botched with a horrible call by Michigan homer Witvoet.

So 50 percent(7 games) of the losses they do have, were pretty ridiculous losses. Their home record should be so much better than it is.
 

M3MEPLEASE said:
Not to mention, a lot of those wins were total meltdown losses in unbelievable fashion. ISU 02, NU in 08, NU in 09 (Stanzi gets injured), Wisconsin fake punt to win in 10 along with the Ohio State converting on 4th and 10 to win that same season, CMU 12. Should have had 3 straight years at home unbeaten too, that Michigan game in 05 was completely botched with a horrible call by Michigan homer Witvoet.

So 50 percent(7 games) of the losses they do have, were pretty ridiculous losses. Their home record should be so much better than it is.
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"Their" home record?

C'mon man, be honest on who you are.
 


M3MEPLEASE said:
?

I'm a Iowa fan but I just don't usually say "we" when referring to my favorite team. I see some other people on here get a little testy about that too :
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Sorry, thought you were pretending to be a Gopher fan. Long day yesterday.
 



IA fans are good people who know college football. I find them similar to STL Cardinal baseball fans. I have found that no city knows pro baseball like STL.
 

the bielema fake punt notched bielema in my book as a gutsy coach. I like gutsy.
 

Glad to see the good game day experiences were good for those who attended. Im sure there was some heckling but for the most part glad to hear you guys and gals thought it was a place you could bring your whole family. IA was more than nervous about this weeks past game. One of the discussions that came up at our tailgate this weekend was that like IA state, no matter the records or the location, it's likely to be a coin flip on who wins. MN has taken away Kinnick North (less fans will travel to TCF and its a lot harder to obtain 50 tickets together, dont forget MN is 2-0 vs. IA) and Coach Kill is the real deal who appears to be righting the ship. In closing it was last weeks game and it could have gone either way...It's time to get healthy and roll Northwestern. Iowa fans are on your side here as the wildcats have owned the hawks in recent years.
 

In the past, our group had always stayed in Cedar Rapids on Friday night (mostly because we wouldn't plan ahead and book a hotel in advance), then drive into Iowa City early Saturday and high tail it back to Minnesota immediately after the game. This time, we booked a hotel a year out and spent the entire weekend in Iowa City, and I can safely say, we won't do it any other way on future visits. Great time, except for the game, and we were treated well 95% of the time.

On the bad side, I am now 0-9 in road games in our "real" trophy games (Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan). I'll be in Madison in three weeks. I think I know how that will go.
 



A few notes on our experience. It was my 4th time to IC, so I'm getting kind of used to it.
I honestly think that our gameday experience is very different from theirs, but is catching up (again, in different ways) to theirs. I think their crowd does much better with organized cheers. I think our crowd (which, at a sellout is 82% the size of their crowd) is nearly as loud during key defensive plays. I think our student section is a lot more "fun," what with the songs ("Let Me Clear My Through," Sweet Caroline, etc.) and dances. Our band, IMO, is much better than theirs. Their stadium wins in terms of history and nostalgia; ours wins in terms of comfort, food offerings, design, bathroom capacity, etc.
Their tailgating is where they really kick our tails. The City of Minneapolis and campus officials would have to change their collective outlook about 180 degrees for us ever to start approaching what they and other schools (Indiana's football games are treated like an inconvenient interuption to the good tailgating they do in Bloomington) experience.
That was kind of a rambling brain dump, but my summary is that our gameday experience is MUCH, MUCH better now in comparison to Iowa's than it was when I first went to IC about 10 years ago. Their gameday experience is probably at its peak, while ours will continue to improve.
Go Gophers!
 

It was my first Gopher road game and I am hooked. I have been to a lot of road Twins games and other sporting events, but the energy we felt right before kickoff as we anticipated a really good showing by our team was awesome. Unfortunately the on field results didn't match those expectation, but overall SO Much Fun.
On a side note. I would still rather go to school and play football at the U of M in Minneapolis. Not many large Universities have the "Cool" factor of Mpls/St. Paul with the music scene, natural beauty, vibrant economic opportunities, cute girls...
 

nokomismod said:
It was my first Gopher road game and I am hooked. I have been to a lot of road Twins games and other sporting events, but the energy we felt right before kickoff as we anticipated a really good showing by our team was awesome. Unfortunately the on field results didn't match those expectation, but overall SO Much Fun.
On a side note. I would still rather go to school and play football at the U of M in Minneapolis. Not many large Universities have the "Cool" factor of Mpls/St. Paul with the music scene, natural beauty, vibrant economic opportunities, cute girls...
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Sadly, most 18 year old kids only look for one thing you've mentioned...the last one. :(
 

OddStack said:
Sadly, most 18 year old kids only look for one thing you've mentioned...the last one. :(
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And there was a steady stream of cute girl walking into Brother's Friday night. I had my girl by my side and back to the door so I missed most of them but my uncle was seated perfectly.
 

OddStack said:
Sadly, most 18 year old kids only look for one thing you've mentioned...the last one. :(
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Well if they are only considering the cute girl factor, I have think we will have a recruiting edge over other big ten schools :)
 

Honestly, most of the Big Ten have an excellent game day atmosphere. Probably the best in the country. It's Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and unfortunately Minnesota that are trying to catch up.
 

To be honest the city/bar scene in Iowa City never really impresses me much. Couple decent places but I've heard people rave about IC like people rave about Madison or Ann Arbor. In my opinion, Madison and AA are far better towns for eats/drinks than IC. If you include Stadium Village, Dinkytown, and West bank (not to mention slightly up university ave towards StP) I'd take our campus for party/food/fun atmosphere at night after the game over IC. Tailgating.. that's a horse of a different color. Iowa clearly has tailgating down - tons of small pockets, great food, nice fans, and clearly know what they're doing.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
To be honest the city/bar scene in Iowa City never really impresses me much. Couple decent places but I've heard people rave about IC like people rave about Madison or Ann Arbor. In my opinion, Madison and AA are far better towns for eats/drinks than IC. If you include Stadium Village, Dinkytown, and West bank (not to mention slightly up university ave towards StP) I'd take our campus for party/food/fun atmosphere at night after the game over IC.

The Iowa City Ped Mall, apparently is under siege from the City of IC, with a new ordinance eliminating the long practice of under 21 age students being allowed in all bars and clubs with a "no drinking" wristband. Those under 21 must now leave by 10 PM, now with number of the clubs such as the large Fieldhouse/ 3rd Base closing last year.

Despite this I have found the PED mall in Iowa City at worst to be second best to Madison for the college town Bar/Club scene. Sorry, but Dinkytown/ Stadium Village do not come close to what I witnessed all day in Iowa City Saturday, as I stayed at the downtown Sheraton. The students were everywhere all day, with a variety of ages mixed in. No once hassled us at all, with great hospitality and interaction with people of a variety of ages after the game. This appeared to continue until the wee hours based upon my view from the Sheraton. I ran out of gas early, unlike previous IC trips.

for pre/post game campus bar/club experience:

My rankings at the end of places I have actually been to:

-Madison is better overall than #2 Iowa but it is more spread out. #1
-OSU heard it is good not been there, potential upper tier ranking
-Northwestern not so much #8 ranking- Chicago scene does not count
-Michigan - in the upper half but not real great #5
-Penn State - very respectable , avoid certain places not be mentioned #3
-Nebraska I have heard it may be 3,4 - upper tier possible
-Michigan State- I was not overwhelmed, but arrived late and had a limited experience after the game #7
-Bloomington Indiana Nice under-rated downtown area right past the campus gates, pure college, great tailgating in grove #4
-Purdue Awful #9
-Illinois heard it isn't as blah as I would expect based upon expected rank lower third
-Minnesota #6 only the close areas count
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nokomismod said:
Well if they are only considering the cute girl factor, I have think we will have a recruiting edge over other big ten schools :)
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I didn't mean that's the only thing they're looking at. I was saying out of your original list, I don't think many DI recruits care about that stuff. They're into atmosphere, uniforms, coaches, education, etc. I don't think music scene, natural beauty and vibrant economic opportunities are in the top 10 reasons they would choose a school. Girls would probably make the top 10. Obviously, there are "normal" or what we would consider normal recruits, but I think they're not the majority by any means.

I'm not saying your list shouldn't be important; I agree with you! I teach for a living and a long term goal to many 18 year old kids is considered a short term goal for us. They have different priorities.
 

oak_street1981 said:
The Iowa City Ped Mall, apparently is under siege from the City of IC, with a new ordinance eliminating the long practice of under 21 age students being allowed in all bars and clubs with a "no drinking" wristband. Those under 21 must now leave by 10 PM, now with number of the clubs such as the large Fieldhouse/ 3rd Base closing last year.

Despite this I have found the PED mall in Iowa City at worst to be second best to Madison for the college town Bar/Club scene. Sorry, but Dinkytown/ Stadium Village do not come close to what I witnessed all day in Iowa City Saturday, as I stayed at the downtown Sheraton. The students were everywhere all day, with a variety of ages mixed in. No once hassled us at all, with great hospitality and interaction with people of a variety of ages after the game. This appeared to continue until the wee hours based upon my view from the Sheraton. I ran out of gas early, unlike previous IC trips.

for pre/post game campus bar/club experience:

My rankings at the end of places I have actually been to:

-Madison is better overall than #2 Iowa but it is more spread out. #1
-OSU heard it is good not been there, potential upper tier ranking
-Northwestern not so much #8 ranking- Chicago scene does not count
-Michigan - in the upper half but not real great #5
-Penn State - very respectable , avoid certain places not be mentioned #3
-Nebraska I have heard it may be 3,4 - upper tier possible
-Michigan State- I was not overwhelmed, but arrived late and had a limited experience after the game #7
-Bloomington Indiana Nice under-rated downtown area right past the campus gates, pure college, great tailgating in grove #4
-Purdue Awful #9
-Illinois heard it isn't as blah as I would expect based upon expected rank lower third
-Minnesota #6 only the close areas count
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Sounds like a lot of hearsay for your rankings. All I know is I've been to IC 4 times now, tailgated at Finkbine 2x and walked around the campus/stadium area the other 2, also spent some time on the other side of the river after games and on non-gamedays. Also been to Madison for 2 football games and 2 hockey games. I think the number of bars and restaurants on State Street and then over near the stadium makes IC look like a total joke. Not taking anything away from the crowd itself and tailgating (car) scene at IC - it clearly fills up the town with tons of people, but I think if you put 70k+ people in Stadium Village, Dinkytown, Seven Corners you'd easily get the same experience given the number of institutions available to eat/drink at.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
Sounds like a lot of hearsay for your rankings. All I know is I've been to IC 4 times now, tailgated at Finkbine 2x and walked around the campus/stadium area the other 2, also spent some time on the other side of the river after games and on non-gamedays. Also been to Madison for 2 football games and 2 hockey games. I think the number of bars and restaurants on State Street and then over near the stadium makes IC look like a total joke. Not taking anything away from the crowd itself and tailgating (car) scene at IC - it clearly fills up the town with tons of people, but I think if you put 70k+ people in Stadium Village, Dinkytown, Seven Corners you'd easily get the same experience given the number of institutions available to eat/drink at.
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I grew up in Madison and went to college in Iowa City. You are comparing apples to oranges. Madison (like Minneapolis and Columbus) is a big city now. Iowa City now is much more like what Madison was when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s - a small-to-mid-sized city with a funky vibe and very easy to navigate. I love Madison, and it has by far better restaurants than Iowa City. However, to me, Iowa City is a more quintessential "college town" whereas the big campuses in the Big 10 are much more urban.

In the Big 10, Iowa City and Bloomington hold down the "college town" feel more. And for towns of their size, they have a surprisingly vibrant social and cultural scene. For what it's worth, all my Madison friends love coming to Iowa City. Several have said it makes them nostalgic for how Madison "used to be", for whatever that's worth. But then, we're in our 40s now and nostalgia is rearing it's ugly head! Madison and Iowa City are my two favorites, but for different reasons.
 

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