Would we rather be playing Iowa this week?

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Some guy said:
They literally got worse as the season went last year.

Last year 6-0 with a win over penn state and Iowa state
Finished 4-4 including losses to Purdue and Kentucky
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They beat MN in that stretch, losses were to #22, #2, and Pur & WI who were within a tie-breaker going to last week. Kentucky was 10-3.

Penn State was 7-6 and Iowa State was 7-6. To me they were the same team throughout the season. Perceptions changed week to week and were inflated early in the year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I'm kind of worried about the health of their punter. He is on pace for close to 110 punts this season at his current pace of almost 8 per game. :)
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You'd think if he's even a decent punter, he'd break the single season record for punting yardage with that many punts! I wonder if that will help their punter recruiting. :)
 

MaxyJR1 said:
They beat MN in that stretch, losses were to #22, #2, and Pur & WI who were within a tie-breaker going to last week. Kentucky was 10-3.

Penn State was 7-6 and Iowa State was 7-6. To me they were the same team throughout the season. Perceptions changed week to week and were inflated early in the year.
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To me they were worse and they knew they were worse as evidenced by the fact they were playing multiple QBs at times and it wasn’t injury related

To me they were worse in that they gave up 13 a game the first 6 and 23.8 a game the last 8

To me they were worse in that they scored 31.5 per game the first 6
They scored 17.8 per game the last 8

If you think they were playing as well at the end of the year you are just looking at SOS and not watching them play.
 
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Some guy said:
To me they were worse and they knew they were worse as evidenced by the fact they were playing multiple QBs at times and it wasn’t injury related

To me they were worse in that they gave up 13 a game the first 6 and 23.8 a game the last 8

To me they were worse in that they scored 31.5 per game the first 6
They scored 17.8 per game the last 8

If you think they were playing as well at the end of the year you are just looking at SOS and not watching them play.
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They ran the ball better in the 2nd half of the year and were more balanced. Defense/Special Teams scored 6 TD's and 2 Safeties. They played Colorado State, Maryland, and Kent State in the 1st half of the season.

Splitting statistical hairs and I'm just having some fun. MN blew a great opportunity last year and I hope bring Kirk back will be the push over the hump.
 

Some guy said:
Purdue and Kentucky were pretty average teams last year
Decent records but not that good.
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"Pretty average" teams normally don't get to the Citrus Bowl. A so-so Auburn Team played there in the 2020 pandemic year but that was a year where bowls were cancelled and a fair number of teams either were ineligible or opted out because of COVID. The Gophers made it with an 8-4 record (when it was called Capital One) in 2014 but that was a year when Michigan had a losing season, Penn State was still emerging from its probationary period, and Wisconsin played in the Outback because they had played in the Capital One the year before. Kentucky ended the 2021 season 10-3 and that isn't average.

Purdue didn't have Kentucky's season but I'd say they were better than average.
 


cjbfbp said:
"Pretty average" teams normally don't get to the Citrus Bowl. A so-so Auburn Team played there in the 2020 pandemic year but that was a year where bowls were cancelled and a fair number of teams either were ineligible or opted out because of COVID. The Gophers made it with an 8-4 record (when it was called Capital One) in 2014 but that was a year when Michigan had a losing season, Penn State was still emerging from its probationary period, and Wisconsin played in the Outback because they had played in the Capital One the year before. Kentucky ended the 2021 season 10-3 and that isn't average.

Purdue didn't have Kentucky's season but I'd say they were better than average.
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I’m going to disagree with you. Bowl placement has little to do with anything. Hell a losing conference record made the Outback last year. I guess penn state was a good team too.

Kentucky played a schedule that was 10 ply soft


And even if I’m wrong, none of that takes away from the fact that Iowa was playing worse at the end than they were in the beginning.

From a great defense to a good defense:
From a bad offense to a still bad offense
From a team winning the turnover battle to a team breaking even in the turnover battle.
 

Schnauzer said:
I agree, Iowa is too well coached to be this bad on offense all season. So simple odds say that if they are this bad now, they will be better by the time the Gophers play them.

Since they are easier to beat now, yes, it would be better to play them now. But I also agree with the comment that said the core rivals should be played as late as possible on the schedule.
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I would prefer to play Iowa sooner rather than later this year too.

But why is it so important to have the primary rivalry games at the end of the year? I get tired of always playing Wisconsin in the final game of the season.
 

Some guy said:
I’m going to disagree with you. Bowl placement has little to do with anything. Hell a losing conference record made the Outback last year. I guess penn state was a good team too.

Kentucky played a schedule that was 10 ply soft
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That's a ridiculous statement. Just because bad bowl assignments are made here and there doesn't mean that merit isn't the general rule for assignment. That's like saying that being a #1 draft pick doesn't mean anything because a minority of those players end up playing well below their draft ranking.

If you're going to write off Kentucky's 10-3 2021 record, then you have to heavily discount our 11-2 2019 record as well. We beat only two FBS teams during the regular season with overall winning records (GA Southern and Penn State).
 

cjbfbp said:
That's a ridiculous statement. Just because bad bowl assignments are made here and there doesn't mean that merit isn't the general rule for assignment. That's like saying that being a #1 draft pick doesn't mean anything because a minority of those players end up playing well below their draft ranking.

If you're going to write off Kentucky's 10-3 2021 record, then you have to heavily discount our 11-2 2019 record as well. We beat only two FBS teams during the regular season with overall winning records (GA Southern and Penn State).
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3 losses is 50% more than 2

That’s like saying a 9 loss team is really close to a 6 loss team
 



Some guy said:
they played 2 QBs against the gophers
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No they didn't.

Petras was hurt the week before against Northwestern. Iowa played Padilla against us. We could only hope Petras played against the Gophers, I think we would have won that game.

That said, I agree with you. Iowa was not playing as well the end of the year. Hell, Iowa almost lost to Nebraska. Had they, we would have gone to Indianapolis.

The Iowa starting QB has been a complete and utter disaster for about a full calendar now. That's why I would like to play them this weekend, before they put the other guy in there and let him take over. They will be better once they do that. The fact they haven't done that is amazing.
 

I misremembered that they both played. I do remember even after warmups the Iowa fans around me at the game weren’t sure who was going to play so I feel like Petra’s was healthy enough to warm up and be dressed

Which as I look back now may have been alcohol talking
 
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MNVCGUY said:
Don't be so sure their offense is going to get much better. They were bad on offense last year and they have some major offensive line issues this year to go along with a general lack of playmakers and mediocre QB play.

If their defense falters at all this year they are going to be in trouble but on the same note their defense and special teams will probably be good enough to keep them in most games even if the offense struggles.
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Regarding the schedule debate on when to play Iowa, this post aged well.
 

Some guy said:
It completely depends on it iowa is going to get better or worse this year.
I think Iowa is going to get worse. Hard to sustain that level of defense when the offense is so bad. At some point the Iowa defenders will be human.
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I was wrong
 






Some guy said:
That always is the case
No one predicted otherwise
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Oh, okay.

I thought some were claiming Iowa was less than their usual selves this year, and therefore ripe for the picking. My bad. Poor interpretation on my part.
 

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