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Who's Hot and Who's Not


Rockerbraves
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Who would make your list?

 

Hot, Hot, Hot!

 

South Carolina Football - Despite losing the SEC Championship game the future looks really bright for the Gamecocks considering their sensational true freshmen running back Marcus Lattimore should be in a S Carolina uniform for at least the next two seasons.

 

Michigan State - Spartans came out of nowhere to post an 11-1 record to earn a share of the Big 10 Conference Championship. Wouldn't think many thought Michigan State would win out after the Spartans were humilated by over 4 TD's in week 9 by Iowa.

 

Oregon's Coach Chip Kelly- Proved he belongs in the top echelon of CFB coaches by leading the Ducks not only to an undefeated season but by destroying his opponents by an average winning margin of 3 plus TD's per game

 

Auburn's assistant coach Gus Malzahn - Coach Malzahn recently turned down a 3 million per year gig as Vanderbilt Head Coach. Can't question old Gus too much for passing on this kind of $$$ considering he is scheduled to make 1.3 million next season as an assistant.

 

Not So Hot!

 

Defending Champion Alabama Crimson Tide - What can you say? When most experts predict your team to repeat and you lose 3 games of course you'll be near the top of most everyone's not so hot list.

 

Texas Longhorns - Hard to believe Texas finished dead last in the Big 12 South division. Deservingly, the Longhorns won't be playing in a bowl game for the first time since 1997.

 

USC Trojans - I know USC is on probation and Head Coach Kiffin has never won 8 games before, but finishing the season with 5 losses despite having the most talent on the field each and every week certainly merits a spot on this list as well.

 

Big East Conference - Big East was so bad this season it would not surprise me one bit if the BCS comes up with a new rule that goes something like this. Any BCS AQ Conference Champion must be ranked in the top 25 to earn an automatic BCS Bowl Bid.

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Would add Iowa to the who's not list. No excuse to lose to Northwestern and Minnesota, and quite frankly, Arizona.

I know you like and have always defended Iowa's Coach Ferentz but even you have to start questioning if the Hawkeye faithful are getting their money's worth. Not only is he not getting it done in the win/loss column, but his players continue to be involved in negative off field issues.

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I know you like and have always defended Iowa's Coach Ferentz but even you have to start questioning if the Hawkeye faithful are getting their money's worth. Not only is he not getting it done in the win/loss column, but his players continue to be involved in negative off field issues.

 

Reality is Rocker, he is one of the only coaches in the country to actually own up to anything. The other reality is, Iowa's drug testing is still above most BCS teams. The truth is, the Athletic Director Gary Barta made the whole thing worse than it actually is, and basically making it national news. In other words, they are their own worst enemy at times.

 

And anyone who watched that Arizona-Iowa game objectively wouldn't have come away saying "wow Arizona is heads or tails above Iowa." Iowa lost by 7 points on the road, after gifting them 21 in the first half. Every "expert" was saying that Iowa had one bad half of football. Now, down the stretch Iowa tanked, losing to Northwestern (when they still had Persa) Ohio State (can't complain there they are a good team) and no doubt inexcusable to Minnesota. That said, Arizona didn't exactly light the world on fire down the stretch either losing to Arizona State in a game that set football back by about 50 years. Iowa's other loss was to Wisconsin by 1, and Ohio State by 3. Compare that to Arizona and how they competed with the 2 best Pac 10 teams, 19 to Oregon, 23 to Stanford. So no, Arizona is not heads or tails above Iowa. If Arizona had actually done something WITH that great win in September, and taken the momentum they got from it, then we might be talking, but both teams have the same record, and Arizona gets a slight nod for the close head to head win in Tuscon, but I still came away from that game very disappointed in my Hawkeyes for losing to a very average club. Turns out, Iowa was just as average but at the time, I was disgusted for losing to a team like that. After they fell apart against Northwestern in the 4th quarter, I was just numb to the whole thing.

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Reality is Rocker, he is one of the only coaches in the country to actually own up to anything. The other reality is, Iowa's drug testing is still above most BCS teams. The truth is, the Athletic Director Gary Barta made the whole thing worse than it actually is, and basically making it national news. In other words, they are their own worst enemy at times.

At some point you have to ask yourself. Is Iowa getting their money's worth when their coach is still one of highest paid coaches in college football and certainly the Big 10? So if you still think he is one of elite coaches then what exactly do you think is preventing his Hawkeye teams from being more competitive?

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At some point you have to ask yourself. Is Iowa getting their money's worth when their coach is still one of highest paid coaches in college football and certainly the Big 10? So if you still think he is one of elite coaches then what exactly do you think is preventing his Hawkeye teams from being more competitive?

 

It comes down to a difference of expectations. The reality of the situation is at Iowa you can't expect them to be Ohio State, or Alabama, or Florida. That just isn't going to happen. The reason Kirk Ferentz is priced so high, is because nearly every January an NFL team comes calling, and Iowa is forced to either bid higher, or let him go. Who else are we going to get? And I think Iowa has been successful. He's been AP National Coach of the Year in 2002. 3 time Big Ten Coach of the year. 2 Time Big Ten Champion. 2 BCS Bowl appearances. He's 3-1 against the SEC (and we all know how great they are, just ask any SEC fan). He graduates players, and the few players that do get to the next level from Iowa are all enjoying some level of success and contributing to their NFL teams. He's respected by fellow coaches in the Big Ten, and nationally. Is Iowa ever going to be Ohio State? No. Not many programs are. I think Kirk Ferentz has a damn fine resume, and I love the fact that Iowa has had only 2 coaches since 1978. It shows stability in the program, and some of the most loyal fans out there. Iowa isn't going to be a 10-11 win team EVERY single year. It's just not realistic, and the fans that are expecting that are dillusional, both Iowa fans or non-Iowa fans.

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It comes down to a difference of expectations. The reality of the situation is at Iowa you can't expect them to be Ohio State, or Alabama, or Florida. That just isn't going to happen. The reason Kirk Ferentz is priced so high, is because nearly every January an NFL team comes calling, and Iowa is forced to either bid higher, or let him go. Who else are we going to get? And I think Iowa has been successful. He's been AP National Coach of the Year in 2002. 3 time Big Ten Coach of the year. 2 Time Big Ten Champion. 2 BCS Bowl appearances. He's 3-1 against the SEC (and we all know how great they are, just ask any SEC fan). He graduates players, and the few players that do get to the next level from Iowa are all enjoying some level of success and contributing to their NFL teams. He's respected by fellow coaches in the Big Ten, and nationally. Is Iowa ever going to be Ohio State? No. Not many programs are. I think Kirk Ferentz has a damn fine resume, and I love the fact that Iowa has had only 2 coaches since 1978. It shows stability in the program, and some of the most loyal fans out there. Iowa isn't going to be a 10-11 win team EVERY single year. It's just not realistic, and the fans that are expecting that are dillusional, both Iowa fans or non-Iowa fans.

You know I use to think LSU could never be like Ohio State, Bama, USC and Florida either, but they are. Ask any under 30 year old LSU fan if they get fired up when LSU almost beats anyone of those programs. Of course they don't because they grew up in an era where LSU has won two BCS National Championships and expectations are to win championships.

 

Don't sell Iowa's program short. It's not like they have to beat a whole bunch or SEC caliber teams to win their conference and get into a BCS NC game. To me what I see happening at Iowa is that Coach Ferentz is getting a free ride ever since in 2006 being made the top paid coach in college football. Since 2006 his win/loss record stands at 39-24 with only one 10 plus win season. No wonder he doesn't bolt for the NFL where expectations would be so much higher.

 

The point I'm trying to make is if a Coach is going to accept one of the highest slaries in college football there is no realon why the University & their fans should not have high expectations.

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It comes down to a difference of expectations. The reality of the situation is at Iowa you can't expect them to be Ohio State, or Alabama, or Florida. That just isn't going to happen. The reason Kirk Ferentz is priced so high, is because nearly every January an NFL team comes calling, and Iowa is forced to either bid higher, or let him go. Who else are we going to get? And I think Iowa has been successful. He's been AP National Coach of the Year in 2002. 3 time Big Ten Coach of the year. 2 Time Big Ten Champion. 2 BCS Bowl appearances. He's 3-1 against the SEC (and we all know how great they are, just ask any SEC fan). He graduates players, and the few players that do get to the next level from Iowa are all enjoying some level of success and contributing to their NFL teams. He's respected by fellow coaches in the Big Ten, and nationally. Is Iowa ever going to be Ohio State? No. Not many programs are. I think Kirk Ferentz has a damn fine resume, and I love the fact that Iowa has had only 2 coaches since 1978. It shows stability in the program, and some of the most loyal fans out there. Iowa isn't going to be a 10-11 win team EVERY single year. It's just not realistic, and the fans that are expecting that are dillusional, both Iowa fans or non-Iowa fans.

I think you're selling your chances short. There's one thing a whole lot of great college programs have in common. They're in the middle of freaking nowhere. Lincoln? Norman? Tuscaloosa? Penn St? Hell, Boise? Have you ever driven through Gainsville, FL?

 

What about Lawrence, Kansas for bball? You think any 18 year old kid cares that the game was invented there?

 

I think that, provided you throw the kind of money you're throwing at your coach, you should absolutely expect him to deliver results. Mind you, the ones you listed above are pretty nice.

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I just don't believe that Kirk Ferentz is the problem at Iowa. He took over a program that had stability but the talent was severely lacking. Since then all the guy has done is had 2 11 win seasons, 2 more 10 win seasons, and 4 Top 10 finishes. When was the last time you've seen a Kirk Ferentz coached Iowa team get completely run out of the stadium? It's been 3 years, 2007 vs Penn State probably. So during this span 2006-present, I would say they've been completely manhandled and embarrassed 2 or 3 times. His teams compete. And keep in mind, I do believe there is a HELLUVA lot more to college football than wins and losses. And yeah, he does have a good gig at Iowa. He gets paid a lot, and has one of the most loyal fanbases out there. Has he had to deal with off the field problems? Yeah. Does he bolt and run at the first sign of trouble like, oh I don't know, Pete Carroll? No absolutely not. He stands up, and deals with it. Sorry but I loved last year and the latter part of 2008. I didn't like 05-07 much at all, but before that, winning 2 Big Ten Championships in 3 years, with a 10 win season in between was fun. If I can mix in 2 or 3 year runs where they are at the top of the Big Ten, and possibly the top of the BCS like last year, then I'll accept that. Fact of the matter is, there isn't a single coach out there that I can point to that I can honestly say, would be able to come to Iowa and be like Ohio State or Michigan (before that moron Rich Rodriguez) with a 70000 seat stadium competing in a league with 3 teams that have 100,000 seat stadiums and are in the middle of high school hotbeds (Ohio and Pennsylvania). Nick Saban? Been there, saw that at Michigan State. There's a reason he was called 6-5 Nick. He had one really really good year there. Urban Meyer maybe, but I really doubt he'd have an even BETTER resume in this same 10 year stretch at Iowa than Kirk Ferentz, and more importantly, his teams compete, even in down years. No one points to Iowa on the schedule and says "easy win." You'd be hard pressed to find a lot of coaches in the country that get as much out of their players as Kirk Ferentz does. Dallas Clark was a walk-on. Bob Sanders was barely recruited. Even guys on other teams that were recruited by Ferentz praise him, like Michael Floyd of Notre Dame says he probably would've never moved to WR had Ferentz not told him that he would make it big as a WR instead of a QB, when he was being recruited.

 

And furthermore, if winning at that high of a level year in and year out means you have the NCAA parked in your parking lot every year, then I really don't want any part of that. I'll take my great seasons every 2 or 3 years.

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