This is the week Fleck and Co. show they are an Elite coaching staff

I believe that this week is actually going to be a tougher, more challenging week to prepare for than beating Penn St. I realize Iowa does not have the talent level of Penn St., and their best win of the year is against Purdue but they always seem to rise to the occasion against highly ranked teams when they are at home.

On top of that, the world just changed for everyone of those 19-24 year olds. They went from being doubted and flying under the radar a bit, to being everyone on campus’ best friend and being expected to win. They will be getting a lot of attention and praise they haven’t before and I could understand if they were a bit distracted this week after the emotional high on Saturday.

But that is where Fleck and his staff will show they are Elite. They will bring these kids down to earth and focus them on the task at hand. We have only won in Iowa City twice in the last forever, but this week we will see them flip yet another script and re-write the narrative going forward!

You go from no expectations, not supposed to win...to you are supposed to win at a very tough place where you have hardly won (and haven't won in a long time). Iowa played PSU very tough, this game will be difficult to say the least!

NotAFanOfBecky said:

You go from no expectations, not supposed to win...to you are supposed to win at a very tough place where you have hardly won (and haven't won in a long time). Iowa played PSU very tough, this game will be difficult to say the least!

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It all comes down to the coaches and the team, and their own expectations.

Do they want to be a team that expects to win a game like this, or do they want to be just like what we've been for a long time: a team that hopes it is good enough to occasionally pull an upset over the Hawkeyes in Iowa City?

That's where we have been for years: not quite as good as an Iowa or a Wisconsin, but once in a blue moon just barely good enough to spring an upset and beat them.

Is that where we permanently belong? Is the idea of having higher aspirations than that a little bit upsetting for some — moving us outside our cozy little comfort zone?

Vegas has done the team a favor by installing us as underdogs. Here's hoping the CFP committee holds us out of the top 10.

This

Bad Gopher said:

Vegas has done the team a favor by installing us as underdogs. Here's hoping the CFP committee holds us out of the top 10.

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THIS

I know Iowa has a great defense, but I don't know if they have enough CB's to cover our WR's.
Also, not sure if they have the LB's to stop our outside runs.

They'll have to pick their method to try and stop us like PSU did, but we can score.

If our defense plays their usually game, I wouldn't think Iowa hits 24 points. They are averaging 18 per game against Power 5 teams including 30 vs Rutgers, the only Power 5 game they scored over 22.

We will put up some points.

Franklin all-but-admitted in his post-game presser that they could not cover our run and pass game at the same time. While PSU does have a 3 man offense...QB, WR, and TE...the Hawks do not have the offense to match ours.

I-O-W-A Championship Week is upon us.

NotAFanOfBecky said:

You go from no expectations, not supposed to win...to you are supposed to win at a very tough place where you have hardly won (and haven't won in a long time). Iowa played PSU very tough, this game will be difficult to say the least!

Click to expand...

You go from no expectations, not supposed to win, to expected to win 2-3 at least in these last 3 games. But I think Gopher fan expectations just jumped up to thinking we should win all 3. Theoretically we beat Penn State, and were winning quite handily for a big chunk of that game, so most of us would think well Iowa and Wisconsin should be winnable games now. I believe in Fleck’s ability to get them to buckle down. Even Carter Coughlin made it clear that they’ll celebrate Saturday, but they’re in Iowa game mode come Sunday. I think this team gets what they’re supposed to do mentally. And to be honest, I think they’ve got such a big fire lit under their asses that they’re hungry to keep winning. I don’t sense cockiness in this squad. They’ve still got a bone to pick with the league and the nation, they’re going to be trying to shove the doubt that was cast their way right in everyone’s faces for the rest of this season. That’s the vibe I’m getting at least.


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mjfelton15 said:

You go from no expectations, not supposed to win, to expected to win 2-3 at least in these last 3 games. But I think Gopher fan expectations just jumped up to thinking we should win all 3. Theoretically we beat Penn State, and were winning quite handily for a big chunk of that game, so most of us would think well Iowa and Wisconsin should be winnable games now. I believe in Fleck’s ability to get them to buckle down. Even Carter Coughlin made it clear that they’ll celebrate Saturday, but they’re in Iowa game mode come Sunday. I think this team gets what they’re supposed to do mentally. And to be honest, I think they’ve got such a big fire lit under their asses that they’re hungry to keep winning. I don’t sense cockiness in this squad. They’ve still got a bone to pick with the league and the nation, they’re going to be trying to shove the doubt that was cast their way right in everyone’s faces for the rest of this season. That’s the vibe I’m getting at least.

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The reason we think they are winnable games is because they are. There is nobody in the Big Ten outside of Ohio State that feels close to unbeatable at this point and even there I think we would have a shot.

This team gives off such a confident connected vibe and they seem laser focused on what is in front of them. Winning against Penn State was huge but they haven't achieved their goals for the season yet and because of that I fully expect this team to get right back to work and to zero in on doing what needs to be done to beat Iowa.

These next few games will be tough, if the team lets up at all they could lose. But if we bring our best against Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin we will win those games because we can do things on offense that most teams simply can't and we have a defense that does a pretty dang good job supporting that offense.