Craig McDonald

Iowa state has averaged 5.15 wins the last 20 years (Gophers average is 6.25), 5.1 wins the last 10 years (Gophers average is 6.1), and 4.8 wins the last 5 years (Gophers average is 7). They have a 4-10 all-time bowl record vs the gophers 8-12. Iowa State has spent only 48 weeks ever ranked in the AP Poll, vs Gophers 160 weeks. We have 7 national titles, they have zero (which by the way so does wisconsin). So by basically every recent measure, Iowa State is a worse football program than ours. In no way should they be used as a model. Not to mention we play in a more difficult conference. And our coach is better looking and more charismatic!

^

Not Lazy
 

I have no clue. If he is a Iowa State commit, will he talk about that with other players who are looking around? That's why I ask. I'm curious. At what point do you realize that a person isn't going to change his mind and its best to move on and work on other players. Especially if a player prefers to play in a weaker conference.

He wouldn’t really be committed if he was attending U of M activities.
 

2020 kid. He will probably change his mind a couple times still.


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Has there ever been a kid with standing offers from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.....and ended up choosing Iowa State?

He will be the first I have to believe. Good for him on blazing a trail to Ames, Iowa.

Interesting decision.
 



Has there ever been a kid with standing offers from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.....and ended up choosing Iowa State?

He will be the first I have to believe. Good for him on blazing a trail to Ames, Iowa.

Interesting decision.
He loved the view of the Barilla Pasta plant.
 


Iowa state has averaged 5.15 wins the last 20 years (Gophers average is 6.25), 5.1 wins the last 10 years (Gophers average is 6.1), and 4.8 wins the last 5 years (Gophers average is 7). They have a 4-10 all-time bowl record vs the gophers 8-12. Iowa State has spent only 48 weeks ever ranked in the AP Poll, vs Gophers 160 weeks. We have 7 national titles, they have zero (which by the way so does wisconsin). So by basically every recent measure, Iowa State is a worse football program than ours. In no way should they be used as a model. Not to mention we play in a more difficult conference. And our coach is better looking and more charismatic!

Non-lazy, but also dishonest, because the context of the discussion is since Matt Campbell has been their head coach.

MC - ISU - 2016, 2017, 2018 - 3-9 (2-7), 8-5 (5-4), 8-5 (6-3), with bowl games that last two.
PJF - UM - 2017, 2018 - 5-7 (2-7), 6-7 (3-6), with a bowl game the last.

Similar trajectories. BT West and XII North would have been similar P5 divisions, but XII doesn't have divisions anymore, so will be tough for ISU to break past OU and Texas consistently, just like it would be difficult for Minn to break past OSU, Mich, PSU consistently.
 
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If a kid does not want to be here, we move on.
 

Non-lazy, but also dishonest, because the context of the discussion is since Matt Campbell has been their head coach.

MC - ISU - 2016, 2017, 2018 - 3-9 (2-7), 8-5 (5-4), 8-5 (6-3), with bowl games that last two.
PJF - UM - 2017, 2018 - 5-7 (2-7), 6-7 (3-6), with a bowl game the last.

Similar trajectories. BT West and XII North would have been similar P5 divisions, but XII doesn't have divisions anymore, so will be tough for ISU to break past OU and Texas consistently, just like it would be difficult for Minn to break past OSU, Mich, PSU consistently.

You are basing a "model program" off of their most recent two years of performance, both of which were only 8-win seasons? By the way, I thought we were 7-6 last year, not 6-7?

By the way, I like Campbell and think he's done a good job at ISU. I just don't think they are anywhere near what I would consider a model program. I would consider Wisconsin or maybe Michigan State closer to model programs for us.
 
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Non-lazy, but also dishonest, because the context of the discussion is since Matt Campbell has been their head coach.

MC - ISU - 2016, 2017, 2018 - 3-9 (2-7), 8-5 (5-4), 8-5 (6-3), with bowl games that last two.
PJF - UM - 2017, 2018 - 5-7 (2-7), 6-7 (3-6), with a bowl game the last.

Similar trajectories. BT West and XII North would have been similar P5 divisions, but XII doesn't have divisions anymore, so will be tough for ISU to break past OU and Texas consistently, just like it would be difficult for Minn to break past OSU, Mich, PSU consistently.

He's also 0-3 vs Iowa.
 

Non-lazy, but also dishonest, because the context of the discussion is since Matt Campbell has been their head coach.

MC - ISU - 2016, 2017, 2018 - 3-9 (2-7), 8-5 (5-4), 8-5 (6-3), with bowl games that last two.
PJF - UM - 2017, 2018 - 5-7 (2-7), 6-7 (3-6), with a bowl game the last.

Similar trajectories. BT West and XII North would have been similar P5 divisions, but XII doesn't have divisions anymore, so will be tough for ISU to break past OU and Texas consistently, just like it would be difficult for Minn to break past OSU, Mich, PSU consistently.

If you really want to do trajectories "honestly", you need to include where they are starting from.

ISU:
2014 - 2-10 (0-9)
2015 - 3-9 (2-7)
2016 - 3-9 (2-7) - YEAR 1
2017 - 8-5 (5-4) - YEAR 2
2018 - 8-5 (6-3) - YEAR 3

Minnesota:
2015 - 6-7 (2-6)
2016 - 9-4 (5-4)
2017 - 5-7 (2-7) - YEAR 1
2018 - 7-6 (3-6) - YEAR 2
 



Non-lazy, but also dishonest, because the context of the discussion is since Matt Campbell has been their head coach.

MC - ISU - 2016, 2017, 2018 - 3-9 (2-7), 8-5 (5-4), 8-5 (6-3), with bowl games that last two.
PJF - UM - 2017, 2018 - 5-7 (2-7), 6-7 (3-6), with a bowl game the last.

Similar trajectories. BT West and XII North would have been similar P5 divisions, but XII doesn't have divisions anymore, so will be tough for ISU to break past OU and Texas consistently, just like it would be difficult for Minn to break past OSU, Mich, PSU consistently.

You realize PJ won the bowl game don't you?
 

I really hate to agree with Gopher4Life on anything, but he’s right. I wouldn’t say “model” b/c Campbell is still progressing and not achieved the biggest goals yet.

Campbell is receiving interest from NFL teams for his success. Iowa State’s last 3 seasons of offenses are some of the most productive in Iowa State history and the last two years of defenses have been the best in the Big XII. This recruit plays DB.

The Big XII is not a “weak conference”. It has done well in the bowl season with quality wins and competitiveness the last couple years. The offenses are dynamic and the defenses generally do better against out of conference P5 opponents.
 

I'll put it this way. I like Minnesota's chances playing in the B10 championship game before ISU plays in the B12 championship game.
I’ll take that bet. Had Iowa St beaten Texas, they’d have been in the Big XII championship game last year.
 
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I really hate to agree with Gopher4Life on anything, but he’s right. I wouldn’t say “model” b/c Campbell is still progressing and not achieved the biggest goals yet.

Campbell is receiving interest from NFL teams for his success. Iowa State’s last 3 seasons of offenses are some of the most productive in Iowa State history and the last two years of defenses have been the best in the Big XII. This recruit plays DB.

The Big XII is not a “weak conference”. It has done well in the bowl season with quality wins and competitiveness the last couple years. The offenses are dynamic and the defenses generally do better against out of conference P5 opponents.

They're the worst or second worst P5 conference most years lately.
 

I really hate to agree with Gopher4Life on anything, but he’s right. I wouldn’t say “model” b/c Campbell is still progressing and not achieved the biggest goals yet.

Campbell is receiving interest from NFL teams for his success. Iowa State’s last 3 seasons of offenses are some of the most productive in Iowa State history and the last two years of defenses have been the best in the Big XII. This recruit plays DB.

The Big XII is not a “weak conference”. It has done well in the bowl season with quality wins and competitiveness the last couple years. The offenses are dynamic and the defenses generally do better against out of conference P5 opponents.

It may pain you to agree, but there is a near-pain-free solution. I just added him to my ignore list early on and although I still see he posts multiple times in pretty much every thread, I don't see the actual text/content so I am not tempted to interact with a person that just seems to be interested in seeing how many posts he can make and argue with everyone. I do wish when you ignored someone it would also hide their comments when someone else quotes them. But overall, the ignore list helps a lot and makes the site more enjoyable for me.
 

They're the worst or second worst P5 conference most years lately.
Based on what?

OU was in the CFB Playoff. Texas thumped Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

They were 4-3 in the bowls vs P5 conferences
They were 3-1 vs SEC
They were 1-1 vs PAC 12 with Iowa St’s controversial, narrow loss to WSU
And WVU lost to Syracuse without their NFL Draft QB prospect

And 5-3 in bowls in 2017-18
 


Based on what?

OU was in the CFB Playoff. Texas thumped Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

They were 4-3 in the bowls vs P5 conferences
They were 3-1 vs SEC
They were 1-1 vs PAC 12 with Iowa St’s controversial, narrow loss to WSU
And WVU lost to Syracuse without their NFL Draft QB prospect

And 5-3 in bowls in 2017-18

Because the SEC, B1G, and ACC were all better. You put too much stock into bowl games.
 




Ryan Burns had some good commentary on the McDonald situation. Evidently Iowa St offered him last March and made him a priority right away. We asked him to camp with us in June, and he performed well but we didn’t extend an offer until October. That didn’t sit well with him, which is part of the reason he’s at ISU. The analysis on him is that he’s a solid recruit, but the allure is that he has strong ties with Johnson and Lockett and would have given us (or a different B1G team) a better chance to land both of those two as well.

Bottom line, missing out on McDonald isn’t a huge deal. The fact that it will make it tougher to land Johnson and Lockett is.
 

<b>Bottom line, missing out on McDonald isn’t a huge deal. </b>The fact that it will make it tougher to land Johnson and Lockett is.

Whew!



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McDonald would've been the 7th/8th-highest rated recruit signed had he been in our vaunted 2019 class - and yet it's "no big deal" that we didn't sign him. K.

The baseline expectation is that a Minnesota head coach should sign virtually every in-state 3-star recruit that he wants. And we should never lose an in-state recruit to Iowa St. Even a catastrophically horrible all-time worst recruiter like Tracy Claeys was able to cross that low threshold.
 
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McDonald would've been the 7th/8th-highest rated recruit signed had he been in our vaunted 2019 class - and yet it's "no big deal" that we didn't sign him. K.

The baseline expectation is that a Minnesota head coach should sign virtually every in-state 3-star recruit that he wants. And we should never lose an in-state recruit to Iowa St. Even a catastrophically horrible all-time worst recruiter like Tracy Claeys was able to cross that low threshold.

What about Patrick Kasl, JD Spielman, and Amani Hooker? https://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=MN

McDonald is pretty much the first 3* in-state recruit that Fleck wanted and missed.
 

What about Patrick Kasl, JD Spielman, and Amani Hooker? https://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=MN

McDonald is pretty much the first 3* in-state recruit that Fleck wanted and missed.

The odd thing about Hooker and Spielman is that we didn't seem very interested in them. Maybe Spielman told us early on that he wasn't interested or wanted to leave home, but both were strange.

I never understood why we didn't go after Amani Hooker.

With McDonald, I'm disappointed and surprised, but it's recruiting. A lot of things can play into it. Maybe he didn't want to go to college 10 minutes from his parents. Maybe he had a good relationship with Coach Campbell. Maybe his girlfriend is going to Iowa State (heck, maybe she's going to MN).
 

What about Patrick Kasl, JD Spielman, and Amani Hooker? https://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=MN

McDonald is pretty much the first 3* in-state recruit that Fleck wanted and missed.

Given if what was said above is true about how and when we offered, it quite clearly seems that Fleck didn’t “want” McD all that much ...

Was that a mistake by Fleck? Would seem to be, in my opinion ..

How often does Minnesota go down and grab an Iowa high school 3* or higher?? They probably don’t produce a ton of them, but guessing it is rare. They shouldn’t be able to do that to us.
 




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