Week 13 Rivalry Week Other Games Thread

Iowa over 10.5 team points and to win. Arguably my favorite bet to ever win. Nebraska continues to Nebraska
 



Well Benhart, enjoy the bowl season again...Oh wait a second, you've never been to one and won't go to one!
 

Iowa always plays, at crunch time, as if someone will make a big play. So often, so many games, they do. They seem to “will” the win. The mental toughness, the resilience is amazing. That is what’s missing in a lot of teams. A lot of teams. Now, next week will be something different, I expect. Iowa’s finally going to have to score some serious points.
 




Does that matter? They are 10-2 and going to be a top 10 team in the nation.

Iowa isn't jumping from #17 into the top ten. Almost zero percent chance. Would have been if the Gophers didn't beat them however.
 

Everyone can rightfully mock the offensive output in the Big Ten West but I honestly prefer that than the 69-44 (xp pending) track meet you receive in the Big 12. It's not illegal to try and stop your opponent from scoring, right?
 





Everyone can rightfully mock the offensive output in the Big Ten West but I honestly prefer that than the 69-44 (xp pending) track meet you receive in the Big 12. It's not illegal to try and stop your opponent from scoring, right?
Can we get an exchange program between the BTW schools and the Big XII?

Maybe we could teach them some defense while they show us this thing called the forward pass.

It's stunning that two leagues on the same competition level and rules and sharing a somewhat overlapping recruiting base can get such wildly different outcomes. It's like two different sports.
 




Does that matter? They are 10-2 and going to be a top 10 team in the nation.
Hawks at 10-2 is an accomplishment, especially considering how bad their QB is, and while the Barry Alvarez era at Wisconsin is over, the Hayden Fry era is still solid at Iowa. We should be so lucky - Iowa has had continuity with only two coaches over 44 years while the U of M has had ten.
 

7 straight seasons without a bowl game. They should never have joined big boy football in Big 10.

Go Gophers!!
Seventh straight losing season for Nebraska, which fired Solich after a 9-3 season, then spiraled down with six different coaches, hitting nadir with Frost. 5-7 is a disappointment for Rhule, but defense has improved.
 

How many times have the Gophers beat a team that finished with 10+ wins in recent decades? 2019 Penn State (11 wins), 1999 Penn State (10 wins), 2023 Iowa... Is that it since Mason came here in 1997? I feel like I'm forgetting someone. Pretty interesting footnote on an otherwise disappointing season.
 

I wonder if Kirk F. apologizes to the opposing coach after the game, I mean they have a fantastic defense, but to keep getting the late game huge breaks is…….I know he coaches that way……who the hell else pulls that sh*t off week after week, year after year, truly amazing.
 

You take every 10-2 team since say 2014, and you rank them by the cumulative difficulty of those 10 wins ….. 2023 Iowa has to be near the bottom of the list.

Who did they beat that had a decent pulse?

Penn State whipped them 0-31. I’m thinking that’s the only decent team they’ve played all year?
 

great events should be recorded for posterity - so here is the entire drive chart for the Neb-IA game:

IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 6 plays, Punt
IA: 11 plays, Punt - Neb loses Fumble on Punt Return
IA: 5 plays, Missed FG
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 7 plays, TD - IA leads 7-0
Neb: 4 plays, Lost Fumble
IA: 13 plays, FG made- IA leads 10-0
Neb: 3 plays, TD - IA leads 10-7
IA: 8 plays, Missed FG
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 1 play, end of Half..........

Neb: 6 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 10 plays, FG made - game tied 10-10
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 5 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 10 plays, Missed FG
IA: 6 plays, Punt
Neb: 5 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, threw INT
Neb: 2 plays, threw INT
IA: 3 plays, FG made -- end of game. IA wins 13-10

grand totals:
2 TD's
3 made FG's
3 missed FG's
2 INT's
2 lost Fumbles
14 Punts
 

^ sorry @DarrenTheGreek that's just putrid to watch. That’s not good defense, it’s bad offense.

You have to have good offense to score lots of points, even if the defense stinks you still have to throw a good ball and make a catch. I’ll watch that over the former, easy.


But why does it have to be one or the other extreme?

Why can’t we just have solid overall football? Half the drives the offense executes better than the defense, the other half it’s the other way around. But all of the offenses and defenses are good.
 


I wonder if Kirk F. apologizes to the opposing coach after the game, I mean they have a fantastic defense, but to keep getting the late game huge breaks is…….I know he coaches that way……who the hell else pulls that sh*t off week after week, year after year, truly amazing.
There was a stat given at the halftime of the Iowa-Nebraska game that shows just how unbelievably improbable Iowa’s accomplishment has been this year. The question is “how many FBS teams have averaged under 250 yards of offense per game thru the entire season and have won 10 games?” (as Iowa ended up going). None obviously. But the incredible thing is that the next best record for less than 250 yards was 4 wins, if I heard correctly. Did anyone else hear this? Was I dreaming (I’m old).
 

I wonder if Kirk F. apologizes to the opposing coach after the game, I mean they have a fantastic defense, but to keep getting the late game huge breaks is…….I know he coaches that way……who the hell else pulls that sh*t off week after week, year after year, truly amazing.
I doubt that Ferentz is apologizing to anyone for anything —he’s 10-2 and on his way to the bank !!!
 

great events should be recorded for posterity - so here is the entire drive chart for the Neb-IA game:

IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 6 plays, Punt
IA: 11 plays, Punt - Neb loses Fumble on Punt Return
IA: 5 plays, Missed FG
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 7 plays, TD - IA leads 7-0
Neb: 4 plays, Lost Fumble
IA: 13 plays, FG made- IA leads 10-0
Neb: 3 plays, TD - IA leads 10-7
IA: 8 plays, Missed FG
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 1 play, end of Half..........

Neb: 6 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 10 plays, FG made - game tied 10-10
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 3 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 5 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, Punt
Neb: 10 plays, Missed FG
IA: 6 plays, Punt
Neb: 5 plays, Punt
IA: 3 plays, threw INT
Neb: 2 plays, threw INT
IA: 3 plays, FG made -- end of game. IA wins 13-10

grand totals:
2 TD's
3 made FG's
3 missed FG's
2 INT's
2 lost Fumbles
14 Punts
on top of that there were another 3 fumbles, hill tripping while taking handoffs another 5 times and more celebrations for penalty yards than for good offensive plays.
 

Iowa mastered the art of winning in the BIG west. They are a fitting champion for its final season. We could've done it last several years but always found a way to hand it over to Iowa/Wisky/NW, etc
 

There was a stat given at the halftime of the Iowa-Nebraska game that shows just how unbelievably improbable Iowa’s accomplishment has been this year. The question is “how many FBS teams have averaged under 250 yards of offense per game thru the entire season and have won 10 games?” (as Iowa ended up going). None obviously. But the incredible thing is that the next best record for less than 250 yards was 4 wins, if I heard correctly. Did anyone else hear this? Was I dreaming (I’m old).
You heard/saw it correctly.
 

There was a stat given at the halftime of the Iowa-Nebraska game that shows just how unbelievably improbable Iowa’s accomplishment has been this year. The question is “how many FBS teams have averaged under 250 yards of offense per game thru the entire season and have won 10 games?” (as Iowa ended up going). None obviously. But the incredible thing is that the next best record for less than 250 yards was 4 wins, if I heard correctly. Did anyone else hear this? Was I dreaming (I’m old).

Iowa’s season is more a statement of how bad most teams are this year. Horrendous, painful to watch. An abomination for the ages.
 

Screenshot 2023-11-24 at 5.04.14 PM.png
Reminder: A month ago almost everybody said Iowa would lose a couple of their remaining games.
Didn't happen.
 

You take every 10-2 team since say 2014, and you rank them by the cumulative difficulty of those 10 wins ….. 2023 Iowa has to be near the bottom of the list.

Who did they beat that had a decent pulse?

Penn State whipped them 0-31. I’m thinking that’s the only decent team they’ve played all year?

I would agree with this. I believe Wisconsin, NW, and Iowa State are the only teams they've played that currently have a winning record besides PSU.

To their credit they only have 1 bad loss and when you avoid those you can stack a lot of wins.

The Gophers would be 8-3 right now and going for the B1G West championship tomorrow had they be able to avoid bad losses.
 

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Reminder: A month ago almost everybody said Iowa would lose a couple of their remaining games.
Didn't happen.
Yep, law of averages says they should not be able to keep doing what they are doing but somehow they always seem to find a way to win against mediocre teams.

Next week is going to be a bloodbath when they go against the Mich/OSU winner.
 




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