Iowa & Bye Week Podcast
WoolleyDoog
Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 3,609 
We have a lot of things going on this week so haven't been able to do a podcast. Personally, they're changing my room at the psych ward, but that's another story.
There's actually not too much to say about the game anyway. UW got blown out on the road before I even finished drinking coffee by an average Iowa team that had lost at home to Matt Campbell earlier in the year. It's all bad.
It especially seems weird and fuels the Fisch = Sark thing because we've had a long run of not getting blown out, especially by not elite teams. Petersen was really good about almost never getting blown out, Jimmy had an easy schedule and played to make scores look better, and DeBoer salvaged a potential UCLA blow out.
The game didn't set up well going into the season or in the week. Traveling to Iowa a week after an emotional and physical game at Michigan, especially when you're banged up on both fronts and had to gut it out against an ultra physical team last week? It was hard to expect a win here with this Husky team and the problem is losing to WSU and Rutgers. Both of which are losses that are gonna look worse and worse as the season goes on. Win those, and you're 6-1. A fraudulent 6-1 but it's more about setting yourself up for the difficult back five that's now even harder with Indiana looking really good.
Iowa and Rutgers and possibly future Big 10 teams have kind of fulfilled my fear of playing teams where the UW defense can't stop the run and the team doesn't decide to start throwing downfield passes a bunch and bail them out. It's going to be a problem for a long time unless UW can find ways to get stronger in the front on defense and commit more to the run on offense.
We're now basically fighting to get to 6-6 and a bowl game and have to find a way to beat Indiana or USC. Both of which might be ready to expose the weaknesses in pass defense and pass rush.
Bigger picture it feels like Jedd isn't a miracle and I don't know if there is even a miracle worker who could have made this a playoff team. Had Jedd gotten McMillan, the OL, Tacario, and the DL who went to Texas to follow him, maybe, but that's not reality. We're also having a bad injury year when we really couldn't afford it and it sucks because last year wasn't a great year for injuries either.
The current state of college football is fucked and looks like it will only get worse. The one semi positive about that is Jedd knows it and UW is at least positioned to be like an upper middle program in that world if it's done correctly. The problem is the programs ahead of them now are going to just buy 20 proven players a year and still buy enough highly rated high school kids that some will pan out and they will never have to rebuild barring a disaster coaching change like UW had. The other part too could be programs like Iowa are still benefiting from the covid year and coaching stability so they have veteran rosters but that probably won't last and those programs will be absolutely fucked like UW whenever their coach leaves.
I honestly don't know what to think about how they're going to go into the Indiana game. I think there's a great chance Indiana is a paper tiger, but their offense and QB are way more dynamic than what UW has played, it's a long road trip, and I don't trust this team to beat anyone right now on the road.
Comments
Indiana is legit. Washington isn't
Not good
Chinsightful. Surprised Vanilla let you type that many words. Also, stop drinking coffee like a bitch and maybe they’ll let you stay out of the psych ward.
It' wasn't how slow I was drinking the coffee. It was how much I was drinking. I was hungover and a lot of times when I am I try to beat it back by drinking myself delirious with coffee.
I'm noticing that the worse UW's performance, the more Vanilla becomes everyone's whipping boy
Iowa has only scored 40 points three times in the last 3 seasons.
Washington, Illinois State, Western Michigan.
Fine company
Psych ward? Fairfax? Say hi to Damone for me.
So you’re saying… It’s hard.
Wait, Indiana has a football team!?!?
Thanks for your take and this dovetails with what Brock Huard was saying. 2021 and 2022 were poor recruiting classes (thanks to Jimmy Lake) and there is only 1 player starting of out the entire 22 from the 2021 class (your SR / RS JRs) and that's Voi Tunuufi at SDE. The 2023 class has multiple promising OL / DL but they are Sophs and RS-Frosh right now.
I like what Brennan Carroll and Jason Kaufusi are doing but they were left a big gap after the stellar OL and experienced DL of last year departed. No returning starters from the entire 9 OL / DL in 2023, how often does that happen?
A big reason for that is because the team was going for it on 4th in their own territory - actually trying to win the game.
Lake or Peterlips would've ho hummed their way to a 13 point defeat, say 23 to 10, that wasn't really any closer
Iowa and Rutgers and possibly future Big 10 teams have kind of fulfilled my fear of playing teams where the UW defense can't stop the run and the team doesn't decide to start throwing downfield passes a bunch and bail them out. It's going to be a problem for a long time unless UW can find ways to get stronger in the front on defense and commit more to the run on offense.
This was Greg Lewis 1st talking point post game Honks show. He called Iowa, Wisconsin, Rutgers/Sparty(ish) the meat and potatoes teams of B10 where they are going to attempt to beat you by running it down your throat until you throw it back up, shrink number of times your going to ball by winning time of possessions and get you to point where it's pass only and they are going to eventually force you into a sack, hold, or interception.
If we can't win 4 out of every 5 versus those teams home or away, then tsio
Fair point
This is also why losing Jayvon Parker for season and not having Bryce Butler available has hurt more than I had previously thought. It also highlights why I hope like heck that Sagapoulo comes back since this is his first year playing DL. If he could come back as a 6th year RS-SR in 2025 and works on his technique, that could boost his NFL chances.
The defensive front would be helped a lot by if the offense could score in the red zone. I'd take a skilled passing offense over the ground and pound and D teams unless they're elite like Michigan last year. Those teams are so limited if they just get behind or even just tied and having to get out of their run game (like Michigan this year). Clearly we can't do that though.
I also wonder if Valdez was hurt against Iowa. He had a super cringe game.
I'm not scared of Indiana. I'm just not. I remember them being kind of decent for a few years when I was a kid, but for the most part, it's a basketball skool living on Bobby Knight's ghost.
It's a team with 50 new players. Going to the playoff they aren't. Following the details of it is something I used to do 5-10 years ago when the sport was less screwed up. NIL and transferring whenever some used car lot owner offers you $5,000 more to come to XYZ U or the coach hurt your feelers made me make the other thread.
I'm in no way scared of Indiana. They're probably really good for an Indiana team but they've gotten a lot of help from their schedule. In a lot of seasons getting them here (especially off a bye week) would be a blessing as you get a chance to get a fraudulent big win. I don't see this UW team doing that on the road though. Will be interesting to see how they play Nebraska this week. That's easily the best team they will have played and I don't think they're even very good.
The season sets up to make USC the back half pivotal game. They're beatable in Seattle and a win means you're probably getting to a bowl game. A loss and you're probably not.
I hate that "50 new players" has become and excuse. The fact that he got new players should mean there is LESS of a dropoff.
That argument also glosses over the fact that nearly every individual position has looked borderline great at times this year and then completely fallen off at other times which I personally believe means the coaches suck. There's plenty of talent on this team
Is your claim that Iowa hasn't played any other teams that were trying to win in the 4th quarter over the last 3 years? Fuck off with that weak ass doog shit
The 50 new players thing is flimsy but it's gonna pass this year as an excuse. The problem is that even with that, and not doing anything spectacular, the team should be 6-1 and coming off a 7-10-point loss at a veteran Iowa team. What you had coming back and brought in should have beaten WSU and Rutgers while playing vanilla average games.
Someone pointed out Rutgers has 14 total points in three conference games other than UW where they scored 21. Doesn't give me confidence that the Belichick dooging might start looking really bad really soon.