BrewHawk

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So a team that has the 15th most players in the NFL and is the 15th most valuable program in the nation..... finishes in the top 10 ONLY 25% of the time??

Thats not good.

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You made me curious about this so I went and looked at the other schools ranked in the top ten at the end of the season (AP poll) over the last 15 years who were one of the 15 schools with the most players in the NFL. I chose 15 years because that is the length of time Ferentz has been at Iowa and the reason for my original post being quoted. This includes his first three years where we finished the season unranked.

As you can see, Iowa has actually overachieved being #9 in top ten finishes despite only having the 15th most players in the NFL and the 15th most valuable program.

1. Ohio St. 9/15 top ten finishes
2. Bama 8/15
2. USC 8/15
4. LSU 7/15
4. Oregon 7/15
6. Florida 6/15
6. Georgia 6/15
6. Texas 6/15
9. Iowa 4/15
9. Florida St. 4/15
9. Miami 4/15
9. Wisconsin 4/15
13. South Carolina 3/15
14. Tennessee 2/15
15. Cal 1/15

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How do you calculate this:
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I think we're poised for a top ten finish in 2014/2015


From this:
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Since that, our Rivals rank has been #42, #30, #43 and #53 over the past four years. We've generally been a BCS team with rankings above #50




What about the 41, 29, 42, and 52 other schools that had better recruiting classes than you in those years?

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2006 #39
2007 #28
2008 #53
2009 #63

These four classes lead to a team that was 9-0 and #3 in the nation until our QB went down. We finished up #8 with an Orange Bowl win.

I can go back to three consecutive #8 rankings in 2002 (#51), '03 (#43) and '04 (#67) and point out similar if not worse recruiting classes in the years leading up to those finishes.

Again, we win with fewer stars. It makes our coaching staff look well worth the money, especially when you figure that Iowa is one of 12 athletic departments in the nation that are in the black financially.

It's all about holding on to players and allowing them to develop in the program. When we do, we win. When there's attrition, it makes it nearly impossible. We haven't had attrition from the last three classes. We will be better than we have been over the next 2-3 years because of it.

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Try different boards, of course you're going to get a ohmahgawddddd Iowa sucks from the Tiger Rant.

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What's a better board here? Don't tell me the OT board because I can only imagine how much worse it would be over there.

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Thats not the point. Saying we only beat y'all because you didn't have any 5th year seniors is crazy. How many teams do you think are just chalked full of 5th year seniors? Do you think if your players were still hanging around after 5 years they would be good enough to beat LSU? Great players don't stay 4 years much less 5.

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You just don't understand how Iowa's program is set up. Iowa wins with mature players, not young talent. Totally opposite from LSU. We just can't get the recruits you do, so we have to build players and that takes time.

We do have some players who leave early (Dallas Clark, Brian Bulaga, Reilly Reiff, Shonn Greene and some others), but the majority of players are there for a full college career and leave with a degree.

I think it speaks volumes that we average recruiting class ranks in the forties, but have the 15th most players in the NFL.

We do much more with "less" than nearly anyone else. This is a testament to the coaching and one of the reasons Ferentz is payed as well as he is. For little old Iowa to finish in the top ten 25% of his career is truly amazing. We also are the 15th most valuable college program in the nation per Forbes.

This from the third smallest school in the Big Ten with the second least populous state in the BT that puts out fewer than ten D-1 recruits per year and splits them with another BCS conference school.

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BEFORE THE BOWL:

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Posted byMessageBrewHawkOff the cuff thoughts about the Outback Bowl...


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5. This is an Iowa team that is young and improving,


AFTER THE BOWL:

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BrewHawkThis was the 5th year senior class you guys beat in Tampa (link)...

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Holy cow you guys can't read. The whole point of the post was that we didn't have hardly any seniors from that class contribute.

Iowa's successful teams rely on seniors to contribute. We've had to play younger players who weren't ready, but the experience they gain will make them even better as upperclassmen, which is why I'm excited about the young talent we have.

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All of the "Final dispositions" are tongue in cheek jabs at the players. It is teasing him for putting his education before football.

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No they aren't. Some of them are because the situation called for it. Others are complimentary, which saying he's earning an engineering degree in May does.

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What's a 5th year senior? Our guys are in the NFL after 3 years. Sorry, haven't time to reminisce with you. We're getting ready for Wisconsin.

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Essentially a student-athlete that gets a degree. Happy for you guys and your minor league program.

Call me a purist, but college athletes should have to stay in college and earn a degree.

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And how do you justify paying a coach 3.65 million a year who sucks that bad at recruiting? If your answer is that he is good at developing talent and getting the best out of his players, then you are contradicting your point that recruiting rankings are significant.

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. We can succeed with classes in the 40s. We can't in the 60s. Plus, Iowa is tough to recruit to in the first place.

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All of LSU's 2009/2010 class are in the NFL. Didn't you hear, we set the NFL record for underclassman declaring last season. This year could have been a national title run for the Tigers.

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Instead you end up playing a close game against an average Iowa team in the Outback Bowl. Ironic isn't it?

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So you're saying your players are better, but can't beat out the shitty ones that are 5th year seniors?

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No, if you followed the link you would realize that only 4 of 19 were multiple year starters. In a program that depends on seniors making a significant contribution, it's a killer.