Obligatory "Is Iowa a Rival" Thread

Is Iowa a Rivalry for Nebraska?

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gossamorharpy said:
The national media coverage and exposure is oddly very similar to what this program has been for a decade now which is the cover of the book being dramatically different from a story that lacks actual substance
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I don't disagree that our on-field performances have lacked the substance we expect. And you're right, it is hard to gauge whether the publicity is manufactured internally or initiated externally. That said, if Nebraska wasn't relevant, then this exposure wouldn't be happening and pundits wouldn't take as much joy from seeing us struggle. Again, drawing back to the thread title, Nebraska still draws the average viewer more than Iowa does despite the on-field differences.

HawkTalk said:
I hate to break it to you, but Nebraska's ceiling is the same as Iowa's. Compete for a berth in the B1G title game every few years and a berth in the CFP every few years. And oh btw one of the few times we played Ohio St in 2017 we pummeled Urban Meyer 55-24. We've also been to 2 Orange Bowls and 1 Rose bowl since 2002, and were undefeated going into the B1G title game against Michigan St in 2014/15. We were a goal line stand away from being in the playoff. So yes we have been in the national conversation. How many times has Nebraska been in the discussion in those 23 years? College kids today weren't even born during the heyday of the 90's for Nebraska and it doesn't matter to them anymore than it does to Minnesota recruits about their dominance back in the day. Winning in the B1G requires dominating the line of scrimmage, the sooner Nebraska figures that out the better off they will be.
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We will have to disagree on the ceiling bit. With more teams added to the conference, Iowa will likely regress back to their historical averages (slightly above .500) unless they are able to change up their program or continue to get inexplicably favorable scheduling. FWIW - Nebraska and Iowa have the same number of wins against Ohio State since 2011. Excluding title games, Wisconsin has faced the Buckeyes eight times since 2011, none of which they have won.

Fully agree that becoming dominant on the offensive and defensive lines are crucial to success in the conference. We haven't fully put that together since the Pelini years.
 
Wistrom Disciple said:
I don't disagree that our on-field performances have lacked the substance we expect. And you're right, it is hard to gauge whether the publicity is manufactured internally or initiated externally. That said, if Nebraska wasn't relevant, then this exposure wouldn't be happening and pundits wouldn't take as much joy from seeing us struggle. Again, drawing back to the thread title, Nebraska still draws the average viewer more than Iowa does despite the on-field differences.


We will have to disagree on the ceiling bit. With more teams added to the conference, Iowa will likely regress back to their historical averages (slightly above .500) unless they are able to change up their program or continue to get inexplicably favorable scheduling. FWIW - Nebraska and Iowa have the same number of wins against Ohio State since 2011. Excluding title games, Wisconsin has faced the Buckeyes eight times since 2011, none of which they have won.

Fully agree that becoming dominant on the offensive and defensive lines are crucial to success in the conference. We haven't fully put that together since the Pelini years.
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Is whether you play Ohio St the only deciding factor in whether you have a difficult schedule? This year we play Iowa St, Indiana, Oregon, USC, and Penn State. Penn State is down yes but still supremely talented at most positions. That is not what I would call an "easy" schedule. I would argue that most years Iowa St is a more difficult non conference opponent than who Nebraska has scheduled in non con.
 
HawkTalk said:
Is whether you play Ohio St the only deciding factor in whether you have a difficult schedule? This year we play Iowa St, Indiana, Oregon, USC, and Penn State. Penn State is down yes but still supremely talented at most positions. That is not what I would call an "easy" schedule. I would argue that most years Iowa St is a more difficult non conference opponent than who Nebraska has scheduled in non con.
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Arguably, yes when considering the conference schedule. This is far from the only factor in a team's performance, but it is a factor nonetheless. Since Nebraska joined the conference, Iowa has benefitted from a notably less challenging schedule year after year. For reference, Iowa plays them next year and then gets a two year break. Nebraska plays them both of the next two years. Wisconsin catches the break and doesn't face them again until 2028.

I think we can all agree that Ohio State is the perennial power so only facing them once every three years (on average) is an advantage versus facing them two out of every three years in the 17 year period. Thankfully, it does appear that parity is somewhat returning with the new additional schools joining the conference. Hence my suggestion that we are more likely to see regressions to the mean as far as winning percentages. Nebraska was around 72% (pre-Big Ten) and Iowa was at 53%. Tons of other factors for sure, but I do think we'll see some statistical regression come into play before long.
 
HawkTalk said:
Is whether you play Ohio St the only deciding factor in whether you have a difficult schedule? This year we play Iowa St, Indiana, Oregon, USC, and Penn State. Penn State is down yes but still supremely talented at most positions. That is not what I would call an "easy" schedule. I would argue that most years Iowa St is a more difficult non conference opponent than who Nebraska has scheduled in non con.
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Until you have anything resembling a national dominant program, you don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence imo. You have a better team this year and have had for several years, but you still don't even come anywhere close to Nebraska's history. We could have stuck with the Pelini type and owned you... and you know it, but instead we strive for something your program will never strive to achieve. We take the risks your fans beg for. Yes, we have failed recently, but at least we are still pushing to be the best. Something your team will NEVER be.

Have fun occasionally being embarrassed when you reach the edge of greatness. You will never achieve it.
 
IMO there are 3 types of rivalries in college football.
1) In state: Mich-Mich State; AZ-AZ state; Iowa-Iowa State; Bama-Auburn, Georgia-GaTech, Indiana-Purdue, etc.. Now I'm not saying they are all the same in quality and import.
2) Historical: USC-Notre Dame; Mich-Ohio State ... etc.
3) Border rivalries. IA has a border with Wisky; Minny and US and (coincidentally) all 3 are trophy games. Now a lot of people are upset that the B1G decided to "create" a rivalry that includes a trophy and is set on black Friday during prime time on a legacy network.
Iowa is not in our league, so I get the displeasure. But it is high exposure. And Iowa is at least not a gimme, which would be reason to demand a different pairing during Thanksgiving weekend.
Now here's the thing, New Mexico and Texas share a substantial border, but creating a "border" rivalry game between 2 states that really don't share a culture or history would strike people as fake and likely draw permanent low ratings.

I don't know what the viewership numbers are regarding the Heroes game, but both states are Midwest, rural, agriculture and have a small population. And both states treat their programs like they are professional teams cuz that's what they effectively are in terms of pride; dollars and fan-loyalty. So I understand why the conference decided to create what they hoped would be a spectacle. At the time it all came about there was a legit chance it would be two teams who would actually be playing for something in late November. It's the responsibility of both programs to level-up and make the Friday game something that carries a little gravitas. Sadly, it's turned into 2 pretenders who slap each other with pillows every fall.
I hope I live long enough to see that change.
 
Hilltop said:
Until you have anything resembling a national dominant program, you don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence imo. You have a better team this year and have had for several years, but you still don't even come anywhere close to Nebraska's history. We could have stuck with the Pelini type and owned you... and you know it, but instead we strive for something your program will never strive to achieve. We take the risks your fans beg for. Yes, we have failed recently, but at least we are still pushing to be the best. Something your team will NEVER be.

Have fun occasionally being embarrassed when you reach the edge of greatness. You will never achieve it.
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Man, this is a very poor elitist mentality and not really grounded in reality at all. Your take represents everything that’s wrong with this fanbase- deflecting reality by bringing up facts from now 30 years ago.

History history history, the history you refer to occurred 5-10 years prior to most of this roster being born.

“We take risks”… Scott frost wasn’t a risk. He was the hot coaching candidate and nebraskas title winning guy. His predecessor was a career .500 coach. This, to me, screams the exact opposite of taking risks.

“Have fun occasionally being embarrassed when you reach the edge of greatness.” Bro- we look like we have fun getting embarrassed every other week while living in mediocrity lol

Just own it, iowas had our number since we joined the big ten. You cover the names of the programs and just look at performance 100% of fans would take iowas track record this century vs ours and it’s not particularly close. Iowa is clearly our biggest rival rn and hopefully we get our crap together and actually make this a 2 sided rivalry
 
gossamorharpy said:
Man, this is a very poor elitist mentality and not really grounded in reality at all. Your take represents everything that’s wrong with this fanbase- deflecting reality by bringing up facts from now 30 years ago.

History history history, the history you refer to occurred 5-10 years prior to most of this roster being born.

“We take risks”… Scott frost wasn’t a risk. He was the hot coaching candidate and nebraskas title winning guy. His predecessor was a career .500 coach. This, to me, screams the exact opposite of taking risks.

“Have fun occasionally being embarrassed when you reach the edge of greatness.” Bro- we look like we have fun getting embarrassed every other week while living in mediocrity lol

Just own it, iowas had our number since we joined the big ten. You cover the names of the programs and just look at performance 100% of fans would take iowas track record this century vs ours and it’s not particularly close. Iowa is clearly our biggest rival rn and hopefully we get our crap together and actually make this a 2 sided rivalry
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Scott was a risk hire that looked good on paper. He was completely unproven at the power 4 level. The fact we fired so many coaches so quickly, right or wrong, points to our desire to achieve greatness and not settle for Iowa like results. Pelini would still be coaching at Iowa. Many people would take that in hind sight but the reality is the majority of the fan base was good with the decision to let him go at the time.

I would counter your first paragraph with my opinion that people like you are what is wrong with this program. The first sign that our team doesn't look like a potential national champion you take to the keyboards to plaster your dissatisfaction.

I believe that the majority of Nebraska fans want a chance to return to being the best. Iowa has never been on that trajectory in our lifetimes.

Even during our worst stretch over the last 20 years, we have more 9+ win seasons than Iowa. The last 10 years have sucked, and they have indeed beaten us, but I would rather be a team trying than a team content to just be OK.
 
Definition of contradiction:
a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another.


Hilltop:
"The fact we fired so many coaches so quickly, right or wrong, points to our desire to achieve greatness and not settle for Iowa like results."

"I would counter your first paragraph with my opinion that people like you are what is wrong with this program. The first sign that our team doesn't look like a potential national champion you take to the keyboards to plaster your dissatisfaction."

Which one is it man? Are we better than iowa because we're quick to pull the trigger in pursuit of greatness and a national title? Or are you embarrassed because our fan base gets upset when we dont achieve greatness and in the running for a national title? These 2 statements appear to be at odds with one another

As far as me- I came into this season hoping for 9-3 with upside to 10-2 and downside to 8-4. Thats not natty expectations. I was one of the loudest critics in week 1 saying the fact we couldnt run the ball in the red zone against cinci and convert points in the red zone was very concerning. I was one of the early vocal critics of raiola and the o line performance against michigan and again against michigan st when the excuses of 'the wind' and 'michigan won the title 2 years ago' were thrown at me. All of these glaring deficiencies were on full display this past friday when we were humbled on national tv yet again by an inferior opponent many expected us to win by 10 points against. I call it like i see it, without scarlet shaded lenses.

As far as your past 20 year statement is concerned- i checked the numbers. you're right on the 9 win season total. Its close, the rest, its pretty embarassing man

Nebraska- 138 wins, avg- 6.9 per season, 9 win seasons- 8 ; highest ranking end of season 14 (2009)
Iowa: 162 wins, avg- 8.1 per season, 9 win seasons- 7; highest ranking end of season 5th (2015)
 
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gossamorharpy said:
Definition of contradiction:
a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another.


Hilltop:
"The fact we fired so many coaches so quickly, right or wrong, points to our desire to achieve greatness and not settle for Iowa like results."

"I would counter your first paragraph with my opinion that people like you are what is wrong with this program. The first sign that our team doesn't look like a potential national champion you take to the keyboards to plaster your dissatisfaction."

Which one is it man? Are we better than iowa because we're quick to pull the trigger in pursuit of greatness and a national title? Or are you embarrassed because our fan base gets upset when we dont achieve greatness and in the running for a national title? These 2 statements appear to be at odds with one another
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Fair point. I do think one can be a fan of a team that is striving for greatness without being hyper critical of every detail along the way. I personally believe that section of our fan base actually has a negative impact on the overall program. These coaches and players sign up for it but that doesn't mean it has no impact.

Here are some quotes. You guess the coach/coaches.

"My kids were watching the game and I heard I might be fired. I don't know if they were really upset about it, but they wanted to know if it was a fact. I'm sure it had an effect on them."
"Frankly, I took the phone off the hook at home for the weekend. The kids took some calls after the game and most of them were not supportive. I don't think the kids should have to hear some of the things that were said."

When asked if pressure from the fans and bad press ever caused _______ to consider resigning, _______ said: "Sure, I've thought about resigning. I've always weighed the pluses and minuses and sometimes it's a pretty thin line between the two."
 
Hilltop said:
Until you have anything resembling a national dominant program, you don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence imo. You have a better team this year and have had for several years, but you still don't even come anywhere close to Nebraska's history. We could have stuck with the Pelini type and owned you... and you know it, but instead we strive for something your program will never strive to achieve. We take the risks your fans beg for. Yes, we have failed recently, but at least we are still pushing to be the best. Something your team will NEVER be.

Have fun occasionally being embarrassed when you reach the edge of greatness. You will never achieve it.
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This is why every other fanbase ridicules you. The lack of self awareness is just hilarious. Nobody here was begging for Scott Frost or Mike Riley. Enjoy watching your 90's videos the rest of your life
 
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