So Iowa lost to Minnesota this weekend, losing by 3 to Minnesota and sending Hawk fans everywhere into the pits of despair and frustration as the late season flameout continued. People were pissed off (understandably, Minnesota being 2-6 at the time) and more to the point, people wanted to know why. There were real BCS hopes at the start of the season. We were coming off an Orange Bowl win. We had plenty of returning talent and it's a fair question: what the heck happened?
I suspect that there are far too many intangibles to know for sure, but looking at the past three seasons, what we see is a history of fantastically close games, some of which were won and some of which were lost. Let's consider:
2008, we were 9-4. We lost 4 games by a combined total of 12 points. We were less than two touchdowns away from being undefeated.
2009, we were 11-2. We lost 2 games by a combined total of 10 points. One touchdown and one field goal away from being undefeated but conversely, we also won four games (UNI, Arkansas State, Michigan and Michigan State) by a combined total of 8 points. That's a touchdown and a two point conversion away from turning 11-2 into potentially 7-6.
Which bring us to 2010, where we've lost 5 games by a combined total of 18 points.
Does it mean we're horrible? No, it doesn't. When you consider that Iowa is graduating 26 seniors this year, this time next year 7-5 might not look so bad. But what It does mean is that we seem to be operating on a weird cycle of some kind, where some years we lose close games and other years we win close games. What makes it frustrating is that 7-5 is not at all an accurate reflection of the season Iowa has had. The chips just didn't fall quite right this season. It happens.
So, Insight Bowl, Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl- bring 'em on, I say! I'll be buying my t-shirt and watching, beer in hand hoping Iowa can find a touch of redemption to ease the bitter disappointment of the season that wasn't.
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