Alright, so I finally sat down to really hammer out my thoughts on Iowa football for this season. It’s been bouncing around my head for a while, you know? People keep asking, “What do you think?” and honestly, I needed to get it straight for myself first.
So, first thing I did was pull up some game film from last year. Not the highlights, the real gritty stuff. Watched that painful Minnesota game again, just to remind myself. Then I skipped over to that bowl game, trying to see if anything clicked differently towards the end there. Spent a good couple of hours just clicking through plays, pausing, rewinding. Made a bunch of scribbled notes on a legal pad – stuff like “O-line still needs work” or “DBs look solid”.
Digging into the Details
Next up, I had to figure out who’s actually gonna be on the field. Pulled up the roster lists. Spent time going through the departures – who graduated, who hit the portal. That always stings a bit, seeing familiar names gone. Then I looked at the newcomers, the freshmen and the transfers. Trying to picture how these new guys might slot in. You hear names in the spring, but seeing it on paper helps sort it out.
Then I tackled the schedule. Printed it out. Marked the home games, the away games. Pinpointed those tricky road trips – you know the ones. Looked for that potential “trap game” everyone talks about. Started mapping out wins and losses, just rough guesses. It’s always a bit of a guessing game, isn’t it? Especially before they’ve even played a snap.
Putting Thoughts Together
Okay, so with all that info floating around, I needed to actually structure this thing. Opened up a blank document. Started typing out sections. Offense first. Man, that’s always the big question mark, feels like. Just put down my honest thoughts on the QB situation, the running backs, and especially that offensive line. Tried not to get too fancy, just what I saw and what I think needs to happen.
Then the defense. That felt a bit easier to write about. Usually does with Iowa, right? Talked about the front seven, the secondary. Pointed out the guys I think are gonna be stars. It’s usually a strength, so I spent time highlighting why I think that continues.
Special teams too. Can’t forget that phase with Iowa. Put down some thoughts on the kicking game and the return units.
- Reviewed my notes from watching film.
- Checked the roster details again.
- Looked over the schedule matchups one more time.
Finally, I just sort of wrapped it all up. Tried to give an overall feeling for the season. Not making any wild predictions, just laying out what I see as the big hurdles and the potential bright spots. It took a good chunk of my afternoon, just sitting here, thinking, typing, deleting, typing again. Feels good to have it down though. Now I’m just ready for the season to start and see how wrong or right I was. That’s the fun part, I guess.
