Several posters have mentioned that we of Hawkeye Nation should not have expected much from this year's team because it was to be a "rebuilding" year.  My question....how could it be a rebuilding year when it was, by any rational measure, a year of failure.  We all thought, coming off an 11-2 record in 2009, that we had a pretty good shot at (gasp!) the National Championship in 2010.  Foolish mortals!  The Football Gods decreed that, for our hubris, we limped to an 8-5 finish, only salvaged by a truly miraculous and totally unexpected interception return by Micah Hyde.

So how is this a rebuilding year?  You rebuild after success, not failure, it seems to me.  What we need to rebuild is some of the coaching smarts we seemed to acquire in 2002, 3 and 4.  Then, it suddenly all went south.  If any one play exemplifies Iowa football it was during the 2006 Alamo Bown vs. Texas. We could have won that game if only we could have gotten close enough for a field goal.  Running the ball was called for.  Instead, we ran an end-around against A TEAM THAT WAS FASTER THAN US, and the ball game was over.  Bonehead is too positive a word for this coaching mistake.  After that, 6-6.  True, we have won 3 bowl games in a row, for which I am delighted.  But, we need to realize that, perhaps because we don't get top-drawer talent, we have to play balls-out in every game.  Conservative football only wins when you have talent.  Ferentz is great, respected, and I love that he tears up a lot---that soft side to him is very endearing.  But we have to replace O'Keefe.  I want to see (wait for it) Bob Toledo, who was just let go at Tulane.  The man couldn't win at Tulane because, well, who wants to play at Tulane.  But his teams played crazy football. And I think, given our rank in the pecking order of the Big Ten/11/12/13, we have to do the same.  Bob Toledo would be to football what our new basketball coach is to hoops.  Let's get crazy and win some games!  Oh, yeah.  Prediction for Iowa-Michigan?  Michigan 45, Iowa 24.  If Michigan is ahead by more than 14 points at the half, it will be a blood bath.  We will hang our heads, watch the clock and go home.  Sad, but true.  Please, Football Gods, prove me wrong.