Two Days Too Late Thoughts on Iowa-ISU

Let me preface this entire post by saying that losing sucks, and losing to Iowa State sucks worse than most. I never want Iowa to lose a game against anyone, and it is never fun when it happens.

With that said, I’m not that pissed that Iowa fell to Iowa State on Saturday.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some things I am pissed about:

Iowa doesn’t look good. That isn’t a slight against ISU, even though the crazy contingent of Clone fans will take it as such. Iowa was favored to win for a reason. They were supposed to be a better team. They were supposed to dominate both lines of scrimmage, and they were supposed to have the better quarterback. Maybe they do. Time will tell. The one thing we know for sure is that the better team with the better player under center won the game on Saturday.

I’m also upset that Iowa played for overtime at the end of regulation. Before you say it, I know what you’re thinking. That’s Kirk Ferentz, they’ve won plenty of games playing that way, and it will never change. That’s fine, and I’ll take the good with the bad, but I see a difference between the situation at Ohio State in 2009 and the situation Saturday in Ames. That’s all I have to say about that.

Here’s why I’m not as mad as I should be: I like Iowa State.

I like the coach, the players, the uniforms, the stadium with the new video board, and (most of all) the people who are close to the program. It’s hard to be mad when people you like are happy. I’m glad that the players got to experience the satisfaction of taking down a rival. I feel like Coach Rhoads deserved that win. I loved hearing John Walters’ call of the game-winning touchdown and the post game call in show with Chris Williams. They beat my team, but they did it legitimately and with class, and that’s a loss I can handle.

Most importantly, that game was good for the rivalry. I wont go as far as to say it was “needed”, because it has been a back and forth rivalry ever since Iowa’s streak of 15 straight was snapped in 1998 (had to throw that in). Andy Fales put it best on Sunday night’s SoundOff on TV 13: a rivalry is like a pendulum, and if it doesn’t swing both ways it stops. That game swung the pendulum further in the other direction than it has been in a long time. It was no fluke, and the outcome was uncertain until the last play. That’s what a real rivalry game should be.

Iowa State is better than we thought they’d be, and Iowa is worse. That’s what everyone learned on Saturday. What I learned is that I can feel relatively good after a loss.

And it’s not like we lost to Nebraska.