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Was Fry's 1991 team better than the 1985 team?

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uihawk82

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I recently watched highlights of some of the 1990 and 1991 hawk games. Those two teams were damn good. The 1991 team had the better record at 10-1-1, Matt Rodgers was a hell of a QB, both teams had some close wins in the Big but smoked their non-conf foes. Both teams were 10-1 in the regular season.

BYU wasnt as good as some years in the 1991 bowl game.

Which is the better team? I guess I have to go with the 1985 team for being ranked #1 and going to the Rose Bowl, but these teams are very close?
 
rchawk

rchawk

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WeBeHerkin said:
No because of my nostalgia for 1985.
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No, the '85 team had better players and finished the regular season at 10-1.

The 1981 team captured the hearts of Iowa fans. On his way to the Rose Bowl Governor Robert Ray said "Last one to leave the state, turn out the lights."

After 20 non-winning seasons (there was a 5-5 record in 1969, I think) the '81 team captured the hearts of the state. To sum up, no doubt 1985 was undoubtedly the better team, but for many of us 1981 was a more special season.

Edit: I read the headline as 1981 team. Here is where I play the "I'm old" card,
 
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HawkinAZ

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uihawk82 said:
I recently watched highlights of some of the 1990 and 1991 hawk games. Those two teams were damn good. The 1991 team had the better record at 10-1-1, Matt Rodgers was a hell of a QB, both teams had some close wins in the Big but smoked their non-conf foes. Both teams were 10-1 in the regular season.

BYU wasnt as good as some years in the 1991 bowl game.

Which is the better team? I guess I have to go with the 1985 team for being ranked #1 and going to the Rose Bowl, but these teams are very close?
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I would say the 1985 team was better as they played a more difficult schedule. 1985 team had the #25 schedule facing #2 Michigan, #14 OSU, and #7 UCLA additionally they faced 3 other teams with winning records. 1991 team had the #58 schedule facing #6 Michigan and #23 BYU while they faced two other teams with a winning record.
 
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HMB Trumpet

HMB Trumpet

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I agree with the developing consensus that the 85 team was better. There were two guys on the 91 team, though, that probably would have started for the 85 team--Danan Hughes and Leroy Smith. Happel and Helverson were good receivers, but not as fast or athletic as Hughes, and Smith was a consensus All-American DE in 91.

The 91 team does have one thing over the 85 team, and that's winning at the Shoe.
 
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DukeSlater

DukeSlater

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uihawk82 said:
I recently watched highlights of some of the 1990 and 1991 hawk games. Those two teams were damn good. The 1991 team had the better record at 10-1-1, Matt Rodgers was a hell of a QB, both teams had some close wins in the Big but smoked their non-conf foes. Both teams were 10-1 in the regular season.

BYU wasnt as good as some years in the 1991 bowl game.

Which is the better team? I guess I have to go with the 1985 team for being ranked #1 and going to the Rose Bowl, but these teams are very close?
Click to expand...
The 1985 team was as good as any team that ever wore the black-and-gold in Iowa City. Rodgers was a good QB in 1991, but he was no Chuck Long. Rodgers was never a Heisman runner-up. The 1985 Iowa team had an elite offense and defense. The loss @ Ohio State was stunning with Long playing the worst game of his career with four INTs. And, of course, the Rose Bowl loss will forever remain a mystery. I was there, and I'll always believe Ronnie Harmon threw that game. He had unforced fumbles over and over and over again to go with dropped passes. He made more turnovers in that one game than in his entire Iowa career.

The 1991 team was outstanding, but the 1985 team should have won the Rose Bowl and the national title, similar to the 1970 Iowa basketball team with Freddie Brown and John Johnson and the 1980 basketball team with Ronnie Lester.
 
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rchawk

rchawk

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DukeSlater said:
And, of course, the Rose Bowl loss will forever remain a mystery. I was there, and I'll always believe Ronnie Harmon threw that game. He had unforced fumbles over and over and over again to go with dropped passes. He made more turnovers in that one game than in his entire Iowa career.
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Not to mention Ronnie turned the ball over on one (1) fumble in the regular season. That's pretty darn good for a thousand-yard rusher. And he made some great catches as a WR his first two years at Iowa.

His NFL agents were Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom.
 
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uihawk82

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DukeSlater said:
The 1985 team was as good as any team that ever wore the black-and-gold in Iowa City. Rodgers was a good QB in 1991, but he was no Chuck Long. Rodgers was never a Heisman runner-up. The 1985 Iowa team had an elite offense and defense. The loss @ Ohio State was stunning with Long playing the worst game of his career with four INTs. And, of course, the Rose Bowl loss will forever remain a mystery. I was there, and I'll always believe Ronnie Harmon threw that game. He had unforced fumbles over and over and over again to go with dropped passes. He made more turnovers in that one game than in his entire Iowa career.

The 1991 team was outstanding, but the 1985 team should have won the Rose Bowl and the national title, similar to the 1970 Iowa basketball team with Freddie Brown and John Johnson and the 1980 basketball team with Ronnie Lester.
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The loss at OSU in 1985 was mainly due to the heavy rains which made it difficult for Iowa to consistently move the ball which then led to their crowd being very loud. A pity that such a big game had such crappy weather. As far as the rose bowl, yeah those turnovers were brutal but UCLA had a lot of speed that burned us and Larry Station was playing injured,
 
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rchawk

rchawk

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uihawk82 said:
The loss at OSU in 1985 was mainly due to the heavy rains which made it difficult for Iowa to consistently move the ball which then led to their crowd being very loud. A pity that such a big game had such crappy weather. As far as the rose bowl, yeah those turnovers were brutal but UCLA had a lot of speed that burned us and Larry Station was playing injured,
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Yeah, Station played with a back injury. Barry Alvarez knew but played him anyway. Hayden was upset with Barry when he found out after the game.
 
85Bears

85Bears

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Grayhair1981 said:
85 team had more talent. 90 team will always be one of my favorites because their success turned around a down cycle. 88 and 89 were abysmal. It seemed like the Hawks were returning to pre-Hayden levels
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Insane the 88 team had three ties. That has to be some kind of modern record.
 
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Ozzie89

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1990 was probably a better team than 91. The 90 team had Nick Bell and Tony Stewart in the backfield, while still using Mike Saunders as a receiver. Hawks were 7-1 and ranked #6 in the country after they pulverized #5 Illinois in Champaign. That ******* Ohio St game the week after Illinois and the debacle at Minnesota kinda derailed the year at the end(Minnesota game prevented an outright Big Ten championship 🤦)
 
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KuwaitHawk

KuwaitHawk

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uihawk82 said:
The loss at OSU in 1985 was mainly due to the heavy rains which made it difficult for Iowa to consistently move the ball which then led to their crowd being very loud. A pity that such a big game had such crappy weather. As far as the rose bowl, yeah those turnovers were brutal but UCLA had a lot of speed that burned us and Larry Station was playing injured,
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The officials had more to do with the loss to f0$u. IF Iowa had gotten the same breaks as Bo (Michigan) got in Iowa City with the crowd noise, Iowa would have won.
 
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LetsGoHawks83

LetsGoHawks83

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rchawk said:
Not to mention Ronnie turned the ball over on one (1) fumble in the regular season. That's pretty darn good for a thousand-yard rusher. And he made some great catches as a WR his first two years at Iowa.

His NFL agents were Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom.
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Just feels like "our luck" to have our chance at a Rose Bowl victory stripped away by some shady sh*t and throwing a game. It was ABSOLUTELY thrown by Ronnie. Not to take anything away from UCLA, but those turnovers handed them the game.

I was only 2 years old, but I remember 😉
 
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Ripcord

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Demger said:
The big difference..... 85' coaching staff> 91' staff and it isn't close!
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I have always believed that our decline post-1985 was due to Alvarez and Bill Snyder (and Kirk Ferentz to some degree at least) departing. coaches come and go, especially when you are successful, but Hayden was apparently unable to re-work his magic and replace them with similar quality coaches, and the results started showing up on the field soon thereafter.
 
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bdg8

bdg8

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uihawk82 said:
The loss at OSU in 1985 was mainly due to the heavy rains which made it difficult for Iowa to consistently move the ball which then led to their crowd being very loud. A pity that such a big game had such crappy weather. As far as the rose bowl, yeah those turnovers were brutal but UCLA had a lot of speed that burned us and Larry Station was playing injured,
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And we had a db on the take too
 
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FanInBlack

FanInBlack

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HawkinAZ said:
I would say the 1985 team was better as they played a more difficult schedule. 1985 team had the #25 schedule facing #2 Michigan, #14 OSU, and #7 UCLA additionally they faced 3 other teams with winning records. 1991 team had the #58 schedule facing #6 Michigan and #23 BYU while they faced two other teams with a winning record.
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this. That 91 holds a special place in my heart as a freshmen. But they had an easy schedule. The Michigan game showed they were not elite.
 
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HMB Trumpet

HMB Trumpet

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Tom Paris said:
Which Holiday Bowl? Kevin had the great kickoff return after SDSU took the lead which allowed Houghtlin to kick the game winner.
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I'm thinking it was the next season against Wyoming, but couldn't find a box score to confirm.

Edit: I found a YouTube video with game highlights, and Harmon wasn't on the field during the fourth quarter TD drive despite being the team's leading rusher on the season. Bayless and Bass were in the backfield with Hudson.
 
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RuggieC

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rchawk said:
No, the '85 team had better players and finished the regular season at 10-1.

The 1981 team captured the hearts of Iowa fans. On his way to the Rose Bowl Governor Robert Ray said "Last one to leave the state, turn out the lights."

After 20 non-winning seasons (there was a 5-5 record in 1969, I think) the '81 team captured the hearts of the state. To sum up, no doubt 1985 was undoubtedly the better team, but for many of us 1981 was a more special season.

Edit: I read the headline as 1981 team. Here is where I play the "I'm old" card,
Click to expand...
I was a student during the 81 season. Your post sums it up pretty well. We loved that team but 85 squad was more talented.
 
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rchawk

rchawk

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RuggieC said:
I was a student during the 81 season. Your post sums it up pretty well. We loved that team but 85 squad was more talented.
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If somebody told me before the season the Hawks would beat Michigan, UCLA and Nebraska, and lose to Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa State, I would have thought he was on acid.

The season finale whipping Michigan State and the band playing "California Here I Come" may have been my favorite day as an Iowa fan.
 
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Grayhair1981

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rchawk said:
If somebody told me before the season the Hawks would beat Michigan, UCLA and Nebraska, and lose to Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa State, I would have thought he was on acid.

The season finale whipping Michigan State and the band playing "California Here I Come" may have been my favorite day as an Iowa fan.
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The roar right before halftime when the word got out that OSU had beaten Michigan, the roses coming out of the press box. And I was 18. Wish I had a time machine to go back there just for that season.
 
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