Can our Panthers win a National Championship?
Don't click "reply" just yet...I'm looking for something more then an emtional "yes" to this question.
Look at the storied history of our Panthers. We're the 13th winningest 1AA of all-time, with only Western Kentucky with us in the top-25. We've won more conference championships then not, and to the whole of 1AA nation, a playoff bracket without the words "Northern Iowa" is hardly a legitimate one.
We are, in my humble opinion, a far superior program (encompasing tradition, facilities, funding, support, expectations) then other teams in our very league who have won a national championship (SIU), or who have won many (YSU.) We have, alongside probably Montana, the single greatest homefield advantage in the subclassification.
And yet, the space in our trophy case reserved for a National Championship trophy is bare.
We are both blessed and cursed to play in the best conference in 1AA football. This means that we get the benefit of the doubt if we finish 8-3, becasue we've played the toughest schedule. It also means it's exceedingly difficult for us to attain a top-2 seed, and therefore a semi-final homegame.
Does anyone believe we can make it to Chattanooga without a home semi-final game? We've seen how that goes before, and aside from Montana (r Delaware, etc), there is noplace on EARTH a 1AA wants to go to less in a late-round game then Cedar Falls.
At the same time, as we've seen in all levels of football, it's hard for dome teams (I don't care how much you practice outside, you recruit and write the playbook to play indoors, and maximize those facilities) to win a playoff game on the road.
Add to that the fact that we MUST play a BCS level 1A every year, to get a paycheck. This is penciled in, more times then not, as a loss (though we've beat up on mid-major 1a's, it looks like ISU is the 1A game of the future, and we will only beat them on occasional times). We lose one conference game, but yet win the league, we're 9-2. Is that good enough to get a top-2 seed? You're on the bubble at BEST.
So we have to sweep the league. That's harder and harder every year.
So, can we do it? Will UNI ever win a National Championship? Have we gone so long, being so good, without winning one, that now there is a mental barrier to us getting 'over the hump' and it will "never" happen?
Don't click "reply" just yet...I'm looking for something more then an emtional "yes" to this question.
Look at the storied history of our Panthers. We're the 13th winningest 1AA of all-time, with only Western Kentucky with us in the top-25. We've won more conference championships then not, and to the whole of 1AA nation, a playoff bracket without the words "Northern Iowa" is hardly a legitimate one.
We are, in my humble opinion, a far superior program (encompasing tradition, facilities, funding, support, expectations) then other teams in our very league who have won a national championship (SIU), or who have won many (YSU.) We have, alongside probably Montana, the single greatest homefield advantage in the subclassification.
And yet, the space in our trophy case reserved for a National Championship trophy is bare.
We are both blessed and cursed to play in the best conference in 1AA football. This means that we get the benefit of the doubt if we finish 8-3, becasue we've played the toughest schedule. It also means it's exceedingly difficult for us to attain a top-2 seed, and therefore a semi-final homegame.
Does anyone believe we can make it to Chattanooga without a home semi-final game? We've seen how that goes before, and aside from Montana (r Delaware, etc), there is noplace on EARTH a 1AA wants to go to less in a late-round game then Cedar Falls.
At the same time, as we've seen in all levels of football, it's hard for dome teams (I don't care how much you practice outside, you recruit and write the playbook to play indoors, and maximize those facilities) to win a playoff game on the road.
Add to that the fact that we MUST play a BCS level 1A every year, to get a paycheck. This is penciled in, more times then not, as a loss (though we've beat up on mid-major 1a's, it looks like ISU is the 1A game of the future, and we will only beat them on occasional times). We lose one conference game, but yet win the league, we're 9-2. Is that good enough to get a top-2 seed? You're on the bubble at BEST.
So we have to sweep the league. That's harder and harder every year.
So, can we do it? Will UNI ever win a National Championship? Have we gone so long, being so good, without winning one, that now there is a mental barrier to us getting 'over the hump' and it will "never" happen?
Comment