People are pissed about Crawford because Iowa has been slapping us on the recruiting trail for the last few years, and then they come into KS, offer a kid that has multiple connections to our team, that we've been prioritizing very heavily for a long time, and he commits to Iowa without even taking a visit to Iowa City. If we were ever going to get a recruit to choose us over Iowa*, Crawford (who is really good btw) fit that mold to a T.
If CK/K-State is going to take that "next step," winning guys like Crawford seems imperative.
All that said, the staff has done a decent job recovering after misses in the past (particularly with OL), and December is still a long ways off, so plenty of time to find a good DE.
And Iowa isn't the Big Ten's second best program right now gmab. I would put Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin all above them.
*I will say Rubley had an offer from Iowa