Reminder about Ken O'Keefe against Ball State

okeefe4prez

okeefe4prez

Well-Known Member
IIRC, which I often don't, we played Ball State twice during O'Keefe's tenure. In 2005, we beat them 56-0 and in 2010 we beat them 45-0. This year, our defense was on par with those performances, surrendering effectively 3 points (offense gave up 7 and special teams fumble gave up 3). But the offense. Ugh. It was hard to watch.

Heck, I can't even bash the play calling that much. There were a few headscratchers, but it was overall decent with some great calls. The difference is that O'Keefe was far better than Davis at (a) coaching the QB position and (b) getting the team to execute. Save for 2007 when we had some issues at QB, O'Keefe was also pretty good at softening up a defense that thought it was going to load the box against us to stop the run. I just haven't seen Davis get this established consistently.

Jake is probably a perfectly serviceable Big Ten QB, but he needs A LOT of coaching help. O'Keefe was just masterful at this, but I've yet to be impressed by the QB play 3 years into the Davis Era. Heck, the way he managed to put JVB into reverse, I can't help but wonder if we should honestly be looking elsewhere for an O-Coordinator/QB coach. I see no reason for a QB change because the coaches see these guys in practice and I presume Jake is the man. I also presume the same type of issues we see with Jake will be there no matter who is playing QB.

Game ball to Coach Parker and that defense. That game could have been a program changing type of loss had those fellas not come to play.
 


I disagree not on the KOK being a decent coach because he was but the idea that he could teach someone who cannot throw over 20 yards with accuracy and touch to be able to do that. You either can do that or you cannot.

Also, those Ball State teams were some of the worst in the MAC at that time. Did you bother to look up records to compare them between then and now? This team won the MAC last year which includes a win over NIU who we lost to. Not saying this is the best team in the MAC this year but comparing Ball St teams 6-8 years a part is silly.

CJ looked just fine the one series and he is coached by Davis. The problem is he only got one series. That is a KF problem and where the real problem lies.
 


Remember when the other Jake bulked up and lost a lot of accuracy in his throws? Seeing something similar now, just not to the same extreme as JC.
 


For most of the game yesterday I was starting to think that Rudock had regressed in his 2nd year much like JVB did under Davis. Throwing sideways passes. Not taking risks. At least Rudock can run when he is healthy. JVB could never run.
 


okeefe4prez said:
IIRC, which I often don't, we played Ball State twice during O'Keefe's tenure. In 2005, we beat them 56-0 and in 2010 we beat them 45-0. This year, our defense was on par with those performances, surrendering effectively 3 points (offense gave up 7 and special teams fumble gave up 3). But the offense. Ugh. It was hard to watch.

Heck, I can't even bash the play calling that much. There were a few headscratchers, but it was overall decent with some great calls. The difference is that O'Keefe was far better than Davis at (a) coaching the QB position and (b) getting the team to execute. Save for 2007 when we had some issues at QB, O'Keefe was also pretty good at softening up a defense that thought it was going to load the box against us to stop the run. I just haven't seen Davis get this established consistently.

Jake is probably a perfectly serviceable Big Ten QB, but he needs A LOT of coaching help. O'Keefe was just masterful at this, but I've yet to be impressed by the QB play 3 years into the Davis Era. Heck, the way he managed to put JVB into reverse, I can't help but wonder if we should honestly be looking elsewhere for an O-Coordinator/QB coach. I see no reason for a QB change because the coaches see these guys in practice and I presume Jake is the man. I also presume the same type of issues we see with Jake will be there no matter who is playing QB.

Game ball to Coach Parker and that defense. That game could have been a program changing type of loss had those fellas not come to play.
Click to expand...

tl; dr. BUT...from title, I can say, "Agreed".

Our problem isn't on the field, it's in the booth. KOK would be SALIVATING at a chance to utilize the personnel of this particular offense.
 


guffus said:
For most of the game yesterday I was starting to think that Rudock had regressed in his 2nd year much like JVB did under Davis. Throwing sideways passes. Not taking risks. At least Rudock can run when he is healthy. JVB could never run.
Click to expand...

Have you bothered to look at the stats. He is completing almost 70% of his passes, NO INTERCEPTIONS, QB rating of 134.7 good enough for 23rd in the country, 1 sack and the teams leading rusher. Rudock isn't the problem, we have a horrible OC and KF will stay with him for at least one or two more years. We have a stable of experienced running backs that are running dismal plays called by Davis. I don't even blame KF this year which is unusual. I remember watching Jake his last two years of HS at St. Thomas and he threw a 50 yard TD in every game. In some games he threw two or three that long. His interception numbers were very low playing against guys that are starters for D-1 teams now. I cringe at the first play from scrimmage each time they throw that quick out down the line. I will guarantee it will be picked either next week or the following week. Davis has no imagination. Jake has not regressed in any way, shape or form. Let's give it another week before we throw the team under the bus.
 


Our offenses were generally not good under KOK and so far our offense has not been good under GD.

Does anyone seriously not grasp the real reason our offenses have struggled for the majority of the last 15 years?

it was obvious to many before Davis.
 


Hayden please hand KF your old play book and take his ten play, play book from him. Love the way Oregon does it.
 


RocknRollface said:
Our offenses were generally not good under KOK and so far our offense has not been good under GD.

Does anyone seriously not grasp the real reason our offenses have struggled for the majority of the last 15 years?

it was obvious to many before Davis.
Click to expand...
Yep, and yep.
 


SpecialKHawk said:
I disagree not on the KOK being a decent coach because he was but the idea that he could teach someone who cannot throw over 20 yards with accuracy and touch to be able to do that. You either can do that or you cannot.

Also, those Ball State teams were some of the worst in the MAC at that time. Did you bother to look up records to compare them between then and now? This team won the MAC last year which includes a win over NIU who we lost to. Not saying this is the best team in the MAC this year but comparing Ball St teams 6-8 years a part is silly.

CJ looked just fine the one series and he is coached by Davis. The problem is he only got one series. That is a KF problem and where the real problem lies.
Click to expand...

Did we play Bowling Green or Ball State? Ball State got trucked by Northern Illinois last year and Bowling Green won the MAC after dismantling NIU in the title game. Last year, Ball State lost to North Texas and Arkansas State in addition to getting beat by NIU. They were decent, but not "Iowa needs a miracle late comeback to win" decent.
 


To reiterate what another Iowa fan posted on another forum....

This was the most Ferentzy Ferentz game Iowa has played since.... last week.
 










Gibsonian said:
Boy would I love to see KOK back on the sideline again. Never thought I'd say that!
Click to expand...

Look, O'Keefe was not without his shortcomings, but save for the season when Jake threw the ball 5 yards short on every pass, I haven't seen such a poorly coached QB donning an Iowa uniform. If we had a QB who did anything other than lock onto the primary guy and then check down, we would have scored a minimum of 42 points on these clowns. I actually don't have much beef with the playcalling, it seemed pretty good, but O'Keefe always had a few plays ready early in games like this that would punish the defense for selling out against the run. I presume Davis did as well, but our inability to execute on them really hurt us. I just hope it is fixable.
 


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