What? The haters complain about the scheme....welp this was a freaking typical KF boring game with us running the ball 50+ times. Da haters told us we gotsta play exciting players like Willies, not no talent hacks like KMM, and Vandenberg. Da Haters say KF gotta recruit better than 2* running backs that only other offers are Temple like Akrum Wadley.
This game was field position and defense, but it was executed to perfection today. So is the "haters" real complaint that the team ain't always perfect, or is it the "scheme" that dominated jNW today. Just look to Fitz kittykat himself, he said as much. There was NOTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT IOWA TODAY. They did what they always do!!
C'mon, dean ... quoting Fitz's cut-n-paste postgame comments about Iowa to substantiate your weak argument? You're better than that.
The strategy was NOTICEABLY different than Iowa's intent in every other game, except, first half Indiana. Rather than try to build vertically from a horizontal game plan and / or trying to power through the box that your horizontal game plan helped build against you, they were very deliberate with attacking the middle of the field with mid-range passes, attempting the long ball, and, most importantly, actually targeting down field. I remember at one point they flashed a stat where the top 3 in receiving yards were all 50+ and all 3 were WR's. (How refreshing to not see Bullock's name.) From there, it came together easily for the power rush / scat back combo to be successful.
Agreed, the execution was the best it's been all season, not to mention, for nearly a complete game. You credit (or backhandedly fault) the players but I think it was mostly due to the coaches finally executing a sound strategy -- finally a gameplan with a coherent sequence of play calling that maximized the players' abilities and put them in a position to be successful.
You only need to rewatch CJB's series to see the contrast between what the coaches had been trying to do and what they did today. He mixed in a couple horizontal passes to VandeBerg and Powell, for 0 and -2 yards. You could hear the "here we go, again" groans from everyone in Kinnick. Fortunately, they (or CJB?) came to their senses and decided to go back to what was working all day -- intermediate crossing patterns and running the ball. Lo and behold -- down the field for a touchdown.
Weak to equate being "too conservative" / "too boring" with a rushing attack. It always has been, is, and will continue to be all about
the strategy -- do what your built to do, do what is working, keep doing it until they stop it, always do it with the intent to score (not just play field position to protect a lead) and do it with the best guys who can get it done
on that day, against that opponent.
The persistent and deserved criticism of KirkFer, which you and all the apologists misrepresent as "hate", is because he consistently fails at one or many of these simple expectations from game to game and season after season.
What you saw yesterday was very different from what you've seen most of this season -- for much of the past 3 years, really. The rest of the season is the proving ground to whether yesterday was the exception or proof of actually following the recipe for success.