What level of incompetence does Brian Ferentz have to exhibit to be fired?

[lightning1]

Yes I played football. Are you going to tell me because you played football once upon a time Uncle Rico that it takes time for teams to get rolling? I don’t disagree with that notion but a team like Iowa should never have 26 yards passing at the half. Beathard who was a way better athlete than Stanley had several games with less that 100 yards total. Then you see a kid like Weigers who couldn’t sniff the field at Iowa put 20-28 for 300 on Purdue. Remember Stanley’s 16-33 performance last year? I also never had a coach call the same play over and over into a 8 or 9 man front, which Brian might have learned had he ever called a play at a high school.

2002 Iowa football total yards per game.
1st game - 593 yards
2nd game - 444 yards
3rd game - 400 yards
4th game - 518 yards
5th game (Penn St) - 470 yards
6th game - (PUR) - 384 yards
The difference between the 02' team and the Iowa teams of the last few years is the skill positions.
Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ Jones, Mo Brown, Clinton Solomon, Dallas Clark, Jermelle Lewis, etc. All of these players were a threat. Name the threats on our current offense.

 

[HawkGold]

2002 Iowa football total yards per game.
1st game - 593 yards
2nd game - 444 yards
3rd game - 400 yards
4th game - 518 yards
5th game (Penn St) - 470 yards
6th game - (PUR) - 384 yards
The difference between the 02' team and the Iowa teams of the last few years is the skill positions.
Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ Jones, Mo Brown, Clinton Solomon, Dallas Clark, Jermelle Lewis, etc. All of these players were a threat. Name the threats on our current offense.

Fant is similar to Clark...and then there is
..ummm....well... hmmm.

 

[lightning1]

Fant is similar to Clark...and then there is
..ummm....well... hmmm.

Exactly.

 

[Adam]

You and I are incomplete agreement about Nate Stanley. I would also point out that opposing DC's have game film on Stanley now, because of last season. They are going to present smaller windows for him to throw into because of that. Smaller windows means tighter, harder throws. And most 2nd year QBs face this problem and their stats suffer because of it. That does not mean Stanley is worse this year or that he has "regressed'. I don't think that's the case.

Yup everything gets harder once people spend hours watching you and analyzing your weaknesses and tendencies.

 

[Adam]

Yes I played football. Are you going to tell me because you played football once upon a time Uncle Rico that it takes time for teams to get rolling? I don’t disagree with that notion but a team like Iowa should never have 26 yards passing at the half. Beathard who was a way better athlete than Stanley had several games with less that 100 yards total. Then you see a kid like Weigers who couldn’t sniff the field at Iowa put 20-28 for 300 on Purdue. Remember Stanley’s 16-33 performance last year? I also never had a coach call the same play over and over into a 8 or 9 man front, which Brian might have learned had he ever called a play at a high school.

Nope the have you played question is related to your posted assumption that because we have bigger, stronger, and faster players that we are immune to a lesser team. That is a faulty assumption and any football playing experience should have proven to you. Not to mention years of hawk fandom. I also don't believe that the better team can always avoid upsets by being overly aggressive. Sure it can work out that way, but there is enough evidence to show that it is nowhere near a guarantee.

As for the play calling of Brian. It's certainly not beyond criticism. However pinning all of our problems on him his disingenuous. I get that you don't like that he was fast tracked inside his father's organization. It is a pretty unique set of circumstances and is a great topic for debate, but for heavens sake just stick to the merits of the argument. Saying that early season offensive woes are proof positive of ineptitude is laughable considering the history of the program. Chastising him for a boorish and stubborn zone running attack that has pre dated him for 20 years is also goofy.

In my personal opinion the jury is still out on what exactly we have in Brian. Early signs indicate that we have a young and fiery guy that has been groomed by the hands of legitimate masters of their craft. I consider it a reasonable position to desire someone of a different tutelage. What Kirk Ferentz does at Iowa has been going on for a long time. It has grown stale to many people. Wanting change is a human instinct. I am also not convinced yet that Brian himself given full autonomy would be the same as Kirk. That assumption is too much of a leap for me. I believe they share several core values, but they are undoubtedly different people that would have at least slightly different approaches.

I believe the challenge of evaluating Brian lies within trying to isolate the data of situations where he was most likely unchained for a lack of better word. Those would most likely be games in which we find ourselves in a shootout, comfortable lead, or down and desperate. Last year that breaks down to 3 games. ISU, OSU and Nebby. Well those 3 games just coincidentally align with perhaps the finest play calling games of his short tenure. The real test for me is finding ourselves trailing by multiple scores. I want to see him continue the trend in the games mentioned from last year, but mostly I want to see what he does when we are down and desperate. Can he dial up plays to help us generate a comeback victory? That is still one of the largest looming questions. The thing is with this D that we have I'm not sure anyone we play is good enough to get up on us by 14 or more with any substantial game time left for a comeback.

 

[Xerxes]

Well, the good news is that we get to play an FCS team next week. We should get our total offense ranking back into the nineties.

This is a bold statement.

IMO there is a better chance that Iowa's defense improves its scoring defense numbers than Iowa's offense will improve any of their's.

 

[Northside Hawk]

It was a Big 12 defense that beat Oklahoma and TCU last year...two top 5 teams. I played golf with the Lama too...big hitter the lama...and he told me, things improve over time and KF's offensive teams don't really start gelling for five or six games. Does everyone forget the Pittsburgh game in 2015? Our offense was terrible. Beathard got absolutely abused and was lucky he wasn't killed..they won with a 57 yard field goal. This ISU team had a much, much better pedigree and team than that Pitt team. Stop freaking complaining until you don't see improvement...then complain.

Great teams aren't always great...they are just great when they have to be. Let's give the boys a chance, ok. That being said, I'm worried about UNI this week.

The Dalai Lama has two weeks to get our quarterback play out of a 10,000 foot crevasse.

And you know what? I think we will see steady improvement.

Our best teams, from 2002 to 2015, almost always win the special team and turnover battles. And I am seeing signs of that this year. We're not letting punts roll and extra twenty yards and starting drives inside our 20, and we're not letting opponents start around midfield. That's how you keep real pressure off your defense until the offense can catch up a bit. And that's usually our formula for success, even more than quantifiable, linear, week to week offensive improvement.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

2002 Iowa football total yards per game.
1st game - 593 yards
2nd game - 444 yards
3rd game - 400 yards
4th game - 518 yards
5th game (Penn St) - 470 yards
6th game - (PUR) - 384 yards
The difference between the 02' team and the Iowa teams of the last few years is the skill positions.
Brad Banks, Fred Russell, CJ Jones, Mo Brown, Clinton Solomon, Dallas Clark, Jermelle Lewis, etc. All of these players were a threat. Name the threats on our current offense.

I'm with ya, but we actually threw to Mo, Soloman, and CJ. And ran schemes to do it. I very well could be wrong, but I dont think the talent at wr is that much lower now with ISM, Smith, Cooper, Easley, Fant, Hockenson, etc. I just dont think they get enough chances. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[seepig]

Yup everything gets harder once people spend hours watching you and analyzing your weaknesses and tendencies.

You mean we have tendencies?! Perish the thought. Would an example be that we ran the same exact running play 3 times in a row with no complement on the 3rd attempt which resulted in lost yards?

 

[lightning1]

You mean we have tendencies?! Perish the thought. Would an example be that we ran the same exact running play 3 times in a row with no complement on the 3rd attempt which resulted in lost yards?

That's not what we are talking about.

 

[lightning1]

I'm with ya, but we actually threw to Mo, Soloman, and CJ. And ran schemes to do it. I very well could be wrong, but I dont think the talent at wr is that much lower now with ISM, Smith, Cooper, Easley, Fant, Hockenson, etc. I just dont think they get enough chances. Maybe I'm wrong.

The talent is vastly different. For example:
In 02', Mo Brown caught 48 passes for 966 yards.
Last season, Easley caught 51 passes for 530 yards.
Dallas Clark caught 43 passes for 742 yards
Noah Fant caught 30 passes for 494 yards.
That's a difference of 684 yards at the #1 WR and #1 TE spots alone. Or 3 games worth of total offense for a Brian Ferentz lead squad.

 

[Adam]

I'm with ya, but we actually threw to Mo, Soloman, and CJ. And ran schemes to do it. I very well could be wrong, but I dont think the talent at wr is that much lower now with ISM, Smith, Cooper, Easley, Fant, Hockenson, etc. I just dont think they get enough chances. Maybe I'm wrong.

We definitely don't throw to our WR's as much as we did once upon a time.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

The talent is vastly different. For example:
In 02', Mo Brown caught 48 passes for 966 yards.
Last season, Easley caught 51 passes for 530 yards.
Dallas Clark caught 43 passes for 742 yards
Noah Fant caught 30 passes for 494 yards.
That's a difference of 684 yards at the #1 WR and #1 TE spots alone. Or 3 games worth of total offense for a Brian Ferentz lead squad.

Fair enough. But just playing devils advocate here... Easley is by all accounts a possession/slot receiver, the fact he's getting the most targets, as a "#1" is the exact issue I'm referring. Obviously Mo was more talented of a wr than a juco transfer possession guy. I like Easley, he ain't a #1 tho.

Hard to argue All Pro Dallas Clark isn't more talented than Fant. Although it's not unthinkable that Fant could get 250 more yards on 13 more receptions.

Overall, that past receiving squad clearly produced more and likely was more talented overall. My main point is we dont throw enough especially to the WR, to really know how talented our receivers are.

Tevaun Smith had fringe NFL talent and Riley McCarron made a squad and has legit 4.3 speed....we woefully underused them both.

I'm simply not convinced we gave this massive lack of receiving talent, as much as we are finding ways to use it. I could be wrong.

 

[lightning1]

We definitely don't throw to our WR's as much as we did once upon a time.

That's because they aren't as talented as WRs

Fair enough. But just playing devils advocate here... Easley is by all accounts a possession/slot receiver, the fact he's getting the most targets, as a "#1" is the exact issue I'm referring. Obviously Mo was more talented of a wr than a juco transfer possession guy. I like Easley, he ain't a #1 tho.

Hard to argue All Pro Dallas Clark isn't more talented than Fant. Although it's not unthinkable that Fant could get 250 more yards on 13 more receptions.

Overall, that past receiving squad clearly produced more and likely was more talented overall. My main point is we dont throw enough especially to the WR, to really know how talented our receivers are.

Tevaun Smith had fringe NFL talent and Riley McCarron made a squad and has legit 4.3 speed....we woefully underused them both.

I'm simply not convinced we gave this massive lack of receiving talent, as much as we are finding ways to use it. I could be wrong.

Fair enough. You're not going to get me to argue that KF/BF are good OC types. I don't believe that to be true.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Penn State are going to eat us alive on D.

Wisconsin, yes. You obviously haven't watched NW or PSU.

 

[cincyhawk]

Wisconsin, yes. You obviously haven't watched NW or PSU.

I watched PSU vs Pitt and App St. The game will look much like last year, except no Akrum Wadley.

Northwestern, I haven't watched. But I expect them to play us tough like they always do.

 

[Adam]

I watched PSU vs Pitt and App St. The game will look much like last year, except no Akrum Wadley.

Northwestern, I haven't watched. But I expect them to play us tough like they always do.

Play us tough does not meet the standard for your earlier post that "They will eat us alive". Shit NW isn't even good. I bet we rush for 150+ and win easy against NW. Wanna bet?

 

[cincyhawk]

Play us tough does not meet the standard for your earlier post that "They will eat us alive". Shit NW isn't even good. I bet we rush for 150+ and win easy against NW. Wanna bet?

I don't think we'll win easy against NW. We might win, but it will be like Saturday's game. Last year, Iowa rushed for 98 yards against them.

Also, PSU destroyed Iowa's offense last year - 191 yards passing and 82 yards rushing.

Playing another team tough on scoring defense doesn't mean that the offense isn't getting eaten alive.

What are we betting? I'll take the under for 150 yards rushing against NW.

 

[NCHawker]

He won't be fired.

Worst case he'll resign to take another job

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I watched PSU vs Pitt and App St. The game will look much like last year, except no Akrum Wadley.

Northwestern, I haven't watched. But I expect them to play us tough like they always do.

Both will play us tough. Neither is anything remotely close to "impenetrable" to us the way Wisconsin has been.