Iowa Wins Combine, but...







been my criticism of kirk for years and years. he's afraid of offense; therefore, won't take risks. and please, going for it on 4th down and 1-3, by % is not a risk. the fake fg's are fun, but you can't use them every game, every season. we need an explosive offense and a "let's score 50 points a game" attitude. but, instead, we still have a game clock management philosophy with a couple of one off games of high offense per season.

kirk has proven he knows how to coach fundamentals. that hasn't been in question since the beginning. it's leaving multiple wins on the table, virtually every season. so Fant just showed he's a freak of nature athlete in the combine, right? and we all already knew this, right? but against WUs in '18, we had two 3rd possessions inside the 5 yard line and both times we split fant out way wide and WUs single covered him each time. what'd we do? we ran the ball the opposite way and were stuffed twice.
 


GesterHawk said:
4 players, 3 positions.

Let's not act like they sent 7 to 10 guys to the combine to achieve the "Combine Championship."
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Quality at the high end was evident and obvious.

Quantity was lacking elsewhere. It took a long time to get the running game going. OL was inconsistent, as was Stanley.

LB and WR also up and down. Punter just down.

Bottom line. It takes a complete team to finish higher than the 9-4 we did.
 


I've come to terms with the fact that Kirk develops individual talent so well because he spends a lot of time working on that in practice and less time working on things like game planning. If he started spending more time game planning, individual talent would probably decline and we would end up in the same place. Kirk is an above average all around coach who is going to average 7-8 wins per year. He just has a unique way of getting there.
 




revkev73 said:
You need to take risks to win championships and be creative (and use) with your best talent.

Iowa plays it safe most often, including the safe "in house" OC hire. Which gets you, well, where you are.
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The coaches need to be less predictable.
They need to find new and inventive ways to get the ball into the same two players hands every play.
Because that would be unpredictable.
 
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Northside Hawk said:
Quality at the high end was evident and obvious.

Quantity was lacking elsewhere. It took a long time to get the running game going. OL was inconsistent, as was Stanley.

LB and WR also up and down. Punter just down.

Bottom line. It takes a complete team to finish higher than the 9-4 we did.
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Compared to other teams in the "vaunted" West? Not buying it!
 


Iowa couldn’t run the ball at all this year that was the issue. They also lost pretty much every close game.
 


GesterHawk said:
The coaches need to be less predictable.
They need to find new and inventive ways to get the ball into the same two players hands every play.
Because that would be unpredictable.
Click to expand...
Iowa had two elite skill players on offense this year. They shared time. OC kind of needs to figure out how to get them in the game, a lot, together. Hell, have one of them punt.
 




ArvadaHawk said:
been my criticism of kirk for years and years. he's afraid of offense; therefore, won't take risks. and please, going for it on 4th down and 1-3, by % is not a risk. the fake fg's are fun, but you can't use them every game, every season. we need an explosive offense and a "let's score 50 points a game" attitude. but, instead, we still have a game clock management philosophy with a couple of one off games of high offense per season.

kirk has proven he knows how to coach fundamentals. that hasn't been in question since the beginning. it's leaving multiple wins on the table, virtually every season. so Fant just showed he's a freak of nature athlete in the combine, right? and we all already knew this, right? but against WUs in '18, we had two 3rd possessions inside the 5 yard line and both times we split fant out way wide and WUs single covered him each time. what'd we do? we ran the ball the opposite way and were stuffed twice.
Click to expand...

I have been saying this same stuff for years also, including how the hawks lose 1-3 games a year they should probably win . Kirk's formula is almost Woody Hayes-ish, Paterno-ish, as in play great defense, play great special teams (or try to), but be conservative on offense as turnovers will kill you.
 




uihawk82 said:
I have been saying this same stuff for years also, including how the hawks lose 1-3 games a year they should probably win . Kirk's formula is almost Woody Hayes-ish, Paterno-ish, as in play great defense, play great special teams (or try to), but be conservative on offense as turnovers will kill you.
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There have been two pieces missing lately - above average running game and a punter that can flip the field.
 


HawkleberryFinn said:
Compared to other teams in the "vaunted" West? Not buying it!
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The "vaunted" West will be stronger of the two divisions if not in 2019, than definitely 2020. Better buy that, because it's happening. Frost, Brohm and Fleck are on the rise and Ferentz, Fitz, and Chryst represent the steady old guard.

The east? No Urb, no McSorley, Maryland a mess, and the two Michigan's schools no more formidable that the best of what the west has to offer.
 






Northside Hawk said:
The "vaunted" West will be stronger of the two divisions if not in 2019, than definitely 2020. Better buy that, because it's happening. Frost, Brohm and Fleck are on the rise and Ferentz, Fitz, and Chryst represent the steady old guard.

The east? No Urb, no McSorley, Maryland a mess, and the two Michigan's schools no more formidable that the best of what the west has to offer.
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Fleck? Ha! My hearty chortle echoes across the mountainside! OSU's tradition won't cease to exist just because its criminal-in-chief left to deal with his "health issues." OSU, Michigan, and PSU's cultural inertia won't vanish overnight.
 


HawkleberryFinn said:
Fleck? Ha! My hearty chortle echoes across the mountainside! OSU's tradition won't cease to exist just because its criminal-in-chief left to deal with his "health issues." OSU, Michigan, and PSU's cultural inertia won't vanish overnight.
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You just keep chortling on. Your Ferentz disdain is cutting off the circulation to your brain. The west went 9-1 in bowl games the past two seasons and that's without Nebraska, who will probably be back in a bowl in 2019. No way does tOSU average one loss per season without Urb and Francis is going to have to prove he can coach without McSorley and Barkley, cultural inertia notwithstanding.

Fleck, for all his bluster, is no mirage. Minnesota in November was a completely different team from a physical standpoint than they were when we played them in early October. At the very least the West will be much deeper and seasons like Iowa 2015 and Wisconsin 2016 and 2017 will be more difficult to achieve. I could easily see two and three loss teams winning the division again, like Northwestern did last year.
 


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