BF on Identity of Iowa Offense

RobHowe

Administrator
From this morning's presser in Orlando...

You talked about you can't change the identity of the offense overnight, and you're not sure you want to. What is the ideal identity of your offense, your program's offense, and why?

BRIAN FERENTZ:
Well, I think when you think about the offense, you need to think about the team, right. So, I just got done complimenting Ivory on the kind of team player he was. Our goal is simple: We want to win football games, and ultimately we are trying to compete for and win a Big Ten Championship.
We weren't able to do that this year. We came a little bit closer than we have in years past. I know offensively, you know, perhaps we haven't had the statistics or the measurables or all those things, maybe we are not that exciting.

But at the end of the day, our job is simple: We need to change field position, and we need to score points. That's really it, because we are a three-phase team: We play defense, special teams and offense. We win when all three of those phases are working together.

The identity is simple: We need to be a group that can support the team and win games, however, we need to win those games.

One thing that’s never going to change, and this is just one person's opinion, football is a physical game. I think there's two things that make football unique relative to other sports. One is the team aspect. There's not many sports, you know, all due respect to European football, but I don't understand that game particularly well.

But I know this: We share a similarity in that we have a lot of players on the field at one time, right. I'm not a big basketball fan. Very much enjoy watching ice hockey. Probably ice hockey and wrestling would be my next two. You think about those sports, wrestling, certainly an individual sport with a team element. Ice hockey is the type of sport where one player can make a very significant difference on the ice, right. If you have the best player on the ice, there's less moving pieces; he can be super involved, much like basketball, right.
Football, the team element of football, 11 pieces moving together, tremendous execution required and tremendous synergy required. That can be a huge, huge benefit. Then, when you think about team football in a further aspect, you think about the three phases working together, that makes it a unique game, right.

If you have all three phases working together, you can overcome some challenges that you have in matching up against a particular point. That's the team aspect.

And the second aspect, I know we are trying to take it out of the game desperately, but there's a physical aspect of football. And the last time I checked, on Saturday we'll be wearing full pads. We'll have shoulder pads on, helmets, pants, the thigh pads, the knee pads – maybe not the knee pads, but at least the thigh pads, right, the whole deal.

They try to create rules where we can't practice with pads on. They try to create rules where we can't practice at all. But at the end of the day, this is a physical game. And you can make up the difference perhaps between you and an opponent, you can close gaps with the togetherness of team and with the physicalness of the game.

That's what we are always going to be built on. And I think, at the end of the day, if you want to look program-wide, look, our job offensively is to fit within to that goal, but that's always going to come down to running the football. I think you measure any football team by how well they run the football, how well they stop the run, and how well they cover kicks, which speaks to the physical aspect of the game.

You look at our last game, you look at the rushing numbers, I think that bears out the result. It's going to be hard for us to win like that, right. So what we need to do, our identity is always going to be based on being physical and being able to run the football.

That doesn't mean that you're not going to do other things, right. Because you have to score points, and all of that -that's the special sauce, right. So, that's what you're trying to build every year and find the right ingredients to get to those things.

But, at the end of the day, if you're scoring points, and you have the ability to run the football when it matters, you're going to have a chance to win football games.

So when I look at big picture, macro, global thoughts, that's what we're looking at identity-wise.
 
"what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
-the principal from Billy Madison
 
Translation: Our defense and special teams are really good, so I don't have to be.

I get his point that Iowa wins with complimentary football, but that can also be used as an excuse for an offense that was not very good this year. Iowa will never have a Top 25 offense because we huddle and run and punt and play field position. But, complimentary football does not mean its okay to not be able to score at all in big games.

I agree conceptually with his description of what Iowa offensive identity SHOULD BE, but he needs to own up to the fact that his offense failed to live up to this identity in 2021. Miserably.
 
Translation: Our defense and special teams are really good, so I don't have to be.

I get his point that Iowa wins with complimentary football, but that can also be used as an excuse for an offense that was not very good this year.
There was nothing complimentary about the offense this year outside of maybe 6-8 big plays. Each phase should try to be the best that it can be, not just adequate enough to help out the other 2. tOSU found this out as well with a not adequate D.
 
Dude would be a better in politics. In no way shape or form did that answer any of those questions and he was selfaware of it. And now I'm pissed off at myself because I wasted my time reading it all.
 
Any word from anyone with bowl practice access which QB has been getting majority of the reps with first team? Asking for a friend…
 
Its confirmed. Offense is a blindspot. We all have blind spots. But this illustrates very low expectations.

Maybe the truth is closer to this; We recruit the best players we can and we just don't get very talented players on offense. When we get talented players they tend to be on defense.

So we play a style that works for the marginal talent that we recruit.

We've come to accept that this is what it is and we know we won't recruit well unless our offense has more voltage..its kind of a chicken and the egg thing you know.

besides, I have limited personal knowledge of how to have a good passing offense, I look to Ken for that.

All of this is probably closer to the truth, which we'll never hear Brian say
 
Dude would be a better in politics. In no way shape or form did that answer any of those questions and he was selfaware of it. And now I'm pissed off at myself because I wasted my time reading i

besides, I have limited personal knowledge of how to have a good passing offense, I look to Ken for that.
You get a good passing offense by throwing for lots of yards per game. Throw in 2-3 passing TDs and you're there.

/snarky sarcasm
 
Translation: Our defense and special teams are really good, so I don't have to be.

I get his point that Iowa wins with complimentary football, but that can also be used as an excuse for an offense that was not very good this year. Iowa will never have a Top 25 offense because we huddle and run and punt and play field position. But, complimentary football does not mean its okay to not be able to score at all in big games.

I agree conceptually with his description of what Iowa offensive identity SHOULD BE, but he needs to own up to the fact that his offense failed to live up to this identity in 2021. Miserably.

Did Brian say anything of substance in that whole bunch of text in the OP. Wow I think he is grooming and training to be a politician and doing double talk.
 
How in the world has Phil Parker not been named the head coach in waiting for Iowa? If things were fair, BF would not even be on the Iowa staff.

What kind of incoherent nonsense was BF spewing out of his mouth? Does he just enjoy jerking around the media and fans? He is getting old enough you would expect him to outgrow his jerk phase by now. Say something worthwhile, for crying out loud.
 
Notice how when asked about his priorities for the offense he lists "changing field position" ahead of "scoring points"? And lists "offense" after "defense and special teams" when describing team priorities? Egads. Points are referred to as "the special sauce" as if they are some rare addition to the game that adds a little pizazz. And whenever BF brings up how 'running the ball' is the key to offensive success and world peace, all Iowa sports media should be required to ask the follow-up question: "Then why do your offenses suck so bad at it??" Unbelievable.
 
Another question for Iowa sports media members to ask BF the next time he mentions "complimentary football" as part of his "global thoughts": so, do you believe that having the 123rd best offense in college football is 'complementing' your team to the best of your ability?
 
Did Brian say anything of substance in that whole bunch of text in the OP. Wow I think he is grooming and training to be a politician and doing double talk.
Not really. I think Brian wants to be a power running team, but he is clearly a zone running team and he sucks at it. So he relies on his defense and specials teams to get by. Long story short.

Iowa offense under a microscope...nah just seeing it from your TV or the stands:

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This f’n dork is going to be the next Iowa head coach, boys. Let that simmer in your brain for a while.
 
How in the world has Phil Parker not been named the head coach in waiting for Iowa? If things were fair, BF would not even be on the Iowa staff.

What kind of incoherent nonsense was BF spewing out of his mouth? Does he just enjoy jerking around the media and fans? He is getting old enough you would expect him to outgrow his jerk phase by now. Say something worthwhile, for crying out loud.
Phil Parker is on record multiple times saying he has no interest whatsoever in being HC.

And I don’t blame him. He’s top five in the nation at what he does and makes ridiculous money every year for an Iowa coordinator with job security as long as he wants it.
 
This f’n dork is going to be the next Iowa head coach, boys. Let that simmer in your brain for a while.
Our only chance is Brian getting a Ph.D from some correspondence program and every Ferentz, Barta, and anyone tangentially related to either convincing the BoR that Brian needs to be the next president of the university.
 
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Phil Parker is on record multiple times saying he has no interest whatsoever in being HC.

And I don’t blame him. He’s top five in the nation at what he does and makes ridiculous money every year for an Iowa coordinator with job security as long as he wants it.
It's what makes him so damn smart to begin with... Getting a million large pretty much. Goes a long way in Iowa and without all the dog and pony show stuff that goes with the title of being HC. He speaks to the media just a small handful of times a year tops. Has full autonomy to run his D and recruit to it how he wants with the job security you mentioned that most assistant coaches only dream of having. He's just a smart smart guy and KF couldn't be luckier to have had him all this time.
 
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