The importance of execution ....

[homerHAWKeye777]

I've noticed that many Iowa fans haven't been calculating the true extent that poor EXECUTION cost us. And here, I'm only going to point out some of the most obvious offenses.


IOWA'S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS:

Special teams: 15 points

ITEMIZED:
- blocked punt (7 points)
- kickoff return TD (7 points)
- blocked PAT (7 point)

Offense: 17 to 21 points

ITEMIZED:
- pick-six when we were driving (10 to 14 points: The 7 points is immediate, however, fewer folks have noted that WE were in a position to score AT LEAST 3 points on that drive. Pick sixes like this one are HUGE momentum shifters.)
- drop of a slight overthrow that would have been a for-sure TD (7 points)

Defense: 6 to 10 points

ITEMIZED:
- CB getting beat deep + iffy safety help (3 points)
- CB getting beat deep + iffy safety help (3 to 7 points)

REMARK: Iowa's scheme predicates that getting beat deep simply SHOULD NOT happen (because numbers favor the D due to the safety help over the top). In instances where a guy simply gets beat in man coverage, it comes with the inherent risk of putting a defender on an island. In defense of Iowa's secondary, young CBs will get beat ... it's unfortunately part of the developmental process.


ARIZONA'S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS:

Special teams: 7 points

- mishandled punt return (7 points)

Offense: 10 to 14 points

- fumble deep in Iowa's territory (3 to 7 points)
- pick six deep in their own territory (7 points)

Defense: 0 points

- nothing that obviously stuck out to me (live by man coverage, die by man coverage)

CONCLUSION:

I find it funny how the announcers were quick to mention in the Arizona State vs Wisky game about all the missed opportunities that ASU had. However, in the Iowa game, Iowa not only suffered from self-inflicted wounds ... but also from missed opportunities too (which are basically just a different form of self-inflicted wounds).

Don't get me wrong. Arizona definitely BEAT Iowa. However, I think that if the Hawks "scout themselves" from the loss, they'll be in a position to bias momentum in games in their FAVOR by a substantial margin. Unfortunately, the injury to Jewel Hampton undermines that to some degree. The O is going to need to work hard to make the running game a more viable threat in order to keep the play-action as effective as its capable of being.

 

[Rawkhawk73]

I've noticed that many Iowa fans haven't been calculating the true extent that poor EXECUTION cost us. And here, I'm only going to point out some of the most obvious offenses.


IOWA'S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS:

Special teams: 15 points

ITEMIZED:
- blocked punt (7 points)
- kickoff return TD (7 points)
- blocked PAT (7 point)

Offense: 17 to 21 points

ITEMIZED:
- pick-six when we were driving (10 to 14 points: The 7 points is immediate, however, fewer folks have noted that WE were in a position to score AT LEAST 3 points on that drive. Pick sixes like this one are HUGE momentum shifters.)
- drop of a slight overthrow that would have been a for-sure TD (7 points)

Defense: 6 to 10 points

ITEMIZED:
- CB getting beat deep + iffy safety help (3 points)
- CB getting beat deep + iffy safety help (3 to 7 points)

REMARK: Iowa's scheme predicates that getting beat deep simply SHOULD NOT happen (because numbers favor the D due to the safety help over the top). In instances where a guy simply gets beat in man coverage, it comes with the inherent risk of putting a defender on an island. In defense of Iowa's secondary, young CBs will get beat ... it's unfortunately part of the developmental process.


ARIZONA'S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS:

Special teams: 7 points

- mishandled punt return (7 points)

Offense: 10 to 14 points

- fumble deep in Iowa's territory (3 to 7 points)
- pick six deep in their own territory (7 points)

Defense: 0 points

- nothing that obviously stuck out to me (live by man coverage, die by man coverage)

CONCLUSION:

I find it funny how the announcers were quick to mention in the Arizona State vs Wisky game about all the missed opportunities that ASU had. However, in the Iowa game, Iowa not only suffered from self-inflicted wounds ... but also from missed opportunities too (which are basically just a different form of self-inflicted wounds).

Don't get me wrong. Arizona definitely BEAT Iowa. However, I think that if the Hawks "scout themselves" from the loss, they'll be in a position to bias momentum in games in their FAVOR by a substantial margin. Unfortunately, the injury to Jewel Hampton undermines that to some degree. The O is going to need to work hard to make the running game a more viable threat in order to keep the play-action as effective as its capable of being.

Execution is the most important aspect of our program. Always has been and always will be. Ferentz knew this when he was hired since he'd been here for 8 years prior to being hired. We don't have, nor will we probably ever have, the number of athletes that the other "big boys" have. Therefore, we HAVE TO rely on execution and the other "little things" to stay on top. Teams like Texas, Alabama, Florida, etc can get away with giving up plays like we did on Saturday because they have the horses to break a big play at any given time. That's not to say that execution isn't important to them, but it's certainly not as important, nor will it ever be as important to them as it is to a team like Iowa.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

Execution is the most important aspect of our program. Always has been and always will be. Ferentz knew this when he was hired since he'd been here for 8 years prior to being hired. We don't have, nor will we probably ever have, the number of athletes that the other "big boys" have. Therefore, we HAVE TO rely on execution and the other "little things" to stay on top. Teams like Texas, Alabama, Florida, etc can get away with giving up plays like we did on Saturday because they have the horses to break a big play at any given time. That's not to say that execution isn't important to them, but it's certainly not as important, nor will it ever be as important to them as it is to a team like Iowa.

Definitely agreed.

What is striking is the huge differential in how much more the point swing cost Iowa. I'm really inclined to believe that this Iowa team is every bit as good as it was originally billed. It just needs to execute a heck of a lot better.

If you exclude the points resulting from errors on D (only 6 to 10 points anyway), exclude the point swing from DJK's drop, and forget about the missed PAT ... then momentum swing from just THREE plays was still enough to account for a differential of 24 to 28 points. And, mind you, the outcomes of those plays resulted immediately from break-downs in execution. In contrast, I'd say that only the mishandled punt was effectively "unforced."

 

[edr247]

When you don't have 4-5 star talent all around, and have drop-offs in experience and possibly talent among key positions, your margin of error drops by a lot and you come to rely on good execution and a fair bit of luck in order to win.

Which is why we lost, when we simply couldn't execute.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

When you don't have 4-5 star talent all around, and have drop-offs in experience and possibly talent among key positions, your margin of error drops by a lot and you come to rely on good execution and a fair bit of luck in order to win.

Which is why we lost, when we simply couldn't execute.

I don't know ... LSU regularly is stocked with impressive talent. And for the past 2 years, they haven't really been a terribly explosive team.

I think that the bigger issue is that, by design, Ferentz has this team strategically reliant on executing cleanly. Errors will certainly be made ... however, the number of them is usually small.

Thus, that is what makes the UA game so perplexing ... because the number of errors/missed opportunities were anomalously large.

Most teams have trouble overcoming such issues. I don't think that you need to look a whole lot further than the 2009 Ohio State squad to appreciate that fact.