those who think our D cant reload.

Maybe where OK4P is coming from is that Iowa has never been able to secure the B10's automatice BCS spot.

Both BCS games were at large choices. Its a tough pill to swallow to type this but Iowa hasn't won an outright B10 championhip in over 25 years. Only 1 time during that span have they been the B10 rep its top bowl game when they won a 4 team tiebreaker in 1990.

Yikes.


That is true, but that will now change and for the the better. For us and the Big 10 in my opinion.

I guess we'll see none the less...

Chad
 


CM, you know what your looking at. Where do you see us come the end of Dec, or Jan?
I dont think we run the NC, but I could see us in Jan. I noticed odds are a pretty good payout for us to get to the NC, but I wish I could find a good deal on showing up in Jan. My only worry is sos might hurt us this year. Your thoughts??
 


That is true, but that will now change and for the the better. For us and the Big 10 in my opinion.

I guess we'll see none the less...

Chad

Yeah, even in 2002 we wouldn't have been the B10 rep under the old regime. Now, I guess it could be possible to go say 5-3 and still make the Rose Bowl as long as we can make it to the title game. My biggest fear is that I have been watching Iowa football too long to expect us to be able to win a really big game, which the B10 title game will be. I also don't like that it is indoors. That turns it into more of a track meet and perfect weather conditions, plus our defense, plus good QB (which you'll likely see in title game), could be a recipe for absolute disaster and I could see us making that title game every 3 or 4 years but it taking like 20 years before we actually win one.
 


CM, you know what your looking at. Where do you see us come the end of Dec, or Jan?
I dont think we run the NC, but I could see us in Jan. I noticed odds are a pretty good payout for us to get to the NC, but I wish I could find a good deal on showing up in Jan. My only worry is sos might hurt us this year. Your thoughts??

I had us pegged at 8-4 last year and I think we are prolly looking at a 10-2/11-1 ballclub this year due to dilution in talent across the conference. Of course, if we have an injury on the o-line or JVB doesn't pan, I could see us winding up at 6-6, but I have confidence we will overachieve this year because we are back off the radar and should have a salty o-line, two key components for Iowa to have a good season.
 


Yeah, even in 2002 we wouldn't have been the B10 rep under the old regime. Now, I guess it could be possible to go say 5-3 and still make the Rose Bowl as long as we can make it to the title game. My biggest fear is that I have been watching Iowa football too long to expect us to be able to win a really big game, which the B10 title game will be. I also don't like that it is indoors. That turns it into more of a track meet and perfect weather conditions, plus our defense, plus good QB (which you'll likely see in title game), could be a recipe for absolute disaster and I could see us making that title game every 3 or 4 years but it taking like 20 years before we actually win one.
Are you talking about the same Hawks that show up big for big games and drop the ones they are supposed to win? Everyone knows thats what has kept us just shy of the BCS bowls for umpteen years now.
 


Are you talking about the same Hawks that show up big for big games and drop the ones they are supposed to win? Everyone knows thats what has kept us just shy of the BCS bowls for umpteen years now.

Nah, I've seen that movie enough. I'm talking more like the 2009 game at OSU (though we didn't have Stanzi), pretty much every game against OSU (especially at OSU) in the past 30 years (other than the one time we won), the 2010 Wisconsin game (that would have changed the trajectory a lot), the first Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowls in my lifetime. That Orange Bowl win was nice, though, everyone at the bar thought I was nuts for waiting for the Hawks to choke, but surprisingly they didn't. The Hawks win some big games here and there like every other team, it's just I'm too cynical to expect them to ever put that string of 3 or 4 huge wins in a season together to take us to the promiseland.
 


Are you talking about the same Hawks that show up big for big games and drop the ones they are supposed to win? Everyone knows thats what has kept us just shy of the BCS bowls for umpteen years now.

Yeah that's the way I've seen it as well old dude, with the exception of said team being OSU. We can’t ever beat them it seems.

As far as me knowing what I’m looking at the key to that is I know up front I don’t know much of anything. Meaning I don’t know what the coach is seeing and even though Iowa is MY team and I see that things that frustrate me, all I have to do is jump on any message board and watch ANY other team and I can see the same things, so to continually gripe about them is at best pointless and at worst shows how very short-sighted and ill equipped I really am to make such statements.

If you have ever seen my musings you’ll know my thing has always been attitude, effort, focus and chemistry. This team has plenty of talent. I have followed Iowa and college football by proxy, diligently for about 10 years and this is routinely one of the more talented teams in the country as the draft and NFL have proven.

The thing about Iowa and others like us, Wisco included, is for whatever reason they often fail to live up to expectations, but when the pressure is off they blow up, as Brother Okeefe has already pointed out. It’s frustrating but true all the same. Ironically enuff as you travel message boards you’ll find many a fan base that feels this about their team as I have seen Oklahoma fans of all things say the same.

Again as Okeefe for Pres has pointed out there are several things in Iowa’s favor that have historically boded well for them. Not only do they have good to great O-line talent they appear to have it 2 to 3 deep in spots.

They do play better when they are under appreciated.

They have a very good Rber if he can stay healthy and we usually can find more…

We have above average TE play with depth there as well…

We have “some” experienced starters at all spots on D, and last year’s injuries at OG and Lber honestly advanced our prospects for this coming year.

Finally it has been my experience that Iowa typically responds well to off season controversy. It seems to galvanize the team and make them stronger i/e: the chemistry stuff I mentioned earlier….

Now I’m not one to predict W’s and L’s but it is my belief that Iowa’s base line should be always 9 wins! I believe as a “program” that should be a very fair expectation. I’d also say for this coming year that is the low end as long as they can build a little momentum and Vandy is at least as good as a Nathan Chandler type. If better then the sky’s the limit as long as he stays healthy.


We have some very intriguing talent in the wings and I also believe Binns will have a huge bounce back year and Morris will blow up. Same goes with Alvis and as far as that goes I really think this team has several guys that people aren’t expecting will have huge seasons.

Chad
 
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I had us pegged at 8-4 last year and I think we are prolly looking at a 10-2/11-1 ballclub this year due to dilution in talent across the conference. Of course, if we have an injury on the o-line or JVB doesn't pan, I could see us winding up at 6-6, but I have confidence we will overachieve this year because we are back off the radar and should have a salty o-line, two key components for Iowa to have a good season.

Was it defensive philosophy or the difficulty our LBs had in coverage that made things so difficult on us through the latter part of the 2010 season?

After the secondary "came together" as a group ... the secondary play ended up being pretty solid last year.

The problem that some fans have trouble grasping is that success of the D relies upon consistent and strong play FROM EVERYBODY. Obviously, Iowa's D relies heavily upon strong play in the trenches .... however, a big part of our reliance there is that our strong DL play usually allows us to defend successfully against the run with only 6 or 7 hats in the box. That allows us then to keep A LOT of guys back in coverage.

The ability to defend the run with few in the box then implies that when we read pass ... there are plenty of guys back in coverage ... and when the coverage is good ... that gives the DL the extra moments it needs in order to get at the QB.

The BIG PROBLEM in 2010, particularly after Nielsen went out, was that we were hurting in coverage at LB. The short routes being covered by LBs were frequently open ... and that implied that the outlet passes were ALMOST ALWAYS available to the QB. When you combine that with the fact that our DL was facing off against max-pro most of the time ... not only did they NOT have the extra moments that better coverage could have afforded them ... but they also had to get past more blockers in order to reach the QB. That is a tough order ....

Lastly, Iowa's D isn't nearly as vanilla as many fans seem to think. When Iowa has adequate experience among its personnel ... that allows the squad to use different personnel packages with greater frequency ... and that often equates to greater success on D. As an example of that ... Iowa was able to use more personnel packages in '08 and '09 on D ... and that allowed the D to "mix things up" more. As a result, our ability to "mix things up" more was a big reason why our pass-efficiency D was pretty impressive for those seasons.
 


Yeah that's the way I've seen it as well old dude, with the exception of said team being OSU. We can’t ever beat them it seems.

As far as me knowing what I’m looking at the key to that is I know up front I don’t know much of anything. Meaning I don’t know what the coach is seeing and even though Iowa is MY team and I see that things that frustrate me, all I have to do is jump on any message board and watch ANY other team and I can see the same things, so to continually gripe about them is at best pointless and at worst shows how very short-sighted and ill equipped I really am to make such statements.

If you have ever seen my musings you’ll know my thing has always been attitude, effort, focus and chemistry. This team has plenty of talent. I have followed Iowa and college football by proxy, diligently for about 10 years and this is routinely one of the more talented teams in the country as the draft and NFL have proven.

The thing about Iowa and others like us, Wisco included, is for whatever reason they often fail to live up to expectations, but when the pressure is off they blow up, as Brother Okeefe has already pointed out. It’s frustrating but true all the same. Ironically enuff as you travel message boards you’ll find many a fan base that feels this about their team as I have seen Oklahoma fans of all things say the same.

Again as Okeefe for Pres has pointed out there are several things in Iowa’s favor that have historically boded well for them. Not only do they have good to great O-line talent they appear to have it 2 to 3 deep in spots.

They do play better when they are under appreciated.

They have a very good Rber if he can stay healthy and we usually can find more…

We have above average TE play with depth there as well…

We have “some” experienced starters at all spots on D, and last year’s injuries at OG and Lber honestly advanced our prospects for this coming year.

Finally it has been my experience that Iowa typically responds well to off season controversy. It seems to galvanize the team and make them stronger i/e: the chemistry stuff I mentioned earlier….

Now I’m not one to predict W’s and L’s but it is my belief that Iowa’s base line should be always 9 wins! I believe as a “program” that should be a very fair expectation. I’d also say for this coming year that is the low end as long as they can build a little momentum and Vandy is at least as good as a Nathan Chandler type. If better then the sky’s the limit as long as he stays healthy.


We have some very intriguing talent in the wings and I also believe Binns will have a huge bounce back year and Morris will blow up. Same goes with Alvis and as far as that goes I really think this team has several guys that people aren’t expecting will have huge seasons.

Chad


Also the schedule sets up very nicely for Iowa it seems to me….They play 4 teams with new coaching staffs and the home and away break down is about perfect.

Iowa State has a new QB, their own D issues and it seems to me that their staff puts more emphasis on the conference (as they should) and our staff & team matches up well with them…

Pitt has a new staff and I think a new QB….

Penn St won’t be ready for us by then, they have some internal strife with QB controversies and what not and a load of Spring injuries.

Persa is an anomaly, he clearly buys into his coach’s disdain for us and I personally think he is due to get lit up by us. Same goes for NW period….

IU… whole new staff, talent poor, new QB….

Minne…New QB, new staff, Kill is a good coach, but they’ll be over whelmed by us after last year ….

Michigan has a new defensive staff and still poor personnel…..

MSU…for whatever reason just strikes me odd. I think D’Antonio is a decent coach (not great) but he bothers me and I honestly don’t think they have near the overall talent that we do. It’s also at home again..?!?!

PU…I just don’t like them and really never have in most any sport. I like them a little better in b-ball now that Keady is gone, but I am shocked to find out (just looked it up) that we are 17-6-1 vs them since 1981 and KF is 5-3 vs them. They scare me and doesn’t it seem like they have beat us more than that. Who knew?!?!

Nebbie….I don’t really know. I’m not overly impressed with Martinez and I honestly think he is a bad game and a Bo Pelini tongue lashing away from going in the tank or quitting altogether (head case) and I think their D will be very salty and their O somewhat spotty..i/e: much like Iowa has been over the years.

Chad
 
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Also the schedule sets up very nicely for Iowa it seems to me….They play 4 teams with new coaching staffs and the home and away break down is about perfect.

Iowa State has a new QB, their own D issues and it seems to me that their staff puts more emphasis on the conference (as they should) and our staff & team matches up well with them…

Pitt has a new staff and I think a new QB….

Penn St won’t be ready for us by then, they have some internal strife with QB controversies and what not and a load of Spring injuries.

Persa is an anomaly, he clearly buys into his coach’s disdain for us and I personally think he is due to get lit up by us. Same goes for NW period….

IU… whole new staff, talent poor, new QB….

Minne…New QB, new staff, Kill is a good coach, but they’ll be over whelmed by us after last year ….

Michigan has a new defensive staff and still poor personnel…..

MSU…for whatever reason just strikes me odd. I think D’Antonio is a decent coach (not great) but he bothers me and I honestly don’t think they have near the overall talent that we do. It’s also at home again..?!?!

PU…I just don’t like them and really never have in most any sport. I like them a little better in b-ball now that Keady is gone, but I am shocked to find out (just looked it up) that we are 17-6-1 vs them since 1981 and KF is 5-3 vs them. They scare me and doesn’t it seem like they have beat us more than that. Who knew?!?!

Nebbie….I don’t really know. I’m not overly impressed with Martinez and I honestly think he is a bad game and a Bo Pelini tongue lashing away from going in the tank or quitting altogether (head case) and I think their D will be very salty and their O somewhat spotty..i/e: much like Iowa has been over the years.

Chad
thats the way I read it. I think we will be better than most expect, but our sos will not beneifit us late in the year. Nebby and conf title game being the only two strong ones we can claim.
 


Was it defensive philosophy or the difficulty our LBs had in coverage that made things so difficult on us through the latter part of the 2010 season?

After the secondary "came together" as a group ... the secondary play ended up being pretty solid last year.

The problem that some fans have trouble grasping is that success of the D relies upon consistent and strong play FROM EVERYBODY. Obviously, Iowa's D relies heavily upon strong play in the trenches .... however, a big part of our reliance there is that our strong DL play usually allows us to defend successfully against the run with only 6 or 7 hats in the box. That allows us then to keep A LOT of guys back in coverage.

The ability to defend the run with few in the box then implies that when we read pass ... there are plenty of guys back in coverage ... and when the coverage is good ... that gives the DL the extra moments it needs in order to get at the QB.

The BIG PROBLEM in 2010, particularly after Nielsen went out, was that we were hurting in coverage at LB. The short routes being covered by LBs were frequently open ... and that implied that the outlet passes were ALMOST ALWAYS available to the QB. When you combine that with the fact that our DL was facing off against max-pro most of the time ... not only did they NOT have the extra moments that better coverage could have afforded them ... but they also had to get past more blockers in order to reach the QB. That is a tough order ....

Lastly, Iowa's D isn't nearly as vanilla as many fans seem to think. When Iowa has adequate experience among its personnel ... that allows the squad to use different personnel packages with greater frequency ... and that often equates to greater success on D. As an example of that ... Iowa was able to use more personnel packages in '08 and '09 on D ... and that allowed the D to "mix things up" more. As a result, our ability to "mix things up" more was a big reason why our pass-efficiency D was pretty impressive for those seasons.


Homer, I know we've sparred on this a few times, but after reflecting on the year, especially in our losses, i'd put more of the blame on the offense than the defense. The defense took away the run as all good defenses do (7th in the country last year), and they didn't let people score points (7th in the country last year). What more could they be expected to do. They ran the schemes the coaches asked them to and they didn't give up points.

I completely agree with the assessment that our inexperience and injuries at LB hurt us, but our defensive line covered a ton of that inexperience, especially in the running game. They just don't get any credit for that as I don't believe they were allowed to turn their ears back, especially the ends, as much as we would think. The other issue was that we played more spread teams that got the ball out quickly...so of course the sack numbers would be down.

There was nothing wrong with the defense last year that a few first downs on offense wouldn't have cured. How about scoring and putting the team up by 2 scores. An opposing offense plays much differently when you are pressured to score and you are down 14 or 17 points. Our offense was 49th in passing, 70th in rushing, and 50th in scoring last year. This was the issue with our close losses. Our offense didn't score points. Yet everyone points to the defense and giving up scores late. They were on the field damn near the entire second half of those games.

Honestly, I think there is enough blame to go around on the offensive side. Ferentz and O'Keefe being conservative with a senior QB made no sense. Stanzi wasn't particularly good in our losses...and horrible at Minnesota. We didn't put teams away...ever, not counting our cupcake wins...MSU included.

Giving up 17 points a game...and losing five games, points to the offense, not the defense. And add in a few game changing turnovers and special team gaffes, Arizona, Wisconsin, NW, Minny) and you just made it harder on your defense.

Our offense didn't measure up...the defense was solid even with the decimated LB corps.
 


In a strange way I agree with OK4prez on this one. Our offensive philosophy is intended to shorten games. Ferentz and company run simple schemes (relatively) that rely on excellent execution and mistakes from the other team. That doesn't mean the defense isn't aggressive- they can be but our best defensive teams can get to the QB while rushing 4. Ferentz and Parker believe in stopping the run first. Iowa has to have a dynamic d-lineman or two for the scheme to work to its fullest extent.

In my opinion the scheme needs tweaked. Too many teams are running attacks that attack Iowa's defensive weakness- cushion to outside receiver, crossing routes behind the linebackers, clever play action to slow a rush and 3- 5 step drops designed to get rid of the ball quickly. The teams that Iowa face this season that run these types of systems- ISU, Pitt, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana, and Nebraska. These types of teams execute the short passing game in favor of a solid running game but need an accurate QB to beat Iowa.

Pitt returns Sunseri who completed a high % of passes and was the teams third leading rusher- 261 yards gained. Northwestern returns Persa- trouble obviously and Michigan, MSU, and most likely Nebraska will return veteran QBs which over the last several seasons doesn't bode well for Iowa- nearly every QB who plays Iowa in consecutive seasons improves his play and patience when facing Iowa the 2nd time- the notable exception is Darryll Clark for PSU( Austen Arnaud would be another who struggled his entire career against Iowa). Next season QBs who will be facing Iowa for a 2nd or third time include (possibly) Bolden PSU, Cousins MSU, and Robinson Michigan. QBs who can attack the middle of the field and are accurate the bane of Iowa's pass cover. QBs who are accurate and can buy time for their receivers to uncover are even worse- the QB for Arkansas State played very well against Iowa in '09, UNI's QB was smart and accurate and nearly led them to an upset by throwing at the linebackers, and last season Tolzien and Foles were examples of smart and accurate QBs who were able to hurt Iowa on third down.

I think Iowa has to take more chances on third down. I have banged this drum for a long, long time and hope that we will see more variety of blitzes and coverages on third down next season. That is going to be the money down again for Iowa next season. First half of the season great for the offense and above average for the D, second half of the season poor for both units.
 


Our offense didn't measure up...the defense was solid even with the decimated LB corps.

Look guy, the offense was fine until we lost all the guards. That's when the slide started. And frankly, IIRC Ferentz could have taken the wind in the 4th Q of that Northwestern game, if he does that, NU doesn't have a chance in hell of scoring going into that typhoon on the last drive of the 4th Q. I thought that move and the failure to cover the fake punt against Wisky were two terrible coaching decisions that prolly made the difference between us being an 8 win team and a 10 or 11 win team (big Mo would have shifted in a major way if we beat Wisky).
 


I think Iowa has to take more chances on third down. I have banged this drum for a long, long time and hope that we will see more variety of blitzes and coverages on third down next season. That is going to be the money down again for Iowa next season. First half of the season great for the offense and above average for the D, second half of the season poor for both units.

That's my main beef. The long third down conversions over and over and over. Shadow Pryor. Send a blitz. Give that big cushion but have the CB try to bait the QB and jump the route with help up top. When you lose Spievey, Angerer and Edds and then have major injuries at LB, you've gotta roll the dice to try to compensate, but it's tough to be too hard on the coaches given limited practice time. But at the same time, that last drive Persa put together in that NU game was ridonkulous. I knew how the game would end and the Iowa fans around me thought I was a lunatic when I called the loss as soon as the 'Cats O came on the field on that last drive.
 


Look guy, the offense was fine until we lost all the guards. That's when the slide started. And frankly, IIRC Ferentz could have taken the wind in the 4th Q of that Northwestern game, if he does that, NU doesn't have a chance in hell of scoring going into that typhoon on the last drive of the 4th Q. I thought that move and the failure to cover the fake punt against Wisky were two terrible coaching decisions that prolly made the difference between us being an 8 win team and a 10 or 11 win team (big Mo would have shifted in a major way if we beat Wisky).

Funny, so you agree the offense was the problem. And you think losing the two guards was the reason for the poor performance? The defense lost much much more in Tarp and TN at LB, plus Davis. They still managed to be one of the best defenses in the country against the run and they didn't give up points. They gave up late scores, fine, very uncharacteristic, especially taking into consideration the defenses of 2008 and 2009, but they got stops those entire games. We just couldn't score any points.

We couldn't score at Arizona, and the defense didn't give up points in that game either. Blocked punt, pick six. Our defense also scored for the offense, and gave them two turnovers in Arizona territory. We sucked that day (20 yards rushing) with the two guards.

You can't blame it on missing players because all teams have injuries. Our defense had injuries just as serious and they performed. Their issues were just magnified as they gave up scores late...and I believe unfairly so.

We lost at NW because Stanzi made one of the most boneheaded plays of the year in College Football and threw a lob pass into the wind when all we needed was a field goal to essentially put the game away. And Persa play out of his mind.

We scored 17 points against Minnesota at the end of the year when you should be clicking if you are a good offensive team? Stanzi was terrible and had a turnover that killed momentum at a critical time.

Go back and watch the Ohio State game, we had chances to score points in the second half and the offense sucked...and they kept 34 on the bench for some reason.

Our issues last year were on offense...not defense...that was my point.
 


Now we are all clicking on the same page. Ok so we see what happened last year without fan goggles on, what now. Well I will start by saying while our season did not go as well as we wanted, we got to see what alot of under classmen looked like. They got to take some snaps and the way I see it thats a good thing for this year and most actually played rather well.
Now the Hyde move, I have thought about this and only really see one reason to move someone who thrives at their position. We must be ok at lb er this year. If they need him to move back, he has the skill to do so. I just dont see all the "holes" everyone says we need to fill on D. Yes we have some who havent played as much as we would like, or as much as they would have liked to and that is the key.
Our O has got to be better this year, as mentioned 1 or 2 more first downs and some of those L's are W's. I really dont see a problem with assuming our O can and will do better this year. I think Vandy has been watching, working and waiting for his time. Yes he will mess up but it's not like what Nebraska had last year in T-mart and they sported a pretty good record. Our O line should be a bruiser along with some talent RB. We know Vandy has a few options atleast for TE and Wr.
All in all sounds like a good recipe. We have seen the talent (due to injuries last year), and all of them have something to prove. In my eyes we really need someone on the front 4 to stand out and command double teams like clayborn did. Thats the only real area I am concerned in.
 


I know we hold them below their averages, but it is because of the offensive philosophy and the 18 play clock shredding touchdown drives our defense gives up that reduce the number of possessions per game, not because of some brilliant defensive strategy. And for the record, the "average" includes 4 cupcake non-con games, I would sure hope we are better than average. Look, I have faith in Norm having learned something in that Mizzou game, the LB coming off the slot guy on the blitz was a nice added touch that we hadn't seen a lot of against spread teams - I'm thinking back to those days of Norm dialing up the quicksand blitz where he would blitz the slowest guy from the back 7 who looked like he was running in quicksand and wouldn't get any heat, but would leave a massive open spot in the middle of the field. Gabbert got his yards, but Norm hit him in the mouth and he gagged in clutch time.

I can't count the number of times our D gagged on third downs last year, but it was absolutely ridiculous and at some point, the guy's gotta take a risk because in the second half, if you're gonna give up 7, you might as well not run your defense out of gas doing it. That's what opposing coaches have figured out. It's just that 2009 was an anamoly because we had two sick LBs who had a great nose for the ball and they made plays in the clutch. You can't rely on that to win every game when your D is pinned up against the wall. You'll eventually get toasted. See, e.g., 2010 Arizona, NU, OSU, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana games (thank god Indiana dropped that ball).


Agreed with some of your post, however you can't throw the cupcakes in their as a valid argument when essentially every team in the nation is also scheduling the cupcakes.
 


They were 22nd in scoring defense and 29th in rushing defense in 2005..when they had four new starters in Mattison, Iwebema (sophs), King and Kroul (frosh).

There are more returning starters on this year's D than that D. Granted, that D had Hodge and Greewnway, but Morris and Nielsen are not slouches.
Isn't that group talked about because they overacheived so much that year? To put those kinds of expectations on this group of young players is setting them up for a fall. Basically the we did it before with other guys, so you need to do it too. Not a strong argument. Can it be done? Yes. Is it a sure thing? Nope.
 


That's my main beef. The long third down conversions over and over and over. Shadow Pryor. Send a blitz. Give that big cushion but have the CB try to bait the QB and jump the route with help up top. When you lose Spievey, Angerer and Edds and then have major injuries at LB, you've gotta roll the dice to try to compensate, but it's tough to be too hard on the coaches given limited practice time. But at the same time, that last drive Persa put together in that NU game was ridonkulous. I knew how the game would end and the Iowa fans around me thought I was a lunatic when I called the loss as soon as the 'Cats O came on the field on that last drive.


I'll say this right now..........you wouldn't watch a game with me. You wouldn’t be invited to be around me at all in fact. That kind of negativity is the bane of society and quite frankly a self fulfilling prophecy much of the time. I’ve watched Iowa play a lot; in fact I’ve watched a lot of teams play a lot. Yes many times they have let me down in similar situations but that’s life and football. Many times the “miscellaneous†team I happen to be rooting for at “that†particular time has also let me down in similar fashions. It doesn’t take any great sage to predict a loss. We have all watched enuff to see it go both ways. I have now lived long enuff as an Iowa fan to see them win many a game I was certain we had lost. Yet we didn’t…

People like that irritate me to no end, they have NO Faith and as a result they burden those around them with their brand of defense mechanisms so they can say they told “us†so, and if they are wrong they get to be happy anyways. It’s crap…

Now there is a couple things you guys need to grasp because if you don’t you’re going to spend the next 5 or 8 years of the KF reign upset…..

1st and foremost “overâ€- blitzing with an inexperienced group of Lbers is a recipe for disaster, period!!! When Norm was at Vandy he blitzed a ton and I mean a ton. If you listen to him you’ll hear him talk about how he used to be “blitz†happy. He now feels it’s not the best use of a defense and it’s a weaker way to go. Too many variables…..Case in point and sadly 80% of the Iowa fan base seems to be blind to it…we blitzed NW at least 5 times, once Morris got there. The following play we gave up a 20 yard pass for a 1st down with a sfty and LBer (going from memory here) on TOP of the play and they couldn’t deflect the ball. Persa was even on the run if I remember correctly. THAT’S GREAT D!!! Bad execution, period! At least FOUR other times we blitzed and Persa calmly dumped the ball over their head just like he was taught to do. Blitzing sucks unless you get there!!!

Lets attack a couple other thoughts….as a general rule a more â€experienced†QB should always play better the 2nd time around against a defense. Yet over a 12 year time frame Iowa has done a pretty good job of containing those guys, at least to the point they have the 2nd most Big 10 wins since 2001.


QB’s who are mobile AND accurate are the BANE of ALL teams not just Iowa. I get what you are saying but all the same Iowa does as good a job as any……

Iowa is NOT running some goofy, foreign, obscure D and quite frankly if you really watch other teams, even in the NFL, with an open mind you’ll see that soft cushion A LOT, and I mean A…L…O…T, FROM all teams. Also, offenses have been running crossing routes or dig routes behind the Lbers for years and quite frankly when we aren’t down to our 9th, 10th or 11th Lbers we cover them pretty darn well. Blitzing wouldn’t have helped do anything but make for long TD catches/

On that note let’s explore what a spread is designed to do…….it is supposed to get your playmakers in space to make plays. NOT just catch the ball and get tackled but to take a short gain and get up field.

Iowa’s D on the other hand is designed to make you EARN it. Short gains (Iowa is one of the best in the world at that) punish the ball carrier and force TO’s. Time and time and time again…Honestly it’s the exact defense to play!

Unfortunately we have a tendency to see a loss and say well it didn’t work and it’s not that simple at all. Yes our 3rd down D was not up to snuff last year and yes it WAS irritating for sure. Yet you could just as easily say our 3rd down O let us down too. The problem however in both cases was poor execution.

Let’s look at the tOSU game and Pryor escaping….that wasn’t bad scheme or coaching. When you have a guy pinned and scrambling on 4th and 10 plus, that right there by definition is good D, but what happened…?!?! THIS….Our D-linemen got to aggressive and lost contain. The pursued inside the play, got caught and our Lbers were down field like they should have been in coverage. GOOD coverage by the way……a great play by Pryor and a let down by us….not bad scheme, not bad coaching, not bad identification by our staff.

Our Sr dominated D-linemen got caught, period, end of story. But see many; maybe even MOST Iowa fans can’t see this. They need it to be more. The reality is this staff tweaks WAY more than our fans see. They were playing Hitchens and Kirksey (both 210-215 tops) in Hybrid Lb/sfty slots the last 4 or 5 games. They brought our corners up and dropped them back, they blitzed Morris, they blitzed the corners, they brought Sash, they brought Greenwood….It was there you weren’t watching. You see a loss and call out the coaches.

Fine, that’s what they get paid for but there was way more there than most cared to see.

Chad



 



One last thing I forgot and it’s a biggie....EVERY team in the nation wants to make you one dimensional. AND they ALL start by stopping the run first. EVERY team wants to stop the run first. ITS football 101!! If I hear one more person say “Iowa wants to stop the run first”…. like it’s somehow a bad thing and we are the only ones doing it I think I’ll throw my computer out the window.

EVERY team wants to, but few do it as well as us and about 10 other teams. Bama, tOSU, LSU, etc wants to make you throw the ball. It’s what you do when you design a good defensive football team.

Chad
 




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