2016 Iowa football: Positives & Concerns

We have CJ back but we need guys that can get open,if we can't protect him he's going to be banged up all year again.We lose our two fullbacks so someone has to step up.Offensive line play isn't close to what it needs to be.I agree our RB's coming back should be a plus.New kicker and new punter,hopefully someone will separate themselves from the pack.Defensively we have to stop the 3rd and long plays,Coach Parker stresses it but the results aren't good.Pass rush is non existent most of the time,we need to figure it out.Due to injuries that are going to happen we need more quality depth not only to fill in but to give the starters a breather so injuries don't occur.Hopefully the team will stay together and be positive towards one another to bring the younger guys along.Its time for the guy's that want to be starters to get in the weight room,study film,work on your craft with other team mates,go to class and do the right thing every time.Dedicate yourself to being the best Student Athlete that you can be.
 
Positives: Iowa returns a lot of good players, including the best QB in the division. Leadership: Iowa rarely has a returning team captain because they're usually SRs. In 2016 they'll have one returning for sure and maybe two. Iowa plays in a weak division.

Negatives: Who will stretch the field? If Ott doesn't come back, who can get pressure on the QB? It's rare for KF to have two really good years in a row.
 
The biggest positive? Coming off a 12-2 season with a nice core of talent returning.

Biggest question mark? Will Drew Ott get a chance to play? Add him to the core returning defense and the chances of hitting 10 wins or more grow big time.

How this team reacts to the Rose Bowl will be key. It is, IMO, a realistic goal to get back there next year.
 
The Hawks will be decent again next year but certainly not elite unless something unexpected happens. Going into this year, a big question in my mind was, "Where are the playmakers (especially on offense)?" The same question applies to next year, maybe even more so. Most of us would probably agree that this regular season went so very well because of A) the off-season player commitment B) the schedule C) the gritty leadership of Beathard and the senior class D) the defense. Against the teams on our regular season schedule, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Against our toughest opponents, that formula simply wasn't good enough. Looking back, Iowa was more explosive offensively than it had been but that isn't saying much because most of the good stuff occurred against mediocre competition. Defense and special teams played the biggest roles while the offense, overall, got the job done with little to spare. Even against mid-level teams and below, we almost always seem to play close, tight games. The inability to compete with high-level teams, especially in post-season games, is a lingering issue that is extremely frustrating and somewhat baffling. Ultimately, however, it reflects the lack of impact players. Three or four more on either/both sides of the ball would make a HUGE difference. Do they even exist on the current roster? Are any freshmen going to move up and contribute in unexpectedly big ways? The odds seem long but, then again, so were the odds of a 12-0 season. With another strong off-season of individual player improvement, some coaching adjustments (cross your fingers), and unexpectedly strong help from at least three or four of the younger players who did not contribute this year, the whole could again be greater than the sum of the parts. Will that be enough to win a high-level bowl game or secure a playoff bid? Before the Rose Bowl, I would have said yes. Now, the distance from achieving those goals seems very far indeed.
 
My thinking is people are putting WAAAYYYY to much stock into what happened at the Rose Bowl. Iowa played like ****, as bad as they can, it doesnt mean **** for the 2016 season. Iowa will be(should be) very good.
 
By far the biggest issue is explsovie passing plays. Should have the QB and line to make them happen. My solution is below:

Wadley needs to become a Harmon type threat out of the backfield. Get him into space as much as humanly possible. Get him matched up on LB's and safeties.

Iowa has to play any young receiver that can stretch the field. I also feel like Iowa, while so eager to mix and match linemen, LB's, etc., they have their heads stuck in the sand by refusing to cross-train receiver positions. I mean, it's 2015, get your best playmakers on the field, even if they only know a couple of routes at the other positions.

And for the love of God, break tendency more often. Run out of the gun every now and then, for starters. Iowa has a habit to break tendency early and then in big games, really clamp down on their own offense. Can't do that.
 
Passing game in general. someone has to emerge out of the Falconer,Scheel, Smith group to at least to give you 30 or 40 catches. Before the Pitt game CJB was making NFL type throws after that he was iffy. I want the CJB who was making those throws in the Iowa St. game.

Put me in category of that there was never any New Kirk. So we will see how this program handles expectations.
 
Good article, here is my feed back on the "Half Glass Empty"

- The Rose Bowl loss will be irrelevant by the time spring practice begins. New season!
- Vandeberg & Kittle coming back is huge and as proven by this past season will be enough to win with in the Big Ten, but to get to that next level they need someone that can stretch the field as it was a glaring weakness against Stanford.
- Special Teams, big concern and it can swing a game 1 direction or the other. This year it helped us in the win over Pitt.
- I honestly don't know what to make of the high expections thing, the next 2 highest preseason rankings that you didn't list produced positive results as they were #19 in 2004 and #22 in 2009, ended #8 & #7 respectably. I don't think this really has any impact, to me this is like people that tell us to "shhhhhh" because they are afraid of what gets discussed on here will jinx the team. I can't imagine players go out on the field worried about the preseason rankings or the coaches on the side line.
 
Glass Half Empty:
--Losing Tevaun, Meier, possibly Ott
--Lack of OL depth ("proven" depth)
--Still don't see a DL that will get pressure (unless Ott can return)
--Lose top two FBs

Glass Half Full
--The Other Smith showed ability to get open, Parker/Scheel/Falconer all a year older, Vandeberg returns
--The OL that returns DOES have experience, and Boettger/Myers have chance to get healthy
--Have good personnel returning on DL/Ott returning would be gold, King staying is platinum
--FBs, in this system, are plug-n-play if they simply read the playbook closely and pay attention in team meetings and break-out sessions
 
Glass Half Empty:
--Losing Tevaun, Meier, possibly Ott
--Lack of OL depth ("proven" depth)
--Still don't see a DL that will get pressure
(unless Ott can return)
--Lose top two FBs

Glass Half Full
--The Other Smith showed ability to get open, Parker/Scheel/Falconer all a year older, Vandeberg returns
--The OL that returns DOES have experience, and Boettger/Myers have chance to get healthy
--Have good personnel returning on DL/Ott returning would be gold, King staying is platinum
--FBs, in this system, are plug-n-play if they simply read the playbook closely and pay attention in team meetings and break-out sessions

Those two points right there are certain death if Iowa doesn't get it worked out. The two major areas that gave us problems were getting marched on by desperation passing at the ends of games (ie no pressure), and like you saw in the Rose Bowl not being able to give CJB time to work. You can compensate for it against a Purdue or Nebraska, but not a MSU/OSU/UM and for damn sure not a real deal top 5 team.
 
We should compete for the division again, not because we are elite, but because we have a decent schedule and the division isn't great. IF...we can get to the big title game we will have a shot, like we did this year, but if we face a really good team, perhaps like osu, difficult chance of winning. So, potentially another year like this year. Pretty decent team that could benefit from our schedule and division, but prob not a natty title contender like the playoff committee had us thinking for a while.
 
Defense should be able to get pressure on QB by blitzing Jewell and Niemann as experienced LB's more often, especially since the DB's should be solid. It would require us to break tendencies though.

Receiving corps needs help. After the Illinois game when J. Smith played and was targeted he had the drops. Everyone else is extremely unproven or completely unknown. Hopefully someone in there will break out as a viable option.
 
So far as the RB loss goes, it would be easier to dismiss as "one of those things" if the previous three bowl games hadn't ended similarly. Being outscored 98-0 in first quarter (combined) is a MAJOR concern that probably won't be fixed by simply re-arranging the deck chairs.
 
Biggest positives - Lots of experience returning all over both sides of the ball.

Biggest concerns - All new special teams in the kicking department. How is the team going to handle the Rose Bowl loss.

Having as much game experience coming back on the offensive line is big. Yes we looked like hell in Pasadena. But I am confident that they will have the self awareness to admit that and get to work. Beathard coming back is just as important. I really want to see them open the offense up more with his arm. If that means putting two tight ends on the field lining up off of the line, I want to see it. Maybe we don't have the athletes to stretch the field but I do think we have other ways to open our offense. The only concern defensively is pressuring the QB. King coming back is a huge plus obviously. I'd love to see Ott back but I have to wonder how effective he would be after the nature of surgeries he went through. Hopefully Hesse and Nelson can bulk up 15-20 lbs and improve speed and first step.s
 
Pretty much everything has been covered so I'm going to offer up a couple of predictions...

First... the obvious... LB corps will be stellar and with King backing them up... not worried.

I think the two biggest and best surprises will be Jerminic Smith and Parker Hesse. I'm not banking on Ott returning but if he does so much the better.

Akrum Wadley will make us go WOW! many times... I also think Jonathon Parker will step up and be noticed.
 
Things I want to see:
I want to see Brian Ferentz given the OC position. Done with Davis.
I want to see a WR that can stretch the field (but I know we wont)

Things I dont want to see:
Any offense that involves an empty backfield.
Any 2 yard throw to the wide side of the field.
More blitzing.
 
Why is so many high on Brian becoming OC ? He needs to figure out how to be a better Offensive Line Coach first.
 
Why is so many high on Brian becoming OC ? He needs to figure out how to be a better Offensive Line Coach first.

Well, let's see here. While he was coach we saw a 3* recruit win the Outland Trophy. We also saw him develop one of the better running games this year with 2 walkon tackles, a true FR, a former High school QB/TE, and 2 guards in Walsh and Welch who had yet to live up to any expectations. Id say he has done a pretty bang up job turning around our running game.
 
My thinking is people are putting WAAAYYYY to much stock into what happened at the Rose Bowl. Iowa played like ****, as bad as they can, it doesnt mean **** for the 2016 season. Iowa will be(should be) very good.

I was at the game and watched it on TV, for the first time.
We were turrible, and just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Hunch is a 9-3 season, next year, unless we can improve OL, DL and WR play.

Our WRs were pitiful in that Rose Bowl, and, as much as people say Jesse Palmer is a delta bravo, I thought he was excellent and you could tell he watched plenty of Iowa film for game prep.
 

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