A couple of positives.

[lightning1]

#1. I was encouraged that KF went for it on 4th down as much as he did this year. We've all been ****** about his punting inside the opponents 35 yrd line before. So I thought I would give him props for that.
#B. Nebraska hired MIKE RILEY!!! I know that KF will most likely split the Ws with Mikey for the 3 seasons he is in Lincoln but that's better than a kick in the teeth.

 

[NCHawker]

Being positive??????

 

[PhoenixHawk]

I liked him rotating so many RBs early in the year. Wish he would have left them each in for longer periods like a full series or so. Would have liked to see him do the same thing with the QB position even more needless to say. Can't have everything.

 

[MrEHawk]

He went for it so often on 4th down because he had no faith whatsoever in the field goal kicking. It is baffling how some people fail to understand this. While it worked out a few times early in the year, he definitely overdid it later in the season and left points on the field quite a few times (Illinois game), particularly since Koehn ultimately turned out to be a pretty solid option. There is a middle ground in their somewhere, and going for it as often as he did is not a sustainable strategy for longterm success.

 

[hawkinn3]

Kirk loses to Paul freaking Rhoads on a regular basis, so the quality of the coach on the other side has little to do with whether we lose or not. We make things very simple for bad coaches, they know exactly what we are going to do and even what our audibles will be.

 

[droidhawk]

At most places where they use multiple backs, the running backs don't have fears of not seeing another snap. They go as hard as they can until they're gassed and pull themselves. Next back in, same thing. At Iowa, you go until you're gassed, then you stay in because if you come out, the next guy might be "taking" your spot. And of course if you miss a block, now you're playing hero ball. You have to make up for that "huge" mistake.
Take a look at Oregon. Rotating backs is like breathing over there. There's no competition. They're teammates and all know they'll get their shot and all be playing on Sundays. At Iowa, it's a personal thing. I'm better than him. I have to prove it. We all act like Kirk builds a team. I just don't see that. I see a high school one on one drill where the winner plays and the loser has a concussion.

 

[Caddy]

At most places where they use multiple backs, the running backs don't have fears of not seeing another snap. They go as hard as they can until they're gassed and pull themselves. Next back in, same thing. At Iowa, you go until you're gassed, then you stay in because if you come out, the next guy might be "taking" your spot. And of course if you miss a block, now you're playing hero ball. You have to make up for that "huge" mistake.
Take a look at Oregon. Rotating backs is like breathing over there. There's no competition. They're teammates and all know they'll get their shot and all be playing on Sundays. At Iowa, it's a personal thing. I'm better than him. I have to prove it. We all act like Kirk builds a team. I just don't see that. I see a high school one on one drill where the winner plays and the loser has a concussion.

I see a smug, arrogant, clueless coach that loves to give the middle finger to the fan base, and a coach that clearly has his favorites, or pets, or whatever other term you want to use, and if you're one of them, you can do no wrong, and will play until you graduate. If you're not one of them, no matter how talented you are, no matter what you do, you're screwed, and will ride the bench until his pet graduates, or happens to get injured.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I also wonder if Iowa went for it on 4th down so much because of Mark Weisman. Let's face it, the guy was nearly impossible to stop for no gain, so he was phenomenal in 4th and short situations. It was a high percentage play with him carrying the rock straight ahead. I'm curious to see if this tendency continues next year without MW on the roster.

Although yeah, I thought KF went for it a few times through the air on 4th downs, too. Maybe more than usual. Rather than just kicking the FG, he'd go for the TD.

 

[Eda]

He went for it so often on 4th down because he had no faith whatsoever in the field goal kicking. It is baffling how some people fail to understand this. While it worked out a few times early in the year, he definitely overdid it later in the season and left points on the field quite a few times (Illinois game), particularly since Koehn ultimately turned out to be a pretty solid option. There is a middle ground in their somewhere, and going for it as often as he did is not a sustainable strategy for longterm success.

Actually, through the off-season one of the things mentioned by coaches and players was the need to score more touchdowns, rather than settling for field goals. I think going forward on 4th down was a strategy coming into the year and it paid off many times throughout the year.

 

[Eda]

At most places where they use multiple backs, the running backs don't have fears of not seeing another snap. They go as hard as they can until they're gassed and pull themselves. Next back in, same thing. At Iowa, you go until you're gassed, then you stay in because if you come out, the next guy might be "taking" your spot. And of course if you miss a block, now you're playing hero ball. You have to make up for that "huge" mistake.
Take a look at Oregon. Rotating backs is like breathing over there. There's no competition. They're teammates and all know they'll get their shot and all be playing on Sundays. At Iowa, it's a personal thing. I'm better than him. I have to prove it. We all act like Kirk builds a team. I just don't see that. I see a high school one on one drill where the winner plays and the loser has a concussion.

I've never seen nor heard of that and Iowa. Do you have any inside information? Perhaps know someone in the locker room, or someone very close to the program/running backs, to be able to say something like that?

 

[Xerxes]

Some more positives (at least IMO anyway)

-The new football facility. It should help recruiting.

-Jewell & Bower beat out upper-classman for LB spots. FR/RS FR who break into the lineup over upper-classman usually turn out to be really good players at Iowa. And Iowa's D is dependent on good LBs.

-Iowa plays in the B1G West and at this point there are no public plans for the B1G to realign divisions.

 

[herkish]

Never thought i'd be able to add to a "positive" thread but hey, here we go!
1) Regular seasons over
2) Entire season will soon be over
3) One more yr of Fat Cat toilet bowl football down, more to come though.

*somewhere i'd seen somebody comment on K.F. having his teams ready for bowl games and i actually agree. I must be forgetting something for this to be the case.

 

[MrEHawk]

Actually, through the off-season one of the things mentioned by coaches and players was the need to score more touchdowns, rather than settling for field goals. I think going forward on 4th down was a strategy coming into the year and it paid off many times throughout the year.

Then how come they only started doing it after the Ball St game where we missed 3 chipshot field goals? The next week against ISU we went for it on 4th and goal from the 7 on our first scoring drive and by some miracle of God, made it. That is luck, not good football.

 

[BirdsOfPrey]

I'd say we tried field goals twice in the Ball State game when it was 4th and 10 or more yards to go. The yardage required made success unlikely. One other time, there was 10 seconds left in the half and the Hawks were out near the 30 yard line. There wouldn't have been time left to go for a TD even if they'd have made the first down. The majority of times we went for it on 4th down, if we failed it left the other team pinned deep in there own territory. Several other attempts occurred while the Hawks were rallying and needed to sustain a drive. Weisman was truly an unstoppable 4th down weapon that defenses had to account for with him and that opened up play action success as well. This was very un-KF like coaching with no precedent. The coaches were very confident of success. So, low risk and at worst a big field position advantage - fits right into KF's overall game plan. Solid evaluation and use of personnel, so the staff is capable of that. The Hawks converted at a super 65% rate. Luck was not a factor.

 

[PCHawk]

I think Kirk going for it on 4th is as simple as he found something that works and he's not a good enough football strategist to distinguish the difference between when's a good time to do it and not. Just like the hurry to the line and qb sneak on 3rd and short. Once it had success, he does it every time without fail.

 

[deanvogs]

I think you could tell it was a strategy, decided outside of game time decisions. He would let Koehn kick long FG, but if he was inside the 20, he wanted the TD instead of the FG, as long as it was under 2 yards. I think it is a simple math proposition. IE they felt Weisman could get 2 yards 60% of the time, and they felt that was worth the 40% of missed FG points in exchange for the extra TD points.

I doubt we see that again next year, unless they trust Daniels can convert 4th down at such a high %. FYI Iowa was 14 of 22 on 4th down, a 63% clip, good for 17th best in the country.

 

[MrEHawk]

I think you could tell it was a strategy, decided outside of game time decisions. He would let Koehn kick long FG, but if he was inside the 20, he wanted the TD instead of the FG, as long as it was under 2 yards. I think it is a simple math proposition. IE they felt Weisman could get 2 yards 60% of the time, and they felt that was worth the 40% of missed FG points in exchange for the extra TD points. I doubt we see that again next year, unless they trust Daniels can convert 4th down at such a high %. FYI Iowa was 14 of 22 on 4th down, a 63% clip, good for 17th best in the country.

He went for it several times when they needed more than 2 yards, and can think of at least 3 times of the top of my head that they called a pass play on 4th down. Once again, this had nothing to do with Weisman and everything to do with a lack of confidence in Koehn after the Ball St disaster.

 

[BirdsOfPrey]

I disagree with the lack of confidence in Koehn theory. Koehn was 34 of 34 on point after TD kicks. A good majority of our 4th down attempts occurred from within the 15 yard line. That kick if attempted is very similar in distance to a PAT. Koehn finished the year 12 for 16 on field goals = a repectable 75%. He had one bad game to start the year and made nearly every other attempt. He has a huge leg. Several players and coaches talked about the decision to go for it over the coarse of the season and all said it was because they were super confident of success. Weisman was a weapon when they rammed him straight ahead and the threat of that allowed success with bootlegs and play action. Definitely a strategy and something they practiced. You don't luck into a 65% success rate with over 20 attempts.

 

[BirdsOfPrey]

Back to more positive stuff:

Jet sweeps! Reverses! Flea flicker! 1st quarter scoring! A screen pass! Rotating defensive lineman!

 

[MrEHawk]

I disagree with the lack of confidence in Koehn theory. Koehn was 34 of 34 on point after TD kicks. A good majority of our 4th down attempts occurred from within the 15 yard line. That kick if attempted is very similar in distance to a PAT. Koehn finished the year 12 for 16 on field goals = a repectable 75%. He had one bad game to start the year and made nearly every other attempt. He has a huge leg.

Which is sort of the point here. They didn't use him enough. But apparently it's beyond the scope of your comprehension that KF could struggle with the proper utilization of available personnel. Iowa was 7th in the B1G in scoring so it's not like these 4th down conversions were providing huge dividends.