Absolutely ecstatic with the offense

I loved the center TE screen in the Utah State game. It didn't work, but it was creative and off tendency. Its hard to be creative when you don't possess the ball, and it feels as though Iowa has been possessing the ball a bit more this season.
 
I loved the center TE screen in the Utah State game. It didn't work, but it was creative and off tendency. Its hard to be creative when you don't possess the ball, and it feels as though Iowa has been possessing the ball a bit more this season.
If anything it may stave off more inside blitzing on the medium yardage down and distance plays.
 
If anything it may stave off more inside blitzing on the medium yardage down and distance plays.

Of course it will. You connect on it once and pick up 41 yards and next thing you know you are seeing a totally different philosophy from the defense in that situation. The problem with the past few years is that we literally had no answer for virtually anything a defense wanted to do to us, but I am seeing the roots laid for an offense that will get to dictate what happens on the field. Again, this team isn't going to go out and score 49 points a game, but if we can add an extra first down or two on average every drive and find the scoreboard just a little bit more we are going to have a damned salty team.
 
A bunch of idiots look at this offense and conclude that because it only scored 13 points that it sucks. That is wrong. I'm not going to make a bold prediction about the future, but this offense reminds me a lot of the offenses back in the early 2000's under the guidance of Ken O'Keefe. They look a bit shaky in September, but by October they are trucking.

Ferentz going deep on 3rd and short was huge, that is gonna be on tape all year and will pay big dividends. The line is still a work in progress but is making some holes in the run game that we haven't seen for years. The pass blocking is steadily improving. We missed on two pass plays that could have put us in the 30's on the scoreboard. If we don't have any key injuries, I'm hard pressed to find more than two losses on this schedule with 12-0 being a real possibility. I believe this team is going to gel and be really good.
LIKE
 
I’ve been hearing about “if we hit those long ones, and we will” for 10 years but we NEVER do.
 
I’ve been hearing about “if we hit those long ones, and we will” for 10 years but we NEVER do.

Wrong. We sometimes hit on them and for the first time since Beathard was here we actually look like we can hit the long ball on a moderately consistent basis. Nothing against Petras, the dude is one of my favorite Hawks ever, but we had absolutely no answer to blitz packages and stacked fronts last year. I'm a know it all smartass and even I was completely befuddled as to what plays could have been called with our personnel last year. This year I have unbridled optimism. At least for now.
 
I'm a know it all smartass and even I was completely befuddled as to what plays could have been called with our personnel last year. This year I have unbridled optimism. At least for now.
This is exactly the point. The offense couldn't even operate the most basic parts of the offense. If a receiver got open, the QBs would probably not see them, or not hit them. Too many times the QB hit an open receiver and it was dropped. Of course, the line couldn't open running holes. The QBs had literally less time to throw than the fastest release by an NFL QB during the first eight games.

You can blame the poor QB play on recruiting misses, and that is on the coaches. Injuries wiped out the line and the WR positions. Last year a guy that never played much and that on defense started at center. Sometimes things like an injury wave just happen. Last year's OL should have had Cody Ince, David Davidkov and Justin Britt. Injuries wiped out that document.
 
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I don't blame BF for his playcalling last year. As I have posted previously, Andy Reid couldn't have made that team into an offense with a pulse. I do blame BF the recruiter and coach for ending up with a squad that was so young and not deep (OL), not dedicated to the craft (WR), and untalented (QB).
 
I can't remember the last time Iowa ran more inside zone than outside zone. Probably, the Mark Weisman days, but I give it a thumbs up. The counter play that sprung Patterson for 59 yards, people have been clamoring for more of that for years.

Good ole Kirk will have this team doing more power blocking than he has ever done in his career. He won't abandon the zone blocking scheme, but he is finally realizing it isn't 2002 anymore.

I get the OP is a little jokey, jokey. However, I do think there are a lot positives with this offense IF CM STAYS HEALTHY.
 
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I can't remember the last time Iowa ran more inside zone than outside zone. Probably, the Mark Weisman days, but I give it a thumbs up. The counter play that sprung Patterson for 59 yards, people have been clamoring for more of that for years.

Good ole Kirk will have this team doing more power blocking than he has ever done in his career. He won't abandon the zone blocking scheme, but he is finally realizing it isn't 2002 anymore.

I get the OP is a little jokey, jokey. However, I do think there are a lot positives with this offense IF CM STAYS HEALTHY.

They ran that counter 5 times against Wisconsin in 2008 with Shonn Greene and have run it about 3 times since that game.
 
OL has not been good since 2020, and that has been the root of many problems. But if you watch these highlights (most of which are from the BF as OC era), you will see that OL is not the only thing missing.


There are dudes in those videos making guys miss, running away from guys, and just generally making plays. Outside of our TEs, our skill positions have not done this since 2020.
 
OL has not been good since 2020, and that has been the root of many problems. But if you watch these highlights (most of which are from the BF as OC era), you will see that OL is not the only thing missing.


There are dudes in those videos making guys miss, running away from guys, and just generally making plays. Outside of our TEs, our skill positions have not done this since 2020.

Is part of the problem that we just haven't hedged our bets enough on WR recruiting? The Bruce/Brecht/Keegan Johnson class looked like it would be great, but it doesn't seem like we really had a backup plan. Bruce wasn't as talented as we hoped (and a character liability), K. Johnson couldn't stay healthy, and Brecht was always a high-risk/high-reward option that just didn't work out. Add in the loss of Charlie Jones to the portal, and a WR room that could have been above average was all of a sudden abysmal.

I don't feel like this ever happens with our DBs. Somebody goes down, and there always seems to be someone else available who is at least competent. Maybe we just haven't devoted enough scholarships to WR for years on end? Think of all those guys Parker steals from the MAC at the last minute who end up being studs; why aren't we doing the same thing with WR? Maybe if we double the WR on the roster and maintain the same hit-rate, we actually end up with a strong room? Of course, you would have to decided which positions to steal from...maybe TE and DL?
 
A bunch of idiots look at this offense and conclude that because it only scored 13 points that it sucks. That is wrong. I'm not going to make a bold prediction about the future, but this offense reminds me a lot of the offenses back in the early 2000's under the guidance of Ken O'Keefe. They look a bit shaky in September, but by October they are trucking.

Ferentz going deep on 3rd and short was huge, that is gonna be on tape all year and will pay big dividends. The line is still a work in progress but is making some holes in the run game that we haven't seen for years. The pass blocking is steadily improving. We missed on two pass plays that could have put us in the 30's on the scoreboard. If we don't have any key injuries, I'm hard pressed to find more than two losses on this schedule with 12-0 being a real possibility. I believe this team is going to gel and be really good.
Those comments from Jon are badges of honor for you.

I think Penn State, WI, and NE will have something to say about a perfect season. I'm not definitely saying those three teams will be the losses, but 9-3 seems like the ceiling this fall.
 
Is part of the problem that we just haven't hedged our bets enough on WR recruiting? The Bruce/Brecht/Keegan Johnson class looked like it would be great, but it doesn't seem like we really had a backup plan. Bruce wasn't as talented as we hoped (and a character liability), K. Johnson couldn't stay healthy, and Brecht was always a high-risk/high-reward option that just didn't work out. Add in the loss of Charlie Jones to the portal, and a WR room that could have been above average was all of a sudden abysmal.

I don't feel like this ever happens with our DBs. Somebody goes down, and there always seems to be someone else available who is at least competent. Maybe we just haven't devoted enough scholarships to WR for years on end? Think of all those guys Parker steals from the MAC at the last minute who end up being studs; why aren't we doing the same thing with WR? Maybe if we double the WR on the roster and maintain the same hit-rate, we actually end up with a strong room? Of course, you would have to decided which positions to steal from...maybe TE and DL?
Not to be that guy, but how do we bring in WR's? IMO we need to improve line play, continue playing well at the QB spot, and essentially throw to receivers in order to bring in the WR's that we want. Not trying to be negative, but the last few years what have we shown offensively to entice the WR's we want to see. I'm just not sure the guys with us on the radar in our passing game are guys that will year in and year out contribute their first few years on campus and if they do show potential I don't see them being too difficult to be lured away by pass happy offenses.

Edit: I'll add that the way I see it were first and foremost a running team with limited run blocking abilities. Although I'd love to see that change.
 
Not to be that guy, but how do we bring in WR's? IMO we need to improve line play, continue playing well at the QB spot, and essentially throw to receivers in order to bring in the WR's that we want. Not trying to be negative, but the last few years what have we shown offensively to entice the WR's we want to see. I'm just not sure the guys with us on the radar in our passing game are guys that will year in and year out contribute their first few years on campus and if they do show potential I don't see them being too difficult to be lured away by pass happy offenses.

Edit: I'll add that the way I see it were first and foremost a running team with limited run blocking abilities. Although I'd love to see that change.

I hate to be that guy, too, but I think as a fanbase we will have to get comfortable with Charlie Jones being the model of our WR recruiting going forward. We're going to have to just get guys from the MAC or Sun Belt and promise them immediate playing time on a solid team. If my son was a stellar WR and had an Iowa offer I would tell him he has to go elsewhere. If he was a middling 2 star I would totally let him go to Iowa, but if he was a high four star or five star there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that I would let him go to Iowa. If a guy with well over 10k posts on an Iowa board wouldn't let his kid go play WR at Iowa you know it's bad.
 
Not to be that guy, but how do we bring in WR's? IMO we need to improve line play, continue playing well at the QB spot, and essentially throw to receivers in order to bring in the WR's that we want. Not trying to be negative, but the last few years what have we shown offensively to entice the WR's we want to see. I'm just not sure the guys with us on the radar in our passing game are guys that will year in and year out contribute their first few years on campus and if they do show potential I don't see them being too difficult to be lured away by pass happy offenses.

Edit: I'll add that the way I see it were first and foremost a running team with limited run blocking abilities. Although I'd love to see that change.
So, you are saying if you had the chance to improve Iowa talent you would not do so? I think that's time to jump ship because that is precisely opposite of a fan's behavior. You may have been an Iowa fan at some point, but you clearly are no longer an Iowa fan. Perhaps a more objective football analyst but not someone that supports Iowa in an important way.
 
A bunch of idiots look at this offense and conclude that because it only scored 13 points that it sucks. That is wrong. I'm not going to make a bold prediction about the future, but this offense reminds me a lot of the offenses back in the early 2000's under the guidance of Ken O'Keefe. They look a bit shaky in September, but by October they are trucking.

Ferentz going deep on 3rd and short was huge, that is gonna be on tape all year and will pay big dividends. The line is still a work in progress but is making some holes in the run game that we haven't seen for years. The pass blocking is steadily improving. We missed on two pass plays that could have put us in the 30's on the scoreboard. If we don't have any key injuries, I'm hard pressed to find more than two losses on this schedule with 12-0 being a real possibility. I believe this team is going to gel and be really good.
I’m watching Air Force right now seal club utah st. They have as much of a one-dimensional offense as any in the country. Recruiting annually is towards the very bottom, doesn’t pull from the portal. After one quarter, they have all but matched what Iowa scored in 4 quarters with what is supposedly a “balanced”, “professional” offense. Put that in perspective
 

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