After 4 games, there's not many areas of concern..........

[IAHawkFan]

Four games in, and while I'm happy to be 4-0, I'm not sure that we know a lot about the team yet. We have seen some good things... and some not so good things.

Wisc will give us a much better idea of where the team is. They are better than anyone that we have played yet, and Pitt certainly gave us all we could handle. I suspect that the defensive lines of both teams will have the advantage and offense will be a bit hard to come by. CJ's mobility may be key to our offense.

There are certainly a lot of things to work on, but at this point, I am pretty happy with the progress. Wisc could be a big win that really gets the team rolling, or a sudden reality check. Should be a hell of a game either way.

Go Hawks!

 

[NCHawker]

Daniels the RB, still looks pretty tenative running the ball. I hope his ankle heals up this week so he can be 100% for Wisconsin.

 

[DDThompson]

There are not many areas of concern. There are a few that need to be tightened up:

1. Very little pressure from front four w/o Ott 100% but I don't mind too much because I like blitzing and Iowa's CBs are good enough to do it.
2. Fumbles
3. a healthy Daniels would be nice.

All those things can improve in one week.

 

[g11]

I'd say the biggest weakness is LB's in pass coverage. Which is what I thought would be #1 going into the year.

Special teams is a huge surprise, and the o-line is better than expected.

That Pitt defense is going to be the toughest the Hawks face all year, those talking in this thread about Pitt being bad must be clown fans or something.

 

[DJL]

4-0, just enjoy the ride. It's been better than we thought so far. We will be ready to play next week and there is no reason we can't be 5-0 when we leave Madison.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

It still concerns me that Boone Myers often lunges into thin air and spends a lot of time on the ground, there, HawgEye-Brown ... GO HAWKS!

 

[mrolympia]

lack of outside run defense and giving up 183 rushing yards, more than the other 3 games combined thus far has to be a concern. the 2nd and 3rd quarter defense was pretty poor until the pick 6. Can't ever let up off the gas even when the game is out of hand.

 

[PCHawk]

I would guess Pitt's defense is better than Wisconsin's defense, and their offense's are comparable. Just my guess though.

 

[trj]

next 4 games:


@Wisconsin

Illinois

@ NW

Maryland


Worst case scenario you are 6-2 going into November. Can't afford a major injury to about 5 or 6 key guys otherwise we are talking about a 9 or 10 win season.

 

[Kennyfromminne]

Glad to be 4-0, but as easy as this win was I hope they are focused on Wisconsin because 1-0 in conference means everything if we wanna win the conference

 

[IowaHOCKS23]

Exactly! Beat Wisconsin up there and we can feel good about this team, lose and we are 0-1 in conference and these first 4 wins mean nothing. We haven't played a decent team yet. Not even average.

I kind of disagree. I think Pitt might be the toughest team we are scheduled to play.

 

[Seth53]

I've been listening to/watching the Hawks since the 60s.

To see people complaining about and/or belittling a 4-0 start is amazing.

Look at the other schedules of B1G teams for example. Tell me they are significantly better than ours.

We're 4-0 with an exciting QB, emerging RB, all-american CB, above-ave WRs, solid TEs, and the kicking game speaks for itself. DL and LBs a bit under-average?...so be it.

4-0. If you aren't happy (I didn't say content, I said happy)...you're cheering for the wrong program.

 

[MNHawk]

As of this point, we cannot pressure a QB rushing only 4, unless we play against Ill St left tackle every week.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

In the next game, Wisconsin has the better offensive line and the better defensive line. Iowa is going to have to be tricky to win. Passes on first down. BLITZES. Stack the box. Innovative play calling. Go Hawks and go coaches. Prepare for this game.

I've seen parts of several WUs games and quite a bit of last nights game. I don't know if WUs' OL is better than our DL and if they are, it's marginal. I think our game plan should be to load the box, rely on King and Mabin (not sure WUs has above avg receivers, right now) and force Stave to beat us.

I believe WUs plays 3-4 defense, we should play a lot of 3 or 4 wide sets and try to get matchups of WRs on lb's. If they go zone, I think CJ can pick that apart. We should run draws, from the 3 or 4 wide sets, to allow our backs to find running lanes. WUs' defense is really good and I'd be surprised if we can hang with them, on the road, playing our typical offensive sets.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

I kind of disagree. I think Pitt might be the toughest team we are scheduled to play.

I think Pitt's defense is the most aggressive we'll see and if anyone else has an idea to blitz Iowa, CJ proved that he can handle everything, including the kitchen sink. In my opinion, that was a huge test passed by CJ. Now, the OL struggled at times, but they had a lot of success, also. The OL has plenty of film and game experience to draw on when it comes to handling blitz pick up. Pitt was a huge game, in that respect.

 

[HawgEyeState]

I'd say after 4 games there's improvement at nearly every position...and with many individual players. The guys on this team clearly put in a lot of work in the off-season, it wasn't just talk. Damn proud of 'em. Somebody or something finally got through to Kirk, and he has made some changes as well.

How much improvement...we'll know in another month. Pitt was a solid opponent, but Ill St, ISU and North Texas aren't exactly murderer's row.

We do know this...
- CJ is what we all thought he could be (well, most of us)
-Canzeri is a great back now that he's healthy
-Drew Ott is a monster
-Desmond King is All Conference

Let's reconvene this thread after a month of Big Ten play.

Well said, Drummer. But I like savoring the Wins and more will be coming the Hawkeyes way, VERY SOON.

#goHawks

 

[hawkdrummer1]

I've been listening to/watching the Hawks since the 60s.

To see people complaining about and/or belittling a 4-0 start is amazing.

Look at the other schedules of B1G teams for example. Tell me they are significantly better than ours.

We're 4-0 with an exciting QB, emerging RB, all-american CB, above-ave WRs, solid TEs, and the kicking game speaks for itself. DL and LBs a bit under-average?...so be it.

4-0. If you aren't happy (I didn't say content, I said happy)...you're cheering for the wrong program.

I don't see people complaining or belittling. I do see some folks analyzing the areas for improvement...much like a coach would and should. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

Biggest weakness on this team is pass defense. Little or no pressure on the QB. Soft coverage in the secondary. Our LB's have real issues covering the TE and RBs.

 

[HawgEyeState]

I've been listening to/watching the Hawks since the 60s.

To see people complaining about and/or belittling a 4-0 start is amazing.

Look at the other schedules of B1G teams for example. Tell me they are significantly better than ours.

We're 4-0 with an exciting QB, emerging RB, all-american CB, above-ave WRs, solid TEs, and the kicking game speaks for itself. DL and LBs a bit under-average?...so be it.

4-0. If you aren't happy (I didn't say content, I said happy)...you're cheering for the wrong program.

Good post, Seth.
Thanks for choosing NOT to be a thumbsucker.

#goHawks Lets CREAM Connie and the girls in madison, next week

 

[Golfer]

Passing defense is game by game. We played very basic defense yesterday. Against Pitt, we purposely didn't blitz to mitigate big plays by Boyd. A trade off involved in this. We did chuck Lazard at the line, and every once in awhile did chuck Boyd, but two entirely different threats in the passing game.

In retrospect, the defensive strategy against Pitt was probably very smart, although at first blush I did question it.

The secondary has some issues, but has proven very solid.

There are some receiver separation issues, and some offensive line issues.

I normally watch line play, but yesterday someone told me to watch receivers for a couple of series of downs, which I did.

I'm very encouraged. Intellectually I think we are a couple of years away right now. Having said this, there is an intangible this season, and the schedule sets up very favorably. I'd be the most concerned about Northwestern right now, although their offense reminds me of Iowa. We have better than a fighter's chance against Nebraska and Minnesota. We have a legitimate chance against Wisconsin. I think if I went out on a limb, I'd be concerned about NwN getting away from us. I think Nebby will quit by the end of the season. I don't think Minnesota can score, and NwN struggles to score as well.