Are Iowa's Issues Fixable?

Are Iowa's current issues fixable?

  • Yes - issues are fixable, coaches and players need to step up

    Votes: 73 67.6%

  • No - issues are not fixable, not enough talent this year

    Votes: 35 32.4%
  • Total voters
    108
I think the first thing that needs fixing is the kickoff coverage. It's clear our D isn't very good this year and they need every extra yard they can get. Help them out by not giving the other team a short field.

The fact that we have 3 seniors on the DL makes me wonder how much room for improvement we have here. They should play better as the year goes on but I don't think we expect much for this group.

JVB looked good in playaction but struggled in the pocket. Run plenty of playaction till he gets comfortable in the pocket. Bubble screen worked in first game give it to mcnutt and yet him run.
 
eveningnewsteam said:
Iowa needs to find a #2 tailback. Absolutely unrealistic to think they can go through the year with 1 tailback. Iowa's tackling is absolute **** and the coverage teams are terrible right now. They forced a few holding calls on Saturday, but as a whole did a **** poor job of getting off blocks. They HAVE to start mixing up defenses and creating some confusion or this scene is gonna play itself over about 6 more times this year.
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this is a very good point. Iowa has traditionally always tackled well and always been disciplined and sounds on Special Teams coverage. this year, both of these may be the two biggest question marks on the team..outside the D line play I suppose, but a lot of their struggle can come from missed sack opportunities.
 
Hawks shortfalls are definitely fixable. Hawks coaches and players are working on it as we speak. I think coaches and staff will do a good job of turning in better performances in the Saturdays to come. One game is no reason to panic yet boys. Got my cussing and fussing out of the way, am ready to move on to the next challenge.
 
joshhawk said:
I think the first thing that needs fixing is the kickoff coverage. It's clear our D isn't very good this year and they need every extra yard they can get. Help them out by not giving the other team a short field.

The fact that we have 3 seniors on the DL makes me wonder how much room for improvement we have here. They should play better as the year goes on but I don't think we expect much for this group.

JVB looked good in playaction but struggled in the pocket. Run plenty of playaction till he gets comfortable in the pocket. Bubble screen worked in first game give it to mcnutt and yet him run.
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Kick coverage is one issue that I don't see improving this year. We had the exact same problem all of last season, and we still have it now. That's not going to turn around mid-season.
 
tm3308...

I agree. I think every other aspect of the game *can* improve.
Except that one.

It seems like every single player on kick coverage gets undressed by the return guy on every kick. I fail to believe that we've only played the 15 teams going back through last season that have the best kick return guys with the best stutter steps/head fakes/jukes/and double moves in NCAA football. But that's the way it looks.

10 yards every time because of that.

Of course, it would be nice to see those kickoffs going 10 yards further and maybe even a touchback now and again? I just can't put it all on the kickers, though. Our coverage guys are getting undressed every time.
 
I voted yes, but I don't think it will happen overnight.

I think Iowa's biggest problem defensively is lack of experience.

Maybe by the end of the season they will be playing noticeably better.

Hopefully we don't have any injury issues on defense.
 
We'll be OK. The sky is not falling, global warming will not kill us all, and the Hawks will still be good.
 
Not fixable with these coaches and their stubborn slavish devotion to "system."

Our defense SUCKS. Really, it does. There's some talent but as a whole the unit is not gonna get it done.

So we are going to have to prevail in score-a-thons to win. Which we prolly could do with our talent at WR and assuming Coker stays healthy.

But no, oh F no. No, KF will continue with Normball and KOKfail and we'll keep piling up the moral victories by losing close games, until we face Nebraska, who might blow us out of their stadium if they are playing to potential by then.
 
Most are fixable in the short term.

Makes me wonder why they weren't discovered and addressed before the season started.
 
jameskalina said:
Most are fixable in the short term.

Makes me wonder why they weren't discovered and addressed before the season started.
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Because they are the same problems that plague us from year to year.

I don't even call them problems anymore. I call them the system. It must be the system the coaches want, because we keep running it.
 
1hawkeye1 said:
We'll be OK. The sky is not falling, global warming will not kill us all, and the Hawks will still be good.
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I agree. it's still very early on in the year, and the games that really matter are the Big Ten games. If we lose our next two, all hell can break loose then we can panic.
 
I can see this year turning out like the shonn greene year because I think Coker and the Oline will continue to improve as the year goes on.
 
The problem with this year is that the fixes are all unknowns.

Two could be career ending injuries
MacMillan and Rogers. Yes, I said MacMillan. Don't really think that to be the case, but it is possible with that condition.

Two other guys we have not seen on the field, but we are going by promise - Davis and Lowery.

The biggest problem I keep saying is the D Line. The Hawks are NOT playing young players. 5 of 8 guys in the rotation graduate and the other 3 are JRs. Behind them, the cupboard is empty. Hence the need for Davis to succeed. If he doesn't the Hawks are going to have to pull a rabbit or two out of a hat.

I mean the last DLine this bad was 2005, but at least that group was playing Freshmen.
 
David79 said:
I can see this year turning out like the shonn greene year because I think Coker and the Oline will continue to improve as the year goes on.
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A few key differences:

Coker ain't Shonn Greene, and he's never going to be. He just doesn't have Greene's quick feet or explosiveness. Greene wasn't a 4.3/4.4 guy, but he hit top gear in a hurry. There were a couple plays on Saturday that Coker got 5-6 yards out of, that Greene could have scored on.

Greene also wasn't in peak physical condition at the start of the 2008 season, simply because he hadn't been in the program for awhile, and there's only so much you can do without the kind of facilities we offer. He got stronger as the year went on, because he was playing himself into shape a little bit. Coker isn't going to have that benefit.

At least right now, our offensive line isn't as good as the 2008 crew was. Bulaga, Olson, Calloway, Bruggeman, etc. That was probably the 2nd best line we've had under Ferentz.
 
JVB is going to look all-world one week and JV the next. He's never going to be a great Iowa QB. He's has physical talent but he isn't consistent.
 
It's the system. Teams have really figured out how to beat the Hawks, and they know we won't take chances so they can be extremely agressive in their schemes (9 men in the box, non stop blitzing, not fearing a 3rd and long cause soft zones).

We've proven that there is talent on these rosters, maybe even more so the past two years, and yet we're on a downward trend. Teams are allowed to hang with us until the 4th Q, and by then our team is gassed, and we try to dial up the intensity on offense and we can't do it because we've been running our RB straight into the ground.

It's time to adapt our schemes to fit the personal we have. We are at a disadvantage because the other teams know what we're going to do on both sides of the ball, and we obviously don't have the players we once did.

Despite having a lot of guys on defense go to the NFL, we don't have that Mitch King or Matt Roth...and obviously Bob Sanders. Clayborn was disruptive in his JR year, and that flowed all the way down the line, and we had Angerrer who provided a huge spark at LB.

We don't have those leaders/players this year (and last), so we need to find a way to take advantage of what we have now instead of just doing things status quo. We will not win many games this year with our current system.
 
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