Back from the game, my thoughts

[SpecialKHawk]

Regardless what any our fans including myself think we are stuck with what we have because our AD gave KF a 'soriano' (cubs worthless LF) type of contract.

No change can be made becuase it will cost something like 8 years x 4 million bucks

In plain english someone would have to write a $32 million check just to make the first step in a coaching change. Who on earth from our fan base would do that? It can not happen until maybe 2 years remain on the deal.

What's the motiviation these days from the coaching perspective?

Moral of the story is no matter how good the coach, never, never, never extend him out more than 5 years. Have faith that if you pay top dollar you can attract another good coach.

 

[goods10]

MSU has some very good d-linemen,especially Worthy. They are second in the nation in total defense,giving up and average of 254 yards/game. Iowa exceeded that by over 100 yards.
Iowa has famously stayed in every game,win or lose for the last 4 years,but we finally got caught on a day when we were not mentally sharp,and we got no breaks,and MSU had a lot of bounces. Throw in Witovet,and it is a bad day at the office.
The turnovers killed us. The ball went on the ground 6 times,and we got none of them,while MSU got all 6 of them. They made a great interception on a ill-advised downfield pass against the wind,and that all made all the difference in the game.
MSU was 4 of 16 on third downs....that was nothing special. But they made some big plays.
We destroyed this same team much worse a year ago,so I am not ready to say MSU is a dynasty or that we are doomed. As for energy,we would look like fools jumping around after getting down 14 pts early. We crawled back to within striking distance,and then the bad call on the 4th down QB sneak took our momentum away,and it was over.
The thing about college football is that every saturday is a new day,and next week a win is very possible,if we eliminate mistakes and get a break or two. Nobody is that great in this league.

You can't get fumbled snaps when you don't get a push at the line from your DL.

 

[drew003]

You can't get fumbled snaps when you don't get a push at the line from your DL.

I still maintain we are seeing the effects of poor recruiting 4-5 years ago. We lack explosive athletes at many positions. A good defense is important to our style of play (our offense is always average to bad), and we don't have explosive/experienced players this year.

We need to figure out a way to get to get explosive athletes onto the field next year.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

MSU has some very good d-linemen,especially Worthy. They are second in the nation in total defense,giving up and average of 254 yards/game. Iowa exceeded that by over 100 yards.
Iowa has famously stayed in every game,win or lose for the last 4 years,but we finally got caught on a day when we were not mentally sharp,and we got no breaks,and MSU had a lot of bounces. Throw in Witovet,and it is a bad day at the office.
The turnovers killed us. The ball went on the ground 6 times,and we got none of them,while MSU got all 6 of them. They made a great interception on a ill-advised downfield pass against the wind,and that all made all the difference in the game.
MSU was 4 of 16 on third downs....that was nothing special. But they made some big plays.
We destroyed this same team much worse a year ago,so I am not ready to say MSU is a dynasty or that we are doomed. As for energy,we would look like fools jumping around after getting down 14 pts early. We crawled back to within striking distance,and then the bad call on the 4th down QB sneak took our momentum away,and it was over.
The thing about college football is that every saturday is a new day,and next week a win is very possible,if we eliminate mistakes and get a break or two. Nobody is that great in this league.

I agree with this post. The thing I will add is the dropped passes. You can't drop passes that kill drives. As much as I love McNutt, he made two absolutely critical errors that really hurt us in the first half. The dropped ball on the initial drive and the inability to recognize where he was on the pass over the middle and the result was a punt, rather than lunging ahead for the first down. Especially the first drive...we needed to go down and get points.

Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way. I'd also add their great catch in the end zone, the near interception by Tanner Miller that went the wrong way. When you add up the breaks they got in this game, it was ridiculously one sided.

In a big game, you can't turn the ball over three times. I'd love to blame the officials, and I think they blew numerous calls (several missed holding calls), but you have to be better than the other team so it doesn't matter. We weren't. We just didn't play well.

 

[SalukiJD]

BIG TEN 2011 FOOTBALL SALARIES
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa $3.78M
Bo Pelini, Nebraska $2.1M
Brady Hoke, Michigan $2M
Pat Fitzgerald, N'western $1.8M
Mark Dantonio, Mich. St. $1.79M
Bret Bielema, Wisconsin $1.78M
Ron Zook, Illinois $1.5M
Kevin Wilson, Indiana $1.2M
Jerry Kill, Minnesota $1.2M
Joe Paterno, Penn St. $1.1M
Danny Hope, Purdue $900,000
Luke Fickell, Ohio St $775,000
________________________________
The thing most interesting about this list, and there is much that is interesting, is that KF makes $1.6M a year MORE than #2 on the list, Pelini. That $1.6M is more than half the coaches in the Big Ten make a season. There was a time when KF was considered one of the best coaches in the country, and for good reason. But I am not so sure any more. I agree with those who said that we looked lost, lethargic, tired, uninspired yesterday. The play-calling and execution on O kept our D on the field way too long. D isn't good enough to be asked to carry us as in years past, and the special teams are about as bad as they've been. In too many areas, we just aren't as well prepared, well conditioned, and well coached as we used to be. When you aren't recruiting the top dogs, you rely, as Iowa has for years, on the focus, preparation, and heart of your players to make the difference. Iowa doesn't seem hungry any more. I don't know what to think re whether KF can get it back...he has certainly done it before. But the high numbers of recruits leaving school (and having to play so many walk-ons), the number of losses to teams we had no business losing to (Mike Hlas of the Gazette had a great column on this a couple weeks ago), and the failure or inability of the coaching staff to have a consistently winnable game plan week to week is deeply concerning. I don't write negative stuff very often, but I too am concerned about the direction of the program. I would have been fine with a rebuilding year--hey, it happens at schools like Iowa--but next year is looking even worse.

And perhaps we were overrated coming into the season, but we are playing under expectations quite a lot lately. OK, so I have vented. I can go on with my weekend. I don't pretend to know all the answers and there are many on this board a lot smarter than me, but what I do know is I don't like what I am seeing from these Hawks most of the time.

 

[treychase]

Iowa 3 TOs MSU- 0

led to 14 points and the 3rd when we would have had a first and goal. We didn't play well enough to win. No TOs and its a different game.

That's fair.
But what do you call the Fake FG?
And yes I know it didn't make a difference in the final score but lets be honest, it was pathetic, right?

That play should be SCREAMING out to Iowa fans in my opinion!!!!!

 

[83Hawk]

Thats just football.

Correction....that's just IOWA football.

 

[hoffahawk]

Iowa 3 TOs MSU- 0 led to 14 points and the 3rd when we would have had a first and goal. We didn't play well enough to win. No TOs and its a different game.

That's fair.But what do you call the Fake FG?And yes I know it didn't make a difference in the final score but lets be honest, it was pathetic, right?That play should be SCREAMING out to Iowa fans in my opinion!!!!!

Don't get me wrong the coaches still have work to do but they didn't make any decisions that cost us the game. TO's were the difference in the game just like they were in last years blowout win. Its easy after every loss to question the coaches and what KF gets paid, funny after last week's win none of that came up.

I'm not making excuses for the staff we have lost games we had no business losing this year and coaches have made some blunders but in yesterday's game that wasn't the case. We made too many mistakes early and dug too big of a hole to start. Hell even as bad as we played in the first half if we don't fumble right before halftime its a different game.