Bethard, Going for It on 4th Downs, D Blitzing... Outside Influence?

[dualradius]

KF was more aggressive in the 2nd half than I remember seeing in a long time.

Do you think an outside influence got in KF's ear after last week and said something? Maybe Barta? Just curious.

 

[tm3308]

No. The blitzing isn't really anything new. Parker dialed up way more blitzes last year than we've seen from an Iowa defense in a long time. Rudock was hurt. And our FG kicking game has been very shaky (and that's being generous), so being more aggressive on fourth and short isn't a bad strategy right now.

 

[99hawks]

I'm going with the OP on this one. The Pitt game had several blitzes on 3rd down and a few on 2nd down. We went for it on 4th down three or four times and succeeded. We tried and made a 50+ field goal with our shaky kicker rather than punting to the 20 for field position. The offense started throwing down the field right from the start of the game and we got the ball to the faster WRs. Adjustments were made at halftime and eventually both the DL and OL wore down Pitt and won the LOS.

None of this was happening in the first 3 games at all and that's what the fans had been asking to see. The Hawks played aggressive on both sides and played to win. I'm also curious as to why Ferentz made the changes and that should be the bigger question. Not the supposed QB controversy which was just one factor of many. It was a nice change to see. The fans were right and the coaches and players deserve credit for making the CHANGES the OP highlights and executing.