Better not look past NIU
- Thread starter uihawk82
- Start date
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
As mentioned, multiple avatar personality disorder is a real condition.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
That would be bad, sort of like 2008 where the hawks got to 3-3 and then turned it on.
But after 2007 the start to 2008 looked like a sinking ship.
Wow what we would have done to have those numbers rather than the Greg Davis stuff.
KOK was the whipping boy of many fans but it really is KF's offense and playcalling. If you cant listen in on the headsets you have no idea if certain play calls are or were being overruled by the head coach. And if not plays being overruled then sometimes just the head mans's philosophy being interjected to run rather than pass, etc.
I and many thought KOK did a pretty good job of play calling, scheming, game planning, etc but there were always some, not a lot, but some instances of conservative play calling that made you scratch your head. A couple come to mind that you might remember:
2005 I think and the hawks have a national leading 22 or so home game win streak. Hawks have 3rd and goal from about the 5 yard line to go ahead of Michigan by 4 with the extra point but instead a very conservative shovel pass behind the LOS gains little. Hawks kick FG and lose in OT. The Bullies of the Big Ten lost some swagger at that moment.
2010 - The infamous Wisky fake punt game, I think B Greenwood at safety picked off a Wisky pass late in the 4th qt to give the hawks the ball about the wisky 30. I think the first play call was a really good play action pass but it didnt connect. The the hawks went into conservative mode and either kicked a fg or missed one. Wisky later did the fake punt and both teams fortunes turned on that last 5 minutes.
Moral: I am hoping BF gets to and wants to be more aggressive that daddy KF is. KF has nothing to hold back on now except handing the reins to BF.
I'm not 100% sure where you pull my Iowa State ties from? Actually pretty confused lmao. Ahh it might be because I don't hide behind some weird account name 'Cincyhawk'..who is that? I and I'm sure others feel this way.. all that matters is W's and L's. Im curious as to what your definition of significance is. I like to think the 13 teams Iowa plays a year have significance because people sure find ways to talk about it so it must mean something. Even N. Illinois!!
When you also say "our defense on par" I think a lot of fans take that for granted as well.. they aren't a stick in the mud. The Iowa defense is salty every year and it's a daunting task scoring for opposing offenses. The offense doesn't even have to be top 40.. it can be 60 and Iowa will win at least 9 games with decent special teams.
Agreed, line is solid, skill players iffy but we didn't use a TE for the entire GD era. Fiedorowicz is a freak, so was Duzey. Going to disagree on the RBs front... hold the injury problem and Iowa usually has top tier backfield, we will find out how good Toren Young is this year. THE RECRUITING THING: Good news for you Cincy, Iowa has been doing some of their best work on the recruiting trail as of late in the KF era. I think BF is starting to move towards the Wisconsin way on offense, Fumagali killed us in '16 exploiting LBs on TEs. It's pretty clear we're going to use them everyone is ranting and raving about them all over the country. All I'm saying is hold the jury on BF.
I disagree with the PA notion, because I have seen it work too many times and it's thing of beauty when it does (CJB to Smith vs MSU '15). My two cents.
First, sorry if I accused you of being an ISU fan. I wasn't saying that you have ISU ties. I was saying that it's very ISU-fan-like to assert that 116th in the nation is a passing grade on offense. It just isn't. Neither is 104th in the country in 3rd down conversion percentage. Or 96th in rushing offense.
I think we agree our defense is usually pretty stellar and if the offense was better our WL ratio would be even better.
As for quality of play, we know that the teams we beat were mediocre. Just look at their rankings and records. It's difficult to beat ANY team, but some wins are more equal than others. Here's our losing opponents' final records and ranking last year:
Wy 8-5 NR
Isu 8-5 NR
NT 9-5 NR
ILL 2-10 NR
Minn 5-7 NR
tOSU 12-2 5
Neb 4-8 NR
BC 7-5 NR
By comparison, here's PSU's:
Akron 7-7 NR
Pitt 5-7 NR
G ST. 7-5 NR
UofI 8-5 NR
Ind 5-7 NR
NW 10-3 21
UM 8-5 NR
Rut 4-8 NR
Neb 4-8 NR
MD 4-8 NR
Wash 10-2 11
Those one or two games vs quality opponents really, really matter when you evaluate your accomplishments after a season.
As for our offensive rankings when we were 9 wins or better: (ypg https://www.sports-reference.com)
2015 66
2009 89
2008 53
2004 104
2003 93
2002 13
So you are correct - there's almost no correlation between offensive rankings and WL, statistically, at Iowa. I think that's just because Iowa usually doesn't have much offense at all, but I can't prove it. Feel free to dismiss the point if you wish. I do know that if you score more points that it gives you more breathing room in close games (1-2 possession games) because if you've scored before you can probably do it again. What is clear is that Iowa is a bad offensive football team.
I don't have to keep the jury out on Brian. I've seen this offense before. It was KOK's. It was never top 40, either, except when it had a Heisman trophy runner-up running the game. They may improve to top 60. But they won't get any better from there. They're just bad at offense. Every team says they know what Iowa is going to do on offense, but that it is still hard to beat us because we get it done when it counts, by keeping it tight on D. You can see opposing teams jumping the play all the time. You can call the play from your couch.
I feel like there were other guys who we could hire, and don't like nepotism. He's our OC, now, and I believe what he wants to do CAN work, but that he'd better recruit better to make it happen. Our pro-style is just really hard to run, and requires really special, smart, possession-oriented skill players and durable RBs to run well. This country isn't developing those type of players in HS anymore, so the few teams that run it have to compete for a smaller group of players. We're in direct competition for qbs, TEs and RBs, with Wisc, Alabama, and Stanford. That's a tough row to hoe.
I'm glad they are taking recruitment more seriously. That 2015 season should be getting us some gains there, still. We need a good season this year for that to continue.
Everyone in the state thinks we don't use our TEs enough. There's no disagreement there.
As for hiding behind my username: there's nothing to hide, other than I'd rather not have my email/phone/twitter/Facebook blown up by angry posters after I voice an opinion on a message board. Honestly, who would? All of those are attached to my real name for professional use. I'm not a journalist or coach. I'm just a fan. I like discussing and debating Iowa football.
When I started posting here, I lived in Ohio, surrounded by Buckeyes. I had to defend the Hawks all the time on enemy turf. Hince CincyHawk. The old message board name was hawkinbuckland, but that got lost when the board changed.
I don't believe in being a homer. I'm not sure what using my real name would gain me on this message board. I don't get into fights here. I have no beef with anyone. I'm not popular with everyone, because I'm often pessimistic in my predictions or analysis. So be it.
I say what I think, and my position on Ferentz is that I think he probably should do better on the field for what we pay him. I think the decade of average posts were statistically close to the truth.
I don't do ad hominem attacks. I don't care who someone is, I care about their opinion and statistics. If my profession was sports-related, I'd post under my real name. It's not, but if you met me in a bar over a beer you'd get the same opinions. That is, in real life I'm the same guy, but with more interests than football and politics.
Anyway, feel free to think what you want about me. I think we've both made some interesting assertions, and have kept the topic alive a little. Interested to see where things go from here.
I don't believe this. Hayden was great because he changed the culture. Ferentz changed it again when he got here. We've been lucky to have two decent coaches in a row. We could find another. We could also fail. That's the risk with any change. Hopefully, failure would be addressed quickly.
If you want continuity, anyone from the defensive side of the coaching tree would be a better choice. That side has accomplished more for Iowa than the offense.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
HawkGold, this is yet another assumption made by TK and apparently also by you, that I have more than one membership name, i.e., Huck Finn. I can assure you that Huck is my one and only identity on this board. It is up to you, of course, to believe or not believe. But, that changes nothing...I am Huck Finn, that is it.
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
No I wasnt referring to you. One has 4 or 5 and occasionally they forget which one the are using.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
Who, in the blue hell, has time for that? I'm actually curious who these are?
I really think that this could.....oh hell, I don't know what to think about this season! The suspensions coming at the beginning of the season could help us with depth in the latter part of the season, but could cost us dearly in games 1 and 2. I would think after the last couple of seasons, that the players and coaches would be smart enough to not overlook anyone, but it shall remain a mystery until kickoff in 3 weeks. I look forward to agreeing / arguing / applauding / antagonizing / etc... with you all this season!! ( Hopefully applauding the most )
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
@HuckFinn @HawkleberryFinn @Hawknick
There seems to be a few new ones that have shown up recently, but there isn't enough data to get a good reading yet.
HawkeyeWalker
Well-Known Member
Interestin. Thanks tk. Clinton and Hawknick are the same individual I believe. I guess I don't understand the point in having multiples. Kinda weird.
The "social interwebs" have become a strange place.
hawkeyebob62
Well-Known Member
Gotta play 'em one game at a time...can't take anything for granted...they're as tough a ball club as we'll face all year...
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
Yeah, I've wondered about Clinton too. I'll have to watch the women's basketball threads closer this season.
BigD
Well-Known Member
That’s pathetic!!! What’s worse than pathetic.................... I guess Iowa fans know.
BigD
Well-Known Member
I can only guess that they use their alts to support their own opinions. Those of us that work for a living and have family responsibilities sure as hell don’t have time for such foolishness.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Appreciate the clarification. Sorry I misunderstood.
