Can we expect the same Defensive gameplan as 'Zona from all of Iowa's opponents?

[spudhawk]

I'm not sure what many posters are talking about in terms of this elaborate defensive game plan that Arizona employed.

If you watch the first half they play a standard 4 - 3 just like we do 80% of the time. Much of the other times they played a 5 - 2. I noted 1-2 true blitzes of a linebacker and only 3 or 4 eight or nine man fronts,,,, one of which was on the goal-line. Most of the pressure in the first half came from 4 down lineman rushing.

In the second half they started blitzing more but usually the blitz was sending one or two of their line backers only. This means in addition to the 4 down lineman we had to pass protect against 6 guys at most. We had 5 offensive lineman and our running back often in pass protect. They simply beat us one on one and more often we just missed blocks. The missed assignments were not always the same lineman.... it varied on every play.

We simply lost the battle in the trenches; our O-Line against the Arizona front 4.

I'm just amazed at how many posts are talking about all these guys in the box and 9 blitzing players.... wow watch the game before posting.

You must struggle with counting. Even when we went three wide they had 8 in the box and showed blitz pre-snap most of the game even when they didn't come. You are correct that they didn't blitz on pass plays most of the time but at the initial snap they had 8 or 9 guys inside the box. They were determined to not let the lineman get to their linebackers and they kept a safety on the back side to prevent cutbacks it was a very good defensive game plan.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

I disagree with most of your assessment... because I'm a football geek and I enjoy line play I charted every single offensive play noting pre and post snap alignments and slow motioned each down to look at point of failures.

You'd be surprised at what Arizona did and the missed assignments typically by just one lineman on many plays.

The only points I would agree with is sometimes the safety came up post snap on a run. But what strong safety does not do that on a run? Also yes sometimes an LB faked a blitz pre snap only to drop back. So what?

Now the other aspect that I thought they did a good job with is they used the outside LB on either side to cover the our TE.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

Wow... just watched the last offensive series with the 4 straight sacks.

Arizona blitzed on 2nd & 3rd down with a total of 6 guys (4 DL + 1 LB + Safety). We had 6 in on protection (5 lineman + 1 RB) and they simply beat one of more of our lineman or running back one on one each time. On 4rth down they rushed the 4 defensive lineman and beat our 6 guys.

Look you can talk about Stanzi and play calling all day but this was not a great night for the O-Line. The good news is there is some youth and inexperience here and I think they will improve.

This is why many including myself had such a concern about this area coming into the season. We will face some better D-Lines than Arizona's like OSU in the coming weeks. We've got to get better in this area or we are going to have a difficult time running the ball and keeping our QB up-right.

 

[spudhawk]

Tell me what postition does #1 play for Arizona Special K, what position does #9 play, and what position does #3 play?

 

[SpecialKHawk]

Tell me possession time in the game, the pre-post snap alignments, number of rushers and what our pass protection was.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I'm not sure what many posters are talking about in terms of this elaborate defensive game plan that Arizona employed.

If you watch the first half they play a standard 4 - 3 just like we do 80% of the time. Much of the other times they played a 5 - 2. I noted 1-2 true blitzes of a linebacker and only 3 or 4 eight or nine man fronts,,,, one of which was on the goal-line. Most of the pressure in the first half came from 4 down lineman rushing.

In the second half they started blitzing more but usually the blitz was sending one or two of their line backers only. This means in addition to the 4 down lineman we had to pass protect against 6 guys at most. We had 5 offensive lineman and our running back often in pass protect. They simply beat us one on one and more often we just missed blocks. The missed assignments were not always the same lineman.... it varied on every play.

We simply lost the battle in the trenches; our O-Line against the Arizona front 4.

I'm just amazed at how many posts are talking about all these guys in the box and 9 blitzing players.... wow watch the game before posting.

Who has said that there were frequent 9-man blitzes? It's true that there were differences pre-snap and post-snap ... however, in counting hats towards the box, you go more from the pre-snap number. After that, guys read their keys. If they read run ... they stay up and execute their responsibility. Otherwise, they drop back and execute their coverage responsibility.

On pre-snap, there were determined to make sure that they owned the numbers advantage. And when it was a pass play ... yeah, they moved around their DL more than they brought extra guys. However, that's another reason why Stanzi had a lot of time to pass through a good hunk of the game. It wasn't until the end that Stanzi got sacked with great frequency. And, of course, on the last sack when their DT Washington got to Stanzi ... it wasn't on a blitz at all ... but rather on a stunt/twist.

Of course, a lot of the other heat was applied when Arizona mixed up the personnel ... putting more speed and experience on the interior to exploit Iowa's relative inexperience on the interior.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

I'm not totally disagreeing with your analysis. What I'm saying is their is reluctance to just admit when got out muscled and out played up-front. As you know we are known for great offensive line play and being physical. This was one game that we did not play that way in the trenches.

There's a perception I'm picking up on from a number of posters based on their comments that Arizona had this elaborate defensive scheme that we were unprepared to handle. Not true when you watch each play and analyze what happened.

It must be a male-ego thing to avoid saying simply for one game we got whipped in the trenches.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I'm not totally disagreeing with your analysis. What I'm saying is their is reluctance to just admit when got out muscled and out played up-front. As you know we are known for great offensive line play and being physical. This was one game that we did not play that way in the trenches.

There's a perception I'm picking up on from a number of posters based on their comments that Arizona had this elaborate defensive scheme that we were unprepared to handle. Not true when you watch each play and analyze what happened.

It must be a male-ego thing to avoid saying simply for one game we got whipped in the trenches.

What were your observations about what stalled our running attack. It seems that you've placed a bit more emphasis on how we fared on pass-pro.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

What I noticed in the run game is missed blocks typically by one lineman. By this I mean not the same lineman every play.

Here's a couple of examples....

I noted times where Rieff did not seal the DE after he took himself initially out of the play by rushing up field only to come back down and stick our RB in the hole. I noticed Rieff miss his man on zone stretch play right only to have his guy flow down the LOS and stick Jewel in the hole. The good part is Jewel broke this tackle and ran for 16 yards.

I noticed Markus Z the other tackle miss his block forcing Morse to pick up his man. This left the LB free to come into the hole unblocked and stuff our RB at the LOS.

I noticed McMillan miss his man only to have the D-lineman run down the LOS and tackle our RB from behind.

Now in fairness this was not Robinson's best game. He missed several blocks in pass protection as well. I also thought he missed some opportunities for either cut backs or bounces outside. He seemed to just run into the pile several times.

That's just a couple but the key is I noticed all 5 (& 6 when Gettis played for McMillan as well) lineman make mistakes. It seemed to be a different lineman or two on every play, especially in the run game and later in pass protection.

 

[skinnykilmer17]

If I may interrupt. This is a fascinating debate as you folks apparently like and are good at analysis. I have a question or two or three for any or all of you.

What are the most effective plays to try and counter or slow down a blitzing or aggressive defense?

If one of the answers is screen pass, did we throw any or how many? (I haven't watched the replay).

Should an offensive coordinator be able to make adjustments from play-to-play or is that asking too much? (KF mentioned they weren't ready for that type of blitzing on the last series, or something to that effect).

On the last series, Did Stanzi even have anyone running a route less than 10-15 yards?

Do you have confidence in KOK to alter his schemes in coming weeks, or is that even necessary? Would something resembling a west coast offense be realistic at this point?
Norm Chow is quoted as saying it only involves 12 basic pass plays and 5 basic running plays and his players can pick it up in 2 days. Of course, it takes a lot of time for a quarterback to "pick it up" and it requires a premium on accuracy as you are throwing to a "spot". I guess my point is that I have never been a fan of KOK and his schemes. (See Drew Tate). Our pass routes seem to often take a long time to develop which puts a lot of pressure on the O-line. Thanks.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

Really good questions. I have been critical of KOK myself in the past seasons but given the success of the program in general the past of couple of years I have decided to give him a break. Often to me no matter what the play or scheme it still comes down to execution. Football is simple concept with many complexities but it still comes down to can you get 11 guys to execute their assignments at the same time? That's what makes the game great and such a team game.

I would say yes it would have been nice to run some shorter routes on the last series or utilize a screen pass. The only aspect of the screen I'm not sure about in this game is it is typically a slow developing play. I prefer the quick/dump throw to the RB out of the backfield myself.

I think it will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of weeks. I'm not certain I would panic at this point other than the RB depth situation. As a team we just did not execute effectively in all phases of the game and that's why we got beat.

I've been focusing on the O-Line because this was the first game where I noticed complete break downs. Now again it could just have been a one game deal or due to the first step up in competition.

I think there is a chance due to the RB situation that we might adapt to a more passing style offense in the coming weeks. It might be west-coast like?

 

[skinnykilmer17]

Thanks for the response SpecialK. I wish we would utilize a quicker, shorter passing attack more often but of course KOK knows his personnel and opponents better than anyone.
Is there a reason he didn't have Stanzi in the shotgun on every play in that last series? I believe he was under center on 3rd and 12. Is there a drawback to the offense to be in the gun given the situation we were in? Or is it just the preference of this OC?
I realize the coaching staff is in a tough situation and they work tirelessly. It is probably difficult enough to develop a weekly game plan and possibly unrealistic to think they have time to modify their long-standing philosophies and schemes during the season, even if they wanted to.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

If I may interrupt. This is a fascinating debate as you folks apparently like and are good at analysis. I have a question or two or three for any or all of you.

What are the most effective plays to try and counter or slow down a blitzing or aggressive defense?

If one of the answers is screen pass, did we throw any or how many? (I haven't watched the replay).

Should an offensive coordinator be able to make adjustments from play-to-play or is that asking too much? (KF mentioned they weren't ready for that type of blitzing on the last series, or something to that effect).

On the last series, Did Stanzi even have anyone running a route less than 10-15 yards?

Do you have confidence in KOK to alter his schemes in coming weeks, or is that even necessary? Would something resembling a west coast offense be realistic at this point?
Norm Chow is quoted as saying it only involves 12 basic pass plays and 5 basic running plays and his players can pick it up in 2 days. Of course, it takes a lot of time for a quarterback to "pick it up" and it requires a premium on accuracy as you are throwing to a "spot". I guess my point is that I have never been a fan of KOK and his schemes. (See Drew Tate). Our pass routes seem to often take a long time to develop which puts a lot of pressure on the O-line. Thanks.

Like you mentioned screen passes.

Also draw plays, quick inside slants to WR, quick pass to TE in the middle.

Crap, we didn't see any of that Sat. night!

 

[HawkIU]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, I read the first page and got tired of reading them =).

Does everyone realize that Arizona's defense got lit up by Iowa? They still scored 21 points on them.

Let everyone run Arizona's defense and see if it works for them. Once Iowa scores the first 14, they will instantly stop and go back to their normal game plan and Iowa will still score.

I am curious if anyone can point out any stats the tell us that Iowa's Offense played poorly against Arizona's Defense? Other than the running game, which was BARELY utilized mostly because of the score, not because of their Defense. Other than that, Iowa's Passing offense was darn near on PAR with what they did against EIU.

 

[Hawkize1]

I think Iowa will see blitzes all season on obvious passing downs. Unless they figure out how to defend the blitz with quick hitters or other plays designed to beat a blitz.
Some teams will be better able to blitz than others. I think Michigan will try to blitz but they don't appear to be good enough defensively to really make it work consistently. Ohio State will have enough speed and experience defensively to pull it off consistently.