Concerns moving forward

Tis is a process we have seen before. One position group is always in rebuild mode. This year it is the OLine. But look at this way, this line will be really good in a lot of players senior years.
 
Iowa’s offense is so easy to defend. Play to stop the run and the 3 yard passes. Don’t worry about covering deep, Petras will either not see the wide open receiver or over throw him.
 
Petras is a problem. His progressions are awful, and the defense knows it. Always settles for the first receiver. Stares down his receivers, had one jumped and almost another. A simple pump fake or just hold the ball and his receiver would clear. I don't know what to think. Twice should have hit wide open receivers in stride but puts too much air under the ball and they get run down. And then the sacks..... doesn't look like first game jitters or rust, he just makes too many mistakes. They put 9 to 10 guys in the box all game and he still couldn't find receivers. Some of it is play calling like always throwing the ball three yards when we need 8, some is line breakdowns, but much of it is his vision. Kept missing guys running clear and throwing to guys with double coverage for short yardage. He did have several beautiful throws for touchdowns, but the crowd was holding it's collective breath when LaPorta was running uncovered down the field. I think he is progressing, some, but thank God our defense came to play in the second half. I guess we just have to deal with a slow learning curve. If it's any consolation Nebby lost (Martinez fumble, int.) Wisconsin lost (Wisky QB sucks), and Iowa State lost (Purdy Int. on last play) so Petras at least didn't cost us the game.
 
Nope.

It’s a whole lot easier to see in person. He doesn’t see the field like CJ or Stanzi, or even Stanley. Spencer’s middle name should be checkdown.

I wish he checked down, that implies he makes his progression and settles on the safe pass. He doesn’t do that, he seems to pick a guy presnap and focus on him.

If he was at 70% by playing Brady ball id be elated.
 
It’s that line, the young guys need to get better.

They asked more out of the line against Colorado State than Kent State. The Kent State game was pretty much all short passing. The offensive line only had to identify its blocks and hold them for a very short time. The Colorado State had more intermediate and long passes in the mix, asking the OL to do more. Inconsistent results isn't surprising.

The OL will probably gradually get better. Are they on schedule to get past Maryland and Penn State? I have my doubts on that.

Maryland is next up. On paper Iowa does not look good against Maryland. However Maryland tends to hit the wall when they get into the Big Ten season. The Illinois score was pretty ugly to start things off. Who knows?
 
It is just painful to watch sometimes. too many 3rd and long with short runs or short pass plays. Running game is almost non existent. The continuity of the play calling seems to eliminate the long drives. Defense in the 1st half was not great (I can imagine the half time ass chewing). I know winning ugly has become an unofficial trademark of late, but that is just a recipe for a pending bad loss. I love being 4-0 at this point, but the IA ST and IND wins have lost a bit of luster, and the next two games could be the real eye test. Announcers said more than once that BF was keeping some plays in his back pocket, but when you are down 14-7 to a team you are supposed to steam roll, I am not buying that line of thinking. BTW, that INT Petras threw was actually not a bad play on his part, but a damn good defensive play IMO. And if Jack Campbell doesn't get defensive player of the week, the system is definitely all eff'd up.............
 
Oh, and special teams looked somewhat mortal too......hope they got that out of their system. Still good, but this is the first year in awhile I actually get excited to watch us punt.
 
Oh, and special teams looked somewhat mortal too......hope they got that out of their system. Still good, but this is the first year in awhile I actually get excited to watch us punt.

I couldn't tell from what is on the screen what the issue was. Was it it the pressure Colorado State's defense was bringing? Was it the long snapper being inaccurate? Or was there issues with wind playing around with the snap? Anyone have any insight?
 
yes we will have no rb te or wrs dumb comment of the year folks.
My point is we are not OSU. We don't reload at every position every year, and it takes a few years to get everything to align.

As for not having running backs - Iowa's had three really good backs in twenty years: Ladell Betts. Fred Russell. Akrum Wadley.

So many times we have scat backs who can't block or make a hole - Jordan Canzeri types. Or backs no vision (Toren Young, Leshun Daniels, Mark Weisman). They don't follow blocks. They don't lower the pad level and drive through the line on the inside (Tyler Goodson). They're serviceable, but not the complete package.
 

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