I never give KF a hard time for playing the right side of the odds by playing conservative. One thing this team seems to forget, other teams don't play conservative. As Ed Podolak said, "we were caught with our pants down." Iowa was not ready for the onside kick. We weren't ready for Wisconsin's fake punt last year. It's like the team is assuming other teams play it safe just like themselves. And when they do, they get bit with their pants down.
Conservative Play is Smart
- Thread starter farmerj3
- Start date
JohnstonHawkeye
Banned
Playing conservative is for sissy's that like losing
JohnstonHawkeye
Banned
Haha, that is exactly what KF says before the game...
VenturaAce
Well-Known Member
Playing conservative makes a lot of sense when you are playing superior competition. It helps you stay in the game and you probably win a game or two more than you should. You also allow inferior competition to stick around like yesterday. You couple that with lethargic effort on the road and complete brain lapses on an onside kick and you lose. Conservative may get you a 7-5 or 8-4 record on average over the long haul, but that really isn't all that difficult the way college FB schedules patsies at the beginning of the season. We've lost 5 in a row on the road, all to average to below average competition (yes, I am including Penn State in that category), the last game we won on the road was Indiana and that should have been an L too. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me...
MissouriHerk
Well-Known Member
I can see why Iowa fans are frustrated with KF's conservative play calling at the end of the half, or the end of the game. If KF was ISU's coach, I'd feel the same way.
I will never forget KF choosing to not try to win the Big 10 title on the road against Ohio State a few years ago in regulation and taking a knee with several timeouts and plenty of time on the clock. I couldn't believe my eyes.
At some point you HAVE to tell your kids that you have the confidence in them to go out and win the game.... and you're not just scared to death all the time of them screwing up. At least go down fighting.
And yesterday, I was listening to the Iowa game on the radio and Ed and Gary both knew EXACTLY what KF was going to do at the end of the first half with a minute and a half left and 2 timeouts or something like that? They both said, before Minny kicked it off, that KF would run up the middle on first down, and if they didn't break a big run, he'd kneel down. And that's exactly what KF did. It is so predictable.
And if I was an Iowa fan, that's what would be the most frustrating thing for me. I can't think of another team that wouldn't at least take a few shots at getting in FG range in those situations?
If you do everything you can to WIN the game, but come up short, at least you know inside that you gave it everything you had and it just wasn't enough. But if you don't try, and you kneel down, you will NEVER know what COULD have happened had you tried to win the game. And that feeling will eat away at you.
Don't get me wrong, with KF you have to take the good with the bad. He's done amazing things at Iowa that he deserves all the credit in the world for. But he does do some things that would drive me nuts if I were an Iowa fan too. You have to take the good with the bad I guess?
But don't blame KOK too much for the conservativeness. KF is the CEO. KOK does what he's told. And if he isn't, then he wouldn't still be at Iowa. Yes, KOK calls the individual plays, BUT KF tells KOK what the overall gameplan should be going in. Iowa has almost always played VERY conservatively over the years. If KF wasn't happy with that style, they wouldn't still be doing it IMO.
I will never forget KF choosing to not try to win the Big 10 title on the road against Ohio State a few years ago in regulation and taking a knee with several timeouts and plenty of time on the clock. I couldn't believe my eyes.
At some point you HAVE to tell your kids that you have the confidence in them to go out and win the game.... and you're not just scared to death all the time of them screwing up. At least go down fighting.
And yesterday, I was listening to the Iowa game on the radio and Ed and Gary both knew EXACTLY what KF was going to do at the end of the first half with a minute and a half left and 2 timeouts or something like that? They both said, before Minny kicked it off, that KF would run up the middle on first down, and if they didn't break a big run, he'd kneel down. And that's exactly what KF did. It is so predictable.
And if I was an Iowa fan, that's what would be the most frustrating thing for me. I can't think of another team that wouldn't at least take a few shots at getting in FG range in those situations?
If you do everything you can to WIN the game, but come up short, at least you know inside that you gave it everything you had and it just wasn't enough. But if you don't try, and you kneel down, you will NEVER know what COULD have happened had you tried to win the game. And that feeling will eat away at you.
Don't get me wrong, with KF you have to take the good with the bad. He's done amazing things at Iowa that he deserves all the credit in the world for. But he does do some things that would drive me nuts if I were an Iowa fan too. You have to take the good with the bad I guess?
But don't blame KOK too much for the conservativeness. KF is the CEO. KOK does what he's told. And if he isn't, then he wouldn't still be at Iowa. Yes, KOK calls the individual plays, BUT KF tells KOK what the overall gameplan should be going in. Iowa has almost always played VERY conservatively over the years. If KF wasn't happy with that style, they wouldn't still be doing it IMO.
