Darkhorse Hawkeyes, McCall is Fast & More



Iowa is going to be the trendy pick as a darkhorse this year because:

• There is no QB controversy, there is an heir apparent that has achieved folklore status for the OSU game.

• Marcus Coker running like an SOB in a bowl game.

and most popular...

• There is no Iowa expectation this year, so we now have expectations. I bet we'll use this as an excuse this year should we finish with a similar record.

People expected us to be good because no one expected us to be good, so since we know that Iowa always performs better with no expectations and has never has lived up to expectations, our expectations of them being good because of no expectations is what caused the season to go to hell.
 




I think its worth noting Iowa is a trendy pick because they are good. Even when they struggle i/e: 2006/2007 in particular, they are highly competitive and have NFL talent. Last year was admittedly a down year and they still finished 4th and lost to Wisco by one, tOSU by 3 and blew MSU out of the universe.

It seems we have at worst the 2nd most NFL talent in the league and that seemingly gets better yearly. The renewed effort, leadership and one James Vandenberg will be the key. I wouldn’t trade over all talent with anyone in the league except possibly tOSU and from my recollection I think we have the best O-line, potentially the best 2ndary, the best TE’s and top 5 Rbers, Wr’s and with a little experience and health (namely Nielsen) we have some very active & athletic D-linemen and Lbers. History has taught us that even with turnover we typically have some of the better DL’s and Lbers so really I’ll be a little disappointed if we don’t rebound in a big way.

Prognostication are funny, if we win even 2 more games suddenly we are top 15 preseason, maybe higher. Yet because we didn’t we aren’t ranked and are an also ran, it’s funny to me. More to the truth I don’t really care, but two years ago we barely won several games and people said we weren’t strong enuff, and now last year we lost 5 games by what 14 points…?!??! And we lost those games every way imaginable….untimely turnovers, very spotty kickoff coverage, a complete inability to pick up the blitz and the inability to get off the field on 3rd down.

Now why did we struggle in these areas……..well special teams play was just our season I guess, but we were also young there. It will, or rather should be naturally better & don’t underestimate the toll 3 plus 30 yard Kick returns a game place on your D!

Now I’m not big on blaming injuries but it’s no secret that our two glaring weaknesses coincided with our injuries. OG- injuries which affected our interior blitz pick up and debilitating Lber injuries which greatly affected our 3rd down defense, especially in the area of long pass completions. Again that stuff will naturally be better even with inexperience. Not too mention we actually got way better depth and experience as a result of last year’s difficulties.

We will be a tough team to handle in my mind, and better equipped as a result of last season.

Just my positive spin I guess.

Chad
 
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I think the problem with expectations is it from those who have no idea. I know a guy that worked for the team last year (as a student) and after fall practices, just prior to the season he predicted 8 regular season victories. He said the team just didn't have the same feel as the year before. Throughout the year he said he could tell the attitude difference. After the Wisky loss he said some players "packed it in".

We can speculate a lot from here but when you really analyze teams, you get a better perception.

People forget in 2009, Iowa was a few plays from an 8 win team, and then they lost a lot of NFL talent on that team. If you don't think Moeaki meant a LOT to that offense you are crazy. I like Reisner but Moeaki he was not.
 


sort of like a 40 year old with a receding hairline deciding a buzz cut would be good for the summer; that’s a bad idea bro.

I'm not 40 but I planned on doing this when my wife is in europe. Lol
 


hawkfarmer;435800[B said:
]I think the problem with expectations is it from those who have no idea. I know a guy that worked for the team last year (as a student) and after fall practices, just prior to the season he predicted 8 regular season victories. He said the team just didn't have the same feel as the year before. Throughout the year he said he could tell the attitude difference. After the Wisky loss he said some players "packed it in". [/B]

We can speculate a lot from here but when you really analyze teams, you get a better perception.

People forget in 2009, Iowa was a few plays from an 8 win team, and then they lost a lot of NFL talent on that team. If you don't think Moeaki meant a LOT to that offense you are crazy. I like Reisner but Moeaki he was not.

I don’t put a ton of stock in the defections because quite frankly Iowa has the 2nd most NFL alumni in the Big 10. We have grown accustomed to replacing talent.

The emboldened however is something I am very concerned with…..that will be the key to THIS coming season in my mind. The talent is there. I am honestly glad about the turnover. With it sometimes comes renewed enthusiasm and competition to prove ones worth.

Chad
 
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I don’t put a ton of stock in the defections because quite frankly Iowa has the 2nd most NFL alumni in the Big 10. We have grown accustomed to replacing talent.

The emboldened however is something I am very concerned with…..that will be the key to THIS coming season in my mind. The talent is there. I am honestly glad about the turnover. With it sometimes comes renewed enthusiasm and competition to prove ones worth.

Chad

This is true, but I don't think Iowa has seen anything of this magnitude with this much "special" talent.

Bulaga- 1st round OT- Reiff is great, but put those 2 together and wowsa
Moeaki- best FB player KF has ever coached-- KF said it
Angerer- Emotional leader and talented
Edds- One heck of an OLB. right up there with Greenway
Spievey- SHUTDOWN corner- Parker said the best he's had at Iowa
Calloway- Had to break in another new tackle


Iowa hasn't had to replace talent like this ever before.
 


This is true, but I don't think Iowa has seen anything of this magnitude with this much "special" talent.

Bulaga- 1st round OT- Reiff is great, but put those 2 together and wowsa
Moeaki- best FB player KF has ever coached-- KF said it
Angerer- Emotional leader and talented
Edds- One heck of an OLB. right up there with Greenway
Spievey- SHUTDOWN corner- Parker said the best he's had at Iowa
Calloway- Had to break in another new tackle


Iowa hasn't had to replace talent like this ever before.



Maybe but we are more talented NOW than we have ever been either.

To start with this group was very good…………


2004 draft class…..2003 season

1 2 2 Robert Gallery Raiders T
2 12 44 Bob Sanders Colts DB
3 2 65 Nate Kaeding Chargers K
7 29 230 Jared Clauss Titans DT
7 36 237 Erik Jensen Rams TE

2003 draft class-2202 football season…….

1 24 24 Dallas Clark Colts TE
2 1 33 Eric Steinbach Bengals G
2 18 50 Bruce Nelson Panthers C
5 5 140 Derek Pagel Jets DB
5 16 151 Ben Sobieski Bills G

2-1st rounders, 3-seconds and a 3rd…..Several Pro-bowlers in the lot and we still went on to a 10 win season the next year. More importantly they have 6 plus NFL draft picks on the team for next year and more than that as under-classmen.

Chad
 


I think that a lot of the deal still boils down to injuries ... particularly at LB and at RG.

If Tarp, Nielsen, and Hunter remain healthy throughout the '10 season ... then we have a mighty talented and pretty-darn experienced group of LBs then. All the team then has to do is shore up our early-season special teams woes and allow for Hyde to purge himself of "green" errors ... and then the D will be enough to bank on through the latter part of the season.

Instead, Hyde gets over his "greenness" only to have our coverage take a HUGE hit with Tarp and Nielsen out. That's simply too much pressure to put on the DL ... particularly when they're playing against Os that are still throwing max-pro at them most of the time. They just don't have the time to get to the QB. The result is long-sustained drives at the end of the game ... and that is a PREDICTABLE consequence.

Furthermore, it could be argued that we could have shouldered some of the injuries at LB if we had a bit more production on O. And, in my eyes, that statement is mostly true. However, IMO, a big part of the equation there is that we have to recognize that the OL had to fill a lot of big shoes from the prior season. Consequently, when you get hit by two big injuries at the same spot ... that tends to undermine the whole unit. Heck, considering that Boffeli was dinged too and he was capable of playing at the RG spot ... I'd argue that we were down 3 guys who could have played the RG spot. Not to marginalize Koeppel, but he was a good player who was a bit undersized. Ordinarily that wouldn't necessarily be the biggest issue ... however, he was also playing alongside an undersized C and an undersized RT. As a result, Stanzi had to run for his life a bit more than any of use would have liked ... and that really impacted his production and decision making in the latter part of the season.

If Iowa could have banked more on its running game in the latter part of the season, then we don't lose to a number of the teams that we ended up losing to. I'm willing to bet that we wouldn't have lost to Northwestern or Minnesota. Stanzi would have never felt forced to throw that fateful pick that changed the entire momentum of the game against Northwestern ... and Iowa would have been able to control the pace of the game against Minny.

Quite frankly, if you were to pinpoint the biggest loss due to graduation ... I'd probably say that it was Angerer. And, what's funny is that it wasn't even his play that was as missed as the leadership he brought to the table. Angerer played the "enforcer" role on the team ... and guys who crossed him were set straight (whether they liked it or not). People don't always like the "enforcer" ... but the "enforcer" tends to keep the ship in the right direction, even when adversity strikes.
 
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I think that a lot of the deal still boils down to injuries ... particularly at LB and at RG.

If Tarp, Nielsen, and Hunter remain healthy throughout the '10 season ... then we have a mighty talented and pretty-darn experienced group of LBs then. All the team then has to do is shore up our early-season special teams woes and allow for Hyde to purge himself of "green" errors ... and then the D will be enough to bank on through the latter part of the season.

Instead, Hyde gets over his "greenness" only to have our coverage take a HUGE hit with Tarp and Nielsen out. That's simply too much pressure to put on the DL ... particularly when they're playing against Os that are still throwing max-pro at them most of the time. They just don't have the time to get to the QB. The result is long-sustained drives at the end of the game ... and that is a PREDICTABLE consequence.

Furthermore, it could be argued that we could have shouldered some of the injuries at LB if we had a bit more production on O. And, in my eyes, that statement is mostly true. However, IMO, a big part of the equation there is that we have to recognize that the OL had to fill a lot of big shoes from the prior season. Consequently, when you get hit by two big injuries at the same spot ... that tends to undermine the whole unit. Heck, considering that Boffeli was dinged too and he was capable of playing at the RG spot ... I'd argue that we were down 3 guys who could have played the RG spot. Not to marginalize Koeppel, but he was a good player who was a bit undersized. Ordinarily that wouldn't necessarily be the biggest issue ... however, he was also playing alongside an undersized C and an undersized RT. As a result, Stanzi had to run for his life a bit more than any of use would have liked ... and that really impacted his production and decision making in the latter part of the season.

If Iowa could have banked more on its running game in the latter part of the season, then we don't lose to a number of the teams that we ended up losing to. I'm willing to bet that we wouldn't have lost to Northwestern or Minnesota. Stanzi would have never felt forced to throw that fateful pick that changed the entire momentum of the game against Northwestern ... and Iowa would have been able to control the pace of the game against Minny.

Quite frankly, if you were to pinpoint the biggest loss due to graduation ... I'd probably say that it was Angerer. And, what's funny is that it wasn't even his play that was as missed as the leadership he brought to the table. Angerer played the "enforcer" role on the team ... and guys who crossed him were set straight (whether they liked it or not). People don't always like the "enforcer" ... but the "enforcer" tends to keep the ship in the right direction, even when adversity strikes.


The truest statement I have seen and the true indictment of last season. If we find that next year we win a lot of games and finish top 10. If not it’s another 7 or 8 win campaign.

Chad
 




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