Experience Level of Opposing BCS QBs: '10 vs '11 seasons

H

homerHAWKeye777

Well-Known Member
Combined Prior Years of Starts of opposing BCS QBs in 2010:
13.5 years of starting experience

Combined Prior Years of Starts of opposing BCS QBs in 2011:
7 years of starting experience

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SR QBs faced in 2010:
Arnaud (ISU) - Iowa won game
Tolzein (Wisky) - Iowa lost game
Weber (Minny) - Iowa lost game
Gabbert (Mizzou) - Iowa narrowly won game
Chappell (IU) - Iowa narrowly won game


SR QBs to be faced in 2011:
Cousins (MSU)
Persa (Northwestern)

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non-SR "precision passers" faced in 2010: (some subjectivity here)
Foles (Arizona) - Iowa lost game
Persa (Northwestern) - Iowa lost game
Cousins (MSU) - Iowa won game
Forcier (Mich) - Iowa narrowly won game

non-SR "precision passers" to be faced in 2011:
Sunseri (Pitt) [maybe a possible candidate]

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non-SR high-quality dual-threat QBs faced in 2010:
Pryor (tOSU) - Iowa lost game
Robinson (Mich) - Iowa was more handily winning the game when he went out


non-SR high quality dual-threat QBs to be faced in 2011:
Robinson (Mich)
Martinez (Neb)
Henry (Purdue) [maybe a possible candidate]

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non-SR "unknown" commodity QBs faced in 2010:
Bolden/McGloin (PSU) - Iowa won game


non-SR "unknown" commodity QBs to be faced in 2011:
Bolden/McGloin (PSU)
Tiller/Jantz (ISU)
Marve (Purdue)

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A Few Remarks:

- There is a definite correlation between the experience level of the QB or the quality of passer AND the level of success of the opponent that against our D.

- A striking observation is that Iowa faces surprisingly few SR QBs in 2011. Furthermore, the total experience of the opposing QBs facing Iowa in '11 is nearly half of what it was in '10.

- Iowa faces more dual-threat QB-types in 2011. Provided that Norm can remain healthy, who doesn't like Iowa's chances of being able to render such teams 1-dimensional? A classic problem of most dual-threat QBs is that they're not always good enough passers to win games through the air.

- Cousins is the only QB Iowa faces with more than 1 year of starts under his belt.

- When healthy, Persa is arguably the most dangerous QB Iowa will face. However, Persa still needs to fully recover from his leg injury from last year (although rehab has reportedly gone very well for him).
 


All good Homer. If there is one lasting memory of the 2010 season, it's me sitting in my den screaming at the TV saying, he just didn't make that play. Whether it was Foles in Arizona late in the fourth quarter on the long pass that was incredible (ok I was there that night in Arizona), or Persa (multiple times), or Pryor on 4th down, or Weber (yes Weber) finding some consistency, we faced QB's that simply played great games against us in 2010.

You can argue about our defensive strategy of not blitzing, but I think the fact that our linebackers were so green contributed to us sitting back in our base defense for much of these games. I'm hoping this year is different, especially against NW, because if Persa is back and healthy, we lose with that game plan again. I should add Chappel to this list also, but for a drop, he beat us also with just great play.

The fact is, I doubt it's even remotely possible we face the QB competition we faced last year and they make the kind of plays they made at critical junctures in the games. It's just not possible. I have to keep telling myself that to maintain sanity coming into the 2011 season.
 


Word out of NW's spring camp is that Persa's backups are struggling mightily.
Persa is sittiing out,and despite all the happy talk by Fitz about Persa being ahead of schedule, achilles heel tears are very tricky ,and often players never recover the quicks at all.
Persa will lose a step,and not be all the way back by mid-October,and for him,that step he loses will be the difference between escaping and getting crushed...many times.
Cousins will be tough....he is an Iowa legacy,after all...
 


WinOneThisCentury said:
All good Homer. If there is one lasting memory of the 2010 season, it's me sitting in my den screaming at the TV saying, he just didn't make that play. Whether it was Foles in Arizona late in the fourth quarter on the long pass that was incredible (ok I was there that night in Arizona), or Persa (multiple times), or Pryor on 4th down, or Weber (yes Weber) finding some consistency, we faced QB's that simply played great games against us in 2010.

You can argue about our defensive strategy of not blitzing, but I think the fact that our linebackers were so green contributed to us sitting back in our base defense for much of these games. I'm hoping this year is different, especially against NW, because if Persa is back and healthy, we lose with that game plan again. I should add Chappel to this list also, but for a drop, he beat us also with just great play.

The fact is, I doubt it's even remotely possible we face the QB competition we faced last year and they make the kind of plays they made at critical junctures in the games. It's just not possible. I have to keep telling myself that to maintain sanity coming into the 2011 season.
Click to expand...

WinOneThisCentury -

I wholeheartedly agree concerning the remark about the LBs. It not only forced us to simplify a little bit of what we do ... but it also put more pressure on the DL. And, the thing is that Iowa relies upon playing great TEAM D. Our Ds are at their best when guys are playing at 110% but also placing focus on doing THEIR JOBS.

Needless to say, between our inexperience at LB and having to extensively play 3rd stringers at LB (great Hawkeyes ... just not necessarily uber-talented ones), opposing Os were able to pick us apart on the short- to mid-range passing game (LBs in coverage) AND, once Nielsen went down, we weren't nearly as successful at setting the edge and stopping runs to the perimeter. If an opposing O can have those elements of their O "back" ... elements that usually aren't nearly as open against Iowa's D ... then all of a sudden opposing Os are converting more on 3rd down OR finding themselves in more favorable downs and distances against us.

Anyhow, I also agree that I definitely don't believe that we're going to see nearly as many QBs make the sorts of plays they made against us.

And, what is going to be all the more interesting about the above ... is that opposing Os are likely not going to be doing as much "max protect" against our D. Thus, the implication there is that Iowa will likely have to worry a little bit more about coverage ... however, our DL will be facing fewer blockers too. Thus, I think that our DL may very well end up surprising folks with regard to what sort of production they'll be able to put up.
 


JHHawk said:
Word out of NW's spring camp is that Persa's backups are struggling mightily.
Persa is sittiing out,and despite all the happy talk by Fitz about Persa being ahead of schedule, achilles heel tears are very tricky ,and often players never recover the quicks at all.
Persa will lose a step,and not be all the way back by mid-October,and for him,that step he loses will be the difference between escaping and getting crushed...many times.
Cousins will be tough....he is an Iowa legacy,after all...
Click to expand...

Cousins (MSU), Persa (NW), and Robinson (Mich) are the QBs who give me the most concern going into the 2011 season, in that order. Of course, if Persa is a step slower ... then I'm going to like our chances that much more because I think that Iowa's LBs are going to be a ton better in coverage. As for Denard Robinson, he primarily concerns me because Hoke has a great offensive mind ... and because Michigan has some awfully talented WRs.
 


homerHAWKeye777 said:
Cousins (MSU), Persa (NW), and Robinson (Mich) are the QBs who give me the most concern going into the 2011 season, in that order. Of course, if Persa is a step slower ... then I'm going to like our chances that much more because I think that Iowa's LBs are going to be a ton better in coverage. As for Denard Robinson, he primarily concerns me because Hoke has a great offensive mind ... and because Michigan has some awfully talented WRs.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, Michigan also has a good group of offensive linemen back, so they will run the ball very effectively under Hoke. That group last year wasn't huge, but they were extremely athletic. It will be interesting to see how he uses Robinson's running ability, but I believe he creates some mismatches for him someway in the running game (QB Draws/Options/Bootlegs). Robinson just has too much talent running to waste it under center in a prostyle offense. Watching what Hoke did at SDSU, he's going to have Michigan cranked up in the toughness area. San Diego State changed almost overnight to a very physical team...at least for their conference.

I'm just hoping Norm does more game planning for teams like NW...I'm not sure I can sit back and watch that again for an entire game. You have to be able to get early pressure to put pressure on the passing lanes quickly, and create errant throws and turnovers. You have to get ahead of these teams and put them behind the chains, and to force them to throw down the field. I believe he will change things up...history tells you something needs to change. It would also help if our offense scored 35 against them...maybe that's the answer.
 




Hopefully the coaches have learned their lesson and now know the way to beat Persa is to knock him out of the game with intense pressure. So what if he makes that weak-*** 7 yard dump, if he ends up with a concussion afterward.

Sitting back and letting him get comfortable is just plain suicide. Kill Him! Don't play soft and let him kill you!

I want to see Morris pancaking him until he wobbles off the field.
 


Homer-
Great post. I was just thinking about this very subject the other night, but you saved me from having to break it all down.
A combination of experienced QBs and inexperienced LBs is a recipe for disaster...and it showed.
Also, I agree with WinOne - the Hawk offense MUST be able to make long drives at the end of games. And the Hawks have to score more points against NW, Indiana, MN, etc. These teams fall apart when way down and the offense has to execute against smaller D's with Iowa's style. However, Iowa's O-line looks to be quite good which will certainly help with pounding the ball in the second half.
 


Also take into account, especially the Indiana and NW games; but the last 4 in general, that Our D held some pretty good O's to around 20 points but our offense just didn't score enough.

We held Indiana, who had one of the best QBs in the league as well as the best receiving corps, to just 13 points. Our O just didn't give us much. Up until that game we were averaging over 30 points a game and we only mustered 18.

While we have up 21 to NW who does have an efficient O, we only scored 17 on them.

One of the biggest factors all year was A-Rob's concussion that he got from the MSU game. Our O simply started to sputter after he was gone and simply not the same. He has a good running back who could run between the tackles, bounce outside, pass block effectively as well as pick up the blitz. As much as the LB injuries affected our D, A-Rob's injury greatly affected our O.


While we won't know about their D yet, Michigan will have a great offense. They return something like 10 starters on a very good O. It will be interesting to see how Hoke uses D-Rob but I'm guessing he'll do a pretty good job with him. They have experience along their line as well as the best WR Corps going into the season. They return their top 3 wideouts from last year in Hemmingway, Roundtree and Stonum. This will be a game where Ferentz needs to realize that if we get up by double digits, we can't completely back off. While we will still work to run the ball and control the clock, we would still need to call effective plays that move the chains and eat up clock while ultimately getting some more points.

Just my opinion.
 


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