Everyone, including me will be running naked in the streets if we win out. Is it possible, yes. Will it happen 50/50.
If it happens everyone backs away from the ledge. Heck even 7 wins buys the cap'n time.
I think the frustration is there is NO change week to week or half to half. It is like watching a slow motion train wreck.
Just deflating.
The idiots are out in full force today...We have lost to the #1,#6, defense in the nation, the $4 team in the nation, and another undefeated team....Use your brains people. Im not happy about it either, but ive got some perspective at least!
What a dick you are.
While I mostly agree. KF does have to take responsibility for any/all losses.
We would still have Michael Jackson around if he would have just watched tapes of Iowa football instead.
I just don't understand, the general consensus was a mediocre season. I think many thought 7-5 or 8-4 at best. Why now all of the sudden are expecting something different? You have a quarterback who didn't take a snap until this year. You have very few explosive offensive players and no speed. It takes years to develop a style or program. Ferentz has always been a ball control type of coach. For him to even open his ideology to Davis' style was likely difficult and a definitive change in how one recruits. Two years isn't enough time to get his type of players in the system.
We havebeen running Davis' offense. Its the same offense he ran at Texas. Short passes all the time. Short of the 1st down mark. This isnt new. He doesnt have the same type of athlete he had at Texas. Ruddock isnt Vince Young. we dont get the YAC.
And all the other stuff you saidn your post is an indication of a poor staff. Not a staff that has been around. Or at least not a staff with a coach that has been around for 15 years/ Very few explsive players? Why not? Develop a style or i program? Do you think Davis is re-inventing the wheel? We have players to run the read option. But i see the zone blocking run, short passing game that we always run. Davis isnt re-inventing anything. he is just adapting the style.
Iowa will never get a Vince Young type player. This staff doesnt think they can, so they dont try. 2* or 3* players they can red shirt and groom is what they look for. But the staff cant adapt. See; 2nd half wisconsin when Beathhard came in.
Nothing has changed. We will win 8 next year and everyone will orgasm about what a great season. Stupid. We need a new coach with fresh ideas.
This offense looks a lot like the old O'Keefe offense to me with a few wrinkles. This is what the head coach wants and he spoke to it coming into this season something to the effect that 'Greg now has a better understanding of what is needed'. That was lip service to he knows what I want. Yes we run 1-2 zone reads a game. Whoop-t-do. We throw a couple of short passes here and there. Again whoop-t-do. I got news for you so did O'keefe.
If you go back and actually look at our offensive rankings both yearly and within the B1G under KF you are going to find a ton of poor offensive teams.
Remember 2010? A number of the late game collapses down the stretch had to do with not scoring points in the second half and fourth quarters to close someone out. The defense got blamed. Sound familiar?
This is not a coordinator issue. This is a systematic program failure that has never been addressed.
We should be a power football team with a MASSIVE offensive line. It is what works in this conference given the lack of available skilled players and weather conditions. You attract a decent back or two because you have great o-lines. Mix in a tight-end or two and get lucky on a wide out from time to time and away you go. Wait is that not Wisconsin football? Works pretty well does it not. Yet we put out very poor offensive lines and when we face opponents with a pulse everything breaks down because we cannot control the line of scrimmage in the run game and cannot give the QB enough time. Hello look at our o-line in 2002, our best offensive year. Yes it was Wisky like. Go figure.
This offense looks a lot like the old O'Keefe offense to me with a few wrinkles. This is what the head coach wants and he spoke to it coming into this season something to the effect that 'Greg now has a better understanding of what is needed'. That was lip service to he knows what I want. Yes we run 1-2 zone reads a game. Whoop-t-do. We throw a couple of short passes here and there. Again whoop-t-do. I got news for you so did O'keefe.
If you go back and actually look at our offensive rankings both yearly and within the B1G under KF you are going to find a ton of poor offensive teams.
Remember 2010? A number of the late game collapses down the stretch had to do with not scoring points in the second half and fourth quarters to close someone out. The defense got blamed. Sound familiar?
This is not a coordinator issue. This is a systematic program failure that has never been addressed.
We should be a power football team with a MASSIVE offensive line. It is what works in this conference given the lack of available skilled players and weather conditions. You attract a decent back or two because you have great o-lines. Mix in a tight-end or two and get lucky on a wide out from time to time and away you go. Wait is that not Wisconsin football? Works pretty well does it not. Yet we put out very poor offensive lines and when we face opponents with a pulse everything breaks down because we cannot control the line of scrimmage in the run game and cannot give the QB enough time. Hello look at our o-line in 2002, our best offensive year. Yes it was Wisky like. Go figure.
The idiots are out in full force today...We have lost to the #1,#6, defense in the nation, the $4 team in the nation, and another undefeated team....Use your brains people. Im not happy about it either, but ive got some perspective at least!
See, thats the problem. Why would we need to take a HUGE step forward in a coaches 15th season? That doesnt make any sense. And your happy with 8 wins a season? Must be a Cubs fan. Thats BS. 8 wins a season? Thats a 500 record in the B1G. An average football conference.
Thats just wrong. And thats the thinking that keeps KF around. And keeps Barta around. "Oh, we improved this season. Forget about 4-8. That was just bad players (who KF recruited). We may be 6-6 and bowling. Yay. I get to go to a warm locating in December." Thats the problem. Raise your expectations. 10 wins in this conference should be attainable. Playing in the Championship game every year should be attainable. But not with the current staff. Because he had 3 great years in the early 2000s. Please.
This is a destination program. Time to get a new coach.
This is right on K.
I will add a wrinkle. I have no idea but my gut tells me there is some friction between GD and KF. I read a newspaper article before the season started, I can try and find it, but it was very clear from KF that he wanted to name a starter at QB and basically stick with him for the year. (Sound familiar?) GD was quoted then and after the season started that you don't know how a QB will respond until they were in game situations and he hoped that Beathard, he may have mentioned Sokol as well but I don't recall, would get that chance. My gut tells me that he was more open-minded about the QB race and was OK with not having a clear #1 until sometime after the season started.
KF can be so rigid and entrenched in his beliefs, not to mention risk/controversy averse, I can definitely see this as plausible.
I believe the focus of the newspaper article was comparing/contrasting the 3-way competition at QB this year with the year Hayden had the Hartlieb/McGwire/Poholsky competition. Hayden could have possibly handled that better but what you can't argue is that he was prepared to put the best player on the field that would help the team win regardless of class ranking etc. Period. Even if it ****** off certain players to the point of transferring. See Dan McGwire.
Hartlieb went into that season as the #3 QB and had to prove himself over and over but he eventually won the starting job because he was given opportunities to perform on the field during actual games. As we know he went on to break career passing records at Iowa.
Contrast that with how KF handled last year and Vandenberg etc. Ridiculous.
Also, are we having trouble gameplanning and making halftime adjustments because GD doesn't know exactly what KF wants? Or does KF meddle and give him too much information to process? Is HIS head spinning? Or is GD really this inept? KF can appear so inarticulate and non-committal, at least in his media appearances, that maybe this is who he really is and GD is befuddled?
But it is becoming increasingly clear that this offense is a mess. Strategy and play-calling seem so disjointed. The inability to adjust from half to half and game to game is just plain pathetic and weird.
The only time we looked like a promising offense was that first half against Ohio St. when we played to our personnel strength and went 3 TE formation. Probably not coincidental that we had two and not one week to prepare. Where did that go?
Why can't we make easy simple throws the norm for Rudock? Quick tosses to running backs for instance? Canzeri please? Line Powell up in the backfield and get him the ball quickly. Instead we require him to complete deep sideline patterns. Arm strength is not his strength. If he had gotten some actual game reps last year everyone including GD would have realized this and not called 3 scary deep sideline routes against N. Illinois. The last getting picked off costing us the game.
End of rant.
Your post is a really good post.
I agree that your hunch about some underlying disagreements are probably true. I do not know if you caught this prior to season but GD was questioned by a reporter about last year and not getting the backup some snaps and he replied very bluntly that they should have. I thought right then oh boy he will be called into KF's office the next day. It gave another reminder though of who calls the shots but lets the others be hung out to dry.
I am not anti or pro GD but I think this outrage with him by our fan base has been off the mark. First Texas fans blamed him but if you have noticed they have not done squat offensively across an entire season since he was shown the door. They brought a new hot shot right after him but what has that done? Was the problem him or something else which is very similar to our situation. Second he has a National Title ring and has been exposed to BIG TIME games and players. How many other coaches have that experience on this staff? Third he knows what big time players are and big time speed. No way he plays some of the guys in prominent roles we play if it were up to him.
There is something up because the deeper we have gone into the season this offense looks more like the old crusty one of many past seasons. The results are about the same as always also.