Forgot How Bad Christensen Was

[DP5555]

Title says it all. BTN is running a replay of Iowa's win against Michigan State in 2007. Holy **** Christensen was awful. He has like 2 total completions going into the 4th quarter! He had multiple overthrows, missed screen passes, and he clearly tries way too hard to throw a bullet pass every time he releases the ball. Even when I know Iowa is going to win the game it's painful to watch. The Hawks won that game despite him. Their defense and running game feauturing AY won it. I sincerely believe I could have led the Hawks to a win that day as QB. So far he's completed like 2 passes that were both less than 10 yards, and neither resulted in a first down.

Could someone please remind me why in the hell was he playing? It's mind blowing to me being reminded how bad he was.

 

[tksirius]

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Ugliest looking pass I've ever seen...almost uncatchable.

Two other observations;

1. Iowa's D could pursue and hit. Wow, I miss that
2. Albert Young was a stud.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

just a prime example of Loyalty trumps Talent at Iowa!

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

1. Iowa's D could pursue and hit. Wow, I miss that

IOWA Defensive players loved the game Norm taught and they bought in 100%. They genuinely love and would do anything for Norm. That was the Norm Effect! Norm was the glue to the success at Iowa.

 

[trj]

Title says it all. BTN is running a replay of Iowa's win against Michigan State in 2007. Holy **** Christensen was awful. He has like 2 total completions going into the 4th quarter! He had multiple overthrows, missed screen passes, and he clearly tries way too hard to throw a bullet pass every time he releases the ball. Even when I know Iowa is going to win the game it's painful to watch. The Hawks won that game despite him. Their defense and running game feauturing AY won it. I sincerely believe I could have led the Hawks to a win that day as QB. So far he's completed like 2 passes that were both less than 10 yards, and neither resulted in a first down.

Could someone please remind me why in the hell was he playing? It's mind blowing to me being reminded how bad he was.

Maybe this is unfair, but you would think having a Dad that played quarterback in the NFL he would have been able to spin it better. He just didn't have a feel or touch in throwing the football. At times I think he had Mackey Sasser/ Steve Sax disease.

The No. Illinois game where he filled in for Tate must have been a fluke after that game I thought was JC was going to be special.

 

[PCHawk]

I try every day to forget how bad he was. How do you do it?

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

i have a question, why the hell does BTN keep showing that freaking game. It's an awful game. JC is terrible, the game is pretty boring, after you have seen it once or twice or five times. Geez, think about all the games they could show, 7 got 6 against MSU.

JC really tested his receivers...I like to think he made them better by forcing them to make circus catches with ankle biters and overthrows, or the blistering fastball from 5 feet.

 

[trj]

IOWA Defensive players loved the game Norm taught and they bought in 100%. They genuinely love and would do anything for Norm. That was the Norm Effect! Norm was the glue to the success at Iowa.

I am embarrassed to say, but I did not buy into NP until '04. In fact, I wanted him gone after the '02 ISU disaster. I simply thought he was a by-product of coaching under Perles/Widenhofer. Obviously, I was wrong, now more than ever it is pretty easy to see that he was definitely the glue for the Iowa success under Ferentz.

 

[PCHawk]

I am embarrassed to say, but I did not buy into NP until '04. In fact, I wanted him gone after the '02 ISU disaster. I simply thought he was a by-product of coaching under Perles/Widenhofer. Obviously, I was wrong, now more than ever it is pretty easy to see that he was definitely the glue for the Iowa success under Ferentz.

I understand what you're saying. His defense was overly conservative (image that under Kirk huh) which drove me nuts. I always thought with the talent they had, especially in '08 and '09, they could have given our offense a lot more opportunities if they were more aggressive trying to get off the field.

 

[trj]

I understand what you're saying. His defense was overly conservative (image that under Kirk huh) which drove me nuts. I always thought with the talent they had, especially in '08 and '09, they could have given our offense a lot more opportunities if they were more aggressive trying to get off the field.

I for one like the fact that PP is more aggressive on D than NP was. The downside seems to be that the fundamentals have slipped. Tackling and guys simply being out of position, especially by the back 7 has been really inconsistent since PP took over. Under NP guys may have lacked talent and/or experience, but it was rare when they had just simple fundamental breakdowns.

Schematically, there was definitely room for debate, but for teaching the fundamentals, teaching the game, NP was one of the best.

 

[clim]

Jake c was brutal. Holy smokes. Still hard to watch.

 

[PCHawk]

Jake c was brutal. Holy smokes. Still hard to watch.

What's dumb is people use the JC RS situation as an example of how fans always think the backup is better.

 

[DP5555]

I try every day to forget how bad he was. How do you do it?

I was in the Army at the time. I didn't get to see all of the games, and when I did see them I had far too much to drink so my memory of his is pretty vague. That game gave me some flashbacks.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

I for one like the fact that PP is more aggressive on D than NP was. The downside seems to be that the fundamentals have slipped. Tackling and guys simply being out of position, especially by the back 7 has been really inconsistent since PP took over. Under NP guys may have lacked talent and/or experience, but it was rare when they had just simple fundamental breakdowns.

Schematically, there was definitely room for debate, but for teaching the fundamentals, teaching the game, NP was one of the best.

well put. Norm was special, in a number of ways. He really knew how to teach defense and his players both loved and respected him.

 

[uihawk82]

just a prime example of Loyalty trumps Talent at Iowa!

Who else could have played QB in '07? was stanzi a true or redshirt frosh, was Arvell Nelson still there?

Jake C was awful, terrible.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Who else could have played QB in '07? was stanzi a true or redshirt frosh, was Arvell Nelson still there?

Jake C was awful, terrible.

Either option would've been better. JC is the worst ever at Iowa

 

[Knight78]

Just to refresh, Jake Christensen was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school. He was the top player in Illinois his senior year, first team all state, and got all American notice from Rivals, USA Today and Parade Magazine. He played in the US Army All American Bowl as a senior in high school. He threw for over 6000 yards and 69 TDs in his HS career.

Yes, I agree that his career at Iowa was pretty bad, but as a coach you kind of give leeway to a kid with those credentials hoping he'll find his groove again; he just never found it at Iowa.

 

[hawkeye4life68]

Either option would've been better. JC is the worst ever at Iowa

My favorite JC moment. 2007 at Northwestern. Iowa runs a bootleg to JC's strong side and sneaks Tom Busch out of the backfield into the flats wide open. It's not a deep bootleg so JC and Busch are maybe only 4-5 yards away from each other and JC proceeds to spike the ball into the ground at Busch's feet.......one yard short of him.

Kirk playing him over a cadaver in 2008, much less a future NFL QB, trying to implode the 2008 season needlessly ranks second behind Banks/McCann 2001 on the all-time moron personnel decisions list.

 

[Hawknick]

Starting Kyle McCann in 2001 was not a bad idea. He second in the Big 10 in passing efficiency that year, and lead the big 10 in pass completion %.