Former NW QB Shares why Cats are Besting the Hawks

[PCHawk]

I don't know that I've ever read the above... seriously stated by anyone. What I have read...is that "he's not doing everything he can to win". And that... has plenty of credence

The "trying to lose" thing cracks me up. I assume at some point someone said "what do you think he's trying to lose?" Then it took off from there.

 

[BSpringsteen]

It's tough to argue their approach given how excellent the defense has been most of the Parker years. For this one game, do u change who you are? I suspec t Kirk wouldn't do it. Or rather, did not.

Plenty of coaches/programs do. Those are the ones who are consistent Top 25 teams. You watch film, you make a gameplan based on who you are playing. Seems pretty simple to me.

 

[2xer]

Oh no, Jon. Are you impugning the coaching skills of Norm Parker? I've told morons this for years - Iowa loses to NU because we run the same dang defense virtually all the time and Northwestern knows exactly how to pick it apart like the typical virginal NU student picks the scabbed over acne off of his face. Yet O'Keefe got blamed for virtually every loss we ever suffered during his tenure. Fitz knows precisely how to just take that defense apart and keep our offense with its big o-linemen off the field so that his defense is still fresh in the fourth quarter when they need a stop. It disgusts me to say it, but Fitz is a far superior coach to Ferentz. Fitz is 50-39 in his tenure, which includes an abysmal first season where he was thrust into the head coaching job way too early when Coach Walker passed away. It bears repeating that during this same period, Ferentz is 51-38. It absolutely disgusts me that with our facilities, fan support, gigantic coaching staff budget, outrageous ticket prices, lax academic standards and uncanny ability to look the other way at many off the field transgressions there is so much parity in on the field performance between NU and Iowa.

Here are the point totals in all losses to NU since 1999.

21- 23
27-28
7-21
17-22
10-17
17-21

In almost all of the losses the loss can be blamed on the offense. And there are nothing in those scores that show me that the NU offense has the Iowa D "figured out."

 

[deanvogs]

NW, being full of smart nerds, figured out that if you execute against the bend and then break Normball D, you execute the team playing said D.

I've always said that the worst possible scenario for Norm's bend and then break D was 3rd and 7 against a smart, competent opponent, because they'd know there was gonna be a 10 yard cushion and they could convert with patience. NW had patience and competence, and convert they did. They took what the D gave them, all the way to the end zone.

I know Norm is a deity around here, but I hated and continue to hate that sh!t. A team only has to be competent at pitch and catch to drive it down the field and score. Can you imagine what would happen to that D in the NFL???

This is exactly it. Everyone else knows what NW knew, that Iowa was gonna bend and not break. The thing is very few teams can actually execute like NW does with a game plan specifically designed to combat this.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

JD - if you don't want people suggesting that KF isn't doing everything he can to win, you may want to avoid this topic. This was fairly embarrassing to read.

Fitz ripping off a monkeys head 5 years ago before a game in Iowa City is embarrassing to Iowa? In what way?

 

[hawkinn3]

I hope an Iowa LB hits him on the sideline and break his other leg.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

I'm not saying Fitz is a bad coach but he needs to get over the grudge against Iowa. It is time for him to move on.

I am a season ticket holder at Iowa and have seen a lot of fired up teams since 2004. I think it is pretty low when you say that the players/coaches don't get fired up for a game. I sat front row at the Iowa/Northwestern game last year and the better team won but you can't say Iowa didn't come to play. Also- bounces and injuries do come into play in football. Last year Northwestern was healthy all season and honestly that game was a lot closer than many people think. The blocked punt was the biggest difference in the game. A few years ago Iowa's starting qb went down in the game which killed us.

We will see what happens this year but if you go back the last 10 years I would say that all the Northwestern/Iowa games have all been pretty darn close. IMO I don't think one team is out scheming the other team. I think it is a healthy rivalry game and an all out battle each time they play each other.

I do think it is funny that your boy Fitz had to make up a story to get his team fired up. That's why I think he's a nerd!

Time will tell if NW can handle being the hunted and not the hunter. I know that Iowa stinks at it!

No, it wasn't. That game was a straight up ***-kicking. It wasn't as one sided as the Michigan or Penn State games, but it wasn't really competitive either.

 

[DP5555]

The "trying to lose" thing cracks me up. I assume at some point someone said "what do you think he's trying to lose?" Then it took off from there.

No fellas. OOTH actually said he thought Ferentz was TRYING to lose the Nebraska game last year because he didn't want to "look stupid" by winning or something to that effect. Don't ask me to explain it, but it was said. After it was said it was then argued about for probably 6 pages of worthless nonsense. Basically it consisted of OOTH trying to explain himself.... which eventually led to him claiming that what he really meant by saying he thought KF was trying to lose is "KF wasn't playing to win" which is what people are saying here (and is much more justifiable).

I'm one of those you KF haters throw into the kool-aid drinking category, and I won't argue with anything that's been said here. It's been common knowledge for quite some time that NW consistently gives Iowa's defense fits because they are one of the few teams that are willing to do exactly what Bacher said, take what the defense gives them. It's not rocket science, and none of this news should be groundbreaking. Iowa's defense thus far in the KF era has always been willing to give up short passes underneath the coverage. Fortunately for Iowa, most teams aren't patient enough to keep doing it. Northwestern has been because that's the way their offense is built.

I know for a fact KF is stubborn as hell, but I do believe he's finally started to make changes. Certainly on the offensive side of the ball, but we'll see about the defensive side. Thank god we get to find out in just a few days because this offseason needs to end pronto.

 

[trj]

I hope an Iowa LB hits him on the sideline and break his other leg.

I probably shouldn't be laughing at this, but it did for some odd reason......I am going to h*lll, now.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I know you have your bit you like to play here but your nw fetish is sad.
NW in the years of fitz have one bowl win to their name.
multiple embarassing preseason losses. Where was the desire to win against 3-9 army or 1-11 duke.
No big ten or division titles. One top 25 :finish.
His 2011 team finished below 500.
Fiz has admitted that beating iowa gets him off.

Being focussed and constantly boasting about his disdain for iowa has gotten him a 50-39 record with one bowl win in 8 seasons.

His scheme beats iowa and until last year that was about all he had. Good coach not awe inspiring.

Fitz has been there 7 seasons, this is his 8th. The guy took over a Big Ten head coaching job at 31 years of age after Walker died weeks before the season began. To put this in perspective, this would be like Cap'n passing away unexpectedly right before the 2014 season and Brian Ferentz taking over the team. Do you think he'd be ready? In addition, the guy has worse fan support than Iowa State with attendance that might be 2/3rds of what Iowa State gets because unlike Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, OSU, etc., Northwestern has NO legacy fans who are fans by birthright like most of us. And they play in the crappiest of crappy stadiums.

Yet despite all of that and despite his crappy bowl record, if he beats Cal on Saturday and Iowa loses to NIU (both of which are distinct possibilities), he and Ferentz will have an identical record during Fitz's tenure. As he has cycled in his own recruits, the teams have gradually improved save for the latter stretch of 2010 and 2011 when Persa was hurt. And oh yeah, let's not forget that Fitz managed to do something that no other Big Ten coach has done, he won on the road in Lincoln. You see, you think Fitz is obsessed with Iowa. He ain't. He rolled his boys into Ann Arbor last year and took them to OT in what required a Michigan Miracle. He lost to Nebraska by a freaking point. Sure, he was obsessed with Iowa because he saw beating them as the stepping stone to take over the top of the second tier in the conference, but he has moved on. Now, he wants his program to be on par with the Michigan and Nebraska. He's done with Iowa. And to bolster his brand, dude has actually signed up to play Notre Dame because he is confident that is where his program will be in a few years. Maybe Ferentz can string together a few decent games against Iowa State again.

Next, let's look at the Fulmer Cup Standings. No, never mind, let's not.

 

[okeefe4prez]

This is exactly it. Everyone else knows what NW knew, that Iowa was gonna bend and not break. The thing is very few teams can actually execute like NW does with a game plan specifically designed to combat this.

You know I love you dean, but this simply isn't the case anymore. Norm's defense was great with the old guard of coaches in the Big Ten. But it is awful against the new crop. That is why we are having problems with Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue in addition to Northwestern. That is why directional Michigan schools beat us. The spread has percolated down to a lot of high school teams now and there are plenty of 2 or 3 star QBs who are content to sit back and take a handful of yards at a time. The defense is such that unless you have a Roth or Clayborn up front and a very solid LB corps to cover the slot guys as well as provide run support, it's gonna be a long day. We've seen a lot of those long days, like back in 2005 with the young d-line, in 2006 and 2007 with the LB dropoff after Greenway and Hodge left, in 2008 until the defense began to gel (recall Juice looking like John Elway the week prior to us getting it together and beating PSU), 2010 when Edds and Angerer were gone and I don't even need to go into the last two years.

But with 3 senior LBs, I have a gut feeling we will be okay there and I suspect Davis or someone on the d-line is going to step up and we'll be pretty salty on defense. But then next year, with 3 new LBs, it could get ugly again. But this year's defense gives me cause for optimism.

 

[Easton]

Fitz has been there 7 seasons, this is his 8th. The guy took over a Big Ten head coaching job at 31 years of age after Walker died weeks before the season began. To put this in perspective, this would be like Cap'n passing away unexpectedly right before the 2014 season and Brian Ferentz taking over the team. Do you think he'd be ready? In addition, the guy has worse fan support than Iowa State with attendance that might be 2/3rds of what Iowa State gets because unlike Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, OSU, etc., Northwestern has NO legacy fans who are fans by birthright like most of us. And they play in the crappiest of crappy stadiums.

Yet despite all of that and despite his crappy bowl record, if he beats Cal on Saturday and Iowa loses to NIU (both of which are distinct possibilities), he and Ferentz will have an identical record during Fitz's tenure. As he has cycled in his own recruits, the teams have gradually improved save for the latter stretch of 2010 and 2011 when Persa was hurt. And oh yeah, let's not forget that Fitz managed to do something that no other Big Ten coach has done, he won on the road in Lincoln. You see, you think Fitz is obsessed with Iowa. He ain't. He rolled his boys into Ann Arbor last year and took them to OT in what required a Michigan Miracle. He lost to Nebraska by a freaking point. Sure, he was obsessed with Iowa because he saw beating them as the stepping stone to take over the top of the second tier in the conference, but he has moved on. Now, he wants his program to be on par with the Michigan and Nebraska. He's done with Iowa. And to bolster his brand, dude has actually signed up to play Notre Dame because he is confident that is where his program will be in a few years. Maybe Ferentz can string together a few decent games against Iowa State again.

Next, let's look at the Fulmer Cup Standings. No, never mind, let's not.

Your skin and your bit you insist on playing here are thin. People who play up a bit are tiresome.

Fitz and his boys have one bowl win and no titles.
You want to compare with ferentz at same point we should see two titles and two bcs as well as multiple bowl wins. You can try and rationalize how you want but he has accomplished less in same time window.

By way walker left twice the talent that ferentz inherited. Once again good coach but not elite and he still has nothing to show for his iowa boner.

Good try on fulmer cup. That was almost pertinent to argument. Bit fail there.

 

[hawkfan340]

Your skin and your bit you insist on playing here are thin. People who play up a bit are tiresome.

Fitz and his boys have one bowl win and no titles.
You want to compare with ferentz at same point we should see two titles and two bcs as well as multiple bowl wins. You can try and rationalize how you want but he has accomplished less in same time window.

By way walker left twice the talent that ferentz inherited. Once again good coach but not elite and he still has nothing to show for his iowa boner.

Good try on fulmer cup. That was almost pertinent to argument. Bit fail there.

Different time windows. KF has been here almost twice as long as Fitz.

 

[hawkfan340]

Your skin and your bit you insist on playing here are thin. People who play up a bit are tiresome.

Fitz and his boys have one bowl win and no titles.
You want to compare with ferentz at same point we should see two titles and two bcs as well as multiple bowl wins. You can try and rationalize how you want but he has accomplished less in same time window.

By way walker left twice the talent that ferentz inherited. Once again good coach but not elite and he still has nothing to show for his iowa boner.

Good try on fulmer cup. That was almost pertinent to argument. Bit fail there.

Also, to ignore the vastly different resources at disposal between the two coaches is silly. Academic standards and recruiting barriers are also pertinent to a fair comparison. To not recognize these shows a lot of bias.

 

[Easton]

Also, to ignore the vastly different resources at disposal between the two coaches is silly. Academic standards and recruiting barriers are also pertanent to a fair comparison. To not recognize these shows a lot of bias.

Add that and subtract the recruiting area that they possess over Iowa. Stanford seems to be able to hit the bcs despite higher academic standards. Or does that not fit because of some other reason.

 

[Easton]

Different time windows. KF has been here almost twice as long as Fitz.

Read okeefe post about same record. I assumed he was referring to first 8 years. Maybe I was wrong but his post was not clear.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Add that and subtract the recruiting area that they possess over Iowa. Stanford seems to be able to hit the bcs despite higher academic standards. Or does that not fit because of some other reason.

Subtract the recruiting area? Evanston is just over 230 miles from Iowa City....we're not talking about Florida or Texas... they're in the same neighborhood, and the same recruiting area.

The difference in resources and academic requirements far, far outweighs any location advantage.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

Different time windows. KF has been here almost twice as long as Fitz.

Easton is comparing the first 8 years of their respective tenures.

 

[hawkfan340]

Add that and subtract the recruiting area that they possess over Iowa. Stanford seems to be able to hit the bcs despite higher academic standards. Or does that not fit because of some other reason.

Standford also has vastly more resources than NW. But besides that, I would argue that Harbaugh is a better coach than either KF or Fitz by a wide margin. (I have been surprised that Shaw has been able to keep things going, and I think they will fade sometime soon. Maybe he'll prove me wrong.)

Even though NW would like to lock down Chicago, they really have no greater ownership of it than Iowa or several other B1G teams. We recruit similar geographies to my knowledge.

 

[JonDMiller]

Here are the point totals in all losses to NU since 1999.

21- 23
27-28
7-21
17-22
10-17
17-21

In almost all of the losses the loss can be blamed on the offense. And there are nothing in those scores that show me that the NU offense has the Iowa D "figured out."

There is no doubt. IMO the biggest failure of the KF era is how he's treated/managed the offense