Further Improvement

[okeefe4prez]

As an OC, all you can do is put your players in a position to succeed, and they have to do the rest. There were multiple times yesterday where the Hawks were set up for success and just couldn't make the play.

McNamara missed Anderson long, and another time he had a wide open Vines and he missed him short (Vines was interfered with, but they weren't calling that all game). I am pretty sure those misses had a lot to do with limited practice reps, hopefully he gets healthier soon (I am not opposed to him sitting W. Michigan to get that thing healed).

Johnson had several runs where he was one-on-one in space, and he got taken down. I thought that one at the end was particularly bad, that was a really well blocked play, and he just needed to beat one guy. Had he bounced instead of angling off the edge, there is no way that guy gets him.

We ran a nice WR screen to Vines on our last FG drive, and though it got 8 or so, it would have been a TD had he made 1 guy miss in space.

Several plays later, we got exactly the look we wanted on the TE scissors, but someone screwed up the depth and our guys ran into each other.

We have way too many plays where our OL run right past defenders screaming to the ball carrier.

Despite the poor offesnive production, I came away from the game cautiously optimistic. So often last year, it did not seem like there were any plays to be made. This year, there were plays to be made, we just aren't making them yet. I think we can get there. I would love to see aboutt 75 snaps vs. W. Michigan, that would really help our O get in a groove.

Excellent post. This is a team that is really close. The plays that we missed are the sorts of plays that I believe we will hit when we need them. After watching Stanley and Petras overshoot wide open guys for the past 6 years, I am freaking over the moon with what we have right now. My God, if we win that Penn State game the sky is gonna be the limit for this team. They are going to be downright salty by October and November.

 

[InGoodCo]

I so sick of hearing about the offense, it's been a lot better. Iowa won Saturday how it's won so many times. Iowa went up 17-0 in that game and they just weren't going to lose at that point unless they turned the ball over. If Iowa gets up like that on any team, they aren't going to score a ton more but rather salt it away and give themselves the best chance to leave with a W. So, we didn't score much or move the ball much after they got up early, much like the Utah State game. We're all talking about how they are 63-2 if they lead a game by 8 points or more at any point. Do you think our coaches don't know that? Whatever they score (especially once they get up) doesn't change the fact that they controlled pace, tempo and momentum in every phase of the game for it's entirety.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I so sick of hearing about the offense, it's been a lot better.

Dude, did you watch any of our games last year? Did you watch this game? There was no hope last year, but Saturday's game gives me a level of optimism I haven't felt in years. No expectations right now, line getting better, new QB that is still learning placement with new WRs, we have a guy who showed he can break a long run, the OC opened up the playbook a few times. There is no story other than the offense.

 

[InGoodCo]

Dude, did you watch any of our games last year? Did you watch this game? There was no hope last year, but Saturday's game gives me a level of optimism I haven't felt in years. No expectations right now, line getting better, new QB that is still learning placement with new WRs, we have a guy who showed he can break a long run, the OC opened up the playbook a few times. There is no story other than the offense.

Right, but instead of everyone noticing a clearly better offense with tons of upside and hope, that's not what is really happening here.

 

[InGoodCo]

Dude, did you watch any of our games last year? Did you watch this game? There was no hope last year, but Saturday's game gives me a level of optimism I haven't felt in years. No expectations right now, line getting better, new QB that is still learning placement with new WRs, we have a guy who showed he can break a long run, the OC opened up the playbook a few times. There is no story other than the offense.

Also, the "REAL" story here is Iowa's defense only giving up 13 and 14 points the last 2 weeks.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Also, the "REAL" story here is Iowa's defense only giving up 13 and 14 points the last 2 weeks.

No, the real story is that if we have an offense that can put up 24 points a game we will go 11-1 at worst because we have a team identity that we have had for decades based on salty defense, good special teams and field position. Are we going to have an Art Briles offense? No, but we may very well have one that can make us a very competitive team.

 

[InGoodCo]

No, the real story is that if we have an offense that can put up 24 points a game we will go 11-1 at worst because we have a team identity that we have had for decades based on salty defense, good special teams and field position. Are we going to have an Art Briles offense? No, but we may very well have one that can make us a very competitive team.

Yeah basically, it doesn't take a stretch to say that if this team continues to progress on O, they can have a 11-1 or 10-2 season and continue to up Grampa Kirk's win percentage down his twighlight years. Not going to do much for the narrative that Iowa is winning more games then ever tho

I mean, look at who's left.

W. Michigan at Home -
AT PSU - definitely could lose that and we'll likely not be favored
MSU with an interim coach
Purdue with a 1st year coach
WI with a 1st year coach that just lost to Washington St.
MN who I believe wont be great and Iowa has owned for a while
Northwestern with out Pat Fitz
Rutgers - could be tougher then expected IMO, but still should be able to win that at home.
IL who just lost to KS
Nebraska who is 0-2 with a first year HC

 

[dagdaj]

Northwestern with out Pat Fitz

Crowd-wise, I'm betting this one's a home game for us, too.

I mean. Being that IC is the westernmost suburb of Chicago and this one's at Wrigley.
I'm guessing there's a lot of alums in the area that wouldn't bother trekking to Evanston but would hit up Wrigley.

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

Yeah basically, it doesn't take a stretch to say that if this team continues to progress on O, they can have a 11-1 or 10-2 season and continue to up Grampa Kirk's win percentage down his twighlight years. Not going to do much for the narrative that Iowa is winning more games then ever tho

I mean, look at who's left.

W. Michigan at Home -
AT PSU - definitely could lose that and we'll likely not be favored
MSU with an interim coach
Purdue with a 1st year coach
WI with a 1st year coach that just lost to Washington St.
MN who I believe wont be great and Iowa has owned for a while
Northwestern with out Pat Fitz
Rutgers - could be tougher then expected IMO, but still should be able to win that at home.
IL who just lost to KS
Nebraska who is 0-2 with a first year HC

You are right, but anyone else feel better about Michigan State BEFORE the interim coach got involved?

 

[kicker22]

We've scored on back to back drives to open two games, I'm pretty ecstatic about that. That shows that the scripted plays that they work on in practice are starting to stick. Guys need to be patient, we have a bunch of new guys due to the portal and the QB missed significant practice time. The offense hasn't demonstrated incremental improvement like this at the beginning of a season in years. People should be thrilled.

I agree with this take and am equally as excited. However once we move off script it's back to the same old offense were all used to. I'm trying to be optimistic I really am, but it kills me to see those game opening scores fizzle into the murky performances were all accustomed to. My concern though lies in what happens when those scripted plays don't get us anywhere early. Then what? I want to believe in this offense, I really do, but I see the PSU game being either a chess match or a game of catch up and don't know that Brian is up for the task once he's off script.

 

[dagdaj]

I'm just here to say everything I said yesterday.
Which is pretty much everything I said all week after the UT State game.
Which isn't altogether different from everything I said after last season.
Which is only slightly different from what I said all last season.

At the moment, the big difference is I'm only saying "If......." about 50% of the offense.