Game 1 Thoughts

Agreed that Koehn was solid at kicker. The FG miss hurts, but his kickoffs were very good.

Kicking did not look any better to me than last year and I thought last year was weak. Therefore when you don't get better at it when it should have been a concern I point it out more.
 
Repeating other posts, but....

#1--Clock management once again was awful. Really awful. I don't get it.
#2--4th quarter, 4 minutes left and we can't get consecutive 1st downs to put a game away? Same as last year and it cost us last year.
#3--They need to TURN DOWN THE MUSIC....cripes....I couldn't talk to my neighbor when it was blaring. Awful.
#4--Nice to see the opposing fans spread out in the north endzone. No more cheering for their team in/out of the tunnel.
This has been an ongoing theme for quite some time now, not just last year.
 
At the end of the day we played a pretty solid well coached team. The mistakes are exposed when you play a team like that. We won the game and the coaches know exactly where to focus this week. We could've played a horrible team and blown them out, but we wouldn't have learned much. I think a game like this pays dividends later in the season. Or maybe I'm being too optimistic and should be worried that we struggled against an FCS team.
On a side note, the clock management continues to drive me nuts.
 
At the end of the day we played a pretty solid well coached team. The mistakes are exposed when you play a team like that. We won the game and the coaches know exactly where to focus this week. We could've played a horrible team and blown them out, but we wouldn't have learned much. I think a game like this pays dividends later in the season. Or maybe I'm being too optimistic and should be worried that we struggled against an FCS team.
On a side note, the clock management continues to drive me nuts.

I can't believe how we continue to get ourselves into situations where we have more timeouts than time left to use them. You would think sooner or later they would realize to start using them earlier. Like I mentioned in another thread, the general rule should be to call timeouts when you get tackled inbounds short of the first down marker.

I wonder if Kirk does it on purpose because he is so conservative that he is afraid to leave time for the other team in case we throw three incomplete passes in a row and have to punt. I don't think thats the case though because the same thing happens in games where we are behind at the end and need a score.
 
At the end of the day we played a pretty solid well coached team. The mistakes are exposed when you play a team like that. We won the game and the coaches know exactly where to focus this week. We could've played a horrible team and blown them out, but we wouldn't have learned much. I think a game like this pays dividends later in the season. Or maybe I'm being too optimistic and should be worried that we struggled against an FCS team.
On a side note, the clock management continues to drive me nuts.

I said during the game that this was KF's dream scenario. Tons of reps for his first team and some good competition at positions where starters were not quite settled.
 
Kicking did not look any better to me than last year and I thought last year was weak. Therefore when you don't get better at it when it should have been a concern I point it out more.

Meyer had 30 touchbacks in 68 kicks last year.

Koehn had 4 touchbacks in 6 kicks.

That is solid improvement.
 
This has been an ongoing theme for quite some time now, not just last year.

It’s such an odd problem to have. It’s almost embarrassing to hear the announcers shocked every game at how poorly we manage the clock. Heck, 10 year olds playing Madden know when to call timeouts. It has to be some sort of philosophy KF has, or maybe he just really wanted to see Koehn in that situation.
 
I think is some ways Iowa treated this game like a scrimmage. They had certain things they were going to work on and even though they respected UNI, Iowa's coaching staff felt that they were going to win.

This.........I think they would have preferred to NOT have to show as much on
Offense or Defense in the 2nd half, but did and executed well in 2nd half most of time.
 
Meyer had 30 touchbacks in 68 kicks last year.

Koehn had 4 touchbacks in 6 kicks.

That is solid improvement.

Here is how much one game matters...mike Meyer in 2013 had 6 kick offs against northern Illinois. 5 of them were touchbacks.

koehn could go zero for 4 next game and be at 40 percent for the year. It is too early to say he is better or worse. But I didn't see anything to say he was an improvement and 4 for 6 in one game isn't going to sway me. If he does that game after game than ok. He also is replacing a guy that was a mid 70s percent field goal kicker. So we need to get that from fgs and I didn't see an accurate leg. Could he prove me wrong? Yes...and I hope he does. But after one game the news I heard coming out of camp looks true, that the kicking game will be weak.
 
Here is how much one game matters...mike Meyer in 2013 had 6 kick offs against northern Illinois. 5 of them were touchbacks.

koehn could go zero for 4 next game and be at 40 percent for the year. It is too early to say he is better or worse. But I didn't see anything to say he was an improvement and 4 for 6 in one game isn't going to sway me. If he does that game after game than ok. He also is replacing a guy that was a mid 70s percent field goal kicker. So we need to get that from fgs and I didn't see an accurate leg. Could he prove me wrong? Yes...and I hope he does. But after one game the news I heard coming out of camp looks true, that the kicking game will be weak.


Ferentz is on record saying the kickers in camp had been a pleasant surprise. They both had a bad open practice, but that was the only negative. it's a stretch to say it was weak Saturday. Missed a field goal he should have made. His first start in a high pressure moment. He was crushing the ball on kickoffs and it will continue throughout the year, he has a bigger leg than Meyer.
 
It might not be popular to say this, but over all the most effective running back in this game was Damon Bullock. He caught four passes. A fifth sailed well over his head. He blocks well and is good in play action. Getting a few runs for 3 or 4 yards apiece is enough to keep the defense honest.

Until the right side of the line gets a little more effective at run blocking, Canzeri and Daniels will see their effectiveness diminished. Weisman can make a hole where there isn’t one, but he can only take so much wear and tear.
Being down to one fullback limits the number of times you will see the I formation, if they want to stay healthy.

Under the circumstances it wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see Bullock get a little more time in the backfield. Hopefully the run blocking on the right side starts to come around as the season progresses.
 
It might not be popular to say this, but over all the most effective running back in this game was Damon Bullock. He caught four passes. A fifth sailed well over his head. He blocks well and is good in play action. Getting a few runs for 3 or 4 yards apiece is enough to keep the defense honest.

Until the right side of the line gets a little more effective at run blocking, Canzeri and Daniels will see their effectiveness diminished. Weisman can make a hole where there isn’t one, but he can only take so much wear and tear.
Being down to one fullback limits the number of times you will see the I formation, if they want to stay healthy.

Under the circumstances it wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see Bullock get a little more time in the backfield. Hopefully the run blocking on the right side starts to come around as the season progresses.

My opinion is the polar opposite of yours. I only want to see Bullock on obvious third down passing situations. His runs were not very impressive on Saturday - slow and stumbling. He does a nice job receiving and blocking. Give the ball to Weismann, Daniels and Canzeri.
 

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