Greg Davis - Mr. Lightning Rod

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WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
Ok, I was willing to give him a second chance and see what he does this year based on the first year and injuries last year. However, what he did yesterday just scares the crap out of me. He took a game that was going exactly as Iowa wanted (first half pounding the running game), and turned it to what NIU wanted. Iowa relying on their passing game and a QB with no experience, going three and out to keep their defense on the field, and keeping Lynch on the field.

I can see going to the passing game if we kept finding ourselves in 2nd and long and 3rd and long, pass all day Greg. But we were in 3rd and short three times in the second half, and he chose to pass the ball...which goes against the first half success and what was our gameplan, at least it appeared to be, and it was working. At the end of the first half, NIU's defensive line was gassed and done. When you have a OL coming off a dominant first half (302 yards), it's moronic to do what he did. There is no other word to describe it. NIU's coaches are thanking him this morning. His decisions cost us that game yesterday...plain and simple.

That was the worst play calling I've ever seen...period.

One other note...stop doing that hurry up crap to get to the line of scrimmage for a third and short. With what our OL was doing...it's not necessary...and if you can't line up and get a yard 90% of the time, more than likely you aren't going to win that game. Line up and execute. I've seen so many procedure penalties with us doing that it's crazy. It wasn't necessary yesterday.
 
oh...and there is something called two down territory for teams with a good running game. When have we ever done that. In any of those situations where we were 3rd and less than 4 yards, yesterday was definitely two down territory.

My personal feeling is that Brian Ferentz, the oline coach should have veto power when Greg Davis decides to pass on third and short.
 
Davis deserves the criticism... the horizontal passing game is ridiculous. Also intentionally throwing short of the sticks...hoping your guy will break the first tackle..? that's just what the D wants..and they are happy to keep our guys in front of them and not worry about deep.

But you can't leave out the Head Coach. OC's have their own style and system. But they run what the Head guy wants them to and allows them to. As long as KFz has his hands on the offense...we have a self-imposed ceiling. (O'Keefe took a lot of the heat that should have gone to KFz).

Kirk views offense as a way to control the game and keep the ball out of your opponent's hands. Most other Coaches view it as an opportunity to score every time you have the ball.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
Davis deserves the criticism... the horizontal passing game is ridiculous. Also intentionally throwing short of the sticks...hoping your guy will break the first tackle..? that's just what the D wants..and they are happy to keep our guys in front of them and not worry about deep.

But you can't leave out the Head Coach. OC's have their own style and system. But they run what the Head guy wants them to and allows them to. As long as KFz has his hands on the offense...we have a self-imposed ceiling. (O'Keefe took a lot of the heat that should have gone to KFz).

Kirk views offense as a way to control the game and keep the ball out of your opponent's hands. Most other Coaches view it as an opportunity to score every time you have the ball.
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So you think KF is wanting to pass in those situations. I think KF gave the entire set of keys to Greg Davis yesterday based on the fall out from last year. KF would have run every time in those situations, every time. I honestly think Brian Ferentz would call a better game. You could can Davis now and I don't think we miss a beat. Someone needs to be held accountable for those calls. They weren't just bad, they were atrocious. And for those of you who liked the deep ball to Powell on third and one. Wrong time. If we were going to do that, it should have been the first 3rd and 2 in the second half. After three straight three and outs, you can't gamble on a low percentage high reward. At that juncture, you had not gotten a first down on the two previous 3rd and short. A first down was absolutely critical...and he tries for the TD. Flat out stupid.

Our defense came out and got a bunch of three and outs, and we completely wasted them. The game was ours with the way our D came out in the second half, and the decisions Greg Davis made, cost us the chance to take control. Moronic...not just stupid...if there was a better superlative I'd use it. He went full ****** on us.
 
one thing you can't say: kf is mr. conservative. some of those calls should have been conservative. he is in a no-win situation with some fans. run 50 times, which should have happened, need to pass more. etc. that 3rd and 1 - would have been great had it connected, but to do that at that time means you should be willing to run on 4th and 1. That play needed to happen when it was 2nd and 1. But it wasn't 'conservative'.
 
Exactly, you don't take the shot with Powell, unless you have already made up your mind to go for it on fourth and one. I was absolutely stunned when the punt team hit the field. I had to run to the bathroom on that one...my turd didn't look like Jesus, it had a striking resemblance to Greg Davis.
 
Ok so we are going to play this game of let's point the finger at every one but the head coach.

I am sure Davis said you know we should really make our number 1 receiver Shumpert over Manley, Powell, Cotton and Smith
 
For years KF and his staff have been bashed for being too conservative and playing not to lose. I didn't love that call but the play was open and it almost worked. I give those guys credit for trying something different. If it had worked KF & GD would look a lot smarter today.

We aren't going to the Rose Bowl this year but yesterday was a lot more fun than the end of last year.
 
WayzataHawkeye said:
For years KF and his staff have been bashed for being too conservative and playing not to lose. I didn't love that call but the play was open and it almost worked. I give those guys credit for trying something different. If it had worked KF & GD would look a lot smarter today.

We aren't going to the Rose Bowl this year but yesterday was a lot more fun than the end of last year.
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I do agree in the fact that at least the long passes were something people stood up and took notice of yesterday and the product was better but still not good enough by any stretch.

If we hit that long one to Powell the game is over.. That was our chance and best chance instead of not trying to move it down the field without a massive screw up along the way.

What people do not get is 100 yds came on two plays in the first half.
 
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SpecialKHawk said:
I do agree in the fact that at least the long passes were something people stood up and took notice of yesterday and the product was better but still not good enough by any stretch.

If we hit that long one to Powell the game is over.. That was our chance and best chance instead of not trying to move it down the field without a massive screw up along the way.

What people do not get is 100 yds came on two plays in the first half.
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Did you not watch the first half? Our running game was dominant. We weren't ripping off big chunks, but we were consistently getting 5-7 yard gains. Our best chance to beat NIU was to continue the same tactic, occasionally taking the deep shot. Not third and one, when you had failed to convert two already...we needed to keep the ball on the ground and continue to punish the interior of that defense. The defense was done at halftime...a 3rd quarter of the same would have softened them up more. We didn't do it, and here we are. It's inexcusable. I have no problem with the deep ball to Powell...it was just at the wrong time and situation. We needed to pound and grind out first downs, not only to wear them down, but to keep our defense off the field against Lynch. The best defense is keeping Lynch on the bench watching.

Not to change the subject, but I think Canzeri and Daniels need to see the field. Bullock wasn't the Bullock I was expecting and he's going to see he missed opps in the run game...and the drop on the screen was inexcusable. Daniels, from what I saw in the scrimmage sees the hole and hits it full speed. Weisman looked ok, but at times hesitant to me. There were plenty of carries to go around yesterday. Find the hot guy and let him go.
 
One other thing Greg...when has anyone been concerned about KMM beating them deep. Why run an out to someone who can't get deep on his own in the first place. Wrong play, wrong personnel lined up in the wrong positions. If you had Powell on the outside...do you think that route gets jumped...or Smith, or Cotton...no, it doesn't. But with KMM on the outside, it was a jump waiting to happen.

Point the finger at Ruduck (you could say the curl or TE was the play), but we had the wrong personnel in the wrong positions. Inexcusable. I hope Rudock doesn't get down about this...his OC and Head Coach let him down.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Did you not watch the first half? Our running game was dominant. We weren't ripping off big chunks, but we were consistently getting 5-7 yard gains. Our best chance to beat NIU was to continue the same tactic, occasionally taking the deep shot. Not third and one, when you had failed to convert two already...we needed to keep the ball on the ground and continue to punish the interior of that defense. The defense was done at halftime...a 3rd quarter of the same would have softened them up more. We didn't do it, and here we are. It's inexcusable. I have no problem with the deep ball to Powell...it was just at the wrong time and situation. We needed to pound and grind out first downs, not only to wear them down, but to keep our defense off the field against Lynch. The best defense is keeping Lynch on the bench watching.

Not to change the subject, but I think Canzeri and Daniels need to see the field. Bullock wasn't the Bullock I was expecting and he's going to see he missed opps in the run game...and the drop on the screen was inexcusable. Daniels, from what I saw in the scrimmage sees the hole and hits it full speed. Weisman looked ok, but at times hesitant to me. There were plenty of carries to go around yesterday. Find the hot guy and let him go.
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I was there.

Our running game was not dominant, it was decent at best with no big gains. That was hardly a dominant performance. Dominant is when your O-Line is driving the line of scrimmage forward a couple of yards and the first contact your running back is getting is in the second level. There is also no penetration, absolutely zero, being allowed in your backfield. The subsequent effect is you are ripping off some 20-30+ runs if not taking it to the house. That's dominant. This was a marginal effort against a really crapping and under-sized defense. We did nothing of any substance until we threw a bomb to Powell for 50 yards. Then things picked up but it took another flea-flicker.

Wow... our fan base is delusional if they think we are watching big-time offensive line play. Has anyone watched a top-10 to top-20 program's o-line operate?

Again we are so conditioned to crap and what is spewed to us from the head coach and his cronnies that we cannot see through it. This whole 'gel' crap is all stuff that has been spewed to us to accommodate that fact that we suck and are not prepared half the time to start the year or to address the fact that we are always playing guys that are too small in the interior and they are taking turns getting blown up. That spew usually comes from the coaches mouth after a dismal performance against someone, typically ISU in the non-con.
 
SpecialKHawk said:
I was there.

Our running game was not dominant, it was decent at best with no big gains. That was hardly a dominant performance. Dominant is when your O-Line is driving the line of scrimmage forward a couple of yards and the first contact your running back is getting is in the second level. There is also no penetration, absolutely zero, being allowed in your backfield. The subsequent effect is you are ripping off some 20-30+ runs if not taking it to the house. That's dominant. This was a marginal effort against a really crapping and under-sized defense. We did nothing of any substance until we threw a bomb to Powell for 50 yards. Then things picked up but it took another flea-flicker.

Wow... our fan base is delusional if they think we are watching big-time offensive line play. Has anyone watched a top-10 to top-20 program's o-line operate?

Again we are so conditioned to crap and what is spewed to us from the head coach and his cronnies that we cannot see through it. This whole 'gel' crap is all stuff that has been spewed to us to accommodate that fact that we suck and are not prepared half the time to start the year or to address the fact that we are always playing guys that are too small in the interior and they are taking turns getting blown up. That spew usually comes from the coaches mouth after a dismal performance against someone, typically ISU in the non-con.
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300 pounds across the front isn't small when everyone of those guys is athletic. You need to watch the game again...I'll do the same. I didn't see alot of penetration on the running game. I did see backs occasionally get the least possible amount of yardage out a play. Bullock wasn't good yesterday. He was stumbling around and not hitting the hole well. How many times did they sack Rudock? Zero I think, right. The play where his arm was hit wasn't the OL's issue, he held the ball too long and should have escaped the pocket.

Part of the issue is that we didn't continue to do the work on these guys...we let them breathe and stay fresh in the second half. Serious, if we run on third down on any of those occasions...do you think they stop us once with the way the game was going at that point. I say no.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
300 pounds across the front isn't small when everyone of those guys is athletic. You need to watch the game again...I'll do the same. I didn't see alot of penetration on the running game. I did see backs occasionally get the least possible amount of yardage out a play. Bullock wasn't good yesterday. He was stumbling around and not hitting the hole well. How many times did they sack Rudock? Zero I think, right. The play where his arm was hit wasn't the OL's issue, he held the ball too long and should have escaped the pocket.

Part of the issue is that we didn't continue to do the work on these guys...we let them breathe and stay fresh in the second half. Serious, if we run on third down on any of those occasions...do you think they stop us once with the way the game was going at that point. I say no.
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Gladly. You are entitled to your opinion as am I but a team with a great O-line and O-line guru coach does not lose 7 straight including MAC teams and bad B1G teams.

A great o-line guru does not put out o-lines that routinely finish in the bottom third in the B1G in rushing yards.

What does this athletic lineman mean by the way? Is that code for we want small guys or can guys that are 6'5" or better be athletic?

Last time I checked there are NFL teams running zone blocking schemes but I do not see them drafting or playing small guys but maybe I am missing something.
 
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