How absolutely frustrating....

SpiderRico

Well-Known Member
Have had a few days to digest the debacle of Saturday night and I still can't get my arms around how bad this team is performing and how obtuse KF is being regarding the QB position. Here are a few things to make you go "hmmmm".....

1. Bill O'Brien comes in to a horrible situation and on top of everything, the best running back and best wide receiver transfer out of the program. After taking a couple of games to settle in, his offense his humming along like a machine and he's taken a marginal, at best, QB in McGloin and turned him into an all-conference performer in one season. But somehow GD's offense is so complex that it's turned a 3,000yd/20+td QB and turned him into a pile of goo?

2. OSU loses their starting QB during a critical stretch of the game and their backup comes in and promptly marches them down the field. He looked poised and looked like someone that had taken reps both during practice and during the season and ran the 2 minute offense to perfection.

3. Wisky starts the season horribly and promptly fires their OL coach and demotes their star transfer QB and replaces with a redshirt freshman. They have turned their season around, the offense is humming and averaging about 30ppg, and they may end up in the Rose Bowl.....again.

4. Indiana.....lowly, no talent, Indiana.....manages to put up 49 points against OSU with a backup QB. Yet, we can barely manage to put up 2 tds in most games with our first team, 5th year senior, 22 game starting QB? For real?

5. Every other team in the conference has given their backup QB game reps either in blow out wins or blow out losses in order to prepare what is, supposedly, the future QB of their respective programs....yet our coach stubbornly refuses to even consider it even in the face of continual missed open receivers, interceptions, throws into the ground, sailing throws, poor mechanics, etc., and a game that was obvious after the 1st quarter and half and certainly 27 seconds into the 3rd quarter that we had no chance whatsoever to win.


This has now gone beyond the absurd and into the sublime. KFs hire of Greg Davis has been an unmitigated disaster.....it's turned a once above average QB and the consensus "best returning pocket passer" into an absolute shell of his former self. His refusal to even ATTEMPT to get meaningful game reps to any of the backups that are going to be the future of the program is beyond ********. No program in America operates their program this way. Even mighty Alabama, with a stud for a QB, has managed to get their backup reps because, you know, he'll have to do it at some point. It just makes no sense. Don Shumpert drops passes and he's yanked. Tanner Miller stinks it up at strong safety and is yanked. Mikael McCall fumbles his first game back and never sees the field again. On and on and on. Yet, here we have a QB who's obviously lost his mojo.....mechanics are gone, arm strength is gone, pocket presence is gone, ability to see the field is gone.....but let's keep trotting him out there because, you know, this next series might be the one where he gets it all back. KF coaches almost as if he has no fear for his job....like he must have a lifetime contract.....oh yeah, he does.
 
I can't argue any of that.

Unless our backups just really are that bad. Which REALLY scares the crap out of me for next year.
 
Have had a few days to digest the debacle of Saturday night and I still can't get my arms around how bad this team is performing and how obtuse KF is being regarding the QB position. Here are a few things to make you go "hmmmm".....

1. Bill O'Brien comes in to a horrible situation and on top of everything, the best running back and best wide receiver transfer out of the program. After taking a couple of games to settle in, his offense his humming along like a machine and he's taken a marginal, at best, QB in McGloin and turned him into an all-conference performer in one season. But somehow GD's offense is so complex that it's turned a 3,000yd/20+td QB and turned him into a pile of goo?

2. OSU loses their starting QB during a critical stretch of the game and their backup comes in and promptly marches them down the field. He looked poised and looked like someone that had taken reps both during practice and during the season and ran the 2 minute offense to perfection.

3. Wisky starts the season horribly and promptly fires their OL coach and demotes their star transfer QB and replaces with a redshirt freshman. They have turned their season around, the offense is humming and averaging about 30ppg, and they may end up in the Rose Bowl.....again.

4. Indiana.....lowly, no talent, Indiana.....manages to put up 49 points against OSU with a backup QB. Yet, we can barely manage to put up 2 tds in most games with our first team, 5th year senior, 22 game starting QB? For real?

5. Every other team in the conference has given their backup QB game reps either in blow out wins or blow out losses in order to prepare what is, supposedly, the future QB of their respective programs....yet our coach stubbornly refuses to even consider it even in the face of continual missed open receivers, interceptions, throws into the ground, sailing throws, poor mechanics, etc., and a game that was obvious after the 1st quarter and half and certainly 27 seconds into the 3rd quarter that we had no chance whatsoever to win.


This has now gone beyond the absurd and into the sublime. KFs hire of Greg Davis has been an unmitigated disaster.....it's turned a once above average QB and the consensus "best returning pocket passer" into an absolute shell of his former self. His refusal to even ATTEMPT to get meaningful game reps to any of the backups that are going to be the future of the program is beyond ********. No program in America operates their program this way. Even mighty Alabama, with a stud for a QB, has managed to get their backup reps because, you know, he'll have to do it at some point. It just makes no sense. Don Shumpert drops passes and he's yanked. Tanner Miller stinks it up at strong safety and is yanked. Mikael McCall fumbles his first game back and never sees the field again. On and on and on. Yet, here we have a QB who's obviously lost his mojo.....mechanics are gone, arm strength is gone, pocket presence is gone, ability to see the field is gone.....but let's keep trotting him out there because, you know, this next series might be the one where he gets it all back. KF coaches almost as if he has no fear for his job....like he must have a lifetime contract.....oh yeah, he does.


I don't think Greg Davis is to blame. There's a lack of talent and speed on offense and no O-coordinator could make this work. And with the way JVB is playing......................
 
Not having attended practices, I have a hard time questioning the coaches' decisions on playing time.
 
When the preseason pundits say that JVB is the best pure passer in the league, and Keenan Davis is the top WR in the league, then they turn out to be awful, what does that say? In all seriousness. How do you explain that? To me it is one of the biggest indictments on our coaching staff. I haven't been a KF fan for about 5-6 years so none of this is surprising to me, but I am genuinely interested in how others reconcile it?
 
I don't think Greg Davis is to blame. There's a lack of talent and speed on offense and no O-coordinator could make this work. And with the way JVB is playing......................

Penn State has no speed on offense....none. And they lost their two top playmakers before the season. Yet they somehow manage to average nearly 80 plays per game and are putting up points and yards at a pretty darn good clip. It's called "scheme". It's called playing to your strengths. One of their strengths is at TE so they get that position the ball as often as they can. I think they played something like 5 TEs against us. A good coach doesn't try to fit a square peg into a round hole. JVBs strength is the vertical passing game, so what does GD do? He forces JVB to make 3 yard out touch passes to the wide side of the field. I laughed the first time I saw the Texas diagram of GDs offense on 3rd and 5. I'm not laughing anymore.
 
Not having attended practices, I have a hard time questioning the coaches' decisions on playing time.

That's what we fans do. However, to me it's a no lose situation for KF to put Rudock in the 4th quarter. If he stinks, then he quiets the mob. If he does well, he infuses optimism in a depressed fanbase, and gives him an option if Vandenberg continues struggling.
 
I can't argue any of that.

Unless our backups just really are that bad. Which REALLY scares the crap out of me for next year.

I agree with everything the OP stated..It should not matter if the backups are not ready.(When is one ever ready????) Get them into the game and get some experience. And yes this offense of DAVIS smells. But I still think an effective QB could start things up. Vandenburg has had his opportunity. Say what you want about Biliema,but the man has brass stones and makes changes when they are needed. Kirks loyalty(blindness) is killing this program.
Saturday was a comic tragedy. I couldn't help but laugh and cry.
.
 
Have had a few days to digest the debacle of Saturday night and I still can't get my arms around how bad this team is performing and how obtuse KF is being regarding the QB position. Here are a few things to make you go "hmmmm".....

1. Bill O'Brien comes in to a horrible situation and on top of everything, the best running back and best wide receiver transfer out of the program. After taking a couple of games to settle in, his offense his humming along like a machine and he's taken a marginal, at best, QB in McGloin and turned him into an all-conference performer in one season. But somehow GD's offense is so complex that it's turned a 3,000yd/20+td QB and turned him into a pile of goo?

2. OSU loses their starting QB during a critical stretch of the game and their backup comes in and promptly marches them down the field. He looked poised and looked like someone that had taken reps both during practice and during the season and ran the 2 minute offense to perfection.

3. Wisky starts the season horribly and promptly fires their OL coach and demotes their star transfer QB and replaces with a redshirt freshman. They have turned their season around, the offense is humming and averaging about 30ppg, and they may end up in the Rose Bowl.....again.

4. Indiana.....lowly, no talent, Indiana.....manages to put up 49 points against OSU with a backup QB. Yet, we can barely manage to put up 2 tds in most games with our first team, 5th year senior, 22 game starting QB? For real?

5. Every other team in the conference has given their backup QB game reps either in blow out wins or blow out losses in order to prepare what is, supposedly, the future QB of their respective programs....yet our coach stubbornly refuses to even consider it even in the face of continual missed open receivers, interceptions, throws into the ground, sailing throws, poor mechanics, etc., and a game that was obvious after the 1st quarter and half and certainly 27 seconds into the 3rd quarter that we had no chance whatsoever to win.


This has now gone beyond the absurd and into the sublime. KFs hire of Greg Davis has been an unmitigated disaster.....it's turned a once above average QB and the consensus "best returning pocket passer" into an absolute shell of his former self. His refusal to even ATTEMPT to get meaningful game reps to any of the backups that are going to be the future of the program is beyond ********. No program in America operates their program this way. Even mighty Alabama, with a stud for a QB, has managed to get their backup reps because, you know, he'll have to do it at some point. It just makes no sense. Don Shumpert drops passes and he's yanked. Tanner Miller stinks it up at strong safety and is yanked. Mikael McCall fumbles his first game back and never sees the field again. On and on and on. Yet, here we have a QB who's obviously lost his mojo.....mechanics are gone, arm strength is gone, pocket presence is gone, ability to see the field is gone.....but let's keep trotting him out there because, you know, this next series might be the one where he gets it all back. KF coaches almost as if he has no fear for his job....like he must have a lifetime contract.....oh yeah, he does.

Excellent analysis. I would also add that minimal talent on the offensive side of the ball is also killing us. Add in the fact that the injury bug has now hit the O-Line I don't see any improvement for the Offense the rest of this season and have my fears about next year as well.
 
Bill O'Brien is a helluva coach. I'm not even going to comment on Iowa because, well, we know how that ended. But here's a guy who comes in to Kinnick and pulls out all the stops, has his team prepared, and literally kicked our *** up and down the field. I have to hand it to this guy, he's the real deal.
 
I would like to add one to guys pulled... Brad Banks Michigan game steps out of bounce before the first down marker on a crucial 3 rd down play. Never plays again that year. Apparently he didn't " know " the system. That game has always stuck out in my mind that if KF doesn't absolutely love you, you will be pulled. Good coaches show they can adapt with the enviornment and get the best out what they have to work with. Sadly we have neither
 
Bill O'Brien is a helluva coach. I'm not even going to comment on Iowa because, well, we know how that ended. But here's a guy who comes in to Kinnick and pulls out all the stops, has his team prepared, and literally kicked our *** up and down the field. I have to hand it to this guy, he's the real deal.

He also showed how to properly use the bye week. Not having seen PSU, but seeing how our defense reacted, it looked like they spent the bye week installing new things on offense that had us thoroughly confused and on our heels. We come off bye weeks with the same stuff.....stretch play left, stretch play right, play action waggle....it's almost like we take our bye weeks off.
 
Iowa's offense sucked under Ken Okeefe and it sucks under Greg Davis. The common theme here is Kirk Ferentz. Ive said all along, the most handcuffed people in the entire program are Iowa's offensive coordinators. GD calls 2 masterful screen plays against MSU and he doesnt have a qb competent enough complete the simple play. Im sure GD is at a loss for what he can call to be successful with James Vandenberg at qb because that's who Iowa is going with no matter what. Pulling him is not GD's call, so hes going with the hand Ferentz has dealt him.
 
That's what we fans do. However, to me it's a no lose situation for KF to put Rudock in the 4th quarter. If he stinks, then he quiets the mob. If he does well, he infuses optimism in a depressed fanbase, and gives him an option if Vandenberg continues struggling.

This is a fair point and I was hoping to see Rudock Saturday, but I KNOW that the coaches are trying their best to win these games and believe that they are playing the players that they think give the team the best shot to do so.
 
I am sick of the "ready" comments.

Someone told me a while ago that if you wait til you are "ready" to have kids, you will never have them.

If you wait til a QB is "ready" to play B1G football, then they will never play.
 

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