Yeah, I get it. That just is not how I currently approach sports. I am more the type that if I am in, I am going to be chugging Kool Aid and wearing Black-and-Gold colored glasses. And if too much negative information starts piling up for me to ignore, I back away instead of turning negative. The fair-weather approach is something I used to look down upon, but it seems to make much more sense at this stage in my life.
How you know when someone is a bigger fan of a certain family than the UofI Football Program
- Thread starter tksirius
- Start date
Yeah, I get it. That just is not how I currently approach sports. I am more the type that if I am in, I am going to be chugging Kool Aid and wearing Black-and-Gold colored glasses. And if too much negative information starts piling up for me to ignore, I back away instead of turning negative. The fair-weather approach is something I used to look down upon, but it seems to make much more sense at this stage in my life.
Brian Ferentz during his press conference about playing Wisconsin:
"I thought we were running the ball better than maybe we even anticipated going in. You would've liked to been able to stay with that a little bit more, but we didn't."
Even if you do not include Stanley's negative yardage. We gained 60 yards on 21 carries. That's a 2.85 per carry average.
Yeah, I didn't really understand that comment....
By the way, I realize that I am the most selfish kind of fan. I want the good times without the responsibility of maintaining the culture surrounding Iowa FB when things are not so good. If all fans were like me, Iowa FB would not be what it is.
But back to the original point, I think there are a lot of fans out there who approach sports like me: either it is something that is going to add sunshine to their day, or they don't have time for it. In particular, the type of fan who is likely to get content from the Des Moines Registrar is likely to think that way (the die-hards will be on message-boards and pay-sites, where there is plenty of opportunity to vent frustrations). If I had seen Leistikow post an article with a clear negative slant, I probably wouldn't have clicked.
So if Leistikow does have an ulterior motive (which I am not going to presume), I don't think it would be to please the Ferentz clan, I think it would be to attract clicks from people who want to feel good about Hawkeye FB.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
I have always felt BF should have broken into the offensive coordinator gig at some FCS school under the tutelage of a coach with a solid understanding of a successful offense. I kind of get what they are trying to do, having an experienced staff at his disposal, but I still wish we had an experience OC at the helm.
That being said, I am not going to get all bent out of shape about a mediocre year under a new OC with an offensive line with two freshman tackles. It isn't an excuse so much as a reality. I have to wonder how things are going to work out going ahead, given the history of rather pedestrian offense under the head coach.
That being said, I am not going to get all bent out of shape about a mediocre year under a new OC with an offensive line with two freshman tackles. It isn't an excuse so much as a reality. I have to wonder how things are going to work out going ahead, given the history of rather pedestrian offense under the head coach.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
Instead of going with the average of 5 years under Greg Davis, go with his first year. He hadn't had time to recruit "his" players just as Brian hasn't had time to recruit "his" players. (By his 5th year one could make the argument that Davis had his players in place, something you have consistently ignored in your comparisons.) Also, I'm comparing first year as OC at Iowa and not Davis' first year as OC. In each of their first years, they installed the game plan according to their offensive philosophy. My stats are from the official NCAA website.
Under Greg Davis (first 12 games)
Scoring Offense: 111 (19.3 ppg)
Passing Offense: 99 (187.4 ypg)
Rushing Offense: 101 (123.0 ypg)
Mean Ranking: (Not sure where this stat comes from as you don't explain it)
Under Brian Ferentz (first 12 games)
Scoring Offense: 68 (28.3 ppg)
Passing Offense: 88 (197.8 ypg)
Rushing Offense: 92 (142.4 ypg)
Knight78
Well-Known Member
Wait a minute..... hmmmmmmm.....
So when we run a slow offense and bleed the clock and the result is a "three and out", that puts our defense on the field more than if we ran a hurry-up offense, with the associated passes which would be incomplete, and the result is a "three and out"?
Sorry, I don't understand that logic. If we do three rushes with no gain, we WILL eat more clock than if we have three incomplete passes. And the result will be the defense will be on the field less, which would be the difference in the time between three rushes for no gain (where the clock continues to run) and three incomplete passes (where the clock stops). This could be as much as a full clock minute, maybe more.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
I'll give BF a bit of leeway for having inherited a train wreck of a receiving core. I do get your point though. What "is" a Brian Ferentz type of system player, if not what is already here. Does he even know at this point.
Last edited:
Knight78
Well-Known Member
Ahhhh. So sorry I left that out. (Still not sure what your "Mean Ranking" is) Here you go:
Greg Davis Total Offense his first year: 114 (310.42 ypg)
Brian Ferentz Total Offense his first year: 107 (340.3 ypg)
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
You do realize all that shows is that both OCs had shitty offenses in their first years on the job at Iowa, right? Brian's performance as OC so far is slightly shittier than Greg's performance was as the OC @ Iowa. Cherry picking certain years doesn't change that fact. Take a look at how both Brian and Greg compare to KOK's job as OC....
Under BF so far (12 games):
Total Offense: 107th (out of 129 teams)
Scoring Offense: 68th
Passing Offense: 88th
Rushing Offense: 92nd
Mean Ranking: 88.75th
5 years under Greg Davis:
Total Offense: 92.2nd
Scoring Offense: 82.4nd
Passing Offense: 92nd
Rushing Offense: 66.8th
Mean Ranking: 83.35rd
13 years under KOK:
Total Offense: 67.92th
Scoring Offense: 59.46th
Passing Offense: 59.84th
Rushing Offense: 66.23th
Mean Ranking: 63.36rd
Knight78
Well-Known Member
That is EXACTLY my point. You are comparing a body of work for a veteran OC against one season of a rookie OC. And, for the record, you are again posting the body of work for KOK who at the time was a veteran OC and former HC.
I agree with AreWeThereYet:
Yet, it seems you are bent out of shape about it.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
And I also remember when we hired head coaches with no experience at the college level.
It was Brians first year with zero experience being compared to GD that had a lifetimes worth. Not exactly apples and oranges as I'm sure we all can agree. Not to mention every team/season has unique circumstances. Brian had a first year starting QB who's first season here was under GD. Had a receiving corp that was no offense to the fellas that were out there not very good. Yet thanks to 13 TD passes to TEs the QB had a really good year. Not just for a first yr QB but for what Iowa football is about so that's positive.
What's negative is that even before the OTs got hurt and they shuffled the Oline around they played below expectations in the running game most notably. Was that due to predictable playcalling/poor Oline play or some combination of both?
I think Iowa is most successful when they yin when the opponent expects us to yang. OSU game the best example. Now OSU also played us strait up thinking their personel would could just out play us. They didn't feel the need to out scheme us or load the box. There was also just an unexplainable magic to that night that makes football what it is too. Some things you can't quantifiy.
When Iowa would throw the ball on first downs and what would be more predictably running downs and vice versa it just gives them a better chance at being successful. It's not rocket science. You can get bigger chunk plays doing that. When you run the ball just hoping to gain 3 to 4 yards tops as a goal that's frustratingly tough to do when the other teams know it.
My biggest critique of BFs season this year would be the way he used Wadley. I thought they tried using him too similarly to how they used Mark Weisman as opposed to how they should have used him. Which would have been more like that McCaffery kid that was at Stanford. Running him behind a fullback from the traditional I formation up the middle just isn't his game. Now and then sure OK but most of the season they were trying to limit his touches it seemed like and too many of them were from those predictable formations/play calls where he had little chance to be successful on.
What's negative is that even before the OTs got hurt and they shuffled the Oline around they played below expectations in the running game most notably. Was that due to predictable playcalling/poor Oline play or some combination of both?
I think Iowa is most successful when they yin when the opponent expects us to yang. OSU game the best example. Now OSU also played us strait up thinking their personel would could just out play us. They didn't feel the need to out scheme us or load the box. There was also just an unexplainable magic to that night that makes football what it is too. Some things you can't quantifiy.
When Iowa would throw the ball on first downs and what would be more predictably running downs and vice versa it just gives them a better chance at being successful. It's not rocket science. You can get bigger chunk plays doing that. When you run the ball just hoping to gain 3 to 4 yards tops as a goal that's frustratingly tough to do when the other teams know it.
My biggest critique of BFs season this year would be the way he used Wadley. I thought they tried using him too similarly to how they used Mark Weisman as opposed to how they should have used him. Which would have been more like that McCaffery kid that was at Stanford. Running him behind a fullback from the traditional I formation up the middle just isn't his game. Now and then sure OK but most of the season they were trying to limit his touches it seemed like and too many of them were from those predictable formations/play calls where he had little chance to be successful on.
SCHawkeye2
Well-Known Member
Your point about having five years to evaluate a coaches performance would also apply when we look at this years O-line.
This was the culmination of 5 years OL recruiting and development under BF.
I think we would all agree it was significantly less dominant than we have seen in years past, under different OL coaches.
In fact, I would grade his performance as O-Line coach in years 4 & 5 as a D - 'not meeting expectations'.
My fear is we have promoted the same ineptitude upward to OC.
HawkeyeTech
Well-Known Member
I hope I can pull this thread back up next December so I can show all you Nancy-Negatives how wrong you were about Brian's coaching.
I hope.
I hope.
Kennyfromminne
Well-Known Member
You're being very optimistic
HawkeyeTech
Well-Known Member
I like to think that way. It's less stressful.
SpiderRico
Well-Known Member
I haven't read thru this thread completely, but one could also re-title it "How you know someone hates a certain family more than they love Iowa Football"...because it certainly cuts both ways.
But let's be realistic here as well. GD, an OC with extensive experience, including a National Title under his belt, inherited a senior QB that just came off one of the most prolific passing seasons in school history, a receiver that would end up being a record setting receiver at Iowa and an offensive line that, while patch work by seasons end, contained Brandon Scherff, Andrew Donnell, and Austin Blythe, among others. And rather than work with the tools he had, he tried to put a square peg into a round hole.
Contrast that with BF who inherited a brand new starting QB, a brand new core of receivers (save for a receiver coming off two broken bones in the same foot in the course of a year), brand new tight ends, and an OL that never once contained the starting 5 it had in spring and summer ball.
Did some inexperience from the OC show in losses to NW, MSU and PU? Absolutely. Did innovation and scratching where it itches from the OC show in blowout wins against OSU and NU? Absolutely.
But at the end of the day, if we can win our bowl game, we will finish a season with 8 wins, a bowl win, and wins against our instate rival ISU, Ohio State, and Nebraska.
Then next year will be a real tell tale year. BF will have an experienced OL, an experienced QB, a bevy of talented and experienced TEs, and what looks to be okay talent at WR....along with a full year of play calling under his belt. If we can't have a top 40 scoring offense, then I have no problem with questioning whether this is a good marriage.
But let's be realistic here as well. GD, an OC with extensive experience, including a National Title under his belt, inherited a senior QB that just came off one of the most prolific passing seasons in school history, a receiver that would end up being a record setting receiver at Iowa and an offensive line that, while patch work by seasons end, contained Brandon Scherff, Andrew Donnell, and Austin Blythe, among others. And rather than work with the tools he had, he tried to put a square peg into a round hole.
Contrast that with BF who inherited a brand new starting QB, a brand new core of receivers (save for a receiver coming off two broken bones in the same foot in the course of a year), brand new tight ends, and an OL that never once contained the starting 5 it had in spring and summer ball.
Did some inexperience from the OC show in losses to NW, MSU and PU? Absolutely. Did innovation and scratching where it itches from the OC show in blowout wins against OSU and NU? Absolutely.
But at the end of the day, if we can win our bowl game, we will finish a season with 8 wins, a bowl win, and wins against our instate rival ISU, Ohio State, and Nebraska.
Then next year will be a real tell tale year. BF will have an experienced OL, an experienced QB, a bevy of talented and experienced TEs, and what looks to be okay talent at WR....along with a full year of play calling under his belt. If we can't have a top 40 scoring offense, then I have no problem with questioning whether this is a good marriage.
HawkPrdatr40
Well-Known Member
Be some miserable years ahead for some posters. BF isn’t going anywhere until KF retires. Unless something comes up for BF that makes him leave sooner. My guess is he won’t. So we all will have plenty of time to evaluate if BF is going to be a good OC and or potential HC somewhere when pops retires.. I say somewhere because I’m not convinced that Iowa will hire BF as HC..
How fun Next year we can revisit and compare the first 2 years of BF at OC versus whomever and guess what we can do it again in years 5 and 6. Hey and when KF retires we can compare all the OC and see who was best under KF..
How fun Next year we can revisit and compare the first 2 years of BF at OC versus whomever and guess what we can do it again in years 5 and 6. Hey and when KF retires we can compare all the OC and see who was best under KF..
