Howe: Potential Shown By Iowa Offense

[#1DieHardHawk]

It takes a special OL to execute a zone blocking and trap pull system. Drive blocking doesn't take as much talent or athelticsim. Just brute force. Let's face it, as others have posted, KF has been great at developing individual OL, but has not had many great packages of late. Iowa's blocking scheme can be amazing when it works in concert. Think Freddy Russell blasting through 3 yard wide holes and not getting touched until he hits the safety. but, if one guy misses his block or assignment, you have a DL in the backfield before the RB can do a thing. You have what you have in the OL right now. Tweaks and tryout times are over with. I would just simplify the blocking scheme and challenge my guys to win some one on one battles. Maybe we don't pop long runs, but we also should not be getting stuffed behind the line every three plays. Three yards and a cloud of dust and then trust your QB to make some passes to really move the sticks.

At this point, it's probably not realistic to think that the coaches would be able to successfully overhaul the blocking scheme. It can be maddening for fans, but Kirk's standard "We have to keep pushing forward everday..." narrative basically is true.

Of concern for me is the drop-off in the simple fundamentals under Barnett. Regardless of the scheme, some basic tenets remain, such as leverage, pad level, hand placement, footwork, bending at the knees, etc., etc. Other than Linderbaum, our fundamentals have been poor across the line for two seasons plus now. Our OL recruiting (at least on paper) has been very good the last 3-4 cycles. That leaves the finger pointing squarely at the coaching.

ISU has a big explosive nose tackle that will play on Sundays, and their LBs and safeties have very, very good gap control. We'll get a feel real quick on how well our interior OL improves from week 1 to 2.

 

[JoeyLabasForPresident]

Still hoping that Parker can make an impact and slide Dunker inside. I will give the o-line until the Penn St. game, after that I am going to tap out if nothing improves. If the O-line doesn't improve at that point, sign me up for Kirk ball.

Kirkball with a solid QB worked out pretty okay in 2015. I’ll take it if I must.

 

[BigD]

Kirkball with a solid QB worked out pretty okay in 2015. I’ll take it if I must.

2015

MSU 16
Iowa 13

Reality Check

Alabama 38
MSU. 0

Stanford 45
Iowa. 16

No Michigan, no Ohio State, and no Penn State on our schedule but we did beat up our little sisters pretty good.

Your “pretty okay” was a safe way of putting it.
We won’t get away from not playing Penn State this time at Penn State and there is absolutely no way we beat Michigan if we play them in the championship game. Jim has Michigan back.

They were down for most of Kirk’s tenure at Iowa , as was Nebraska. We didn’t play Notre Dame but they were also flat for many years. All of this affects recruiting.

The BTN was a godsend to the conference $$$$$$. Thus keeping coaches around that otherwise would likely not have survived as long as they did.

 

[JoeyLabasForPresident]

2015

MSU 16
Iowa 13

Reality Check

Alabama 38
MSU. 0

Stanford 45
Iowa. 16

No Michigan, no Ohio State, and no Penn State on our schedule but we did beat up our little sisters pretty good.

Your “pretty okay” was a safe way of putting it.
We won’t get away from not playing Penn State this time at Penn State and there is absolutely no way we beat Michigan if we play them in the championship game. Jim has Michigan back.

They were down for most of Kirk’s tenure at Iowa , as was Nebraska. We didn’t play Notre Dame but they were also flat for many years. All of this affects recruiting.

The BTN was a godsend to the conference $$$$$$. Thus keeping coaches around that otherwise would likely not have survived as long as they did.

Yeah, until Iowa gets a real boom or bust hotshot coach, what you see is what you get, and if Iowa tries that it’s more likely they end up like Nebraska than Michigan.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

It takes a special OL to execute a zone blocking and trap pull system. Drive blocking doesn't take as much talent or athelticsim. Just brute force. Let's face it, as others have posted, KF has been great at developing individual OL, but has not had many great packages of late. Iowa's blocking scheme can be amazing when it works in concert. Think Freddy Russell blasting through 3 yard wide holes and not getting touched until he hits the safety. but, if one guy misses his block or assignment, you have a DL in the backfield before the RB can do a thing. You have what you have in the OL right now. Tweaks and tryout times are over with. I would just simplify the blocking scheme and challenge my guys to win some one on one battles. Maybe we don't pop long runs, but we also should not be getting stuffed behind the line every three plays. Three yards and a cloud of dust and then trust your QB to make some passes to really move the sticks.

Freddy Russell's team didn't have 20 yrs of opposing teams coaches keying in on what Iowa does. That is a difference. KF was fairly new to the coaching field at that time. This is no longer the case, and I wonder how much that actually plays into it.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

Freddy Russell's team didn't have 20 yrs of opposing teams coaches keying in on what Iowa does. That is a difference. KF was fairly new to the coaching field at that time. This is no longer the case, and I wonder how much that actually plays into it.We have run essentially the same offense for 20 years.

In addition, the offensive game of CFB in general has evolved considerably in the last 20 years. Iowa? Not so much.
I honestly believe we have regressed in some ways. Recent offenses are more conservative and less dynamic than the Iowa teams of the early Ferentz era.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Freddy Russell's team didn't have 20 yrs of opposing teams coaches keying in on what Iowa does. That is a difference. KF was fairly new to the coaching field at that time. This is no longer the case, and I wonder how much that actually plays into it.

I disagree with this take a bit. Its not the scheme. The scheme can work. That offensive line was probably the best OL in history. Most importantly, they were all 5 NFL type guys who had played together several seasons. They blocked in concert and it was a thing of beauty. Hell, Banks could have walked to the line and given the play out and that OL would still have blocked their assignments well. We just have not seen that sort of consistent line play very often of late with 5 guys all doing their jobs competently.

To be clear, I am not saying there could not be more creative playcalling and tendency breaks. BF is a very hit or miss playcaller. I just think the root of the OL problems the last few years are not scheme, they are not having 5 Big10 ready OL out there at the same time.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

At this point, it's probably not realistic to think that the coaches would be able to successfully overhaul the blocking scheme. It can be maddening for fans, but Kirk's standard "We have to keep pushing forward everday..." narrative basically is true.

Of concern for me is the drop-off in the simple fundamentals under Barnett. Regardless of the scheme, some basic tenets remain, such as leverage, pad level, hand placement, footwork, bending at the knees, etc., etc. Other than Linderbaum, our fundamentals have been poor across the line for two seasons plus now. Our OL recruiting (at least on paper) has been very good the last 3-4 cycles. That leaves the finger pointing squarely at the coaching.

ISU has a big explosive nose tackle that will play on Sundays, and their LBs and safeties have very, very good gap control. We'll get a feel real quick on how well our interior OL improves from week 1 to 2.

Agreed. I certainly don't think you can scrap what you have been doing and do something totally different now. I am just advocating to simplify the blocking scheme and play to the strengths. This is not the most athletically gifted OL Iowa has had, but they are big and strong. Stop calling the trap block plays and call plays that simplify who to block. If everyone has a simple assignment and blocks who they are supposed to, then its just a question of winning the battle. Right now, 1 guy on every play is showing up to the battle and stabbing his own horse......

 

[FloridaHawks]

I dont know if anyone has asked this in previous threads or not, but Cade has 2 years of eligibility left. Is there any scenario in which the offense averages 20-25 points per game and he just decides to leave us? Decides he would rather go to a team that will spread out 4 wide and throw 40+ times per game?

I still dont know why he came here in the first place to play under a Brian Ferentz offense and I dont know why he would stay. He needs to showcase what he can do to play next level.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

I dont know if anyone has asked this in previous threads or not, but Cade has 2 years of eligibility left. Is there any scenario in which the offense averages 20-25 points per game and he just decides to leave us? Decides he would rather go to a team that will spread out 4 wide and throw 40+ times per game?

I still dont know why he came here in the first place to play under a Brian Ferentz offense and I dont know why he would stay. He needs to showcase what he can do to play next level.

Anyone can leave any time. Everyone is, essentially, on a one year deal these days. That said, Cade knew what he was getting into when he signed at Iowa. He has been nothing but a team player from what I have seen. He does not strike me as a guy that would cut and run after a season, but instead would want to keep working hard to make the offense better.

Also, he left Michigan because he lost his starting job. He was handed the starting job at Iowa. But, if he has a bad year as you suggest, how many other high profile programs will just hand him the starting job for a year? He could transfer and not see the field. At least at Iowa, he knows he will be playing.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I disagree with this take a bit. Its not the scheme. The scheme can work. That offensive line was probably the best OL in history. Most importantly, they were all 5 NFL type guys who had played together several seasons. They blocked in concert and it was a thing of beauty. Hell, Banks could have walked to the line and given the play out and that OL would still have blocked their assignments well. We just have not seen that sort of consistent line play very often of late with 5 guys all doing their jobs competently.

To be clear, I am not saying there could not be more creative playcalling and tendency breaks. BF is a very hit or miss playcaller. I just think the root of the OL problems the last few years are not scheme, they are not having 5 Big10 ready OL out there at the same time.

Oh, I agree with you on all the points you made. But, KF is not in season 25 with very few changes. When scheming, tendencies can be had.

 

[BigD]

I dont know if anyone has asked this in previous threads or not, but Cade has 2 years of eligibility left. Is there any scenario in which the offense averages 20-25 points per game and he just decides to leave us? Decides he would rather go to a team that will spread out 4 wide and throw 40+ times per game?

I still dont know why he came here in the first place to play under a Brian Ferentz offense and I dont know why he would stay. He needs to showcase what he can do to play next level.

Well Purdue seems like a soft landing spot for the type of players your describing. Look what happen to Charlie. Exactly what you are describing. Proof that conservative play calling is not conducive to building wide receiver NFL careers at Iowa. Sure it may happen once in a rarity, but it’s not like the tightens position at Iowa and what used to be great offensive lines.

Everyone needs to keep in mind that Brian has been around long enough that this is his line now , not a bunch of inherited players that are not of his doing. If he shits the bed he made it and now has to lie in it. It’s like he short sheeted the bed and we’re all going “what the eff is this?” So are the powers that be at Iowa going to fix the bed or are we just going with it? Kirk’s idea is that we all get our legs amputated to make the bed work.

LMAO as I can imagine you visualizing this. Would amputating our offensive linemen’s legs hurt anything? Might improve things due to hope that the in rushing defensive linemen might trip and fall over our legless linemen.

 

[BigD]

It is only game two coming up and so maybe we will see the old adage take affect about great improvement from game one to game two.

All I know is nothing upsets the Iowa base more that losing to Iowa State. If that happens it’s going to be like an angry hornet’s next getting knocked on the ground around here on the forum.

 

[BigD]

Maybe Brian should run out onto the playing field on Saturday all by himself so the Iowa State fans can stand and applaud him…………. ROFLMAO!!!!! (I am on one today), sometimes a little humor is good for stressful moments.

 

[BigD]

On the bright side Barta is gone finally! That guy would try to give an extension to a porn star.

Lol,

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Oh, I agree with you on all the points you made. But, KF is not in season 25 with very few changes. When scheming, tendencies can be had.

BF's offenses have not had the ball long enough to develop tendencies of late.....

 

[Teddy]

On the bright side Barta is gone finally! That guy would try to give an extension to a porn star.

Lol,

Did you intend that double entendre? Good stuff.

 

[Grady]

Heck, Cade showed more deep ball accuracy in one game than the last two guys did in six seasons. If we continue to get nothing from the run game, we just have to lean into the passing game, and unlike Petras, this QB can make defenses pay.

Agreed, if the run game fails as it did vs a smallish Utah St. defense at Ames and vs Western Michigan, there's no use bashing our heads against the wall. Let a QB who has some skills sit back in the pocket and throw the ball 80% of the snaps -- running just enough to keep the defense honest. We're deep enough at WR, TE, & RB to make it work: short, medium, long passes, screens, bubbles, every pass play in the playbook. If your pass plays average more than 3 yds/play, it will be more productive than running the ball, because this OLine is not going to improve week to week at this point. Most of them have been playing and/or starting for over a year in the same scheme, with very little to no visible improvement...expecting 'growth' during weeks that have even less time for practice than spring and fall camps is not realistic.

 

[hawkinn3]

I don’t envy Rob having to try to find positives with the Iowa offense.

 

[Gibsonian]

Kirkball with a solid QB worked out pretty okay in 2015. I’ll take it if I must.

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