I thought coaching was great today - ITS THE TALENT STUPID

[trj]

I get attrition, growing pains all that .... it is just sooooooooo frustrating Iowa has not been able to capitalize on how the schedule has set up the last 3 years.

 

[trj]

The coaching was not good IMO. Iowa ran 1 counter yesterday and it worked perfectly. The entire ISU defense flowed one way and the hole was huge. Bullock only got 6 yards, but the play was blocked and set up for a bigger gain. ISU did what teams have been doing for years - flow ridiculously hard to the ball and leave the end at home for the bootleg because Iowa literally never runs any counters or reverses to keep the D honest. They could have run that counter trap over and over and over again yesterday, but it's not "zone blocking" so I guess it's not part of the system.

Good point.


I have been putting a lot of the blame on the RB(s) inability to find cut back lanes in the past, but you and Podalak are definitely on to something here.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

So how bad was the interception at the end? I only had game tracker on my phone and it seemed they were at midfield with over a minute left. Was that a poor throw or a tipped pass or what?

 

[UweBlab]

Podolak mentioned during the game several times that we need to run the counter, it would work. On Sound Off last night a caller asked since Ed is allowed to attend practices, if he ever made suggestions to the coaching staff. He said that the counter was one thing he did bring up, and as was posted earlier, it was called once and worked for about 6 yards.

 

[aeischeid]

So how bad was the interception at the end? I only had game tracker on my phone and it seemed they were at midfield with over a minute left. Was that a poor throw or a tipped pass or what?

I'd go with poor throw...
Wasy easy to defend.

 

[NickM]

I also think the goalline/short yardage philosphy stinks. Ferentz is stuck in 1987 when the mindset was cram as many big bodies into a small space as possible to try to get one yard. We create a ton of congestion at the hole just with the formation, let alont the defense loading up to stop it. I'd have a heart attack if we went 4 wide and ran a draw or option on a short yardage play. Too bad they couldn't have kept AJ Derby on the team and developed a package for him in those situations like Oklahoma did with Dozier. Again, that would mean thinking outside of the "system".

 

[clicheusername3]

"So it's time for Las Vegas oddsmakers and plenty of other folks in college football to take another look at Iowa State. Too bad the Cyclones aren't in the Leaders Division of the Big Ten. They could be in the hunt for some hardware."

Barfknecht: ISU win hints of a shift in the balance of power - Omaha.com

The lack of talent is definitely a problem.

 

[BuckeyeHawk]

I'd like to think our defense played well, but how many red zone opportunities did they just blow. They rushed for over 100 yards on us and seemed to move the ball at will. At least our conference is garbage this year, so we'll just lose gracefully instead of getting curb stomped. Nothing I love more than a gracefull loss to a team that lives in our shadow on our home field.

 

[NickM]

Not calling a timeout at the end of the first half was also stupid. If Iowa calls a timeout with 35 seconds left, ISU does not try a 58 yard field goal (with the wind) b/c they wouldn't want to risk Iowa getting the ball at the 41 with two timeouts and 27 seconds left. ISU would likely have punted. Instead, we give them a free kick (which thankfully he missed).

 

[Bigtenchamp]

Defensive coaching staff - yes "the coaching staff"... c'mon dude..

 

[vegashawki]

Honest assessment by OP and the crazy thing is G Davis first thing he said was we need more speed. It was clear to him how this story was going to play out but I guess I was optimistic they would get faster?.... Either way after watching SEC games last couple weeks we have ALONG way to go to reach their talent levels and beable to compete...and that makes me sad.

 

[Herkyalert]

This is partly the fault of the staff for two reasons.

1. The offense doesn't fit the type of players Iowa has. This scheme is built for speed WR's who can burn after catch. Iowa's WR's can't even get separation off the ball. If Iowa continues with this dink and dunk stuff they are in serious trouble. Vandenberg looks lost in the offense and the coaches needs to scrap this garbage.

2. Iowa was not fired up for this one, as has been the case for most Iowa/Iowa State games. Ed even said twice on the postgame that Iowa State was more pumped up. He said Iowa was shellshocked and some of the coaches were trying to fire them up. Why the hell could they not have been fired up from the get go? Ferentz was said to have been telling players to temper their emotion so there you have it.

Players failed with the drops, bad routes, and poor throws, but the staff has a part in that offensive disaster.

1 TD in 2 games is utter garbage and that's the players and staff who is to blame.

 

[ihawkeye]

Bullock reminds me of a Warrick Dunn or Curtis Martin type of back. Great pass catcher and Your right on the money they have to get the ball to them.

 

[blkngldFRO]

CF and Bullock could be playmakers. Bullock is a legimate dual threat. CF should be a match up nightmare. But you got to get the ball in their hands.

They got the ball to CFs hands and he dropped it.

 

[NickM]

I just don't understand how hard it is to install one play inside the 10 where we go jumbo package max protect, but split our 6-7 tightend out by himself against a 5-9 corner, have JVB throw the ball up and have CJ go catch it. You don't need 11 talented players to execute that play. You just need 1 talented player. The pass doesn't even have to be good, it just needs to be high enough for CJ to take advantage. That, IMO, is where this staff continues to fail (as it has on the offensive side of the ball for several years). This isn't even what I would call a "creative" play. It should be standard bread and butter inside the 10. But in KF's system the tightend isn't allowed to line up more than 2 feet from the tackle.

If you lack talent, then you try to isolate/create space for what little talent you have so that the game becomes less 11 on 11 and more 2 on 2, 3 on 3. Iowa's offense looks like it tries to create congestion at the point of attack both in the passing and running games as opposed to clearing it. KF insists on throwing slants to the 3 receiver side of the field instead of the single receiver side. Talent or not, some of the things Iowa does on offense make absolutely zero sense. Even Iowa's "talented" teams had trouble executing this offense.

Point being, this team lacks talent - there is no question about that. But let's not talk like the offense has been a juggernaut in prior years. The scheme has always been slow, predictable and easy to defend. The, "we are young and inexperienced" excuse would work if we were coming off a solid run over the past two years. It doesn't work when the previous two years with veteran players and more talent were equally as disappointing. Next year Iowa breaks in a new QB...

 

[storminspank]

I agree but the coaches are responsible to get the talent.

Keenan was a four star recruit.

And the next question will be about player development.

Well, McNutt was turned from a QB to an NFL-draftable WR.

So, recruiting has happened and player development has happened.

 

[BSpringsteen]

Keenan was a four star recruit.

And the next question will be about player development.

Well, McNutt was turned from a QB to an NFL-draftable WR.

So, recruiting has happened and player development has happened.

But maybe not nearly to the degree that Iowa fans would like to believe it has... especially the development part.

 

[NickM]

Keenan was a four star recruit.

And the next question will be about player development.

Well, McNutt was turned from a QB to an NFL-draftable WR.

So, recruiting has happened and player development has happened.

Which brings me back to the real issue: the offensive scheme stinks. Talented Iowa teams struggled to execute it; less talented teams put up 6 points against ISU at home.

 

[MoseSchrute]

I just don't understand how hard it is to install one play inside the 10 where we go jumbo package max protect, but split our 6-7 tightend out by himself against a 5-9 corner, have JVB throw the ball up and have CJ go catch it. You don't need 11 talented players to execute that play. You just need 1 talented player. The pass doesn't even have to be good, it just needs to be high enough for CJ to take advantage. That, IMO, is where this staff continues to fail (as it has on the offensive side of the ball for several years). This isn't even what I would call a "creative" play. It should be standard bread and butter inside the 10. But in KF's system the tightend isn't allowed to line up more than 2 feet from the tackle.

If you lack talent, then you try to isolate/create space for what little talent you have so that the game becomes less 11 on 11 and more 2 on 2, 3 on 3. Iowa's offense looks like it tries to create congestion at the point of attack both in the passing and running games as opposed to clearing it. KF insists on throwing slants to the 3 receiver side of the field instead of the single receiver side. Talent or not, some of the things Iowa does on offense make absolutely zero sense. Even Iowa's "talented" teams had trouble executing this offense.

Point being, this team lacks talent - there is no question about that. But let's not talk like the offense has been a juggernaut in prior years. The scheme has always been slow, predictable and easy to defend. The, "we are young and inexperienced" excuse would work if we were coming off a solid run over the past two years. It doesn't work when the previous two years with veteran players and more talent were equally as disappointing. Next year Iowa breaks in a new QB...

Nice summary.