Instant Reaction: My Take on Iowa's Win vs Ball State

The positive was that Iowa was able to stage a comeback when things looked bleak. Judging by the comments people disliked winning the way Iowa did. All I can say to those that are frustrated with winning the way Iowa did should realize that coming back from the adversity of two fumbles is a credit to toughness and perseverance. The ball wasn't bouncing Iowa's way for most of the day. From Powell unable to secure the ball in the end zone on a nice pass from Beathard to the ball bouncing off a Ball State receiver to another leading to a first down late in the game. Mixed in between was the failure to capitalize on drives that should have produced field goals or continue drives. In the end Iowa wore down Ball State and the head coach said as much after the game. The condition of Iowa showed and is a credit to the efforts in the weight room and the off season.

To finish, how many times have we seen a Michigan or Ohio State trail teams they were expected to beat only to comeback from a deficit late to win? Iowa fans still do not know what to expect, but we do know that this team has toughness and perseverance.
 
Good post eyekwah, as I am glad we won and did so in under the tough circumstances that we helped create. I just think that the running game needs much more attention than what we are giving it and I would be ok with the O'Keefe playbook this week where we run it right at them and stop bouncing **** outside (all Daniels and Bullock try to do) and mix in some play action. I think Hamilton needs to play much more as well as the TE rotation is not helping our run-blocking. Krieger-Coble gave up a huge sack when we ran play-action where Jake was clearly going deep to Smith and got sacked. Time to tighten up the rotation all-around as enough guys have "gotten their feet wet".
 
Sparky said:
It's not Davis. It's Rudock and his decision making. There is more than one option on the field at a time for him to throw to, problem is he always chooses the safe throw and it hardly pays off.
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Its more than that even.

there is clearly two different offenses being mixed here. I've suspected for a while that Davis would prefer to run his zone read shotgun spread offense with Beathard.

Ferentz wants to play his zone blocking under center offense with Ruddock.

What we are getting is an inconsistent mix of the two. With way to many players being used. There is a ton of offensive talent on this team but it seems like they don't have an identity.

Bottom line we need to run the ball better and quit being so conservative in the passing game.
 
This is a turd of an offense and we continue to try and polish it.

I understand good teams lay eggs early...sometimes. But with Iowa it's every year and nearly every game.

Could you imagine playing Oregon?
 
DBAHawkFan said:
This is a turd of an offense and we continue to try and polish it.

I understand good teams lay eggs early...sometimes. But with Iowa it's every year and nearly every game.

Could you imagine playing Oregon?
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itd probably be close just like every game we play is regardless of competition....so maddening!
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
Jon in your podcast you said what you think Ferentz will do and Jake is his guy until poor play (I also assume injury) dethrones him. This performance (at the end of the game mostly) will only further cement Jake into the permanent starting role in Ferentz's mind.

If you were the coach, based off of what you have seen (granted you are not at the practices) would CJ see more game action or even be your guy? Or is Jake your field general? Do you think the skill position receivers benefit more from Jake being in there or CJ?
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If Jake would play as aggressively in the main portion of the game as he did in desperation mode he would be the clear choice IMO. He does generally make much better decisions than Bethard who tends to lock on and not go through his progressions.

The problem is Ferentz wants him to be ultra conservative and GD has to many short pass options to often.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
Jon in your podcast you said what you think Ferentz will do and Jake is his guy until poor play (I also assume injury) dethrones him. This performance (at the end of the game mostly) will only further cement Jake into the permanent starting role in Ferentz's mind.

If you were the coach, based off of what you have seen (granted you are not at the practices) would CJ see more game action or even be your guy? Or is Jake your field general? Do you think the skill position receivers benefit more from Jake being in there or CJ?
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I can only guess that CJ continues to go for the glory and doesn't put money in the bank, and/or is more risky. Jake is steady, not spectacular. Kirk prefers the steady if the spectacular is also higher risk, and I think right now that is what he sees. We can all see CJB's RAW ability...but Kirk sees far more reps...perhaps over a thousand of them since CJB stepped on campus.

Given that Rudock is more than just a competent QB, this isn't a Christensen v Stanzi deal.
 
RocknRollface said:
If Jake would play as aggressively in the main portion of the game as he did in desperation mode he would be the clear choice IMO. He does generally make much better decisions than Bethard who tends to lock on and not go through his progressions.

The problem is Ferentz wants him to be ultra conservative and GD has to many short pass options to often.
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This part is less about Jake and more about the philosophy, IMO
 
Sparky said:
It's not Davis. It's Rudock and his decision making. There is more than one option on the field at a time for him to throw to, problem is he always chooses the safe throw and it hardly pays off.
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I'll go one step beyond that - this program has a history of bad offense for the past 15 years.

It's nothing remotely new.


Defense was the reason we won this game today.
 
JonDMiller said:
I can only guess that CJ continues to go for the glory and doesn't put money in the bank, and/or is more risky. Jake is steady, not spectacular. Kirk prefers the steady if the spectacular is also higher risk, and I think right now that is what he sees. We can all see CJB's RAW ability...but Kirk sees far more reps...perhaps over a thousand of them since CJB stepped on campus.

Given that Rudock is more than just a competent QB, this isn't a Christensen v Stanzi deal.
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Thanks Jon for your further insight.
 
Sparky said:
It's not Davis. It's Rudock and his decision making. There is more than one option on the field at a time for him to throw to, problem is he always chooses the safe throw and it hardly pays off.
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That's why Kirk loves him and made him the starting QB. Kirk is probably the most risk averse coach in the Big Ten.
 
JonDMiller said:
I can only guess that CJ continues to go for the glory and doesn't put money in the bank, and/or is more risky. Jake is steady, not spectacular. Kirk prefers the steady if the spectacular is also higher risk, and I think right now that is what he sees. We can all see CJB's RAW ability...but Kirk sees far more reps...perhaps over a thousand of them since CJB stepped on campus.

Given that Rudock is more than just a competent QB, this isn't a Christensen v Stanzi deal.
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with out that tiny bobble CJ is 3-3 68 yards and a TD.

I'm not saying he is better than Rudock (I've seen enough past games to be unsure).

But I'm also not sure if he didn't get more game experience if he couldn't be better - he certainly has a better arm and also looks quicker/faster than Rudock.
 
First off, Ball St. isn't some pushover FCS team; they won 10 games in the MAC last year and I think we've discovered over the last few years that the MAC actually isn't that bad of a conference; they beat two Big Ten teams today and we've lost to a few of them recently ourselves. That aside, this was still a game Iowa should have won and they did, even though it doesn't really feel like a win. Iowa essentially dominated the action but their inability to score touchdowns in the red zone, a horrendous day for the kicking game, and two turnovers that resulted in 10 points made this a close game. In reality, the Ball St. offense scored 3 points today.

Second, I don't know why anyone would freak out and panic over today's game. How many times have we seen this exact same story line play out during KF's tenure here? This is Iowa football under KF; it doesn't matter if he has a 10 win or 4 win team, he can play anyone close be it excellent teams like Ohio St. and LSU, or dog crap ones like Iowa State or Arkansas St. That's just the way it is and close games, near losses or even losses to what are perceived to be inferior teams we should easily beat are in no way indicative of what our final record will be. KF's teams rarely blow anyone out and rarely get blown out themselves; it may not make for entertaining or enjoyable football to watch but that's the way it always has been and always will be. My opinion has always been that he may get an extra win or two out of his poorer teams than some coaches would, but probably costs his really good teams a win or two. He's going to be here until at least 2020 so get used to it or be miserable for the next six years.

Two games in I know as much about this team as I did about just about every other KF coached team at this point, which is very little. Are they a mediocre team he's pumping up or a really good team he's holding back? Who knows; I do know that so far this season is playing out like just about every other season he's ever coached.

Really no joy for me in today's win, more a sense of relief. I felt like they would lose to either Ball St. or ISU because....well, that's what KF does. Glad they didn't make my prediction come true today. Of course there's still next week and if anyone thinks that game won't be close because ISU stinks they're not in touch with reality. It will be close; that's KF football.
 
MoseSchrute said:
Kirk needs to fix his running game.
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I wondered if maybe they were deliberately not running somuch. But KF said they need to fix therunning game. Maybe its talent on theO-Line, Maybe it’s the O-Line coaching. Its one of those two things.
 
DBAHawkFan said:
This is a turd of an offense and we continue to try and polish it.

I understand good teams lay eggs early...sometimes. But with Iowa it's every year and nearly every game.

Could you imagine playing Oregon?
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An offense still trying to find itself is more like it. A TURD doesn't end a game with 450+ yards, and double up the opponent.
 
Ruddock is coached to do two things that are losers...

1. check into that damn run into the narrow side of the field. no gain 9 out of 10 times. (this is classic Kirk)
2. check down and throw a 3 yard pass that gets his running back or WR killed. (classic Greg Davis)

Both have to go.
 
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