HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
"Home now, and wanted to post some of my thoughts up about the trip and the game itself. None of this is meant as gloating, I'll try to be objective with this. This is going to be long, so if you don't want to read it all skip to the summary.
Hospitality: For the most part, you guys were absolutely awesome. There were a few near-fights that I saw with some of your younger fans, but they were broken up before anything began by other Iowa fans, so we will call that a wash.
Conditioning: I was not confident going into this game that we could win, and your strength and conditioning coach was a big part of that. NDSU wins games in the fourth quarter, we always have. Our strength and conditioning coach is someone I consider nearly peerless, and often we wear teams down and run all over them late in the game.
This seemed to happen to Iowa as well, and it caught me by surprise. Iowa is supposed to have one of the best (And most expensive) strength and conditioning coaches in college football, but NDSU was clearly the better conditioned team out there.Part of that has to do with the fact that we rotate backs, but even our linemen on both sides of the ball seemed to be in better shape by the end of the game than yours.
Talent: There was a clear difference in talent on the field between the two teams. Your defensive linemen were bigger and faster, putting consistent pressure on Stick, forcing him to scramble and roll-out often, to mixed results. VandeBerg was CLEARLY a cut above our DB's in terms of physical talent and route-running. I could go on and on, but at nearly every position you had more talented players.
Your offensive line was a surprise. I know we stacked the box and blitzed often, but your O-Line didn't hold up as well as I had thought they would. Your linebackers also did a poor job of covering our tight ends and half-backs on passing downs. They didn't do a great job of containing a mobile quarterback either. I'm not sure how much of that is on the coaching, and how much is on the players.
Coaching: Onto the most important part of the game.
Your coaching was awful. You found something that worked throughout the course of the game, and for some reason chose not to exploit it. Poor and uninspired play-calling throughout the entire game (Who run's the ball up the gut on 2nd and 12 when it hasn't worked all day and you need 2 first downs to put the game away?), no adjustments on protections, ect.
This uninspired playcalling continued right up to the end. It was ultra-conservative when it didn't need to be. It made me think your coach was scared to lose the game, rather than playing with a desire to win. It's the wrong mentality for a coach to have.
Motivation was another problem. I watched your sideline closely, and it seemed...kind of dead. When we sprung out to our only lead of the game, there wasn't any anger or fire, just a bit of dejection. When we got the ball back and were driving for the game-winning field goal, nobody was yelling, nobody was upset.There was no fire in your players or coaches.
To summarize: I think Iowa is clearly the more talented team.Your O-Line definitely needs work, but you were solid just about everywhere else. I thought the game was very winnable for you guys, but we had better coaching and conditioning, and in the end that's what won the game for us. I hope you guys find some fire and your team adjusts better to adversity in the future, as you clearly have the talent to be a special team."
https://iowa.forums.rivals.com/threads/honest-analysis-from-the-other-side.160618/
Hospitality: For the most part, you guys were absolutely awesome. There were a few near-fights that I saw with some of your younger fans, but they were broken up before anything began by other Iowa fans, so we will call that a wash.
Conditioning: I was not confident going into this game that we could win, and your strength and conditioning coach was a big part of that. NDSU wins games in the fourth quarter, we always have. Our strength and conditioning coach is someone I consider nearly peerless, and often we wear teams down and run all over them late in the game.
This seemed to happen to Iowa as well, and it caught me by surprise. Iowa is supposed to have one of the best (And most expensive) strength and conditioning coaches in college football, but NDSU was clearly the better conditioned team out there.Part of that has to do with the fact that we rotate backs, but even our linemen on both sides of the ball seemed to be in better shape by the end of the game than yours.
Talent: There was a clear difference in talent on the field between the two teams. Your defensive linemen were bigger and faster, putting consistent pressure on Stick, forcing him to scramble and roll-out often, to mixed results. VandeBerg was CLEARLY a cut above our DB's in terms of physical talent and route-running. I could go on and on, but at nearly every position you had more talented players.
Your offensive line was a surprise. I know we stacked the box and blitzed often, but your O-Line didn't hold up as well as I had thought they would. Your linebackers also did a poor job of covering our tight ends and half-backs on passing downs. They didn't do a great job of containing a mobile quarterback either. I'm not sure how much of that is on the coaching, and how much is on the players.
Coaching: Onto the most important part of the game.
Your coaching was awful. You found something that worked throughout the course of the game, and for some reason chose not to exploit it. Poor and uninspired play-calling throughout the entire game (Who run's the ball up the gut on 2nd and 12 when it hasn't worked all day and you need 2 first downs to put the game away?), no adjustments on protections, ect.
This uninspired playcalling continued right up to the end. It was ultra-conservative when it didn't need to be. It made me think your coach was scared to lose the game, rather than playing with a desire to win. It's the wrong mentality for a coach to have.
Motivation was another problem. I watched your sideline closely, and it seemed...kind of dead. When we sprung out to our only lead of the game, there wasn't any anger or fire, just a bit of dejection. When we got the ball back and were driving for the game-winning field goal, nobody was yelling, nobody was upset.There was no fire in your players or coaches.
To summarize: I think Iowa is clearly the more talented team.Your O-Line definitely needs work, but you were solid just about everywhere else. I thought the game was very winnable for you guys, but we had better coaching and conditioning, and in the end that's what won the game for us. I hope you guys find some fire and your team adjusts better to adversity in the future, as you clearly have the talent to be a special team."
https://iowa.forums.rivals.com/threads/honest-analysis-from-the-other-side.160618/
