Iowa and Conditioning Last Year

[dmShortSaledude]

Preparing to finish | Hawk Central

I agree that Iowa didn't close out games...but I think it's a lot simpler than that. Iowa's offense was anemic after the Michigan State game, where they had lost their top two RG options and Adam Robinson was never the same player...they left that game, which was 2/3 of the season in the book, averaging over 30ppg and converting over 50% of their third downs...after that point, they struggled to average 20ppg and their third down conversion rated dropped to a poor 32% or so for the rest of the regular season...the defense was on the field so much more at that point and their numbers went the other way on third downs.

It's pretty simple IMO; the offense dropped the ball and failed to move the chains. You are gonna get tired on defense when that happens. The offense has to move the chains consistently to give you a chance.

I agree with the offense blame as our top problem last year. We had 3 & outs (including 2+ sacks and out) every game we lost. Our offense is not built, coached, maintained nor executed enough in practice, and game situations, to work without a running game threat. You have to have a QB with a natural capacity to create or a QB that find secondary targets with ease. Our system (I won't mention a name) is not made for the QB go outside the box...

But, let us not forget that we lost 3 linebackers either just before, during and right after the MSU game. That added significant pressure to the d-line, and some to the offense.

Coker playing earlier would have been nice...

 

[MoseSchrute]

.....or just playing more when he was obviously doing better(fOSU).

 

[trj]

I can't add anything to this debate that has not already been said. I thought the conditioning aspect had been overplayed up until the NW game. Seeing Klug/Clayborn down on one breathing very hard at the end of that game made me reconsider some things. As several people have pointed out NW ran 50 or so plays that 2nd half and Iowa had waaay too many 3 and outs......but for a program that prides itself in mental toughness and out working its opponent it was a little alarming to see.


How big a factor did conditioning play in the 5 loses? I dunno.....I do think it played a bigger factor than I initially thought.

 

[hawkinn3]

3rd downs seem to be Iowa's bane every year.

 

[iHawk]

The DL wasn't winded because of poor conditioning. Same conditioning program as years past, no?

With the inexperience we had at LB, the DL had to "stay home" AND attempt to get pressure on the QB at the same time. Trying to push a 320 lb. OL back to the QB WHILE staying home requires a lot more effort than beating him with your step.

I would guess that they may not have rested the most experienced DLmen as much as they would have liked to due to that same root reason.

It was all about the LBs last year.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I find it almost laughable that we are blaming a unit that, with the exception of 2002, has never been relied upon during the Ferentz era to win ballgames.

Now all of a sudden, it's the offense's fault? Please.

The offense was good enough to have the lead either going into the 4th quarter or to take the lead within the 4th quarter in virtually every ballgame we lost. Under Ferentz, that's almost always been an automatic W. Last year, I think we lost as many games while leading going into the 4th or taking the lead in the 4th than we lost in all of his other 11 years COMBINED.

Did our offense have trouble after MSU? Absolutely. But when you depend on a unit to close out teams once we've got the lead, as we had the previous 11 years, and they don't do it.....that's not on the offense, that's on the defense.

One could also easily make an argument that if the offense had done more, then it wouldn't have mattered if the defense gave up a late TD. Or maybe if the offense could stay on the field longer, that the D wouldn't be dog tired in the 4th quarter and WOULD have made the stop when it was needed.

Yes, our defense struggled in the 4th quarter in games last year, and certainly wasn't as good a defense as it was in 2009.

There are a lot of variables at play - I don't think it's quite that black and white as "the defense gave up the go-ahead score, so they are to blame". Are they partially to blame? Sure. But Kirk's offense has pretty typically never been one to take the pressure off the defense, either.

 

[Sidecarcoach]

If you watch video of the fourth quarter from games of the last four or five years, the difference is in spirit. For whatever reasons - and I'm not looking for blame or judgment - last year's team didn't have spirit. When spirit is there, the capacity to dig deep comes with it. And that shows up as edge, not exhaustion. I bet this year's team will have spirit; the coaches just have to nurture a sustaining "something to prove" attitude for that to happen. IMHO.

 

[Imlivingthedream]

coaching was the downfall last year. From not thinking Wisconsin would fake punt to pulling Coker after he gashed OSU during the first quarter, it was a season of some of the poorest in game coaching Ive seen since the Commings years.

Iowa staff is great at identifying and developing talent, poor at in game adjustments and having a feel for the game.

They had the best pair of run after the catch WRs theyve had in forever and they run few, if any WR screens.

 

[MoseSchrute]

Yeah, the Coker thing is a fine example of totally overlooking the current situation just to do things the way you've always done them before. If someone is performing well, why not stick with him? I hope they learned some lessons from last year.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

coaching was the downfall last year. From not thinking Wisconsin would fake punt to pulling Coker after he gashed OSU during the first quarter, it was a season of some of the poorest in game coaching Ive seen since the Commings years.

Iowa staff is great at identifying and developing talent, poor at in game adjustments and having a feel for the game.

They had the best pair of run after the catch WRs theyve had in forever and they run few, if any WR screens.

I disagree. Iowa still needed our passing game ... and we would have just been one blown block away from being Stanzi-less again. Furthermore, were ARob more himself, he would not only have given us the blitz pick-up skills we needed ... but also added versatility that Coker didn't yet bring to the table.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more of the philosophy that you should keep on doing something until the opposition proves that they can stop it ... however, that strategy isn't always the right one either.

As for the bit about the WR screens ... it also has to be a play that you can consistently execute too. A few years back, Bulaga was having a lot of difficulty getting out to get on his block on the edge. Considering that BOTH of our OTs were in their first year of starting at tackle ... my guess is that we weren't yet equipped to consistently execute some of those WR screens.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

Iowa simply did not have the leaders it needed last season, The talent was there, the leadership was not ...

 

[hawkfan2679]

As for the bit about the WR screens ... it also has to be a play that you can consistently execute too. A few years back, Bulaga was having a lot of difficulty getting out to get on his block on the edge. Considering that BOTH of our OTs were in their first year of starting at tackle ... my guess is that we weren't yet equipped to consistently execute some of those WR screens.

[Picking nits]
When we run jailbreak, our OT's are not tasked with 'blocking the edge'. Our OT's generally are pass blocking/cutting...it's either a TE on the #1 player and then the OG fills in on the alley defender.
[/Picking nits]

I'll never understand the rationale as to why Coker couldn't get any playing time (unless absolutely necessary) last year. Especially when you look at a game like MSU, where we actually put the hammer down and don't let off the accelerator. I'm with Imlivingthedream in that regard...developing talent = top 10-15 in the country maybe? In game coaching/adjustments = extremely average.

 

[zhawkzrule]

this goes back several seasons with the offense not being able to get first downs and kill the clock but this wont change its kg conservative nature to put it in the hands of the defense to get the win last didn't work out so well...

 

[CAARHawk]

The co-defensive coordinator thing killed the Iowa defense last year. Just not enough time with a playclock to make decisions by committee. That meant Iowa really made no adjustments on D.

You saw the difference in the bowl game where Norm was able to make the change on pass D to speed things up in the offensive backfield by bringing the freshman in on stunts. Also, with lots of different personnel. Nowhere was this more evident than on the Hyde pick where Castillo and Berstine ended up running the convoy.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

[Picking nits]
When we run jailbreak, our OT's are not tasked with 'blocking the edge'. Our OT's generally are pass blocking/cutting...it's either a TE on the #1 player and then the OG fills in on the alley defender.
[/Picking nits]

I'll never understand the rationale as to why Coker couldn't get any playing time (unless absolutely necessary) last year. Especially when you look at a game like MSU, where we actually put the hammer down and don't let off the accelerator. I'm with Imlivingthedream in that regard...developing talent = top 10-15 in the country maybe? In game coaching/adjustments = extremely average.

hawkfan2679 -

I was highlighting a WR screen that we repeatedly attempted to run a number of years back ... and Bulaga repeatedly failed to make the block.