Iowa is NOT Going to go Spread Crazy

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
I have read a lot of the posts this weekend and we took a lot of calls on Soundoff...people excited about the offensive production and thinking things are going to go crazy.

Don't hold your breath on that, and I don't think they should.

You can't be who you are not...and unless things are incredibly dire, as they were in 2004, you should not change who you are 'on the course'.

However, you can tweak it...and I felt Iowa would do that in the bye week...tweak things on the offense, make tweaks to get the ball to the playmakers more often because that stuff has been there, was there against ISU and just wasn't taken advantage of.

This past week in practice, Iowa worked on the no huddle sets. Ed Podolak was at practice, and saw it himself. Iowa had planned on using this some in the game, but they shot themselves in the foot too often on first down...Iowa was in third and 7 or longer an astonishing eight times in the first three quarters.

I think after the success of the no huddle on Saturday, they continue to mix it in a bit, but it will be for a change of pace..It's not going to be as a replacement of philosophy.

Iowa will still run its offense, still set up play action, etc...but this no huddle wrinkle needs to be a part of the game plan each week because it gives defenses more to prepare for...time taken away from preparing for the base Iowa offense we have seen for the entire Ferentz era...which means less reacting and more thinking from a defense, which is what you want.

Remember, Iowa scored it's first touchdown of the game from under center. You don't have to go shotgun all the time to be in a hurry up mode, and you can still run the ball out of hurry up and shotgun, which Iowa did and that will also be a key for opponent preparation.

Get the win against La Monroe and get to the bye week...and I really think the second half schedule sets up real well for Iowa to make some noise.

PSU is winnable
NW at night in Kinnick
Indiana at home
at Minnesota

Right there, as of right now, are three of the four or five worst teams in the league (PSU, Indy, and MN) with another one (Purdue) on the schedule later in the year.

I think the Hawks will also make some defensive tweaks in the bye week...the D got a lot better this last week with Alvis to end, Hyde to corner and Bernstine in the lineup.

I want Nielsen in there and healthy, but Hitchens sure showed a lot..Podolak calls him a headhunter, loves his play...and four of Iowa's next five opponents are not heavy power run teams...where you can get away with speed in the LB vs size.

A lot is still in front of this team, a lot is there for the taking..but the offense is going to have to lead the way, and this coaching staff knows that...it's going to be a lot of fun to watch how they transform this team...the abilities of this coaching staff are going to be on display the next five weeks as they transform this team to take advantage of who and what it is.
 
I can't believe anyone things we are going to, or even should do that. I think we are going to see many more 3wr sets as opposed to double tight or I formation, but we I'd be willing to bet we don't throw it more than 40 times again all season.
 
DuffMan said:
I can't believe anyone things we are going to, or even should do that. I think we are going to see many more 3wr sets as opposed to double tight or I formation, but we I'd be willing to bet we don't throw it more than 40 times again all season.
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Agreed...but you CAN run it out of those sets, and the box is less crowded and its easier to do...something i have wanted to see for a long time now...and yes, if Iowa is throwing the ball 40 or more times under Ferentz, it's either the first two years and no other choice, or they are behind and the clock is the enemy.
 
JonDMiller said:
Agreed...but you CAN run it out of those sets, and the box is less crowded and its easier to do...something i have wanted to see for a long time now...and yes, if Iowa is throwing the ball 40 or more times under Ferentz, it's either the first two years and no other choice, or they are behind and the clock is the enemy.
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Agreed, and we will.
 
No, you see we outscored Pitt 28-3 in the last 18 minutes, therefore if we run that same offense for 60 minutes I am expecting to win about 92-10 every game going forward.
 
I don't care if they go to shot gun or keep going under center to snap the ball. Just switch to a no huddle once in a while to keep the defense guessing and take advantage of favorable matchups by not allowing the defense to switch personnel. Sometimes you can also pick up an easy 5 yard penalty after a 2nd down run that goes no where resulting in a 3rd and long by immediately going back to the line and snapping the ball. Generally most defenses are switching personnel in obvious passing situations.
 
Pretty much spot on Jon. I like the idea of running the no huddle a few series every game. Like you said, it makes the opposition prepare for something else, gives them another wrinkle to think about.
 
While the no huddle 4th quarter was a thing of beauty, I don't want to see us move 100% in that direction. The last thing we need is to get into shootouts with every team we face. Mixing in the no huddle with our base pro style offense will still keep the game at a slower pace, which always helps us. That slow down game is why we haven't lost by double digits in 4+ years. It's not the most exciting thing in the world, but it works and it's who we are. Now sprinkle in some no huddle and I think we've got something nice to work with.
 
The thing about it is other than the production Iowa got out of these formations, is teams are gonna have to prepare for it now. Preparing for Iowa is probably the easiest week opposing coaches have all season. Now, they have some different looks and things they need to prepare for instead just the status quo against Iowa. Should create some running lanes because you have to respect the guys at receiver, especially in the trips, which I think Iowa should do a lot from here on out.
 
I just want to see our best players on the field, and our formations tweaked a little to spread things out.

KMM has proven to be a dangerous 3rd option. Herman is a decent pass catching TE, and we've all seen what Davis and McNutt can do if we throw the ball a lot.

But we can't take advantage of that talent if we come out constantly in I formation, 2 TE sets, and let's face it, the opposing teams have figured out the plays we run out of that formation.

Spread the field, run the ball from those formations, and we may have a little more success on the ground.
 
JonDMiller said:
I have read a lot of the posts this weekend and we took a lot of calls on Soundoff...people excited about the offensive production and thinking things are going to go crazy.

Don't hold your breath on that, and I don't think they should.

You can't be who you are not...and unless things are incredibly dire, as they were in 2004, you should not change who you are 'on the course'.

However, you can tweak it...and I felt Iowa would do that in the bye week...tweak things on the offense, make tweaks to get the ball to the playmakers more often because that stuff has been there, was there against ISU and just wasn't taken advantage of.

This past week in practice, Iowa worked on the no huddle sets. Ed Podolak was at practice, and saw it himself. Iowa had planned on using this some in the game, but they shot themselves in the foot too often on first down...Iowa was in third and 7 or longer an astonishing eight times in the first three quarters.

I think after the success of the no huddle on Saturday, they continue to mix it in a bit, but it will be for a change of pace..It's not going to be as a replacement of philosophy.

Iowa will still run its offense, still set up play action, etc...but this no huddle wrinkle needs to be a part of the game plan each week because it gives defenses more to prepare for...time taken away from preparing for the base Iowa offense we have seen for the entire Ferentz era...which means less reacting and more thinking from a defense, which is what you want.

Remember, Iowa scored it's first touchdown of the game from under center. You don't have to go shotgun all the time to be in a hurry up mode, and you can still run the ball out of hurry up and shotgun, which Iowa did and that will also be a key for opponent preparation.

Get the win against La Monroe and get to the bye week...and I really think the second half schedule sets up real well for Iowa to make some noise.

PSU is winnable
NW at night in Kinnick
Indiana at home
at Minnesota

Right there, as of right now, are three of the four or five worst teams in the league (PSU, Indy, and MN) with another one (Purdue) on the schedule later in the year.

I think the Hawks will also make some defensive tweaks in the bye week...the D got a lot better this last week with Alvis to end, Hyde to corner and Bernstine in the lineup.

I want Nielsen in there and healthy, but Hitchens sure showed a lot..Podolak calls him a headhunter, loves his play...and four of Iowa's next five opponents are not heavy power run teams...where you can get away with speed in the LB vs size.

A lot is still in front of this team, a lot is there for the taking..but the offense is going to have to lead the way, and this coaching staff knows that...it's going to be a lot of fun to watch how they transform this team...the abilities of this coaching staff are going to be on display the next five weeks as they transform this team to take advantage of who and what it is.
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So what about the tight end position, who will we see, more of Derby or who. He played a lot on Saturday and Herman got himself in the doghouse with all of the penalties he had.
 
Must also keep in mind that our passing game looked great against a very porous pass defense. Pitt gave up 400 some passing yards, (I think) to Maine.
It won't always be so easy to throw.
Neither style is effective if it is exclusive of the other.
 
Iowa runs the pro style offense.

The New England Patriots run the pro style offense.

The Greatest Show on Turf ran the pro style offense.

Running the pro style offense does not doom one to boring predictable offense. That is entirely a function of playcalling.

With the spread or the option or whatever gimmicky offense you become a hostage to the system. Not so the pro style. You can run anything out of the pro style. The pros use it because it's the best, most versatile system. However, if you watch a lot of pro football, you'll notice that it's predicated upon a potent passing attack, which is used to set up the run. Fortunately, IOWA has exactly the personnel to operate that way.

So make like Nike's exploited Chinese child workers and Just Do It.
 
JonDMiller said:
Agreed...but you CAN run it out of those sets, and the box is less crowded and its easier to do...something i have wanted to see for a long time now...and yes, if Iowa is throwing the ball 40 or more times under Ferentz, it's either the first two years and no other choice, or they are behind and the clock is the enemy.
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I said this exact thing in a thread about Iowa's offense going forward. I could not agree more. We need our 5 best skill players on the field as much as possible. I think the 5 best are Mcnutt, Davis, KMM, Zach Derby and Coker if we are going 3 WR, 1 TE and 1 RB.
 
Tight end comes off line of scrimmage...WR moves up to LOS...TE goes in motion. Ball is hiked. Ball handed off to RB or play action pass.

Just some variation from this from time to time is all I ask. I love the Pro set. But I think it can be tweaked to add some more excitement to the offense. Hopefully the staff will do this.
 
Unfortunately this is correct. And the Iowa coaching staff will continue to let the game pass them by. Ball control offenses are going to completely be a thing of the past in the next 5-10 years. Just look at the NFL. The best teams are the ones who run mainly out of a spread offense. A majority of the top college programs in recent years have experienced great success running the spread as well. It gets the offense/defense in space and allows your playmakers to make plays. Not only that, as evidenced by the teams that use the spread against Iowa, it WEARS DOWN THE DEFENSE.

If I had my way, and I would guess a number of HN would agree with me, more than 50% of Iowa's offense should be run out of the gun with 3 and 4 WR sets. That is where Vandy looked most comfortable, and my god can he throw the ball. And yet, as most of us know, Iowa will more than likely go back to same ol same ol, maybe we'll see some more shotgun formation mixed in. But I'm not gonna hold my breath.
 
UrbandaleHawk01 said:
Unfortunately this is correct. And the Iowa coaching staff will continue to let the game pass them by. Ball control offenses are going to completely be a thing of the past in the next 5-10 years. Just look at the NFL. The best teams are the ones who run mainly out of a spread offense. A majority of the top college programs in recent years have experienced great success running the spread as well. It gets the offense/defense in space and allows your playmakers to make plays. Not only that, as evidenced by the teams that use the spread against Iowa, it WEARS DOWN THE DEFENSE.

If I had my way, and I would guess a number of HN would agree with me, more than 50% of Iowa's offense should be run out of the gun with 3 and 4 WR sets. That is where Vandy looked most comfortable, and my god can he throw the ball. And yet, as most of us know, Iowa will more than likely go back to same ol same ol, maybe we'll see some more shotgun formation mixed in. But I'm not gonna hold my breath.
Click to expand...

Completely false. Ball control offenses still dominate the NFL and college. Teams just change the way they control the ball. New England is a prime example of a team that controls the ball utilizing the pass. It's essentially a souped up version of the west coast offense.
 
The other thing that happens when you run this type of offense and have the lead is that it allows the other team to get back in the game if you don't score every time you have the ball. Pitt was running very little time off the clock and Iowa took advantage of it.
 
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