IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
Now that the season is over and the dust has settled, it's time to look back at how it all played out. An 8-4 season in a year that most knowledgeable fans predicted between 7 and 10 wins. So how did the squad that featured Five 1st Team All Big 10 players stack up against the rest of college football in ten key statistical categories?
1. Total Offense - 76th (down from 66th in 2017) (D+): Brian Ferentz's second crack at the Hawkeye offense, led by a returning pro prospect QB, two all-American tight ends, and some all-Big 10 OL, averaged just 389 yards per game. That put us behind offensive juggernauts like 3-9 UCLA, Illinois (who we shut out), and Louisiana Monroe. No doubt, the talent was there to be a solid offense. Stanley, Fant, Hockinson, and Smith could one day be NFL players. Unfortunately, Brian's predictable play calling and questionable personnel decisions, the team's poor execution in clutch situations, Ferentzian bad clock management, and a consistent lack of a sustained running attack all joined forces to doom the offense.
2. Total Defense - 7th (up from 17th in 2017) (A+): The Hawks gave up just 290 yards per game and landed in the top 10 nationwide! Kudos to Coach Parker, who truly deserves a raise and a shot at a head coaching position. The D-Line was so stout that it had no room for Epenesa. The DBs, lead by a second team all-American, kept things in front of them while freshmen CBs were thrust into action. The LBs were the weak link this year, in part because Seth Wallace didn't see fit to give them experience last year (Bo Bower's 100% snap count was well documented). While this top 10 unit loses a few key pieces next year, they return the vast majority of the play makers and should be a force that will keep the Hawks in games for years to come. The question will be: can the Hawks recruit the caliber of LBs that other schools actually want? Welch's best offer was Bowling Green; Nieman's was Florida Atlantic, and Hockaday's was Indiana. It's time for Seth Wallace to pick up the pace and bring in some LBs worthy of a top 10 defense.
3. Passing Offense - 68th (even from 69th in 2017) (C-): The Hawks threw for 228 passing yards per game. Unfortunately, many fans (and scouts) were expecting improvement from Nate Stanley between his sophomore and junior year as starter. He had another year in the "system," got more comfortable with the offence, and is physically bigger and stronger. Like with many Iowa Quarterbacks before him, the numbers suggest no improvement at all. Is the issue a lack of playmakers to throw to? Hawk fans seem to love Smith and Smith-Marsette. He had a Mackey Award winning tight end at his disposal along side a 1st round NFL lock in Noah Fant. Then there was the return of Iowa's leading receiver from 2017 in Nick Easely. All signs pointed to a vast improvement in the passing game. It's true, new targets did not emerge and develop like perhaps they should have (3rd year of Max Cooper, highly touted Tyrone Tracy, etc.), but the truth is, Nate Stanley seemed to regress from the glimpses of greatness that he showed in 2017 against OSU. He will be back again next year, for better or worse. Will he improve his game? Will he stay up past 9:00pm or get a slice of pizza at the Airliner? Stay tuned.
4. Rushing Offense - 77th (up from 96th in 2017) (D+): The Hawks averaged 162 yards per game despite being a "power running" pro style offense. While all 3 of the backs this year were just sophomores, the coaches are scrambling to find something better by handing out a slew of last minute scholarship offers to RBs. On the bright side, from everything I've seen from the 1 RB commit that we do have coming in next year, he looks to be an upgrade in talent. Not Eno Benjamin upgrade. Not Keron Higdon upgrade. But a Young/Kelly-Martin/Sargent upgrade.
5. Third Down Conversions - 20th (up from 104th) (A-) The Hawks converted on 46% of 3rd downs in perhaps the most surprising and most improved stat of the year. It's hard to fathom that the 76th best offense in the nation finished in the top 20 on 3rd down conversions. That tells me that either we left ourselves in 3rd and manageable most of the time, or that the play calling may have been a little more creative on 3rd down than previously thought. How this team was better on 3rd down than a team with Akrum Wadley in the backfield is baffling. Perhaps the 3rd down stats were inflated a bit in games against Illinois and Northern Iowa, because I don't remember many clutch 3rd down conversions against Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern or Wisconsin.
6. Sacks - 21st (up from 51st in 2017) (A-): 34 sacks this year rank up there with the best under Ferentz. Epenesa improved like everyone expected of a 5 star recruit, and the rest of the DLine exceeded expectations. Perhaps the most impressive part of this number is that it was done with very little blitzing. Next year's DLine adds big time recruit Nixon, and should not miss a beat.
7. Sacks Allowed - 12th (up from 54th in 2017) (A): In 12 games this year, the Hawks gave up just 13 sacks! That's especially impressive given Stanley's lack of mobility and jittery feet when the pocket collapses. The OL will go down as the most underrated unit on this year's squad, with several members getting all-conference recognition. While they did not appear to open many holes for the RBs, it is possible that the RBs simply were not that good. Last year's freshmen tackles improved to become solid contributors. The interior line greatly missed Daniels, but the Hawks can't control early entries into the NFL draft. With Daniels, this would have been an elite level OL.
8. Net Punting - 100th (down from 89th in 2017) (F): What a disaster the punting game was this year. Two years ago, the coaching staff recruited a scholarship kid out of Milwaukee to come in and take over (his only other scholarship offer was Wyoming). In 2017, that scholarship kid was beat out by a walk-on. That walk-on went on to finish dead last in the Big 10, with mostly 20 yard low line-drive punts that rolled another 15 yards to a dead stop. Rather than go out and find a grad transfer/JUCO/high school punter to take over the 2018 punting game, LeVar Woods sat back, studied his "trick plays," collected his ever increasing salary, and handed the job back to the Big 10's worst punter. Woods expected a miraculously different result. His incompetence as a special teams coach cost Iowa dearly. The Hawks, losers of 4 close games, lost the field possession battle in every one of them. Raestetter took 100% of the snaps at punter this year despite having a scholarship guy on the bench, and will go down as the Herb Grigsby of his generation.
9. Turnover Margin - 17th (down from 26th) (B+): Turnovers are painful, but every team has them. Opponents had 24 turnovers this year, while Iowa had just 16. The defense was aggressive and the offense was conservative. While many Hawk fans like to attribute losses to turnovers, it is more accurate to attribute wins to turnovers.
10. Penalties - 27th (down from 32nd in 2017) (B+): In spite of how many felt, Iowa was not a heavily penalized team this year. This team showed solid discipline and had decent leadership on both sides of the ball. This stat does make you wonder, though...if penalties weren't the problem and turnovers weren't the problem, what was?
Overall, the stats and the win/loss record shows that this team was better than last year's squad. Did the easy schedule help? Sure. But the number of all-Big 10 athletes shows that this was in the upper 1/4 of Kirk's teams and likely could have been a New Year's Six team with the right coaching.
1. Total Offense - 76th (down from 66th in 2017) (D+): Brian Ferentz's second crack at the Hawkeye offense, led by a returning pro prospect QB, two all-American tight ends, and some all-Big 10 OL, averaged just 389 yards per game. That put us behind offensive juggernauts like 3-9 UCLA, Illinois (who we shut out), and Louisiana Monroe. No doubt, the talent was there to be a solid offense. Stanley, Fant, Hockinson, and Smith could one day be NFL players. Unfortunately, Brian's predictable play calling and questionable personnel decisions, the team's poor execution in clutch situations, Ferentzian bad clock management, and a consistent lack of a sustained running attack all joined forces to doom the offense.
2. Total Defense - 7th (up from 17th in 2017) (A+): The Hawks gave up just 290 yards per game and landed in the top 10 nationwide! Kudos to Coach Parker, who truly deserves a raise and a shot at a head coaching position. The D-Line was so stout that it had no room for Epenesa. The DBs, lead by a second team all-American, kept things in front of them while freshmen CBs were thrust into action. The LBs were the weak link this year, in part because Seth Wallace didn't see fit to give them experience last year (Bo Bower's 100% snap count was well documented). While this top 10 unit loses a few key pieces next year, they return the vast majority of the play makers and should be a force that will keep the Hawks in games for years to come. The question will be: can the Hawks recruit the caliber of LBs that other schools actually want? Welch's best offer was Bowling Green; Nieman's was Florida Atlantic, and Hockaday's was Indiana. It's time for Seth Wallace to pick up the pace and bring in some LBs worthy of a top 10 defense.
3. Passing Offense - 68th (even from 69th in 2017) (C-): The Hawks threw for 228 passing yards per game. Unfortunately, many fans (and scouts) were expecting improvement from Nate Stanley between his sophomore and junior year as starter. He had another year in the "system," got more comfortable with the offence, and is physically bigger and stronger. Like with many Iowa Quarterbacks before him, the numbers suggest no improvement at all. Is the issue a lack of playmakers to throw to? Hawk fans seem to love Smith and Smith-Marsette. He had a Mackey Award winning tight end at his disposal along side a 1st round NFL lock in Noah Fant. Then there was the return of Iowa's leading receiver from 2017 in Nick Easely. All signs pointed to a vast improvement in the passing game. It's true, new targets did not emerge and develop like perhaps they should have (3rd year of Max Cooper, highly touted Tyrone Tracy, etc.), but the truth is, Nate Stanley seemed to regress from the glimpses of greatness that he showed in 2017 against OSU. He will be back again next year, for better or worse. Will he improve his game? Will he stay up past 9:00pm or get a slice of pizza at the Airliner? Stay tuned.
4. Rushing Offense - 77th (up from 96th in 2017) (D+): The Hawks averaged 162 yards per game despite being a "power running" pro style offense. While all 3 of the backs this year were just sophomores, the coaches are scrambling to find something better by handing out a slew of last minute scholarship offers to RBs. On the bright side, from everything I've seen from the 1 RB commit that we do have coming in next year, he looks to be an upgrade in talent. Not Eno Benjamin upgrade. Not Keron Higdon upgrade. But a Young/Kelly-Martin/Sargent upgrade.
5. Third Down Conversions - 20th (up from 104th) (A-) The Hawks converted on 46% of 3rd downs in perhaps the most surprising and most improved stat of the year. It's hard to fathom that the 76th best offense in the nation finished in the top 20 on 3rd down conversions. That tells me that either we left ourselves in 3rd and manageable most of the time, or that the play calling may have been a little more creative on 3rd down than previously thought. How this team was better on 3rd down than a team with Akrum Wadley in the backfield is baffling. Perhaps the 3rd down stats were inflated a bit in games against Illinois and Northern Iowa, because I don't remember many clutch 3rd down conversions against Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern or Wisconsin.
6. Sacks - 21st (up from 51st in 2017) (A-): 34 sacks this year rank up there with the best under Ferentz. Epenesa improved like everyone expected of a 5 star recruit, and the rest of the DLine exceeded expectations. Perhaps the most impressive part of this number is that it was done with very little blitzing. Next year's DLine adds big time recruit Nixon, and should not miss a beat.
7. Sacks Allowed - 12th (up from 54th in 2017) (A): In 12 games this year, the Hawks gave up just 13 sacks! That's especially impressive given Stanley's lack of mobility and jittery feet when the pocket collapses. The OL will go down as the most underrated unit on this year's squad, with several members getting all-conference recognition. While they did not appear to open many holes for the RBs, it is possible that the RBs simply were not that good. Last year's freshmen tackles improved to become solid contributors. The interior line greatly missed Daniels, but the Hawks can't control early entries into the NFL draft. With Daniels, this would have been an elite level OL.
8. Net Punting - 100th (down from 89th in 2017) (F): What a disaster the punting game was this year. Two years ago, the coaching staff recruited a scholarship kid out of Milwaukee to come in and take over (his only other scholarship offer was Wyoming). In 2017, that scholarship kid was beat out by a walk-on. That walk-on went on to finish dead last in the Big 10, with mostly 20 yard low line-drive punts that rolled another 15 yards to a dead stop. Rather than go out and find a grad transfer/JUCO/high school punter to take over the 2018 punting game, LeVar Woods sat back, studied his "trick plays," collected his ever increasing salary, and handed the job back to the Big 10's worst punter. Woods expected a miraculously different result. His incompetence as a special teams coach cost Iowa dearly. The Hawks, losers of 4 close games, lost the field possession battle in every one of them. Raestetter took 100% of the snaps at punter this year despite having a scholarship guy on the bench, and will go down as the Herb Grigsby of his generation.
9. Turnover Margin - 17th (down from 26th) (B+): Turnovers are painful, but every team has them. Opponents had 24 turnovers this year, while Iowa had just 16. The defense was aggressive and the offense was conservative. While many Hawk fans like to attribute losses to turnovers, it is more accurate to attribute wins to turnovers.
10. Penalties - 27th (down from 32nd in 2017) (B+): In spite of how many felt, Iowa was not a heavily penalized team this year. This team showed solid discipline and had decent leadership on both sides of the ball. This stat does make you wonder, though...if penalties weren't the problem and turnovers weren't the problem, what was?
Overall, the stats and the win/loss record shows that this team was better than last year's squad. Did the easy schedule help? Sure. But the number of all-Big 10 athletes shows that this was in the upper 1/4 of Kirk's teams and likely could have been a New Year's Six team with the right coaching.
