IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
It remains the Hawkeye state for another year. Way too close for comfort, but a quality win against a quality opponent. The Hawks will be ranked going into the UNI game. A win against Wisconsin would vault us into the top 15 with a pretty easy slate after that.
1. Dominant Defense - After losing our top 4 LBs, and having attrition at safety/cb, no one knew how good our defense would be. I think it's pretty clear that this D has the chance to be one of, if not THE best in the Ferentz era. I can't remember a time when the Hawks were able to get so much pressure on the QB so regularly. 4 sacks today (9 in 2 games). AJ now has 2 strip sacks in 2 games, and opposing QBs are taking note! Part of the credit is due to elite level play by the new DBs. These guys are the real deal and have a chance to leading us to a 10 win season.
2. Brian Ferentz is Not Ready for Prime Time - This team continues to win in spite of inept, vanilla play calling and poor clock management. Brian's reward for coaching the 110th best offense in D1 last year was a $75,000 raise from his dad. Now that is job security. Sadly, this year's offense has been even worse than last year. How many 3rd and long calls did we have today where Brian opted to run up the middle or throw an ultra conservative 2 yard throw short of the 1st down marker. We don't have Wadley to bail Brian out this year by turning those runs on 3rd and 10 into a 15 yard gain. And how about that delay of game call on the very first play of the game...Brian had all week to come up with an opening play, but I guess he was "randying around" and didn't get around to it.
3. Freshmen Dijmon Colbert Shines at LB - It's funny how Amani Jones, the LB that got all of the preseason buzz up until last week, is already an after thought (did he even play a down today?). Meanwhile, freshmen Dijmon Colbert stepped in for injured Kristen Welsh and proved that he can be a fixture at LB for the next 4 years. 5 tackles today in his first significant action. The guy was everywhere, with crisp tackling and very few mental mistake for a freshmen. We may have a position controversy when Welsh is healthy. Hockaday and Nieman played well as well. The LBs limited David Montgomery to just 44 yards rushing, averaging just 2 yards per carry. Let's hope they can do half as well against Wisconsin's stud RB.
4. Raestetter is Actually a Weapon - I gave Colton kudos last week for his performance, but deep down I thought it was a fluke. Well, 2 games are now in the books and he has yet to be a liability. Instead, he averaged 42 yards per punt and didn't give up any return yards. Punters only get noticed when they make a mistake...and so far Raestetter is getting the job done. If he had been the punter shanking today instead of ISU's punter, the game would have turned out very differently.
5. Stanley is not the Man Yet - If the Marc Morrehouses of the world didn't jump off the Stanley to the NFL bandwagon after last week's pedestrian performance, this week should have sealed the deal. 16/28 for 166 yards and a number of passes thrown Jake Christensen style: 100 mph and 5 feet short of the receiver into the turf. The passes that were completed were thrown behind the receivers so they could not catch the ball in stride. No WR had more than 1 catch today. I hate to bring up the fact that QB regression is a repeated trend under Ferentz, but...Stanley was better last year, right?
6. Who is the Best Hawkeye TE - Hockinson with 6 catches and Fant with 4, Fant averaging more yards per catch. These TEs are single handedly carrying the sluggish offense on their backs. Is their productivity a result of Stanley being too conservative and checking down to his short options, the WRs being North Dakota State level WRs, or because the TEs are just that good. In any event, it will be interesting to see who gets First Team all-Big 10 honors if they continue on the path they are on.
1. Dominant Defense - After losing our top 4 LBs, and having attrition at safety/cb, no one knew how good our defense would be. I think it's pretty clear that this D has the chance to be one of, if not THE best in the Ferentz era. I can't remember a time when the Hawks were able to get so much pressure on the QB so regularly. 4 sacks today (9 in 2 games). AJ now has 2 strip sacks in 2 games, and opposing QBs are taking note! Part of the credit is due to elite level play by the new DBs. These guys are the real deal and have a chance to leading us to a 10 win season.
2. Brian Ferentz is Not Ready for Prime Time - This team continues to win in spite of inept, vanilla play calling and poor clock management. Brian's reward for coaching the 110th best offense in D1 last year was a $75,000 raise from his dad. Now that is job security. Sadly, this year's offense has been even worse than last year. How many 3rd and long calls did we have today where Brian opted to run up the middle or throw an ultra conservative 2 yard throw short of the 1st down marker. We don't have Wadley to bail Brian out this year by turning those runs on 3rd and 10 into a 15 yard gain. And how about that delay of game call on the very first play of the game...Brian had all week to come up with an opening play, but I guess he was "randying around" and didn't get around to it.
3. Freshmen Dijmon Colbert Shines at LB - It's funny how Amani Jones, the LB that got all of the preseason buzz up until last week, is already an after thought (did he even play a down today?). Meanwhile, freshmen Dijmon Colbert stepped in for injured Kristen Welsh and proved that he can be a fixture at LB for the next 4 years. 5 tackles today in his first significant action. The guy was everywhere, with crisp tackling and very few mental mistake for a freshmen. We may have a position controversy when Welsh is healthy. Hockaday and Nieman played well as well. The LBs limited David Montgomery to just 44 yards rushing, averaging just 2 yards per carry. Let's hope they can do half as well against Wisconsin's stud RB.
4. Raestetter is Actually a Weapon - I gave Colton kudos last week for his performance, but deep down I thought it was a fluke. Well, 2 games are now in the books and he has yet to be a liability. Instead, he averaged 42 yards per punt and didn't give up any return yards. Punters only get noticed when they make a mistake...and so far Raestetter is getting the job done. If he had been the punter shanking today instead of ISU's punter, the game would have turned out very differently.
5. Stanley is not the Man Yet - If the Marc Morrehouses of the world didn't jump off the Stanley to the NFL bandwagon after last week's pedestrian performance, this week should have sealed the deal. 16/28 for 166 yards and a number of passes thrown Jake Christensen style: 100 mph and 5 feet short of the receiver into the turf. The passes that were completed were thrown behind the receivers so they could not catch the ball in stride. No WR had more than 1 catch today. I hate to bring up the fact that QB regression is a repeated trend under Ferentz, but...Stanley was better last year, right?
6. Who is the Best Hawkeye TE - Hockinson with 6 catches and Fant with 4, Fant averaging more yards per catch. These TEs are single handedly carrying the sluggish offense on their backs. Is their productivity a result of Stanley being too conservative and checking down to his short options, the WRs being North Dakota State level WRs, or because the TEs are just that good. In any event, it will be interesting to see who gets First Team all-Big 10 honors if they continue on the path they are on.
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