IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
Two evenly matched ranked opponents slugging it out in the rain. The team with the injured, but competent QB rightfully beat the team whose Leave it to Beaver QB completed just 36% of his passes. Sadly, the Hawks keep having opportunities to make their mark, and won't take things to the next level. Are they good enough? Probably. Are their players/coaches clutch in close games? Not even close!
1. Stanley - welp, they say IowalawWasRight about Stanley, and I tend to agree. 18-49 for 200 yards, 2 ints, 0 tds, and multiple fumbled snaps where he was off in la la land when the ball was hiked right to him. The interceptions were the worst possible variety. One was basically a pick 6. The other was an inexcusable choke job from Penn State's 3 yardline with less than 3 minutes to play, down by 6. Why we weren't running the ball and milking the clock in that situation? Who knows. An intentional grounding call when he was standing in the pocket with no defender within 20 feet of him? I have never seen something so boneheaded. This was Stanley's second straight regression back to the mean of mediocrity (see last week's Iowalaw report for more info). His 4th laid egg of the season, to go along with 2 or 3 good games. Poor decision making, poor mechanics, poor clock management, zero cool under fire, and a slew of absolutely awful throws. Brian Griece chimed in and noted to the national television audience that Stanley was missing on middle school throws. His passes did not discriminate, as some were thrown hard and into the dirt at his targets feet, while others sailed a mile above his wide open receiver's hands. Perhaps even more frustrating was his general lack of being a gamer in the clutch. He just looked dazed and confused out there randying around with a high look on his face after badly misthrown incomplete passes. Football is a team sport, but wow.
2. Sargent - It looks like we found a gamer in the bunch! 16 rushes for 91 yards (5.7 ypc) and 15 more yrds receiving. I saw glimpses of Wadley in Sargent, and it's time that he starts seeing more playing time. Having watched every game this year, it seems like Sargent has been hindered by bad luck, where a good portion of his carries have started with getting hit immediately after taking the hand off. Once the guy gets a head of steam, he's extremely fast and hard to bring down. Cheers to at least one skill player coming to play today.
3. Raestatter - I don't normally waste any time highlighting a punter, but what a let down Colten was today. In games when it doesn't matter, he boots them far and uncatchable. While he has never had much of a leg, he has built a pretty good punting average on the fact that his kicks roll 25 yards and are not returned. Today, it was the opposite. His punts were short line drives right to the return man. I hate to say it, but he looked like a high schooler out there, with 7 punts for 36.9 yrd avg and zero hang time. In a 6 point game, that field position can be the difference between winning and losing.
4. Tight Ends - despite disappearing for 75% of the game, the tight ends came up big for the Hawks. TJ with 3 catches for 63 yards (and robbed out of a potentially game winning catch) while Fant had 5 catches for 56. Fant still strikes me as a "me first" kind of player, but it's nice having him on our team. If Fant had been involved in more than just the 4th quarter, the outcome would have been different.
5. Smith Marsette - Ok, so IowalawWasRight, the guy can't catch the ball. This was the 7th game of his career where he had more drops than catches and 280lb DL Sam Brinks likely has better hands. But once he gets the ball, he's electrifying. 3 kick returns for 103 yards, and a couple nice jet sweeps/reverses where he made something out of nothing. It is absolutely imperative that the staff figures out a way to put the ball in his hands throughout the game. Run the wildcat. Run 3-5 jet sweeps per game. Do something, because he's not going to be a difference making receiver this year but he's too good to keep off the field.
6. Stone - The only real feel good story out of today was watching Geno Stone come back to the school that spurned him, and sticking it to them. While our defense has had better days, Stone came up huge with a fantastic pick 6 that gave the Hawks a chance of winning right down to the end. Stone desperately wanted to go to Penn State, and went on 7 unofficial visits there as a high school student, but his scholarship offer never came. Good for him for making them pay.
7. LBs - Our interchangeable make-shift LBs, who were quietly having a solid season despite having no true leader or star back there. Today, they were exploited for being the lightly recruited, inexperienced bunch that they are. Jack Hockaday led the LBs with just 4 tackles, Welch at 3, and Colbert had 2. I think it's time for Hooker to permanently take a seat at the LB table, because we just don't have any talent at the position. Amani Jones didn't see the field again today, as he is clearly in Kirk's dog house. VERY strange that Jones could go from starter to bench warmer after just 3 series in 1 game, yet Stanley can make boneheaded play after boneheaded play time after time and the coach keeps throwing him back out there without even considering playing his backup. Not sure how that works.
1. Stanley - welp, they say IowalawWasRight about Stanley, and I tend to agree. 18-49 for 200 yards, 2 ints, 0 tds, and multiple fumbled snaps where he was off in la la land when the ball was hiked right to him. The interceptions were the worst possible variety. One was basically a pick 6. The other was an inexcusable choke job from Penn State's 3 yardline with less than 3 minutes to play, down by 6. Why we weren't running the ball and milking the clock in that situation? Who knows. An intentional grounding call when he was standing in the pocket with no defender within 20 feet of him? I have never seen something so boneheaded. This was Stanley's second straight regression back to the mean of mediocrity (see last week's Iowalaw report for more info). His 4th laid egg of the season, to go along with 2 or 3 good games. Poor decision making, poor mechanics, poor clock management, zero cool under fire, and a slew of absolutely awful throws. Brian Griece chimed in and noted to the national television audience that Stanley was missing on middle school throws. His passes did not discriminate, as some were thrown hard and into the dirt at his targets feet, while others sailed a mile above his wide open receiver's hands. Perhaps even more frustrating was his general lack of being a gamer in the clutch. He just looked dazed and confused out there randying around with a high look on his face after badly misthrown incomplete passes. Football is a team sport, but wow.
2. Sargent - It looks like we found a gamer in the bunch! 16 rushes for 91 yards (5.7 ypc) and 15 more yrds receiving. I saw glimpses of Wadley in Sargent, and it's time that he starts seeing more playing time. Having watched every game this year, it seems like Sargent has been hindered by bad luck, where a good portion of his carries have started with getting hit immediately after taking the hand off. Once the guy gets a head of steam, he's extremely fast and hard to bring down. Cheers to at least one skill player coming to play today.
3. Raestatter - I don't normally waste any time highlighting a punter, but what a let down Colten was today. In games when it doesn't matter, he boots them far and uncatchable. While he has never had much of a leg, he has built a pretty good punting average on the fact that his kicks roll 25 yards and are not returned. Today, it was the opposite. His punts were short line drives right to the return man. I hate to say it, but he looked like a high schooler out there, with 7 punts for 36.9 yrd avg and zero hang time. In a 6 point game, that field position can be the difference between winning and losing.
4. Tight Ends - despite disappearing for 75% of the game, the tight ends came up big for the Hawks. TJ with 3 catches for 63 yards (and robbed out of a potentially game winning catch) while Fant had 5 catches for 56. Fant still strikes me as a "me first" kind of player, but it's nice having him on our team. If Fant had been involved in more than just the 4th quarter, the outcome would have been different.
5. Smith Marsette - Ok, so IowalawWasRight, the guy can't catch the ball. This was the 7th game of his career where he had more drops than catches and 280lb DL Sam Brinks likely has better hands. But once he gets the ball, he's electrifying. 3 kick returns for 103 yards, and a couple nice jet sweeps/reverses where he made something out of nothing. It is absolutely imperative that the staff figures out a way to put the ball in his hands throughout the game. Run the wildcat. Run 3-5 jet sweeps per game. Do something, because he's not going to be a difference making receiver this year but he's too good to keep off the field.
6. Stone - The only real feel good story out of today was watching Geno Stone come back to the school that spurned him, and sticking it to them. While our defense has had better days, Stone came up huge with a fantastic pick 6 that gave the Hawks a chance of winning right down to the end. Stone desperately wanted to go to Penn State, and went on 7 unofficial visits there as a high school student, but his scholarship offer never came. Good for him for making them pay.
7. LBs - Our interchangeable make-shift LBs, who were quietly having a solid season despite having no true leader or star back there. Today, they were exploited for being the lightly recruited, inexperienced bunch that they are. Jack Hockaday led the LBs with just 4 tackles, Welch at 3, and Colbert had 2. I think it's time for Hooker to permanently take a seat at the LB table, because we just don't have any talent at the position. Amani Jones didn't see the field again today, as he is clearly in Kirk's dog house. VERY strange that Jones could go from starter to bench warmer after just 3 series in 1 game, yet Stanley can make boneheaded play after boneheaded play time after time and the coach keeps throwing him back out there without even considering playing his backup. Not sure how that works.
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