IowaLaw's Post Game Report: Miami

IowaLawWasRight

Well-Known Member
Solid start to the year after a ho-hum first half. 38-14 is more offense and less defense than expected. But what about the individual performances?

1. RB - Sargent appears to have elevated his game since last year's sub-par rushing attack. 14 carries for 91 yards is solid, but add in 4 receptions for 65 more yrds, and you are starting to approach Wadley territory. This game solidified Sargent as the starter, so hopefully he can build on it and become one of the Big Ten's better backs.

2. Epena-noshow - With all of the preseason hype (1st team All American / early Top 10 NFL draft pick), I was pumped to see what he could do with extended playing time in his first start. Instead, he spent most of the game randying around, and I'm left wondering if AJ's stats last year were more a result of getting to come off the bench when his man was worn down and playing exclusively on pass downs while resting on run downs. AJ finished with 1 tackle, 0 sacks, and zero pressure on a true freshmen QB who had all day to sit back and throw the ball. Sure, there were some double teams, but that's life when you're a "Top 10 pick."

3. Questionable Personnel Decisions - For starters, what does the staff do when they have the nation's #1 ranked returner coming back for his junior season in Smirth Marsette? Bench him, and replace him with freshmen Nico Ragaini, who appears to have mastered the ability to run away from punts and let them be downed inside the 20? Head scratcher. I'd also venture to guess that no team in the country gave more touches to their fullbacks this week than Iowa (2 rushes for 0 yrds and a fumble, plus a reception). Why? Then there's the decision to scratch the highly anticipated "cash" position that Amani Hooker made famous and revert back to the outdated 4-3 defense. Remember all the talk of going 8 men deep on the DL? Well, the starters played nearly ever snap, with Nixon and my man Amani Jones getting a hand full of snaps. Overall, the defense played well, but against an inferior opponent, not getting DJ Johnson reps at the cash position or playing your subs made little sense.

4. Stanley - Fresh off a summer of attending QB camps and growing an awkward goatee, Nate had a lot to prove. As has been the case for much of his career, his stats today looked better than his actual performance. 21-30 for 252 and 3 TDs is a fantastic game on paper, and for the most part it was. However, Stanley's ball placement remains awful, with many of his completed passes thrown well behind receivers who had to come back and make plays on the ball. Nate's still afraid to pull the trigger on passes to stretch the defense, as quite a few of his 21 of his completions were check down passes that anyone could complete (7 alone were to running backs behind the line of scrimmage). On the plus side, I liked the fact that he tucked the ball and ran a couple of times, which is an added dimension this team needs.

Overall, this was a game to build on. Playing at this level the next two weeks will get us Ws, but it will not beat the big boys.
 
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Epenesa had a great QB hurry in the first half. Smith-Marsette is not the number one punt returner. He’s a kickoff return specialist, and was number one there last season. Not sure what crack you are smoking. Your Nate interpretation ignores some drops and bad plays by receivers, but he did have a couple of less-than-stellar throws. Overall, it was a good night for Nate, but the jury is still out on him. We played less cash because replacing Amani Hooker won’t be easy. Give the DBs time to grow. The rest of your post is clueless as ever.
 
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My guess is the coaches are figuring out that the reason the cash worked so well is because we had a really good player playing it. I'm nervous that we don't have a player to pull it off this year. Also the fullback plays didn't bother me because both carries were on 3rd and 1. I think they feel really good about Ross getting one yard. My biggest complaint about personnel decisions was one that ended up working out fine anyway. Playing Goodson in his first snaps in a 4th quarter where the game is still loseable seems very questionable to me. But like I said, it worked out and he looked pretty good.
 
Ep - wasn't the reason he didn't play as much last year because he gave up the big plays in is aggressiveness?

PR - Isn't running away from punts and not turning the ball over a KF thing?
 
Oh...IowaLaw...why the drivel? Why? I guess you get a reaction...so if that is what you are after...great...congrats. You really have some really poor takes.

Stanley was pretty damn good last night. The ball placement to Smith in the endzone was bad twice? To Martin was bad? To Ragani was bad? The one to Ragani was slightly underthrown, but he was trying to make sure it was a big play...could it have been more in front of him...yes...but it was a 45 yard pass play. There was a ton of run after the catch last night...that would counter your argument.

As others pointed out...Smith-Marsette has never returned punts. Fail.
 
Kyle Groenwig(sp?) was the punt returner last year, not ISM. So there goes that master criticism.

I also was a little disappointed in the lack of pressure by the DL, but then realized that this was about as straight up as we will see them play all year - lack of stunting, lack of blitzing...

Stanley had a better game than most people think. His worst miscue was probably the under throw to Nico. That had a good chance to be 6 if he leads him a bit. Nate had a few passes that were right on the money if the receivers extend their arms to catch with their hands instead to trying to cradle catch them. His misses today were not anywhere near pick off territory last night - that is good.

Also, oh no, he completed check down passes instead of forcing throws into coverage... bench him.
 
....The one to Ragani was slightly underthrown, but he was trying to make sure it was a big play...could it have been more in front of him...yes...but it was a 45 yard pass play. ......

45yd play but a 10 yard throw that cost us a TD - thats the point of Stanley's 'empty stats'.

He will have to prove he can win games - by his play. He is a weak (inconsistent) link in the offense
 
45yd play but a 10 yard throw that cost us a TD - thats the point of Stanley's 'empty stats'.

He will have to prove he can win games - by his play. He is a weak (inconsistent) link in the offense

Empty stats? What exactly does that mean....that he got all his yards in garbage time...he didn't. Jesus...the guy hits on 75% of his passes, when you take away the throw aways and throws 3 perfectly thrown balls for TDs and people are bitching about him. Penn State last year...bitch away...Miami of Ohio...shut your damn pie hole...you are a freaking idiot.

Go back and watch Mississippi State...sure he made a bonehead throw for a near pick six...but he got us in the endzone three times against the best defense in college football. He also made a winning play with his feet on a fourth and one at the 12 yard line on a busted pass play...it led to a touchdown on the next play....something he needs to do more of and did last night.

Guess what...Tom Brady ain't walking through the freaking door...Nate Stanley had a really good night last night. Kudos to him...and his team believes in him.
 
I'll say it again, Nate looked like a Tom Brady understudy. I'm not going to argue about it, I'm just saying he spread the ball around, had beautiful progression of reads, didn't stare down his targets, just played his game.
Even the best have a few throws that could be better.
IDK why we didn't play cash.
I'll say this again also. So the reason we couldn't get any pressure is because they were getting rid of the ball fast. That's fine, I accept that. However that is what a bunch of teams do. Nebraska, Northwestern, Michigan, except they have better run games and better running qb's.
So imagine what the game would have looked like if they would of had even 1-125 rushing yards.They had 59. A decent p5 team would have doubled that. Top changes, we get the ball less and the game looks different.
 
I'll say it again, Nate looked like a Tom Brady understudy. I'm not going to argue about it, I'm just saying he spread the ball around, had beautiful progression of reads, didn't stare down his targets, just played his game.
Even the best have a few throws that could be better.
IDK why we didn't play cash.
I'll say this again also. So the reason we couldn't get any pressure is because they were getting rid of the ball fast. That's fine, I accept that. However that is what a bunch of teams do. Nebraska, Northwestern, Michigan, except they have better run games and better running qb's.
So imagine what the game would have looked like if they would of had even 1-125 rushing yards.They had 59. A decent p5 team would have doubled that. Top changes, we get the ball less and the game looks different.
We were also running extra vanilla defense most of the night. Little to no stunting or blitzing, 4-3 most of the night. Typical game 1 defense.
 
We were also running extra vanilla defense most of the night. Little to no stunting or blitzing, 4-3 most of the night. Typical game 1 defense.
I know.
All I really took away from last night is positives on our offense except the dropped passes.
I get we were playing vanilla. That almost makes it more frustrating. Our vanilla isn't very good and all it did was take reps away from backups.
Basically either we weren't trying, or we were that first half and I'm not sure which is worse or more scary.
 
Really, the most frustrating part of the 1st half was Iowa's inability to audible at the LOS. Miami was gambling on defense on every single play: their defensive backfield consisted of undersized CBs who were playing push coverage at the LOS with only 1 single safety playing exactly 10 YDS OFF THE LOS in the middle of the field. Seriously. Every play. Possession after possession. With a 3rd year QB, running a pro-style offense, Iowa coaches HAVE to give the QB in that situation the freedom & ability to audible to fly routes for both WRs down the sideline. Iowa ran the play once the 1st half, and #6 was obviously held but no call. They ran it again on 3rd and 1 in the 2nd half and got a holding call. Iowa will not see a more favorable defense all season for completion of long passes. I really don't know who's responsible for not taking advantage of that, the coaches or the QB.
 
Solid start to the year after a ho-hum first half. 38-14 is more offense and less defense than expected. But what about the individual performances?

1. RB - Sargent appears to have elevated his game since last year's sub-par rushing attack. 14 carries for 91 yards is solid, but add in 4 receptions for 65 more yrds, and you are starting to approach Wadley territory. This game solidified Sargent as the starter, so hopefully he can build on it and become one of the Big Ten's better backs.

2. Epena-noshow - With all of the preseason hype (1st team All American / early Top 10 NFL draft pick), I was pumped to see what he could do with extended playing time in his first start. Instead, he spent most of the game randying around, and I'm left wondering if AJ's stats last year were more a result of getting to come off the bench when his man was worn down and playing exclusively on pass downs while resting on run downs. AJ finished with 1 tackle, 0 sacks, and zero pressure on a true freshmen QB who had all day to sit back and throw the ball. Sure, there were some double teams, but that's life when you're a "Top 10 pick."

3. Questionable Personnel Decisions - For starters, what does the staff do when they have the nation's #1 ranked returner coming back for his junior season in Smirth Marsette? Bench him, and replace him with freshmen Nico Ragaini, who appears to have mastered the ability to run away from punts and let them be downed inside the 20? Head scratcher. I'd also venture to guess that no team in the country gave more touches to their fullbacks this week than Iowa (2 rushes for 0 yrds and a fumble, plus a reception). Why? Then there's the decision to scratch the highly anticipated "cash" position that Amani Hooker made famous and revert back to the outdated 4-3 defense. Remember all the talk of going 8 men deep on the DL? Well, the starters played nearly ever snap, with Nixon and my man Amani Jones getting a hand full of snaps. Overall, the defense played well, but against an inferior opponent, not getting DJ Johnson reps at the cash position or playing your subs made little sense.

4. Stanley - Fresh off a summer of attending QB camps and growing an awkward goatee, Nate had a lot to prove. As has been the case for much of his career, his stats today looked better than his actual performance. 21-30 for 252 and 3 TDs is a fantastic game on paper, and for the most part it was. However, Stanley's ball placement remains awful, with many of his completed passes thrown well behind receivers who had to come back and make plays on the ball. Nate's still afraid to pull the trigger on passes to stretch the defense, as quite a few of his 21 of his completions were check down passes that anyone could complete (7 alone were to running backs behind the line of scrimmage). On the plus side, I liked the fact that he tucked the ball and ran a couple of times, which is an added dimension this team needs.

Overall, this was a game to build on. Playing at this level the next two weeks will get us Ws, but it will not beat the big boys.



 
Ep - wasn't the reason he didn't play as much last year because he gave up the big plays in is aggressiveness?

PR - Isn't running away from punts and not turning the ball over a KF thing?

Apparently not, they had the 14th highest return % (# of opposing teams punts there were actually returned, as opposed to not fielded or fair caught) in the nation last year. So if that is his thing, apparently it is even more the thing of 110 other coaches.
 
Apparently not, they had the 14th highest return % (# of opposing teams punts there were actually returned, as opposed to not fielded or fair caught) in the nation last year. So if that is his thing, apparently it is even more the thing of 110 other coaches.
Oh snap!

But in all reality, great stat.
 
Really, the most frustrating part of the 1st half was Iowa's inability to audible at the LOS. Miami was gambling on defense on every single play: their defensive backfield consisted of undersized CBs who were playing push coverage at the LOS with only 1 single safety playing exactly 10 YDS OFF THE LOS in the middle of the field. Seriously. Every play. Possession after possession. With a 3rd year QB, running a pro-style offense, Iowa coaches HAVE to give the QB in that situation the freedom & ability to audible to fly routes for both WRs down the sideline. Iowa ran the play once the 1st half, and #6 was obviously held but no call. They ran it again on 3rd and 1 in the 2nd half and got a holding call. Iowa will not see a more favorable defense all season for completion of long passes. I really don't know who's responsible for not taking advantage of that, the coaches or the QB.

Who knows if the coaches had Nate on a No-Audible leash. We dont know and jNW was in about the same type of defense last couple of years as Miami yesterday with 8 in the box, one safety and tightish coverage on the edges. What did we do last year against jNW was BF called for short passes and there was little in the way of audibles for deep passes, so maybe there is a leash on audibles to deep passes. Who knows.
 
* No excuses for the secondary unable to defend a few Hail Mary floaters that became receptions for key Miami plays.

* Do we have a RB that can’t be run down from behind? Lots of space on a couple of runs that could have resulted in TD’s with a little more speed. Maybe Goodson finally gives us that element eventually.

* I do agree that Smith-Marsette needs more touches......one of our few explosive players.

* Still have issues defending 3rd and long......how many years now?

* Kickoffs were less than stellar with some not making the end zone and one or more out of bounds.........both giving good starting points for the opposition.

* Best part of iowa’s Game on Saturday IMHO was showing the ability to use multiple weapons with the passing game......being able to run the ball makes other things more effective. If we can do that vs ISU caliber I’ll feel better about our offense going into the BIG
 

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