IowaLaw's Preseason Observations

IowaLawWasRight said:
Where do I begin on this? What is my point about the schedule? The heading couldn't be more clear: "soft schedules make good coaches look great." What don't you understand? This year, the difference between going 6-6 this year, with major Ferentz fatigue setting in, and going 8-4 with a happy fan base is completely in the hands of a computer. Replace east division bottom dwellers like Indiana and Maryland with ranked Ohio State and Michigan, and suddenly people are questioning the coaching and recruiting. Same coaching, same recruits, same effort, but a soft schedule can make a world of difference in local and national perception. That is my point..and it worked out in our favor this year.

My observation on Stanley is not "pessimistic," he is exactly what the heading states: "solid, but overrated." That makes you defensive? He's a good QB. But if you listen to an On Iowa podcast or other local media, you would think the guy is already planning on sitting out Iowa's bowl game to prepare for the NFL combine.

You say Stanley threw for 2,600 yards like those are record breaking numbers worthy of the hype. You clearly don't follow much football outside of Iowa. Trace McSorley threw for 3,600 yards last year. He didn't go pro. Nebraska's Tanner Lee, who everyone on this board agreed sucked, threw for 3,100 yards. Stanley's numbers were good enough for 7th in the Big 10. Isn't that, by definition, solid, but not great? His completion percentage, on mostly short throws, was 10th in the Big 10. So again, I reiterate, he is solid, but perhaps the preseason hype has less to do with his accomplishments than other factors. He should definitely improve over time...unless you subscribe to the common theory that QBs regress and become more conservative under Ferentz over time. There is some merit to the theory.

Next you ask if there is "any news here" regarding attrition. You say no, because we have guys on the roster who you believe will play in the NFL. I'm not sure there is any logical correlation between the two, but yes, attrition is news at a program that doesn't bring in blue chip recruits every year. We had two guys leave early for the NFL, a starting safety transfer to a Dakota school, and a formerly starting CB transfer as well. Four top level guys gone. Combined with no decent upperclassmen tackles on the roster (we didn't start freshmen tackles last year because they were good (they weren't), they started because we didn't have anyone better). We have no backup QBs who have thrown a pass since high school. QBs tend to get hurt pretty often. So yes, it is news when you have the kind of attrition at WR, OL, QB, and DB that we've had in the past couple of years. Attrition is the reason that we have two walkon WRs on the two deeps...not their unique speed and size.
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Iowalaw, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but considering a) Iowa's style of offense, b) lack of returning receivers, etc., Stanley throwing for 2600 has a true soph despite only one guy at WR, TE, or RB returning with double-digit catches is frankly, rather encouraging. As is the 26-6 TD/INT ratio. comparing him to McSorely is an apples-bananas argument due to the difference in offensive styles. And Tanner Lee was always playing from behind so that skews his numbers too. A better comparison would be to Hornibrook or Lewerke imo.

i agree that he had a solid, but not super sophomore campaign. I think he has the potential to be much more. And it's not Iowa fans that are really driving the hype on his NFL potential, alot of that is coming from the draft experts on espn and the like, which admittedly along with $1.50 will buy you a 20 oz soda.

Backup qb is a concern admittedly, but i would point out that the last time we had two returning qbs with no game experience, both (rudock and beathard), eventually wound up on nfl rosters...

Lastly, you seem to forget that Jackson and Wirfs ended up starting due to injuries to the guys ahead of them, not because they were the first options. While they weren't great, they did improve over the course of the season (they certainly held their own against nfl-quality ends against OSU). inconsistent certainly, but that's to be expected with most freshmen.
 
Once again we go into the season with a lot of optimism tempered with a fair amount of pessimism. There are some really good young players to go with the upper class men.

On offense the line looks decent on paper, if not a little young. The WR's should be helped by the TE's. As we saw in the Ohio State game, double coverage on Fant leaves Hockenson open. Running backs are young, but not totally inexperienced.

Iowa's defensive line may be among the best in the B1G this year. Which is good because Jewell on the others will be sorely missed at LB. The defensive backs are a question mark overall. The Purdue game showed exposed some weakness in Iowa's secondary last year.

Overall it should be a good year. The danger is in injuries. If Stanley goes down, Iowa will struggle to get to .500.
 
Amani Jones looks like a monster. The question is his ability to read/react - we haven't seen enough to know yet. I think he's more athletic and has more natural ability than Jewell but Josie was able to read a play so fast that he was almost never out of position
 
with respect to schedule ... don't we universally agree that it could look tougher?

Its not the 8-4 predictions that disappoint me(because they are reasonable predictions based on past) but almost all the predictions include losing to a team that they shouldn't. Isn't it strange that happens? or is acceptable? ...

2018 should be a schedule to exploit, like 2015. Not necessarily 12-0 but, c'mon 8-4?
 
Tfunkhawkeye said:
with respect to schedule ... don't we universally agree that it could look tougher?

Its not the 8-4 predictions that disappoint me(because they are reasonable predictions based on past) but almost all the predictions include losing to a team that they shouldn't. Isn't it strange that happens? or is acceptable? ...

2018 should be a schedule to exploit, like 2015. Not necessarily 12-0 but, c'mon 8-4?
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Kind of like farmers planting corn with 2012 drought on their mind. Rain wasn't the only thing sparse in what otherwise could have been a good year.
 
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