IowaLaw's Third Quarter Report Card

[HawkeyeDenis]

The weakness in the defensive secondary is the safeties. Both of Iowa's corners are very good. Iowa is weak on the inside. Which is why Iowa's rush defense isn't better. This problem is why they have moved players to tackle from defensive end.

Comparing Iowa to the rest of the conference when Iowa has faced 3 of the best teams in the conference, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State does not paint an accurate picture.

 

[Caddy]

Yeah. I know. You’re right.
That’s not my point.

My point is the KF haters who spew “boring, conservative football” of KF tripe and then gnash their teeth that Iowa isn’t Wisconsin when Wisconsin plays an even more boring, conservative, rush first offense than Iowa.

They obviously recruit and develop their players better than KF and his crew do. Their Oline is light years ahead of ours, and guess what, they're not made up of a bunch of seniors either. They simply beat us up on both sides of the ball.

 

[Caddy]

The weakness in the defensive secondary is the safeties. Both of Iowa's corners are very good. Iowa is weak on the inside. Which is why Iowa's rush defense isn't better. This problem is why they have moved players to tackle from defensive end.

Comparing Iowa to the rest of the conference when Iowa has faced 3 of the best teams in the conference, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State does not paint an accurate picture.

I would say the secondary is weak overall except for Jackson. Ragumba is not good, he looks lost a majority of the time. Our defensive ends cannot set an edge at all, so our defensive line problems are not just on the inside. A lot of teams have moved the ball on us this year, not just the 3 best teams in the conference. This defense is not one of the better ones at Iowa.

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

As for Kirk's boring conservative style. It's tough to open the play book when the simple plays aren't being executed. Stanley has to get the ball in a better catching position and the receivers need to focus on catching. Fewer drops, better offense. A lot of Iowa's drives are stalling because of one dropped pass, bad pass.

As for Iowa vs Wisconsin recruiting. It's no comparison. Wisconsin gets 4 and 5 star players. Iowa gets very few. Iowa got AJ because he is a legacy. He grew up loving the Hawkeye's.

 

[InGoodCo]

2 Co-B1G championships in 2 decades
Whippee!!!

Cause so many different programs have won the B1G during that time, it's that easy to do

 

[InGoodCo]

It doesn't warrant the contract he has thats for sure. You act like he has won 2 national titles. The B1G sucks outside of maybe 4-5 teams. Longest tenured coach in FBS and he has produced 2 co championships in almost 20 years. WOW!

You act like Iowa wouldn't need to play any of those 4 or 5 teams to win it. They would. Urban's in his 6th year at Ohio State and has 1 - when really, he should win it every year if you go off of predictions and recruiting rankings. Right? Winning the B1G is tough - 2 Titles in 19 years shouldn't be taken for granted and it's not like Iowa hasn't been close to winning other ones. I honestly can't believe people are this fatigued with Ferentz when Iowa is on the cusp of going 8-4 against a top 10 schedule in a rebuild year. Idiots out walking around seems fitting.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Is that so bad? Only 5 other teams have more during the KF era and had they beat MSU in 2015 it would only be 2 teams (OSU with 6 and WI with 4, tied with MI, PSU at 3). In one of the toughest conferences to play with the likes of OSU, PSU and MI I would say getting two is not a ho-hum accomplishment. Could we have done more with another coach, possibly but I would say the chances are slim to none.

Only 5 teams had more?! LOL... Yeah, that's the point. Weight that with Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska being out most of those years (which would seem appropriate) and that means we rank 6th out of 11 or 12.

 

[HomerChampless]

Scoring Defense?

Can't defend offensive production though. It's bad.

I don't understand why you guys don't want Iowa to be a better football team...A more Wisconsin-like football team.

Yeah, Iowa's points allowed by the defense stat is impressive but their pass defense and (in the Wisconsin game) rush defense is pathetic. Iowa's defensive pass rush is nonexistent.

The goal of Wisconsin's defense is to get off the field as quickly as possible and the goal of Iowa's defense is to counterpunch and hope the opponent's offense peters out before they score a TD. Wisky's defense also doesn't surrender game clock to opponents while Iowa's defense does.

Wisconsin's defense is better than Iowa's on so many levels but you just want to rag on the Iowa offense. You are a fan of Iowa defense but you are not a fan of excellent, Iowa football. Dare I say you are a fan of mediocre football?

 

[HawkInATX]

I don't understand why you guys don't want Iowa to be a better football team...A more Wisconsin-like football team.

Yeah, Iowa's points allowed by the defense stat is impressive but their pass defense and (in the Wisconsin game) rush defense is pathetic. Iowa's defensive pass rush is nonexistent.

The goal of Wisconsin's defense is to get off the field as quickly as possible and the goal of Iowa's defense is to counterpunch and hope the opponent's offense peters out before they score a TD. Wisky's defense also doesn't surrender game clock to opponents while Iowa's defense does.

Wisconsin's defense is better than Iowa's on so many levels but you just want to rag on the Iowa offense. You are a fan of Iowa defense but you are not a fan of excellent, Iowa football. Dare I say you are a fan of mediocre football?

Yep, you nailed it. We ALL just want mediocre Iowa football. Dude, c'mon. Iowa's defense has WON several games for us this season and did everything it could to keep us in the Wisconsin game. In fact, the D scored 14 and the offense gave up 7 basically. Assume you have a finite amount of resources (time, energy, money, etc.). Where would you put the bulk of those resources this season right now? Offense or Defense? At some point you've got to look at the fact that there's diminishing returns when you invest in something that's already good-to-great. You can't look at one game and say "look how many yards they gave up, points allowed for all games be damned" and let the offense off the hook. If the D hadn't showed up in the OSU game, that's not a win. The D showed up against Wisconsin but you can't expect them to defend for 40 minutes out of 60 while the offense drops the ball (literally) on third down plays. Fix what's broken, not what's working.

 

[DDThompson]

They obviously recruit and develop their players better than KF and his crew do. Their Oline is light years ahead of ours, and guess what, they're not made up of a bunch of seniors either. They simply beat us up on both sides of the ball.

So you’re saying they’re better at playing boring, conservative, run first offense than Iowa.

Since KF haters wish Iowa was Wisconsin then that little whine can stop.

 

[HomerChampless]

Yep, you nailed it. We ALL just want mediocre Iowa football. Dude, c'mon. Iowa's defense has WON several games for us this season and did everything it could to keep us in the Wisconsin game. In fact, the D scored 14 and the offense gave up 7 basically. Assume you have a finite amount of resources (time, energy, money, etc.). Where would you put the bulk of those resources this season right now? Offense or Defense? At some point you've got to look at the fact that there's diminishing returns when you invest in something that's already good-to-great. You can't look at one game and say "look how many yards they gave up, points allowed for all games be damned" and let the offense off the hook. If the D hadn't showed up in the OSU game, that's not a win. The D showed up against Wisconsin but you can't expect them to defend for 40 minutes out of 60 while the offense drops the ball (literally) on third down plays. Fix what's broken, not what's working.

Why didn't you just leave your post at 'I just want mediocre Iowa football?'

 

[HawkInATX]

Why didn't you just leave your post at 'I just want mediocre Iowa football?'

Is that what you took away from what I said? Because that was definitely not the take-home message.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

Yep, you nailed it. We ALL just want mediocre Iowa football. Dude, c'mon. Iowa's defense has WON several games for us this season and did everything it could to keep us in the Wisconsin game. In fact, the D scored 14 and the offense gave up 7 basically. Assume you have a finite amount of resources (time, energy, money, etc.). Where would you put the bulk of those resources this season right now? Offense or Defense? At some point you've got to look at the fact that there's diminishing returns when you invest in something that's already good-to-great. You can't look at one game and say "look how many yards they gave up, points allowed for all games be damned" and let the offense off the hook. If the D hadn't showed up in the OSU game, that's not a win. The D showed up against Wisconsin but you can't expect them to defend for 40 minutes out of 60 while the offense drops the ball (literally) on third down plays. Fix what's broken, not what's working.

Homer is really stuck on this idea. It's weird, but not worth the argument.

 

[HomerChampless]

Homer is really stuck on this idea. It's weird, but not worth the argument.

Yeah. I guess I'm stuck. A defense that DOESN'T want to get off the field that can't cover the pass and sometimes can't cover the run and NEVER applies pressure to the opposing QB is a good defense?? Well, you're being an advocate of mediocre football if you think Iowa's defense is a great defense...BTW, the reason why Wisconsin gathers all those West Division Championships of the B1G and Iowa doesn't is because of Wisconsin's defense. Guess you don't need West Division Championships, either, huh? More mediocre football advocacy.

 

[IowaLawWasRight]

I'm not sure how posting all of the standard statistics and comparing them with how we stack up against the rest of the conference and how we stack up against Iowa teams in the recent past can be considered "cherry picking?" Would you rather the post be 400 paragraphs long and include every single possible statistic, including punting hang time and QB completion percentage on 2nd down?

The numbers don't lie. Most of our units rank in the bottom 1/3 of our conference, yet our coaches are paid top 1/3 wages, our fan support and financial support is top 1/3, and the number of all-Big 10 players on this team is top 1/3.

 

[HawkInATX]

I'm not sure how posting all of the standard statistics and comparing them with how we stack up against the rest of the conference and how we stack up against Iowa teams in the recent past can be considered "cherry picking?" Would you rather the post be 400 paragraphs long and include every single possible statistic, including punting hang time and QB completion percentage on 2nd down?

The numbers don't lie. Most of our units rank in the bottom 1/3 of our conference, yet our coaches are paid top 1/3 wages, our fan support and financial support is top 1/3, and the number of all-Big 10 players on this team is top 1/3.

It is absolutely cherry-picking when you choose to look at one statistic (let's say, yards allowed defensively) and you absolutely ignore another that contradicts it (like scoring defense). Nobody asked you for detailed splits, so just let that straw-man go ahead and die. What is relevant is that you chose specific high-level summary stats that don't tell the whole picture. This isn't fantasy football, and yards given up matter way less than points given up.

 

[Pink Bathroom]

So Iowa Football is a C- student.

Sounds about right.

 

[ChosenChildren]

The Massey rating system uses a very sophisticated set of criteria in rating teams. They currently rank Iowa in the top 40 in offense and the top 20 in defense, with an overall rating of #22 in the nation.

Quoting "yards per game" on offense and defense is a totally meaningless, discredited approach. It is about offensive and defensive efficiency; turnover margin; etc. etc.

IOWA LAW WAS, AND CONTINUES TO BE, WRONG ON ALL COUNTS

 

[IowaLawWasRight]

LOL!!!! well there you have it. A very "sophisticated" computer says that Iowa has a "great offense."

1. THE SCOREBOARD says otherwise (we managed just 10 pts against MSU, 10 pts Northwestern, 14 pts vs Wisc, and 17 points vs. lowly Minnesota).

2. THE EYES say otherwise (chosen, have you actually watched more than 1 game this year? We play a very bland, predictable brand of offense.)

3. THE STATISTICS say otherwise (we rank 115th out of 129 D1 schools in total offense, 12th in the Big 10. Are the 114 teams ranked higher than us also rated in the top 22 in your "sophisticated rankings?"). haha!

Don't let the facts fool you. Chosen found a sophisticated set of criteria to justify his opinion that we have a great offense and defense, so it must be so. I change all my grades to A+, as there is no improvement needed.

The Massey rating system uses a very sophisticated set of criteria in rating teams. They currently rank Iowa in the top 40 in offense and the top 20 in defense, with an overall rating of #22 in the nation.

Quoting "yards per game" on offense and defense is a totally meaningless, discredited approach. It is about offensive and defensive efficiency; turnover margin; etc. etc.

IOWA LAW WAS, AND CONTINUES TO BE, WRONG ON ALL COUNTS

 

[HawkInATX]

LOL!!!! well there you have it. A very "sophisticated" computer says that Iowa has a "great offense."

1. THE SCOREBOARD says otherwise (we managed just 10 pts against MSU, 10 pts Northwestern, 14 pts vs Wisc, and 17 points vs. lowly Minnesota).

2. THE EYES say otherwise (chosen, have you actually watched more than 1 game this year? We play a very bland, predictable brand of offense.)

3. THE STATISTICS say otherwise (we rank 115th out of 129 D1 schools in total offense, 12th in the Big 10. Are the 114 teams ranked higher than us also rated in the top 22 in your "sophisticated rankings?"). haha!

Don't let the facts fool you. Chosen found a sophisticated set of criteria to justify his opinion that we have a great offense and defense, so it must be so. I change all my grades to A+, as there is no improvement needed.

Teams lower than Iowa in total offense:
School Record SOS
Ball State (2-9) 94th
Vandy (4-6) 48th
FSU (3-6) 1st
BYU (3-8) 68th
SJSU (1-10) 88th
Charlotte (1-9) 119th
Illinois (2-8) 33rd
Tennessee (4-6) 39th
Georgia So. (0-9) 90th
Rutgers (4-6) 17th
Kent State (2-9) 69th
Wyoming (7-3) 93rd
UTEP (0-10) 89th

The only team with a winning record in that group is Wyoming. Teams that have a harder schedule than Iowa (4th) = 1. So do you think that maybe Iowa's offense is doing enough to win games in the 4th toughest schedule in the nation.