IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
This season has had its ups and downs. Anyone who critiqued the coaches a week ago was blasted, and anyone who praised them this week were equally blasted. Setting aside the single game knee jerk reactions, let's see how the Hawks are doing compared to their Big 10 peers:
Total Offense (12th): D-. We average just 332 yards per game, the same as last year. Only lowly Rutgers and Illinois have more inept, boring offenses. It wasn't supposed to be this way. We canned our struggling offensive coordinator and replaced him with the Golden Boy himself. The Hawks are loaded with one of the top 5 backs in Iowa football's history, and we snagged our first ever 2,000 yard rushing graduate transfer. Not only that, but we have a highly touted sophomore pro prospect at QB, two highly touted and capable TEs, and a 3 year starter at WR. Apparently, giving a moderately successful OL coach a huge raise and the keys to the car before he's ever called a play, and bringing back a coach who was run out of town 6 years ago for his offensive struggles is not a recipe for success in running an offense after all??? Too much randying around among the extremely high paid coaching staff.
Total Defense (9th): D. One thing you can usually count on at Iowa is a stout defense. It's crazy to think that the Big 10's 9th ranked defense contains the holy grail of talent: (i) a first team all American lock down corner...which used to be such a rarity at Iowa (remember the Adam Shada days); and (ii) a stud 1st team all American linebacker, the likes of which we have not had at Iowa since Chad Greenway roamed the field. Do talent rich schools like Alabama, Notre Dame, or Clemson have an all American corner and LB on their defenses? Not only that, but we actually have size and depth on the defensive line.
Rushing Offense (11th): F. Our rushing offense averages just 3.7 yards per carry?? Last year, Daniels averaged 5 yards per carry and Wadley averaged 6.4. In 2015, Canzeri averaged 5.4 yards per carry and Wadley averaged 6.0. So how on earth is Wadley averaging just 4.1 yards per carry this year? Baffling, and unacceptable. The talent is there. The OL still boasts our top two OL from last year. So what has changed? The play calling? Those god awful audibles to a run up the middle that equal 40 rushing attempts for 22 yards? Crying that our walk-on tackles are hurt is a bad excuse, as our recruiting should be light years better than to blame rushing woes on the injury of a walk on.
Rushing Defense (10th): D. We are allowing 157 yards per game. In 2015, we allowed just 120 yards per game. Those extra yards on each carry add up. How does this happen when we have the same 3 starting LBs for 3 years in a row have monstrous rushing defenses.
Passing Offense (8th): B. We are averaging 200 yards per game through the air. Expectations were low for pass offense. While Ferentz likes to offer up the "inexperienced" excuse a lot, Stanley is a physically developed kid who has been in the program for 3 years...which is the same amount of time that a majority of Power 5 conference starters have under their belts. We all know how bad our WR corp is, so landing in 8th place in the Big Ten is actually a bit higher than I might have expected, hence the B grade. The pass offense under CJ Beathard last year was 11th in the conference.
Passing Defense (9th): D-. This one is especially difficult to comprehend. We literally have one of the top 3 or 4 corner backs in all of college football, yet our pass defense is not even in the top 1/2 of our own conference? Where is the big hole in our secondary? I know we've had injuries, but who is the weak link bringing the pass defense down so far from where it should be given Josh Jackson's abilities?
Sacks (6th): B+. One of the only categories that the Hawks are actually better than average in the conference is sacks. Despite having a very inexperienced DL, and a very conservative approach to defense without many blitzes, this unit has been a pleasant surprise.
Sacks Against (5th): A- We give up 1.6 sacks per game. Last year we gave up 2.3. Pass protection is way improved over last year...so people who claim that the offense is so awful this year because of the OLine (rather than coaching) haven't been paying attention. Stanley isn't known for his escapeability, so for the line to only give up a sack and a half per game tells me that they are doing their job. I think they do their job in the run game as well, but defenses are keened on on the constant runs up the middle to a 190 lb back, and there's nowhere to go.
So there you have it. This is the kind of report card that would have got a lot of kids grounded.
Total Offense (12th): D-. We average just 332 yards per game, the same as last year. Only lowly Rutgers and Illinois have more inept, boring offenses. It wasn't supposed to be this way. We canned our struggling offensive coordinator and replaced him with the Golden Boy himself. The Hawks are loaded with one of the top 5 backs in Iowa football's history, and we snagged our first ever 2,000 yard rushing graduate transfer. Not only that, but we have a highly touted sophomore pro prospect at QB, two highly touted and capable TEs, and a 3 year starter at WR. Apparently, giving a moderately successful OL coach a huge raise and the keys to the car before he's ever called a play, and bringing back a coach who was run out of town 6 years ago for his offensive struggles is not a recipe for success in running an offense after all??? Too much randying around among the extremely high paid coaching staff.
Total Defense (9th): D. One thing you can usually count on at Iowa is a stout defense. It's crazy to think that the Big 10's 9th ranked defense contains the holy grail of talent: (i) a first team all American lock down corner...which used to be such a rarity at Iowa (remember the Adam Shada days); and (ii) a stud 1st team all American linebacker, the likes of which we have not had at Iowa since Chad Greenway roamed the field. Do talent rich schools like Alabama, Notre Dame, or Clemson have an all American corner and LB on their defenses? Not only that, but we actually have size and depth on the defensive line.
Rushing Offense (11th): F. Our rushing offense averages just 3.7 yards per carry?? Last year, Daniels averaged 5 yards per carry and Wadley averaged 6.4. In 2015, Canzeri averaged 5.4 yards per carry and Wadley averaged 6.0. So how on earth is Wadley averaging just 4.1 yards per carry this year? Baffling, and unacceptable. The talent is there. The OL still boasts our top two OL from last year. So what has changed? The play calling? Those god awful audibles to a run up the middle that equal 40 rushing attempts for 22 yards? Crying that our walk-on tackles are hurt is a bad excuse, as our recruiting should be light years better than to blame rushing woes on the injury of a walk on.
Rushing Defense (10th): D. We are allowing 157 yards per game. In 2015, we allowed just 120 yards per game. Those extra yards on each carry add up. How does this happen when we have the same 3 starting LBs for 3 years in a row have monstrous rushing defenses.
Passing Offense (8th): B. We are averaging 200 yards per game through the air. Expectations were low for pass offense. While Ferentz likes to offer up the "inexperienced" excuse a lot, Stanley is a physically developed kid who has been in the program for 3 years...which is the same amount of time that a majority of Power 5 conference starters have under their belts. We all know how bad our WR corp is, so landing in 8th place in the Big Ten is actually a bit higher than I might have expected, hence the B grade. The pass offense under CJ Beathard last year was 11th in the conference.
Passing Defense (9th): D-. This one is especially difficult to comprehend. We literally have one of the top 3 or 4 corner backs in all of college football, yet our pass defense is not even in the top 1/2 of our own conference? Where is the big hole in our secondary? I know we've had injuries, but who is the weak link bringing the pass defense down so far from where it should be given Josh Jackson's abilities?
Sacks (6th): B+. One of the only categories that the Hawks are actually better than average in the conference is sacks. Despite having a very inexperienced DL, and a very conservative approach to defense without many blitzes, this unit has been a pleasant surprise.
Sacks Against (5th): A- We give up 1.6 sacks per game. Last year we gave up 2.3. Pass protection is way improved over last year...so people who claim that the offense is so awful this year because of the OLine (rather than coaching) haven't been paying attention. Stanley isn't known for his escapeability, so for the line to only give up a sack and a half per game tells me that they are doing their job. I think they do their job in the run game as well, but defenses are keened on on the constant runs up the middle to a 190 lb back, and there's nowhere to go.
So there you have it. This is the kind of report card that would have got a lot of kids grounded.
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