Iowa's 2-minute offense & Ken O'Keefe

[hawkeye12345]

Don't bring Alford into this. Things were going fine and then a group of entitled fans thought we needed him and when things didn't turn out exactly like that group of fans expected, Alford was driven out of town. I still like Coach Alford and my username on another board is BringBackAlford because I think he and Tanya deserved better treatment in Iowa City. Same with O'Keefe. The guy runs a pro style offense and he has been fine at picking apart defenses this year. It's hilarious, if Stanzi doesn't lead a drive comparable to "The Drive" in games we lose, O'Keefe takes endless heat. Miracle two minute drives happen less than 50% of the time, we should know, there used to be a time when our defense routinely stopped them.

Speaking of the defense, they gave up 31 Saturday. Sure there were a few ST blunders, but at the end of the day, the D gave up 31. Remember that Illinois game in 2008 when we went into prevent defense on the last drive and Juice Williams looked like John Elway? Not the defense, huh? How about at Northwestern in 2005? Gave up a 13 point lead in like 4 minutes. How about that manhandling that OSU's o-line and RBs gave to Iowa's defense last year? Are you going to throw our freshman QB who played one of the best games ever under the bus for that one, too? I could go on and on, the defense's best strength is the balanced offensive attack we run that changes field position and eats clock keeping the defense off the field. Sure, if we could score 70 points a game, we would win more games, but I don't think that is reasonable, but asking the defense not to give up well over 200 yards rushing to OSU, or 14 points in a few minutes, or 31 points to a Wisconsin team with virtually no vertical passing attack is actually pretty reasonable.

Your first paragraph sums up your intelligence when it comes to coaching.

Your last paragraph sums up your inability to understand the game.

If your offense can posses the ball more and / or score more points, our defense wouldn't be over-taxed throughout the game. Other teams offenses' are going to score at some point. We need to be able to score more than them or control the ball long enough that our defense doesn't get exhausted. Stop trying to blame one of the best defenses IN THE COUNTRY for the inability of our OC to develop a game plan and execute. It's getting old. If the other team doesn't have the ball, they can't score.

 

[hawkeye12345]

I'll take those simple play action passes that get the defense to bite and a high percentage Stanzi pass over a trick play any day of the week.

I don't want trick plays either.

 

[edr247]

I wondered why we weren't more aggressive against tOSU near the end of the game lat season. However, there were mitigating factors that you could argue made the decision possible. We didn't have Stanzi, but rather had a young QB making his first start. Awful lot to ask him to run a less-than-one-minute offense against a team like Ohio State. I'm guessing they didn't want him to turn it over (remember, they actually had a pick 6 in that game, but it got called back on an offsides or something).

Still, I do see where you're coming from, and most certainly agree with the need sometimes to be a bit more aggressive.

 

[hawkeye28]

I'll take those simple play action passes that get the defense to bite and a high percentage Stanzi pass over a trick play any day of the week.

We finally can run the play action with a high caliber QB the defense has to respect, but that wasn't the question.

If you're runnin' a gadget play once every 20-30 games, you are way too predictable any ways.

Like what everybody says and settles with ...

"...oh, that's Iowa for ya, they just want to pound the rock ..."
"... bummer, I guess it just wasn't meant to be and hopefully we'll get a win next week."
"...a Rose Bowl is great, but really, I'll setting for any bowl on January 1st"
"...what a great team ... that 'bend but don't break' mentality sure can win a lot of games"

No Rose Bowl win since 1958 for an elite football powerhouse is a travishamockery, in my opinion ... let alone an opportunity to win it all.

 

[HaydensDad]

That Douglas reverse in the Alamo Bowl was going to be a pass.

It took years to strike him from my hawkeye memory. Blacking out the memory of such a DB takes time. Thanks for bringing him up.

 

[albertyoungisgood]

I may have misread this, but if this statement involves the Wisconsin game it's wrong:

"Stop trying to blame one of the best defenses IN THE COUNTRY for the inability of our OC to develop a game plan and execute."

We didn't look like a top ten defense in that game, and the offensive plan and play calling were excellent. (other than a much needed spike) 30 points should be enough, and it should have been 34. No way KOK deserves anything less than an A- for that game. C- for the defense, ask #94 what he thinks.

 

[Kohawkeye]

(Banks should have been playing in 2001, but that's another story)

Brad Banks was not ready to be the starting QB in 2001.

 

[hawkeye28]

Brad Banks was not ready to be the starting QB in 2001.

I don't know if that is true. Because he never got a shot, we'll never know. But if a guy is a top 5 Heisman voter for the only year he started, you'd like to think he would have been an elusive player who could add something to the offense.

Kyle McCann was a statue. Stanzi looks like Banks compared to McCann.

 

[gohawks71]

Looking at these screen names, I should have been 363NRiversideDr (Phi Psi Alumn).

My rant is from a lot of the same old since 1999. But looking at Stanzi's body of work (forget the coaching staff), I completely agree with you OliveCourt.

I'm a huge Stanzi fan. Not saying he'll be the next Tom Brady, but his height, build, and throwing motion reminds me of Tom Brady. I know he's not being looked at as a 1st or 2nd rounder, but he's around the 4th or 5th best QB in next year's draft, and someone who needs a QB in the 3rd or 4th round next year is going to get a guy who quite possibly can be a player at the next level. He throws a nice ball and when he's on, the deep ball is money. And him cutting down the INTs from last year to this year says something as well.

It's been a while since we've had a Hawkeye QB in the NFL and I think Stanzi, in the right situation, could have a chance at starting.

I love Stanza because he is a Hawkeye and "He's my quarterback" but as far as drafting potential, he lacks quite a bit of pure talent IMO. I see him maybe getting picked in the late rounds if at all.

 

[hawkeye28]

I love Stanza because he is a Hawkeye and "He's my quarterback" but as far as drafting potential, he lacks quite a bit of pure talent IMO. I see him maybe getting picked in the late rounds if at all.

NFLDraftScout.com has Stanzi at the 5th best QB: Ricky Stanzi | Iowa, QB : 2011 NFL Draft Scout Player Profile in next year's draft. I've been following this site for some time now and they are pretty good and most of their rankings are on for the round guys fall in.

What's crazy is that early last year nobody knew about Adrian Clayborn. I can remember after the Penn State game, NFLDraftScout.com had Clayborn listed as the 212th best player in the 2011 draft ... he slowly climbed the charts last year and now they have him not only the #1 DE in next year's draft, but the #1 overall: Adrian Clayborn | Iowa, DE : 2011 NFL Draft Scout Player Profile

Now that would be sweet!

 

[okeefe4prez]

I may have misread this, but if this statement involves the Wisconsin game it's wrong:

"Stop trying to blame one of the best defenses IN THE COUNTRY for the inability of our OC to develop a game plan and execute."

We didn't look like a top ten defense in that game, and the offensive plan and play calling were excellent. (other than a much needed spike) 30 points should be enough, and it should have been 34. No way KOK deserves anything less than an A- for that game. C- for the defense, ask #94 what he thinks.

Thank you. We have a good defense many years, but idiots on this board don't understand that our defense's strong statistics are often the result of ball control offense that changes field position. If you win the TOP battle 35-25, you're in a good position to win the game and if your D is only on the field 25 minutes a game playing bend but don't break, you're going to have a statistically strong defense, especially with respect to scoring. It ain't rocket surgery. Unfortunately, the defense is very susceptible to the quick strike hurry up type offenses that are being implemented, hence our losses to NU and Illinois in recent years. Thank goodness O'Keefe put up so many points against Michigan - that defense was very underwhelming when Forcier came in.

 

[hawkeye12345]

Oh my God. The team didn't prepare for Forcier, it prepared for arguably the best QB in the country and certainly the best duel threat. We were dominating them until Forcier came in leading 21-7.

Robinson was knocked out on the 1st or 2nd play of their 2nd series in the 2nd half. Robinson threw for 96 yards in the first half and ran for another 105 before being knocked out. Those are pretty good stats considering the kid averages 360+ total yards per game.

Again, quit blaming the defense for the lack of production on O.

The D is operating without its coordinator too.

 

[hawkfan2679]

Oh my God. The team didn't prepare for Forcier, it prepared for arguably the best QB in the country and certainly the best duel threat. We were dominating them until Forcier came in leading 21-7.

Robinson was knocked out on the 1st or 2nd play of their 2nd series in the 2nd half. Robinson threw for 96 yards in the first half and ran for another 105 before being knocked out. Those are amazing stats considering the kid averages 360+ total yards per game.

Again, quit blaming the defense for the lack of production on O.

Don't get worked up over OK4P. When it comes to these discussions, he's simply portraying a character who ignores reality, instead professing unconditional support for O'Keefe's every move and consistent ridicule of our defense.

When he first started posting this way on the board, it shocked me that someone was that out of touch with reality and I'm sure I made some posts similar to the one you just made above. But that was before I realized this was all part of his 'schtick'...just realize that given what you've seen as an Iowa fan over the last decade, there is no way that a rational person could conclude such nonsense. Problem solved!

 

[okeefe4prez]

The D is operating

That, sir, is debatable.

 

[hawkeyescott]

Again, quit blaming the defense for the lack of production on O.

You should watch a game. Can you tell me what these numbers are:

37
35
27
45
24
38
30

 

[83Hawk]

We have a two minute offense? Maybe that means run as few plays as possible during that two minutes?

 

[rdawsoniii]

Don't get worked up over OK4P. When it comes to these discussions, he's simply portraying a character who ignores reality, instead professing unconditional support for O'Keefe's every move and consistent ridicule of our defense.

When he first started posting this way on the board, it shocked me that someone was that out of touch with reality and I'm sure I made some posts similar to the one you just made above. But that was before I realized this was all part of his 'schtick'...just realize that given what you've seen as an Iowa fan over the last decade, there is no way that a rational person could conclude such nonsense. Problem solved!

He also has multiple screen names that he uses to pad his reputation.

 

[hawkeye28]

We have a two minute offense? Maybe that means run as few plays as possible during that two minutes?

To our coaching staff, whoever is suppose to be in control under 2-minutes (at the end of a game and even before the half) means hesitation, indecisiveness, and ULTRA conservatism.

It kind of goes along the lines that Hawkeye5421 has been talking about with not letting the offense drop the hammer, get loose for a full game, and go for the gusto like high power offenses can do ... like an Oregon, Ohio State, etc. Not saying that they haven't been able to, it's just not consistent over the years.

 

[hawkeye28]

Since we are talking about O'Keefe, I would submit that Ricky Stanzi and Shonn Greene played a key roll of saving O'Keefe's job during the 2008 season. Remember how bad we were in 2007? I was at the Western Michigan game in November of 2007 and we would have been to a toilet bowl if we won, but since we tanked it, we didn't even go bowling.

I can remember in August 2008 seeing the articles/posts how this kid name Stanzi was giving Christiansen a run during summer camp. Then, after the Pitt game, they decided to hand over the reigns to Stanzi (I think Christiansen played a little bit the following we vs. Northwestern but just didn't start).

My point is, if we would have had another lackluster 6-6 year in 2008, Ferentz probably wouldn't have got that extension he got in early 2009 and heads would be rolling for a new offensive coordinator.

 

[Imlivingthedream]

I love Stanza because he is a Hawkeye and "He's my quarterback" but as far as drafting potential, he lacks quite a bit of pure talent IMO. I see him maybe getting picked in the late rounds if at all.

really? hes got the size and arm.

he will go between 2-5 round.