Iowa's Answer to an Inexperienced WR Corps?

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
Been thinking about this a bit as of late...the WR experience and depth is a bit scary for this team...perhaps the least depth or known depth we have seen in the Ferentz era.

Brian Ferentz coached with PSU coach Bill O'Brien at New England. He was the TE coach. We all saw what PSU did with its TE's last year, which is similar to what BOB did with them at New England. Iowa's position of greatest depth might be tight end.

Soooooo....do what PSU did last year?

Frank Bodani: PSU's Bill O'Brien uses tight ends to beat the system - The York Daily Record
 
I think the inclusion of the "Y" as a starting position in the spring(yes, I know they didn't include it the most recent two deep) shows that Iowa is thinking exactly that. Unfortunately, they sometimes don't seem to follow through with some of the things they seem to kick around in the offense. I am just going to assume that this time they are going to follow through. It will make me feel better for the next month.
 
vosov said:
I think the inclusion of the "Y" as a starting position in the spring(yes, I know they didn't include it the most recent two deep) shows that Iowa is thinking exactly that. Unfortunately, they sometimes don't seem to follow through with some of the things they seem to kick around in the offense. I am just going to assume that this time they are going to follow through. It will make me feel better for the next month.
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Given all you can do with that personnel group, and the strength of the OL, the opinion that the running game can be the strength, the weakness at WR and the depth of great talent at TE, to NOT go this route would seem ignorant.
 
JonDMiller said:
Given all you can do with that personnel group, and the strength of the OL, the opinion that the running game can be the strength, the weakness at WR and the depth of great talent at TE, to NOT go this route would seem ignorant.
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Jon - Albert Young and Damien Sims circa 2007 whole-heartedly agree!
 
Sure does seem the smart way to go.

However, Davis finally has HIS staff in place to run HIS system. They are not there to run Brian Ferentz' system, which he learned from BO'B. And judging by last year Davis doesn't seem to have much of a problem running a system that doesn't exactly fit his personnel.
 
JonDMiller said:
Been thinking about this a bit as of late...the WR experience and depth is a bit scary for this team...perhaps the least depth or known depth we have seen in the Ferentz era.

Brian Ferentz coached with PSU coach Bill O'Brien at New England. He was the TE coach. We all saw what PSU did with its TE's last year, which is similar to what BOB did with them at New England. Iowa's position of greatest depth might be tight end.

Soooooo....do what PSU did last year?

Frank Bodani: PSU's Bill O'Brien uses tight ends to beat the system - The York Daily Record
Click to expand...

So I guess your premiss is that the Ferentz duo + Davis have equal ability as O'Brien et. al. to teach/gameplan/develop this strategy. If so, why didn't they do it last yr?

O'Brien impressed the heck out of me. He made Iowa's defense look clueless, as they did anything they wanted in Kinnick last yr. I wonder: if Brian were such an important cog in the NE juggernaut, why didn't he bring that to Iowa? O'Brien got his team (under extremely difficult circumstances) to execute-very effectively, the 2 TE Patriot style offense in less than a yr. You can probably tell I disagree with your basic premiss that all coaches are equal. It appears to me, based on his first year, that O'Brien is a few notches higher in his ability to get this style offense to work.
 
kirby said:
So I guess your premiss is that the Ferentz duo + Davis have equal ability as O'Brien et. al. to teach/gameplan/develop this strategy. If so, why didn't they do it last yr?

O'Brien impressed the heck out of me. He made Iowa's defense look clueless, as they did anything they wanted in Kinnick last yr. I wonder: if Brian were such an important cog in the NE juggernaut, why didn't he bring that to Iowa? O'Brien got his team (under extremely difficult circumstances) to execute-very effectively, the 2 TE Patriot style offense in less than a yr. You can probably tell I disagree with your basic premiss that all coaches are equal. It appears to me, based on his first year, that O'Brien is a few notches higher in his ability to get this style offense to work.
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That was not even close to what he said. He is simply saying that Iowa should consider increasing the role of the TE position in the offense due to the personal they have, and don't have, or take advantage of what they have. Similar to what Patriots did. You made quite a leap from there.
 
JonDMiller said:
Been thinking about this a bit as of late...the WR experience and depth is a bit scary for this team...perhaps the least depth or known depth we have seen in the Ferentz era.

Brian Ferentz coached with PSU coach Bill O'Brien at New England. He was the TE coach. We all saw what PSU did with its TE's last year, which is similar to what BOB did with them at New England. Iowa's position of greatest depth might be tight end.

Soooooo....do what PSU did last year?

Frank Bodani: PSU's Bill O'Brien uses tight ends to beat the system - The York Daily Record
Click to expand...


Didn't we all think that last year too?
I know I did. It is an obvious move. The only reasons not to do as you suggest are stubbornness and/or the TE's simply aren't as good as we want to think they are.
 
kirby said:
So I guess your premiss is that the Ferentz duo + Davis have equal ability as O'Brien et. al. to teach/gameplan/develop this strategy. If so, why didn't they do it last yr?

O'Brien impressed the heck out of me. He made Iowa's defense look clueless, as they did anything they wanted in Kinnick last yr. I wonder: if Brian were such an important cog in the NE juggernaut, why didn't he bring that to Iowa? O'Brien got his team (under extremely difficult circumstances) to execute-very effectively, the 2 TE Patriot style offense in less than a yr. You can probably tell I disagree with your basic premiss that all coaches are equal. It appears to me, based on his first year, that O'Brien is a few notches higher in his ability to get this style offense to work.
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Listen dude, one year doesn't make a coaching career. If it did Gene Cheesed!ck would still be around.

O'Brien might well be the next great college football coach, but lets back off here a little bit, and see what he does in the next couple years before crowning him the greatest football coach ever.

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Iowa isn't going to scare anyone with a spread formation. First; Iowa needs receivers that can catch the ball. Then they can start to work on the short passing game. One thing Iowa receivers showed last year was an inability to catch the ball when it hit them in the hands. Half a dozen dropped passes is a game killer.

Establish the running game, work the tight ends, use a running back in the slot. Roll the backs out of the backfield. Drop a pass, sit on the bench. A receiver that can't catch is useless.
 
kirby said:
So I guess your premiss is that the Ferentz duo + Davis have equal ability as O'Brien et. al. to teach/gameplan/develop this strategy. If so, why didn't they do it last yr?

O'Brien impressed the heck out of me. He made Iowa's defense look clueless, as they did anything they wanted in Kinnick last yr. I wonder: if Brian were such an important cog in the NE juggernaut, why didn't he bring that to Iowa? O'Brien got his team (under extremely difficult circumstances) to execute-very effectively, the 2 TE Patriot style offense in less than a yr. You can probably tell I disagree with your basic premiss that all coaches are equal. It appears to me, based on his first year, that O'Brien is a few notches higher in his ability to get this style offense to work.
Click to expand...

No, he simply took over a team who lost starters like others. The difficult years are still ahead when scholarship players are reduced even more. And when things get bad like that some teams unite and play above & beyond. Lets see what happens the next 2-3 years before crowning anyone. And while Davis may have the staff he wants now, he still doesn't have the players to run his system.
 
IowaFan81 said:
No, he simply took over a team who lost starters like others. The difficult years are still ahead when scholarship players are reduced even more. And when things get bad like that some teams unite and play above & beyond. Lets see what happens the next 2-3 years before crowning anyone. And while Davis may have the staff he wants now, he still doesn't have the players to run his system.[/QUOTE]

Which is exactly why they need to adjust. Both coaches have said in interviews that they are going to play to their strengths. If that's true then we had better see a lot more creative ways to get the TE's involved. If they learned anything from last season they should have noticed you can't force a square peg through a round hole. Ferentz admitted he wanted certain parts of his offense to be incorporated with GD's, and it just didn't work. They need to scrap the egos on the schemes, get on the same page, and call plays based on the strength of their personnel. That's the only way this offense will move forward.
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I've long thought that a 2 TE, 2 RB set would be very effective if Iowa genuinely wants to run a no-huddle with their personnel. They can seamlessly (well, as seamlessly as KF and crew can do it) shift from a 22 set, with Weisman at fullback and Bullock/Canzeri at WR, one play to an 11 set, with Weisman as a lone back and CJF+Bullock/Canzeri at WR.

I think Iowa has the TE depth and RB versatility to run these formations. Whether or not they actually do it is a totally different story.
 
I think most of the ego problems moved on after last year. Soup left Iowa in a mess at WR. You will see more 2 TE sets this year as well as RB catching the ball in my opinion
 
Are the TE's really as good as we think they are or do they just look good compared to the options at WR?
 
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