IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
Well that was beyond painful to watch. I don't think I have seen an Iowa offense look so inept since Davis' first year on campus. Just embarrassing.
1. Who Devised This Game Plan? - This was a game plan that would make Greg Davis laugh. 41 yards passing and 25 yards rushing in an entire game. This was not just Iowa's worst offensive game plan of the year, it was college football's worst offensive game plan of the year. Did our offensive coordinator spend any time in the past week watching tape and coming up with a scheme to beat Wisconsin? Or was he too busy screaming and cussing out kids or punching walls. You have to try hard to gain just 25 yards rushing when you have the luxury of not one but two 1,000 yard backs at your disposal. Unfortunately, this was not the first game this season where our offense laid an egg. We are used to losing games 17-10...which should never happen in college football.
2. Josh Jackson - the loan bright spot today was Josh Jackson's masterful performance. The guy is having a better year than Desmond King did last year, and King was a once in a generation corner. Where did he come from, and why didn't he get any playing time at all last year? While I'd love to see him back next year, 5 interceptions in the last two weeks have seen his future earnings climb by millions of dollars.
3. Special Teams Coaching is a Failure - There is WAY too much randying around going on out there. The season's almost over, and we don't have a single punt return for more than 6 yards. Instead, we allow more punts to bounce and roll inside the 5 yardline than punts that we actually return. Clearly the staff is aware of the problem, as they yanked Josh "let it roll" Jackson and replaced him with Matt "Fair Catch" Vandeberg, but even Vandy can't seem to get under a punt and seems more comfortable watching a punt roll right past him and settle inside the 10 yardline over and over again. This is not a matter of talent (we haven't even seen a guy try to return a punt, so we don't know what they are capable of). It's a matter of coaching. Pure Xs and Os, and whoever is coaching these kids is failing them big time. Then on the other side of the ball you've got a true freshmen punter who burned a redshirt who is riding the bench in favor of the Big 10's weakest leg, who averages 2 seconds of hang time, and relies upon getting roll to move his points from 20 yards down the field to a final rolling resting point of 35 yards. We are getting murdered on field position due to an awful special teams. It's time to take a good look at the contributions LeVar Woods is making as ST coach and see if we can upgrade with a stronger coach/recruiter.
4. Backup QBs NonExistant Under Ferentz - Ferentz announced that Stanley and Wiegers were neck and neck at QB, and did not announce a starter until 1 week before our first game. Does that mean the union card is issued for the rest of Stanley's career? Even late into the 4th quarter, when we are getting blown out and Nate is having his worst game as a Hawk, completing just 8/24 for 41 yards (1.7 yards per attempt) and committing multiple turnovers while clearly looking flustered, Nate played every down. Is it that crazy to think we have nothing to lose by letting Wiegers try to give us a spark halfway through the 4th quarter trailing by 4 scores? Worst case scenario, he completes 1/3 of his short passes and takes some sacks like Stanley did. The sad thing is, during the CJ/Ruduck coaching debacle, we learned that the backup QB at Iowa gets no attention in practice and has no way of improving or getting reps. I'm all for Stanley being a 3 year starter and breaking all of Iowa's records...but there are games where he's going to be way off, like today, and nothing motivates a player like competition.
5. Reiff Breaking Through- It's great to see another Reiff out there making plays. Brady Reiff hasn't played much this year, but was a beat out there today. Our defensive linemen don't typically get a lot of tackles, but Reiff had 4 tackles and a sack today. He's going to be a beast when he gets a little bigger and stronger. Brinks had 4 tackles as well.
6. WR Recruiting MUST Improve - 4 catches and 6 drops today by Iowa WRs. In 2016, the media unanimously anointed Iowa's WR corp was the worst in college football. We started CJ Beathard, who is starting in the NFL as a rookie, and even CJ was throwing for 120 yards per game because or WR corp couldn't run, catch, or cut. When CJ's eligibility expired, the staff was charged with 1 task in the offseason...bring in WR talent to give the offense a fighting chance. Well, they failed. Our freshmen WRs officially have more drops and fumbles this year than catches. One of them even had a wide open deep ball doink right off his facemask last week. I'm sorry, but when you bring in a bunch of 2 and 3 star WRs that the big boys didn't want, and you sprinkle in some white walk-ons from small town Iowa and a grad transfer who was averaging 1 catch per game for his former school, you've got a problem. I want to like Smith-Marsette, but he appears to be the next Herb Grigsby, where he can make mistake after mistake and still be out on the field the very next play...whereas when Wadley was a frosh/soph, he would make one fumble and be in the coach's dog house for the next 3 games.
7. Size Matters - Noticing the size difference in rosters when we played against Ohio State seemed like an anomaly because they recruit 5 stars and we don't. But after watching Wisconsin out size us at literally every position, it makes me wonder what happened to our once vaunted strength and conditioning program? Chris Doyle proudly touts himself as the highest paid strength coach in all of college football...but damn, our guys were boys playing against men with Wisconsin's massive size advantage.
twitter ~~ IowaLawHawk
1. Who Devised This Game Plan? - This was a game plan that would make Greg Davis laugh. 41 yards passing and 25 yards rushing in an entire game. This was not just Iowa's worst offensive game plan of the year, it was college football's worst offensive game plan of the year. Did our offensive coordinator spend any time in the past week watching tape and coming up with a scheme to beat Wisconsin? Or was he too busy screaming and cussing out kids or punching walls. You have to try hard to gain just 25 yards rushing when you have the luxury of not one but two 1,000 yard backs at your disposal. Unfortunately, this was not the first game this season where our offense laid an egg. We are used to losing games 17-10...which should never happen in college football.
2. Josh Jackson - the loan bright spot today was Josh Jackson's masterful performance. The guy is having a better year than Desmond King did last year, and King was a once in a generation corner. Where did he come from, and why didn't he get any playing time at all last year? While I'd love to see him back next year, 5 interceptions in the last two weeks have seen his future earnings climb by millions of dollars.
3. Special Teams Coaching is a Failure - There is WAY too much randying around going on out there. The season's almost over, and we don't have a single punt return for more than 6 yards. Instead, we allow more punts to bounce and roll inside the 5 yardline than punts that we actually return. Clearly the staff is aware of the problem, as they yanked Josh "let it roll" Jackson and replaced him with Matt "Fair Catch" Vandeberg, but even Vandy can't seem to get under a punt and seems more comfortable watching a punt roll right past him and settle inside the 10 yardline over and over again. This is not a matter of talent (we haven't even seen a guy try to return a punt, so we don't know what they are capable of). It's a matter of coaching. Pure Xs and Os, and whoever is coaching these kids is failing them big time. Then on the other side of the ball you've got a true freshmen punter who burned a redshirt who is riding the bench in favor of the Big 10's weakest leg, who averages 2 seconds of hang time, and relies upon getting roll to move his points from 20 yards down the field to a final rolling resting point of 35 yards. We are getting murdered on field position due to an awful special teams. It's time to take a good look at the contributions LeVar Woods is making as ST coach and see if we can upgrade with a stronger coach/recruiter.
4. Backup QBs NonExistant Under Ferentz - Ferentz announced that Stanley and Wiegers were neck and neck at QB, and did not announce a starter until 1 week before our first game. Does that mean the union card is issued for the rest of Stanley's career? Even late into the 4th quarter, when we are getting blown out and Nate is having his worst game as a Hawk, completing just 8/24 for 41 yards (1.7 yards per attempt) and committing multiple turnovers while clearly looking flustered, Nate played every down. Is it that crazy to think we have nothing to lose by letting Wiegers try to give us a spark halfway through the 4th quarter trailing by 4 scores? Worst case scenario, he completes 1/3 of his short passes and takes some sacks like Stanley did. The sad thing is, during the CJ/Ruduck coaching debacle, we learned that the backup QB at Iowa gets no attention in practice and has no way of improving or getting reps. I'm all for Stanley being a 3 year starter and breaking all of Iowa's records...but there are games where he's going to be way off, like today, and nothing motivates a player like competition.
5. Reiff Breaking Through- It's great to see another Reiff out there making plays. Brady Reiff hasn't played much this year, but was a beat out there today. Our defensive linemen don't typically get a lot of tackles, but Reiff had 4 tackles and a sack today. He's going to be a beast when he gets a little bigger and stronger. Brinks had 4 tackles as well.
6. WR Recruiting MUST Improve - 4 catches and 6 drops today by Iowa WRs. In 2016, the media unanimously anointed Iowa's WR corp was the worst in college football. We started CJ Beathard, who is starting in the NFL as a rookie, and even CJ was throwing for 120 yards per game because or WR corp couldn't run, catch, or cut. When CJ's eligibility expired, the staff was charged with 1 task in the offseason...bring in WR talent to give the offense a fighting chance. Well, they failed. Our freshmen WRs officially have more drops and fumbles this year than catches. One of them even had a wide open deep ball doink right off his facemask last week. I'm sorry, but when you bring in a bunch of 2 and 3 star WRs that the big boys didn't want, and you sprinkle in some white walk-ons from small town Iowa and a grad transfer who was averaging 1 catch per game for his former school, you've got a problem. I want to like Smith-Marsette, but he appears to be the next Herb Grigsby, where he can make mistake after mistake and still be out on the field the very next play...whereas when Wadley was a frosh/soph, he would make one fumble and be in the coach's dog house for the next 3 games.
7. Size Matters - Noticing the size difference in rosters when we played against Ohio State seemed like an anomaly because they recruit 5 stars and we don't. But after watching Wisconsin out size us at literally every position, it makes me wonder what happened to our once vaunted strength and conditioning program? Chris Doyle proudly touts himself as the highest paid strength coach in all of college football...but damn, our guys were boys playing against men with Wisconsin's massive size advantage.
twitter ~~ IowaLawHawk
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