Nothing ever changes narrative

iloveyoularrystation

iloveyoularrystation

Well-Known Member
So there is a narrative that I read consistently that at this point just angers me every time I see it. This post is my attempt to chill the narrative and get people to say what they actually mean. As a fan you have every right to be upset with your team, its losses, its coaches, whatever. If you like Kirk and or Brian, you hate Kirk and/or Brian, you want to see them fired, replaced, put on a pedestal, encased in carbonite and sold to Jabba the Hutt, whatever......I don't care. But I'm exhausted by the false narrative that nothing ever changes with our coaching and our offense, its just not accurate. Its a lazy commentary. So stop being lazy. You want to complain because we lost to Michigan go ahead, but then break out some legit vitriol, not the tired, false narrative that nothing ever changes. There's plenty of legit things to complain about from Saturdays loss to a team we are better than right now, and we should have beaten. Some of those things are coaching things, so have at it. But stop with the these guys never change stuff garbage, I beg you. Since Brian took over for the 2017-2018 season here are just a few things that have "changed" with our offense and schemes, and related items. I could have added more, but i'll let you guys do the rest.

Offensive plays per game:
2019 76.2 currently ranked 30th
2018 68.9
2017 ranked 110th with 66.2
2016 65.9

Team pass play percentage
2019 48.03%
2018 47.04%
2017 44.13%
2016 39.7%
For the majority of the ferentz era we were between 40-44%

Points per game
2019- We are currently at like 27, we were way above that until scoring 3 this week, who knows ?
2018- 30.6
2017- 28.2
2016-25.2
Usually somewhere between 26-28 during the ferentz era

4th down attempts
2019- already this year 11 attempts. In 5 games we have pretty much the same number of 4th down attempts we had in all of 2015
2018- 25
2017- 22
2016- 17
2015-14

Fake field goals, and punts.
This is a narrative answer rather than stats based, because in my quick look up i couldn't find them i'm sure somebody will help me out with that. I read a post from 2016, after a botched fake kick that asked readers to post recent fake punts or kicks they could remember. for the hawks. The thousands of posters came up with 7 they could remember in the entire ferentz era. How many fake punt, or field goal attempts have we seen in the last two years? Do you remember when the iowa crowd cheered for a failed fake attempt, because we at least tried a fake attempt?

I write this post not to say you shouldn't complain. Complain away. Just do it accurately and lose the lazy narratives. Complain away about brian and kirk and the team, etc. Philosophies and scheme, and style have all started to change rather dramatically during Brian's tenure. From playing the majority of snaps from two tight end sets, to running mostly 3wr sets this year, to being more pass oriented then at any other time in our history this year, change has come. Maybe things like us losing head scratcher games to teams we shouldn't lose to hasn't changed. Maybe not going undefeated and winning the national championship or big ten title hasn't changed (The year ain't done yet). But plenty of things have changed with this team. Its not the same old same old, and to be honest, the narrative that nothing ever changes is what is same old, same old.
 
The dressing has changed. You are being a bit lazy yourself. We what hasn't changed is the unwillingness to adapt to a game. That stats you gave were against less than top competition. 3 opponents were very weak. What are the stats against ISU and M?

The fact is that 66 yards total offense and 1 yard rushing are very unusual to ever happen to a solid team once in 3 years. Fact is we had over similar but not quite as bad. The bitching us old. So are efforts such as this. If you have a molasses QB, do
To things to make him successful. Showcase your best rb. Do planned quick hitters.

Harbaugh is just as bad as he never once again went deep after torching Iowa the first time. M fans are madder than we are.

Stop being lazy and add real narrative.
 
Thanks for the really insightful post.

I would say that we should reserve judgement about this year until after we've played a few more games. I mean that for the overly optimistic crowd (which may have disappeared after last week) and for the doomsdayers (which circle this board like vultures after one defeat.

I'll be interested to see how they move the ball in the next few weeks. If they score 3 on Saturday, I think the narrative about the offense (and Stanley not winning big games) is reasonable.
 
iloveyoularrystation said:
So there is a narrative that I read consistently that at this point just angers me every time I see it. This post is my attempt to chill the narrative and get people to say what they actually mean. As a fan you have every right to be upset with your team, its losses, its coaches, whatever. If you like Kirk and or Brian, you hate Kirk and/or Brian, you want to see them fired, replaced, put on a pedestal, encased in carbonite and sold to Jabba the Hutt, whatever......I don't care. But I'm exhausted by the false narrative that nothing ever changes with our coaching and our offense, its just not accurate. Its a lazy commentary. So stop being lazy. You want to complain because we lost to Michigan go ahead, but then break out some legit vitriol, not the tired, false narrative that nothing ever changes. There's plenty of legit things to complain about from Saturdays loss to a team we are better than right now, and we should have beaten. Some of those things are coaching things, so have at it. But stop with the these guys never change stuff garbage, I beg you. Since Brian took over for the 2017-2018 season here are just a few things that have "changed" with our offense and schemes, and related items. I could have added more, but i'll let you guys do the rest.

Offensive plays per game:
2019 76.2 currently ranked 30th
2018 68.9
2017 ranked 110th with 66.2
2016 65.9

Team pass play percentage
2019 48.03%
2018 47.04%
2017 44.13%
2016 39.7%
For the majority of the ferentz era we were between 40-44%

Points per game
2019- We are currently at like 27, we were way above that until scoring 3 this week, who knows ?
2018- 30.6
2017- 28.2
2016-25.2
Usually somewhere between 26-28 during the ferentz era

4th down attempts
2019- already this year 11 attempts. In 5 games we have pretty much the same number of 4th down attempts we had in all of 2015
2018- 25
2017- 22
2016- 17
2015-14

Fake field goals, and punts.
This is a narrative answer rather than stats based, because in my quick look up i couldn't find them i'm sure somebody will help me out with that. I read a post from 2016, after a botched fake kick that asked readers to post recent fake punts or kicks they could remember. for the hawks. The thousands of posters came up with 7 they could remember in the entire ferentz era. How many fake punt, or field goal attempts have we seen in the last two years? Do you remember when the iowa crowd cheered for a failed fake attempt, because we at least tried a fake attempt?

I write this post not to say you shouldn't complain. Complain away. Just do it accurately and lose the lazy narratives. Complain away about brian and kirk and the team, etc. Philosophies and scheme, and style have all started to change rather dramatically during Brian's tenure. From playing the majority of snaps from two tight end sets, to running mostly 3wr sets this year, to being more pass oriented then at any other time in our history this year, change has come. Maybe things like us losing head scratcher games to teams we shouldn't lose to hasn't changed. Maybe not going undefeated and winning the national championship or big ten title hasn't changed (The year ain't done yet). But plenty of things have changed with this team. Its not the same old same old, and to be honest, the narrative that nothing ever changes is what is same old, same old.
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Kirk and Brian/Greg Davis are in the here and now.

If Hayden was in the here and now and Kirk coached in the eighties and nineties da haters would have different perspectives of both.

Ill bet the same thing happens on Badger boards every time Bucky loses and people scream for Barry to come back to the sideline, though the record shows that Chryst has as much higher winning percentage than Alvarez.

The same narratives about Kirk not playing the best player were going on when Hayden was here. I remember people screaming for David Husdon over Fred Bush, and for Robert Smith (or anyone) to return punts over Peter Marciano. I remember people wondering why Rick Bayless was starting at tailback over Kevin Harmon, or why Tom Poholsky was in there at QB over Dan McGwire.

It's mostly rose colored glasses perspective. Hayden didn't roll up forty on everyone. In fact I did the research just last week and teams in the Ferentz era have averaged more points than in the Fry era. We didn't blow Iowa State out every year either. Those games from 1988-1993 were mostly competitive games.
 
Btw against 2 decent teams Iowa averaged 60 yards rushing and 10.5 points.

North, you forgot Long Vlasic and Bank who ever was the other guy.

HF was stubborn too such as prevent D and not throwing over the middle.
 
Ferentz has changed plenty. Me from 5 years ago would be really surprised to hear me say that, but it's true. No matter what they change, they're still going to lose some games. People like to say "it's not that we lost, it's how we lost". That's not true at all. It's only that we lost.
 
Northside Hawk said:
...If Hayden was in the here and now and Kirk coached in the eighties and nineties da haters would have different perspectives of both...

...though the record shows that Chryst has as much higher winning percentage than Alvarez...
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What Fry and Alvarez are remembered for is taking absolute 100% shit programs and making them competitive, not their winning percentages. That has to be footnoted anytime those guys are mentioned in context with future coaches. Has to be.

Wisconsin and Iowa were such total landfills when Alvarez and Fry took over that what sparse fanbases there were had no idea what winning was or that it was possible. It had been so shitty for so long that people expected and accepted it. Those two coaches said, "F that" and tipped everything upside down. Showed people that you don't have to be a shit sandwich if you don't want to, and forced them to have some goddamn pride in themselves.

Let it be said that neither Chryst nor Kirk Ferentz could hold a thousandth of a candle to their predecessors in Alvarez or Fry. Those two were more than football coaches, they were guys who had the ability to take a program full of wet blankets and make them believe in themselves and stop accepting being losers. That is a rare quality and people like Chryst or Ferentz, as good as they may be with Xs and Os, ain't got it.
 
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PCHawk said:
Ferentz has changed plenty. Me from 5 years ago would be really surprised to hear me say that, but it's true. No matter what they change, they're still going to lose some games. People like to say "it's not that we lost, it's how we lost". That's not true at all. It's only that we lost.
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Yeah isn't that amazing! There is another team out there trying to win the game as well. And golly gee, sometimes they will steal it from you when you've outplayed them. We do it sometimes as well. Sometimes you're going to lose because the other team was better. Sometimes you're going to lose because the other team was better coached and better prepared. And sometimes you're just going to lose.

The record shows that coaches like Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Woody Hayes , Bo Schembechler lost 20-30% of the time. I'd like to ask some of the haters out there if they win every business deal at their jobs, do they get every sale, do they win every case in court, do they win every argument with their significant other. And I will repeat what i say every year. If one feels any emotion stronger than ephemeral disappointment over the outcome of a sporting event, it shows where one's true issues lie. That or stop gambling on the games.
 
I still think the recipe of a strong defense, running the ball effectively and play action passing is a winning formula. Look, nobody right now would be complaining about the offense if we were Wisconsin right now. And guess what they do? The exact thing we want to do, they just have better players at some positions and above all more consistent offensive line play.

My point is that there is nothing wrong with the narrative of "you know what you get when you play Iowa". I think if anything we have started to move away from that somewhat. Our offensive line play is only a shell of what it was in the early Kirk years, and that alone would be the difference. We don't have play making tight ends right now, and without scouting other teams I would say that our tight ends are middle to bottom of the big ten.

We have to get back to being the bullies of the big ten for us to win any championship. And right now we arent.
 
Harbaugh is just as bad as he never once again went deep after torching Iowa the first time. M fans are madder than we are.

Stop being lazy and add real narrative.[/QUOTE]

Iowa played a single high safety that play with one on one coverage on the outside with a small dback on their taller receiver. They saw the match up and exploited it. Iowa went to a cover 2 immediately after that for the rest of the game and never gave them an opportunity to go downfield. You have to go with what the defense gives you. Iowa did not do that though. They needed to get the ball out of QB hands quicker. Or run the ball 3 times when your up against the wind in 4 down territory on second and 5 and not take a sack that ends the drive.
 
Agree with some of the OP. However, hard to compare 2019 with other seasons because 80% of our games have been OOC or against Rutgers!
That being said, with BF, the offense has been better, more aggressive, for most part. Still have the usual head-scratching end of half click management, and seemingly predictable play calling, among other things
 
Fryowa said:
What Fry and Alvarez are remembered for is taking absolute 100% shit programs and making them competitive, not their winning percentages. That has to be footnoted anytime those guys are mentioned in context with future coaches. Has to be.

Wisconsin and Iowa were such total landfills when Alvarez and Fry took over that what sparse fanbases there were had no idea what winning was or that it was possible. It had been so shitty for so long that people expected and accepted it. Those two coaches said, "F that" and tipped everything upside down. Showed people that you don't have to be a shit sandwich if you don't want to, and forced them to have some goddamn pride in themselves.

Let it be said that neither Chryst nor Kirk Ferentz could a thousandth of a candle to their predecessors in Alvarez or Fry. Those two were more than football coaches, they were guys who had the ability to take a program full of wet blankets and make them believe in themselves and stop accepting being losers. That is a rare quality and people like Chryst or Ferentz, as good as they may be with Xs and Os, ain't got it.
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I make the comment in every Kirk vs Hayden debate that Hayden was the better coach even taking the quantifiables into account and you do a good job of showing why. Hayden (and Barry) were visionaries, they changed cultures, they demanded accountability. Hayden had a great eye for coaching talent, for adjusting his philosophy to the talent he had in front of him, for making in game adjustments. That, and other attributes absolutely have to be noted despite what the raw numbers say. From there it's one of two ways. A poster can make an intelligent comment that makes sense or they can go on a blind drunken rant about how things used to be and blah, blah, blah.
 
Fryowa said:
What Fry and Alvarez are remembered for is taking absolute 100% shit programs and making them competitive, not their winning percentages. That has to be footnoted anytime those guys are mentioned in context with future coaches. Has to be.

Wisconsin and Iowa were such total landfills when Alvarez and Fry took over that what sparse fanbases there were had no idea what winning was or that it was possible. It had been so shitty for so long that people expected and accepted it. Those two coaches said, "F that" and tipped everything upside down. Showed people that you don't have to be a shit sandwich if you don't want to, and forced them to have some goddamn pride in themselves.

Let it be said that neither Chryst nor Kirk Ferentz could a thousandth of a candle to their predecessors in Alvarez or Fry. Those two were more than football coaches, they were guys who had the ability to take a program full of wet blankets and make them believe in themselves and stop accepting being losers. That is a rare quality and people like Chryst or Ferentz, as good as they may be with Xs and Os, ain't got it.
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There was a fascinating article written about Bret Beliema when he left Wisconsin at the peak of his career to take the Arkansas job. It hinted strongly that Bret felt uncomfortable toiling in Barry's shadow, that Bret's ego demanded wider open spaces. A badger player was quoted in the article as saying that when one mentions the word "coach" around here, there's only one person they're referring to. Kirk and Paul, for better or worse, have embraced the legacy the proceeded them and Iowa and Wisconsin are lucky to have them. As you have pointed out many times, look at what has happened one state to our west. Ferentz haters take note. His era is going to look like Barry Switzer compared to what's coming in about ten-twenty years. Unless we can catch lightning in a bottle with a hot up and comer and realize he may not be here very long.
 
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racerhawk said:
If they score 3 on Saturday, I think the narrative about the offense (and Stanley not winning big games) is reasonable.
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If they (the offense) scores 3 on Saturday on an actual drive and not as a result of a big defensive or ST play I'll be tickled pink. I'm expecting a shutout.
 
Northside Hawk said:
I make the comment in every Kirk vs Hayden debate that Hayden was the better coach even taking the quantifiables into account and you do a good job of showing why. Hayden (and Barry) were visionaries, they changed cultures, they demanded accountability. Hayden had a great eye for coaching talent, for adjusting his philosophy to the talent he had in front of him, for making in game adjustments. That, and other attributes absolutely have to be noted despite what the raw numbers say. From there it's one of two ways. A poster can make an intelligent comment that makes sense or they can go on a blind drunken rant about how things used to be and blah, blah, blah.
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When Hayden started there were fewer games, fewer bowl opportunities and the schedule was more difficult because we scheduled decent teams in non-con and had more games against Michigan and OSU. Of course, some may argue that Ferentz has it harder because shit tier programs like ISU and Northwestern beat Iowa now, but I'd say that's a Ferentz problem.
 
One detail sticks out in my mind from the Michigan debacle, a highly experienced QB, holding onto the ball for WAY TOO LONG over and over without the ability to dump it off, or adapt. It was junior high level execution and awareness. I am stunned how this continues to happen the more games and seasons Iowa's QBs are tutored to play this Kirkball. Granted the OC didn't help and OL didn't either, but aside from that, Stanley was frozen in place when the team needed him most.
 
revkev73 said:
One detail sticks out in my mind from the Michigan debacle, a highly experienced QB, holding onto the ball for WAY TOO LONG over and over without the ability to dump it off, or adapt. It was junior high level execution and awareness. I am stunned how this continues to happen the more games and seasons Iowa's QBs are tutored to play this Kirkball. Granted the OC didn't help and OL didn't either, but aside from that, Stanley was frozen in place when the team needed him most.
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I think most of our multi year QB starters tend to peak in their first full year as a starter.
 
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