Nothing ever changes narrative

[Northside Hawk]

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.

Hayden inherited most of those tough non cons from the previous regimes, back when schedules were made over ten years in advance. He lightened them up a bit when he got the chance, but he had to be convinced to play in that old season opening kickoff classic in the Meadowlands, which we lost in 1987 and 1992.

I was pointing out in my original comment that recency bias will affect who is in the chair at the present time. Hayden would be raked over the coals for his shortcomings by modern social media. Hell there were people calling for Joe Maddon in September 2016 when he would occasionally lose a baseball game and he was 45 games over .500 at the time.

 

[revkev73]

I think most of our multi year QB starters tend to peak in their first full year as a starter.

One can't but wonder if Over Analysis-Paralysis injected by Kirk and staff into their QBs lead talented QBs to become tentative, overthinkers. The best athletes and QBs tend to learn the basics and then to trust their instincts in the flow of competition. Robotic players seldom excel to the highest levels. And of course, all of this is done under a solid, well planned system, that can also be flexible and instinctive. Iowa's robotic, indecisive play is really exposed vs better competition for higher stakes.

 

[haydensly]

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.

You are correct here. But the biggest difference from when Hayden started to today is that the league is much more competitive top to bottom. When Hayden came the B1G was called the "Big Two and Little Eight". The middle, and even most of the bottom of the league play much better football today. It is harder to win those games. Northwestern then to Northwestern today is no comparison.

 

[NCHawker]

I wonder if the people that screamed "run the damned ball" against Michigan, were the same people who said that Brian runs too much, no creativity, running into stacked fronts, does not play to win...etc etc.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

3 points.

I'm a "bottom line" kind of guy. It's results that count. I couldn't care less if the scheme has changed, etc. if the team still cannot score.

So, what has changed? Defense did it's job but the offense is still a liability and it cost the Hawks yet another game. This isn't even close to the first time we've been able to say this over the years. I mean, decades, now. Year 21.

 

[okeefe4prez]

You are correct here. But the biggest difference from when Hayden started to today is that the league is much more competitive top to bottom. When Hayden came the B1G was called the "Big Two and Little Eight". The middle, and even most of the bottom of the league play much better football today. It is harder to win those games. Northwestern then to Northwestern today is no comparison.

Maybe Northwestern is a little better, but part of it is a function of other teams, other than OSU, getting worse. NU beat OSU in that dismal down year OSU had in 2004 (the year Iowa crushed them as well). That is the only time bince 1971 that Northwestern has beaten Ohio State. The Big Ten is now just the Big One, Little Thirteen.

 

[hawkeyes87]

The outcome of all those changes hasn't changed.

8-4

​

3 points.

I'm a "bottom line" kind of guy. It's results that count. I couldn't care less if the scheme has changed, etc. if the team still cannot score.

So, what has changed? Defense did it's job but the offense is still a liability and it cost the Hawks yet another game. This isn't even close to the first time we've been able to say this over the years. I mean, decades, now. Year 21.

I agree w/ these.

The offense may look a little more modern, but it's still no better than average overall. And falls to weak against solid defenses. And, you see very few adjustments in-game that say "we're trying to score- we care about more than running clock and limiting turnovers".

 

[Caddy]

Where are we in conference play? Take out the cupcakes that anyone can game plan for

 

[Xerxes]

Where are we in conference play? Take out the cupcakes that anyone can game plan for

Joel Klatt was on the radio yesterday and made a very interesting point about Iowa. Likened them to a playground bully.

When they have bigger, stronger, faster athletes they look great. Physical, prepared, well coached, etc. When they come up against teams with equal and greater talent, they no longer look physical, prepared, or well coached. When they get punched in the mouth, they wilt.

 

[hawkeyes87]

As far as "nothing ever changes", how many times do you ever watch the Hawk offense and think "Hey, they have a gameplan specifically for this opponent- I'm seeing things I don't normally see"?

For all of the "modernizing" BF's been doing, they don't seem to have a clear idea of what their strengths and weaknesses are, what the opponents' are, and how to combine those things into a plan of attack. Rather, they seem to approach every game the same. So you get "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (that's football)".

i.e., there is no "coordination".

 

[revkev73]

As far as "nothing ever changes", how many times do you ever watch the Hawk offense and think "Hey, they have a gamelan specifically for this opponent- I'm seeing things I don't normally see"?

For all of the "modernizing" BF's been doing, they don't seem to have a clear idea of what their strengths and weaknesses are, what the opponents' are, and how to combine those things into a plan of attack. Rather, they seem to approach every game the same. So you get "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (that's football)".

i.e., there is no "coordination".

OC OJT

 

[Northside Hawk]

Joel Klatt was on the radio yesterday and made a very interesting point about Iowa. Likened them to a playground bully.

When they have bigger, stronger, faster athletes they look great. Physical, prepared, well coached, etc. When they come up against teams with equal and greater talent, they no longer look physical, prepared, or well coached. When they get punched in the mouth, they wilt.

Our offensive line needs to grow up....fast. A subpar offensive line is what doomed Wisconsin the second half of last year, and teams like Northwestern and Minnesota pushed them around. Those teams will push us around as well if line play doesn't improve. Peen State will certainly provide a stern test.

 

[DBAHawkFan]

Here's where we are at, and this was pulled from Marc Morehouse article today.

So we have done a better job at beating up on the really bad teams, and that has skewed our offensive numbers. Here are numbers against the RANKED teams under BF tenure as the OC

Record: 1-7
235 Rush Attempts for 2.45avg

We can't do it against the better teams. This narrative that Iowa is the bully of the Big10 is just something to fill the dead air when we play on TV. The announcers need anything to discuss when talking about Iowa because there's a good chance the game they'll call will set football back 100 years let alone bore the @#%#% out of everyone watching at home.

We can't run against good teams, which then sets up the OL to fail at pass protection. Stanley really hasn't shown much in his career for making plays outside the pocket or under duress. In fact, I think he probably has the most intentional grounding penalties I can remember seeing out of a QB but that's just my perception.

Has Brian and Kirk made some changes to the offense? Sure, but these changes don't produce wins against the better teams.

1-7

 

[Ree4]

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 problem is most people have no idea how football actually works. The best they can do is say things like, our offense sucks, why don't we call plays to get our receivers open, our secondary sucks. They have zero understanding of the actual X's and O's.

 

[DBAHawkFan]

Actually our offense does suck against the good teams. 1-7 against ranked opponents under BF

 

[InGoodCo]

Joel Klatt was on the radio yesterday and made a very interesting point about Iowa. Likened them to a playground bully.

When they have bigger, stronger, faster athletes they look great. Physical, prepared, well coached, etc. When they come up against teams with equal and greater talent, they no longer look physical, prepared, or well coached. When they get punched in the mouth, they wilt.

So..... like every football team from pop warner to the NFL?

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Here's where we are at, and this was pulled from Marc Morehouse article today.

So we have done a better job at beating up on the really bad teams, and that has skewed our offensive numbers. Here are numbers against the RANKED teams under BF tenure as the OC

Record: 1-7
235 Rush Attempts for 2.45avg

We can't do it against the better teams. This narrative that Iowa is the bully of the Big10 is just something to fill the dead air when we play on TV. The announcers need anything to discuss when talking about Iowa because there's a good chance the game they'll call will set football back 100 years let alone bore the @#%#% out of everyone watching at home.

We can't run against good teams, which then sets up the OL to fail at pass protection. Stanley really hasn't shown much in his career for making plays outside the pocket or under duress. In fact, I think he probably has the most intentional grounding penalties I can remember seeing out of a QB but that's just my perception.

Has Brian and Kirk made some changes to the offense? Sure, but these changes don't produce wins against the better teams.

1-7

Yep. Absolutely putrid against good teams. Man I miss the early 2000s when Iowa could line up and beat the shit out of the team across the line of scrimmage on either side. Those lines had street fighter attitudes.

Somewhere the talent diminished and Iowa has become soft on the Oline

 

[Ree4]

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.

Parity is much more prevalent in CFB than it was in the Hayden days because of the scholarship limit changes in the 90s. Teams are much more balanced now than they were back then. Sure the top 10ish teams are head and shoulders above everyone else but it's not near as top-heavy as it used to be.

 

[hawkeyes87]

Here are numbers against the RANKED teams under BF tenure as the OC

Record: 1-7

Record is 2-5 by my count. W's against Ohio St & Miss St

 

[uihawk82]

What hasnt changed in their prostyle offense is much ability to use counter plays and deception. Hardly ever happens with Kirk and the coaches he has.

Much of offensive football is out flanking an opponent and getting people open in areas where there is space as in throwing over the top, as in walling off the defenders, as in getting them flowing one way but the play goes the other.

This hasnt changed and so our offense plays in a tight box most of the time.