Offensive Positives from NW Game

eyekwah

eyekwah

Well-Known Member
There were some positives from the Northwestern game in my estimation. The tight end position was utilized and LaPorta looks like he has earned some more playing time. Goodson got more touches and the running backs had better yardage. No penalties at critical points in a drive. There is still a long ways to go but the best effort of the last five.
 
NW's defense is pretty good, ranked about 35th in NCAA stats and they really held Wisky down. So in the end especially the running game in the second half I thought the hawk's offense was pretty good.

A few too many drops by receivers but the ball was somewhat wet.

I will want to look again at the Off Line blocking first half to second half to see if they changed how much pulling and trapping they were doing again like last week.

Nate made some really good throws and a few that were off but his completion % was hurt by drops and maybe a couple throw aways.

All the running backs did a good job and made some good cut decisions. Goodson was very impressive on that TD drive in the 2nd half.
 
eyekwah said:
There were some positives from the Northwestern game in my estimation. The tight end position was utilized and LaPorta looks like he has earned some more playing time. Goodson got more touches and the running backs had better yardage. No penalties at critical points in a drive. There is still a long ways to go but the best effort of the last five.
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In the drive w the long 3rd down throw to the TE they immediately diced momentum with a procedure penalty.
 
There were definitely some positives for the offensive. Showed signs of progress in the running game. Still some issues with the interior line play. Center and guards still having issues with coming off the double team on both pass protection and run plays to pick up blitzes/stunts and getting to the second level to pick up backers on run plays. Better than against Michigan and Penn State, but still can improve. I did notice some pulling by linemen, but a couple times the backs cut back to where the pullers left leading to minimal gains.
 
Zone blocking and stretches are getting blown up consistently.

Hat-on-Hat blocking is better than zone blocking. At least positive yards on almost all of those. 2nd and 8 is better than 2nd and 12 (I know, duh)

Pass pro was pretty good this game. I noticed a couple of times in shotgun the TE was in the backfield blocking. This will set up anTE screen at some point.

Seems like 4 of the 5 sacks were coverage sacks.
DL rush pressure seems really *meh* while rush defense has been stalwart.
 
We have 4 games left and people are talking like we just played our 2nd non conference game and the offense is shaking the rust off. This offense isn't getting any better, period. KF continues to trot the 2 most non athletic running backs in the conference out there instead of getting Goodson most of the carries. Ragaini couldn't catch a cold yesterday, however a couple of those drops had not so good ball placement from Stanley, which is an ongoing issue, and clearly isn't going to get better. Still no Oliver Martin outside of 2 plays, even though Ragaini was terrible. The line is what it is, and teams will pressure us up the middle constantly from here on out, and Stanley and BF will have no answer. Fitzgerald was our best weapon on offense yesterday as his dumb coaching decisions led to our 2 tds. Teams are nuts if they don't pin us back deep and make this offense drive the length of the field because they can't do it with any consistency at all.
 
DDThompson said:
Zone blocking and stretches are getting blown up consistently.

Hat-on-Hat blocking is better than zone blocking. At least positive yards on almost all of those. 2nd and 8 is better than 2nd and 12 (I know, duh)

Pass pro was pretty good this game. I noticed a couple of times in shotgun the TE was in the backfield blocking. This will set up anTE screen at some point.

Seems like 4 of the 5 sacks were coverage sacks.
DL rush pressure seems really *meh* while rush defense has been stalwart.
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The zone blocking scheme needs to go. As you said it gets blown up on a consistent basis. Goodson needs to be used more, as he is truly our only threat on offense to break one.
 
Caddy said:
We have 4 games left and people are talking like we just played our 2nd non conference game and the offense is shaking the rust off. This offense isn't getting any better, period. KF continues to trot the 2 most non athletic running backs in the conference out there instead of getting Goodson most of the carries. Ragaini couldn't catch a cold yesterday, however a couple of those drops had not so good ball placement from Stanley, which is an ongoing issue, and clearly isn't going to get better. Still no Oliver Martin outside of 2 plays, even though Ragaini was terrible. The line is what it is, and teams will pressure us up the middle constantly from here on out, and Stanley and BF will have no answer. Fitzgerald was our best weapon on offense yesterday as his dumb coaching decisions led to our 2 tds. Teams are nuts if they don't pin us back deep and make this offense drive the length of the field because they can't do it with any consistency at all.
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Quoting from Jack Bacon's article from yesterday on HN: "Tracy, who practices at all receiver positions, filled in for Smith at the “X” spot on Saturday"

Wasn't it recently disclosed that Martin wouldn't replace Smith because he doesn't practice at the "X" spot?

You've got a redshirt freshman, who came to Iowa as a prospective running back, getting reps at all receiver positions, and an alleged 4 star receiver not getting the same treatment.

Did the Fighting Ferentzs' think there would never be an injury at the receiver position?

Did OM punk the hell out of Michigan and anybody else that recruited him?

What is really going on inside Fort Kinnick?
 
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4 drops by Ragaini and still no Martin or Lockett receptions. Worst game of the year for Nico. MUST ADJUST DURING THE GAME. OK, maybe Nico practiced well all week, but if you are stinking up the joint on game day, adjust.
 
The offensive line was better...NW is a legit defense. That being said...our guards are still making some egregious errors in pass protection. Simple stunts are causing issues and not being recognized. Ok, if the defensive tackle in front of you stunts to the right into our tackle...the end is coming around him and he's your responsibility. Our left guard got beat on that after the Golston interception and it cost us points. You have to get a piece of him...so at least Stanley can throw it away...he never even touched him. And it was Graziano...who isn't exactly Joey Bosa.

For the most part...Stanley had a decent pocket. People should not make a big deal about Stanley's numbers. There were four drops, and he threw three balls away. It was clear he was told not to take any chances in minus territory.

Either there is a tell in our offense...or NW just has a probability factor going. If you watch...at the snap...if their linebackers see a certain action at the snap...they are downhill immediately in their gap. It's instantaneous. Play action with a TE behind them...has to be wide open. Quick slips of the TE and they have a wide seam in front of the safeties. NW plays their safeties down closer to the LOS alot...and when they do, you have to beat them over the top...ala the Laporta drop. Why we only see that once is beyond me...it was there all day and if you have some true speed...well...Touchdown.
 
DDThompson said:
Zone blocking and stretches are getting blown up consistently.

Hat-on-Hat blocking is better than zone blocking. At least positive yards on almost all of those. 2nd and 8 is better than 2nd and 12 (I know, duh)

Pass pro was pretty good this game. I noticed a couple of times in shotgun the TE was in the backfield blocking. This will set up anTE screen at some point.

Seems like 4 of the 5 sacks were coverage sacks.
DL rush pressure seems really *meh* while rush defense has been stalwart.
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Thank god the coaches have finally seemed to recognize that the zone scheme isn’t working well for them anymore.
 
HawkU said:
Quoting from Jack Bacon's article from yesterday on HN: "Tracy, who practices at all receiver positions, filled in for Smith at the “X” spot on Saturday"

Wasn't it recently disclosed that Martin wouldn't replace Smith because he doesn't practice at the "X" spot?

You've got a true freshman, who came to Iowa as a prospective running back, getting reps at all receiver positions, and an alleged 4 star receiver not getting the same treatment.

Did the Fighting Ferentzs' think there would never be an injury at the receiver position?

Did OM punk the hell out of Michigan and anybody else that recruited him?

What is really going on inside Fort Kinnick?
Click to expand...
He needs an off-season with eligibility in Camp Kinnick to win his union card, apparently.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
For the most part...Stanley had a decent pocket. People should not make a big deal about Stanley's numbers. There were four drops, and he threw three balls away. It was clear he was told not to take any chances in minus territory.
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It’s incredible that folks still cannot accept that this the Ferentz mantra, especially any time that the play a one-dimensional offense. This is how he has always played this kind of game, and it’s not going to change. It’s frustrating when we lose, but it won’t change as long as Kirk is here.
 
Caddy said:
We have 4 games left and people are talking like we just played our 2nd non conference game and the offense is shaking the rust off. This offense isn't getting any better, period. KF continues to trot the 2 most non athletic running backs in the conference out there instead of getting Goodson most of the carries. Ragaini couldn't catch a cold yesterday, however a couple of those drops had not so good ball placement from Stanley, which is an ongoing issue, and clearly isn't going to get better. Still no Oliver Martin outside of 2 plays, even though Ragaini was terrible. The line is what it is, and teams will pressure us up the middle constantly from here on out, and Stanley and BF will have no answer. Fitzgerald was our best weapon on offense yesterday as his dumb coaching decisions led to our 2 tds. Teams are nuts if they don't pin us back deep and make this offense drive the length of the field because they can't do it with any consistency at all.
Click to expand...

Iowa 2009 offense was way worse than this one. The 2019 offense averages 40 YPG more on the ground than the 2009 team did, and 60 yards of total offense more a game.

I'm not sure why idiots get so worked up about how football games are won. Iowa does it with Defense and uses it's offense to protect it's defense. I mean is a win better if we win 42-40 instead of 17-14? Our defense wouldn't be ranked so high if the Iowa offense wasn't 3rd in the country in TOP at 34:20 per game. This also allows the defense to have the 7th lowest snaps per game faced at 61.5 per game.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
The offensive line was better...NW is a legit defense. That being said...our guards are still making some egregious errors in pass protection. Simple stunts are causing issues and not being recognized. Ok, if the defensive tackle in front of you stunts to the right into our tackle...the end is coming around him and he's your responsibility. Our left guard got beat on that after the Golston interception and it cost us points. You have to get a piece of him...so at least Stanley can throw it away...he never even touched him. And it was Graziano...who isn't exactly Joey Bosa.

For the most part...Stanley had a decent pocket. People should not make a big deal about Stanley's numbers. There were four drops, and he threw three balls away. It was clear he was told not to take any chances in minus territory.

Either there is a tell in our offense...or NW just has a probability factor going. If you watch...at the snap...if their linebackers see a certain action at the snap...they are downhill immediately in their gap. It's instantaneous. Play action with a TE behind them...has to be wide open. Quick slips of the TE and they have a wide seam in front of the safeties. NW plays their safeties down closer to the LOS alot...and when they do, you have to beat them over the top...ala the Laporta drop. Why we only see that once is beyond me...it was there all day and if you have some true speed...well...Touchdown.
Click to expand...

There doesnt even have to be a Tell with our offense for teams to shoot gaps with Lbkrs and penetrate because it is a very high probability that 1) the direction the QB moves/turns when under center is 95% of the time the direction of zone blocking. Iowa State has been jumping Kirk's plays for 21 years with Total Sellout to the first direction of the play.
 
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