Pathetic front seven

[Igothawked]

In regards to Cooper and Raymon, I think they have conceded the fact that the DL is going to be **** this year. They are holding them back to get them built up in the S&C program and to keep their eligibility.

That is my thought too, but I am not sure that is the right move. These guys HAVE to play next year. They should really be seeing the field. And all the other freshman are only playing on special teams and mop up duty in home blow outs. Its terribly frustrating to me.

 

[LGEND24]

Really, Hyde, Prater, Bernstine, Daniels, and Binns are the only guys on D playing at a B1G level.

Guess what? They are all gone next year.
Yes I know Hyde is a JR. No way he stays.

Hyde isn't playing at the level needed to be an early entry to the NFL Draft.

 

[Cyhawk]

They looked horrible, but they only gave up 13 points, on the road, in front of 107,000 people really isn't that bad. Our offense looking inept was the problem today.

Bingo - Voice of reason

 

[JonDMiller]

I haven't seen anything from this Iowa defense that has surprised me this year. I expected Iowa would have major challenges up front, and they are. I expected Iowa to get gashed on the ground some this year, and they have.

They still allowed just 13 points, and that is how the game of football is scored.

Just as it was over the final four regular season games last year, this was an offensive letdown, of epic proportions.

One trip to the redzone? Not gonna cut it.

 

[CAARHawk]

Hard to get to the red zone when you can't get the ball back. But yes, the O was miserable too.

Funny, I argued against this being the most important game of the season by saying young teams don't play well on the road after a bye and that it wasn't a division game. All this is still true.

But watching that team I couldn't help but think it doesn't matter because they just aren't very good.

 

[MoseSchrute]

This needs to change and you need to put some playmakers on the field, live with their mistakes and hope they make some plays.

No, no; our coaching is based on fear of mistakes, playmaking ability be damned.

 

[CRhawkeye4life]

Hard to get to the red zone when you can't get the ball back. But yes, the O was miserable too.

Funny, I argued against this being the most important game of the season by saying young teams don't play well on the road after a bye and that it wasn't a division game. All this is still true.

But watching that team I couldn't help but think it doesn't matter because they just aren't very good.

I agree 100%, this team as a whole is not very good. The run defense is absolutely pathetic, giving up over 230 yards to a one dimensional offense

Michigan, Northwestern and Nebraska are going to rip this defensee apart, heck even Purdue worries me.

 

[CAARHawk]

It is just hard to watch and realize that the team isn't really developing guys, except Morris and Kirksey, in the front seven for next season and on.

I said a few years back that I was concerned when they were recruiting guys like Hopkins and Covert for the dLine. I just didn't see it. Add to that that they couldn't keep guys like Johnson and Fergusen in the program and the writing was on the wall.

 

[trj]

Really, Hyde, Prater, Bernstine, Daniels, and Binns are the only guys on D playing at a B1G level.

Guess what? They are all gone next year.
Yes I know Hyde is a JR. No way he stays.

I've been disappointed with these guys as well.

Binns-Would be nice if the '09 Binns showed up.

Daniels-Hasn't been as dominate as I thought he was going to be.

Prater-Once or twice a game he will get caught in no man's land and give up a big pass play. At first I blamed it on having new safeties, last couple of games Bernstine/Miller have played well, so that is not it.

Hyde- Played well for the most part, once or twice a game he seems like he is out of position and gets burnt.

Nielsen-Looks like he is playing at 75%

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

guys, you can put this loss or criticize the defense yesterday. This one is solely on the offense for numerous reasons. The only TD Penn State had was a short field after the OFFENSE screwed up and also added momentum to Penn State. 13 points on the road in that environment, especially with their revenge motive is very good.

The DL was completely gassed in the fourth. This is a coaching decision to have the same four guys in there at the end of the game. They are playing smash mouth and Carl Davis isn't in the game, our biggest guy. Certainly Daniels got some push, but Davis, in the few plays I saw him, pushed his guy into the backfield.

After watching Nebraska getting the running game going in the fourth quarter last night, we are in trouble with this Defense unless they improve a great deal in the next six games.

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

look at the other side of the ball.. We held them to 13, we scored 3.

I agree we were abused mostly in the 2nd half. but the offense was the biggest problem...

Agreed, yesterday it was the O. If we can't score two touchdowns in 4 qtrs we dont agree to win...sad display of offense

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I haven't seen anything from this Iowa defense that has surprised me this year. I expected Iowa would have major challenges up front, and they are. I expected Iowa to get gashed on the ground some this year, and they have.

They still allowed just 13 points, and that is how the game of football is scored.

Just as it was over the final four regular season games last year, this was an offensive letdown, of epic proportions.

One trip to the redzone? Not gonna cut it.

I think this is spot on. Our offense continues to underwhelm like it does nearly ever year.

This defense isn't very good, but they can't be expected to pretty much play iron man football and hold up all game long, through the course of a season. The offense needs to give the D a rest.

PSU had nearly 12 minutes more possession than we did. This too is a recurring theme recently - losing time of possession. I would have to go back further to see if it's been going on for more than just the last 1.5 years, but it sure wouldn't surprise me if it has.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Just as it was over the final four regular season games last year, this was an offensive letdown, of epic proportions.

Please stop bashing O'Keefe. If the defense gives up any points at all and the offense scores at all, it is the defense's fault we lost.

Remember that game when we beat PSU 6-4? Well, the offense intentionally took one of those safeties, but if the defense didn't give up points yesterday, we would have won 3-0.

 

[okeefe4prez]

PSU had nearly 12 minutes more possession than we did. This too is a recurring theme recently - losing time of possession. I would have to go back further to see if it's been going on for more than just the last 1.5 years, but it sure wouldn't surprise me if it has.

I've been saying this about O'Keefe for years, he is the reason we have a good defense. Then, everyone wants to abandon the philosophy that made us good and this is the result. I'm not surprised.

 

[glidinghawk]

Tanner Miller is the only starter on defense who knows the proper tackling technique.

 

[SeattleHawkeye]

It's comical reading some posts here, completely blaming one unit or the other.

The offense only scored 3 points yesterday, which is almost never good enough to win any football games. They occasionally moved the ball, but seldom seemed to get into any rhythm. If the offense could find any rhythm and sustain any drives, the defense gets more rest and theoretically plays better.

The defense held PSU to 13 points, which should win you most games...however they repeatedly had the ball rammed down their throats and couldn't get off the field, shortening the game for IA's offense. If the defense could make a stop, the offense gets more time on the field and more opportunities. PSU didn't do anything special or fancy on offense, either - they basically ran the ball between the tackles, right down IA's throat the entire second half. The DE's and Leo lost contain multiple times, and the LB's and DL often couldn't get off blocks, and when they did, they often couldn't tackle. The fact is the last 4-5 IA front 7's would've eaten yesterday's PSU offense alive. And you know why the defense is tired in the 4th quarter? B/c they can't make stops earlier in the game to get off the field! You can blame the offense all you want for the defense being tired, but the fact is the defense can't get themselves off the field.

How people can blame one unit or the other is a joke - this was a COLLECTIVE FAIL...AGAIN, comparable to ISU. Both units failed yesterday, plain and simple. I also think the coaches failed schematically. It seems there's a fairly severe lack of aggression on both sides of the ball, and some of the simplistic schemes don't help the execution. On offense they seldom go deep, and often run route combos at the same levels, making it easier to cover receivers. On defense, while yesterday they blitzed as often as I can recall a Norm defense blitzing, there is still limited man coverage, and it's not like they do much creatively re various blitzing and coverage packages. And specifically, neither OL or DL played well yesterday, which is where IA wins and loses games. When you run ultra-conservative schemes, it's an absolute necessity to be strong in the trenches, and IA simply isn't this year - they aren't horrible, but they definitely need to get better.