Philosophy, Our Dline, KOK, Beilema, Fitzgerald,

[okeefe4prez]

Yesterdays game was lost on the coin toss. Neither team scored going into the wind.

100% Correct. Why you want the ball going into that wind to start the game is beyond me. Plus, the radar clearly showed rain was coming and it looked like it would end by the start of the 3rd quarter (which it did). It is almost like Ferentz was completely oblivious to weather conditions. Otherwise he should have been way more aggressive in the 3rd quarter.

 

[NewMexHawk]

This staff would never put points on the board to show voters that Iowa truly is a good team and that is why Iowa gets treated like we do...

Instead they win by a couple of points because of conservativeness and because they are afraid of making mistakes. They simply will not turn the players loose and let them play, on defense or offense because the other team MIGHT make a big play. Instead Iowa is willing to let the other team make many many little plays to score and NOT stop them.

Our pass defense always has been terrible and always will against a spread team because Norm and the coaches are frightened the other team might make a big play. They would much rather let them score by making many many little plays. Same on offense, ...coaches just won't turn the offense loose and exploit the opposing teams defense. Iowa would play the same offense if the opposing team had NO secondary and the other team had all 11 men on the line. We would still try to run the ball 50 % of the time...

Exploiting the opposition is unfair...

 

[MoseSchrute]

22-17
17-10
21-17

17, 10 & 17.... is what we scored the past 3 meetings. These teams included offensive personnel like Shonn Greene, Stanzi, DJK, McNutt.

We gave up 22 points (in a 5 turn-over game) in our worst.

Enough said about defense.

Yes, the problem is and always has been primarily an offensive one.

 

[hawkfan340]

But guys here's the rub. For every action we have there is a trade off. There were 3 occasions in which we stepped outside of our normal selves on D in the 4th quarter.

One play was a blitz with press man coverage. We didn't get to Persa and he squirted out of the pocket. Because our LB's and DB's were all running man on man with recievers there was no one spying Persa and he had a 20+ yard rush.

Play two was a press man blitz and Jamie Morris sack for a loss of 7 or 8 yards.

Play 3 was a press man blitz and they scored the TD.

These things don't happen in a vaccum and all defenses have weakensses. I'm not going to argue that the schemes we run don't have issues and aren't vulnerable to certain offenses. I'm also not going to argue that KF feels this scheeme is the best thing for our team overall and based on the results in his tenure I'd say he's right.

You need to add a forth play where we blitzed and the scored a TD. Both of their TD passes came when we big blitzed. For all those saying we need to blitz a lot more, the reality is that blitzing is what good QBs want you to do. It makes there job a whole lot easier. When you blitz, you want them to be caught off-guard. That's when a blitz works.

Now as for playing tighter coverage with our corners, I'd be all for it against a team like NW. Make it tougher for them to get those short passes and use cover 2 over the top to (hopefully) bail you out if they get behind the first defender. This would give our D-line more of a chance to get to the QB.

 

[hwks1]

Yes, the problem is and always has been primarily an offensive one.

+100

This team has enough talent to hang 40 on both IU and NW. Scoring 17 is just inexcusable - particularly after scoring 17 unanswered against NW.

Our last drive for a win was a thing of beauty... 16 plays! covering 36yds? That has to be a record.

 

[hawkfan340]

Yes, the problem is and always has been primarily an offensive one.

I agree that the offense stunk yesterday, especially in the first half (punt, punt, punt,...).

However, one thing that limits our offense is the fact that our defense gives up such long drives, even when those drives don't amount to points. It limits the number of possessions we have and keeps the scoring down in general. Yesterday the offense stunk in general, but this is something people always overlook when they complain about our O.

 

[ThunderHawk]

22-17
17-10
21-17

17, 10 & 17.... is what we scored the past 3 meetings. These teams included offensive personnel like Shonn Greene, Stanzi, DJK, McNutt.

We gave up 22 points (in a 5 turn-over game) in our worst.

Enough said about defense.

It's not necessarily the points, it's the folding like a cheap tent at the ends of games.

As for the offense, well, their performance with the exception of MSU has just been inexcusable of late.

I'm inclined to think that letting the players call the plays would lead to twice as many points as the Ferentz/O'keefe braintrust is producing.

 

[HawkfaninWA]

To the OP . . . agreed. Ouch, but agree.

 

[Jonesy86]

Your post makes a lot of sense. And after reading it, I think Ferentz is pretty brilliant. Build your defense to stop the teams that are going to contend for titles and be the toughest games to play. Especially if the offenses that score on us, don't have the defense to stop our offense. If you lose 1-2 Big Ten games a year so what, as long as you are still in contention for the title.

What do you expect to happen? You have to build your defense to stop something. I don't think they can just completely change the game plan for one or two teams. Always having the same game plan is why these "lesser" recruits can become great players; they always know what they're asked to do..

 

[tm3308]

Your post makes a lot of sense. And after reading it, I think Ferentz is pretty brilliant. Build your defense to stop the teams that are going to contend for titles and be the toughest games to play. Especially if the offenses that score on us, don't have the defense to stop our offense. If you lose 1-2 Big Ten games a year so what, as long as you are still in contention for the title.

What do you expect to happen? You have to build your defense to stop something. I don't think they can just completely change the game plan for one or two teams. Always having the same game plan is why these "lesser" recruits can become great players; they always know what they're asked to do..

I don't think it's something drastic that they need to change defensively. Just bring the corners up and don't give the receiver a 10-yard cushion when all he's ever going to run is an 8-yard route anyway. If you take that away (at least initially), then the D-Line actually has a chance to get pressure.

For most teams, the underneath stuff is the QB's checkdown. It takes time for a QB to go through his progressions before getting to the underneath stuff. Which is why we get pressure against your typical passing game, and it's also why we play off so much with our corners.

But Northwestern does the opposite. They look for the "checkdown" FIRST. And because we play off so much with our corners, those routes are wide open immediately, which allows the QB to get rid of the ball quickly, and that eliminates the advantage that a great D-Line gives a defense.

We did bring the corners up a few times on Saturday, and we got pressure. We played more man to man, which isn't necessarily what we have to do. Just play a traditional Cover 2, work the receivers underneath with the corners, and keep the corners in the flat.

Again, I only feel like these kind of adjustments need to be made against teams like Northwestern and Indiana, this is not recommending a total facelift for everyone.

 

[theiowahawkeye]

I agree that the offense stunk yesterday, especially in the first half (punt, punt, punt,...).

However, one thing that limits our offense is the fact that our defense gives up such long drives, even when those drives don't amount to points. It limits the number of possessions we have and keeps the scoring down in general. Yesterday the offense stunk in general, but this is something people always overlook when they complain about our O.

It works the other way as well. If the Offense could sustain a drive or two of its own each quarter then they wouldn't force the D to be on the field so often and the D could stay a little more fresh. Ultimately, whether or not the O produces is up to the O.