Rudock Update

[DJL]

And there is the rub, we weren't able to run against the Little Sisters this year, which points to bigger inefficiencies than just Jake. The ability to make field goals would have also made those two games feel different - like they weren't just squeekers.

I am all for and I want CJ to get the start this game. He might come out and tear it up, or he might come out and struggle. But I think he has earned a chance for us to see which outcome it will be. The worst outcome will be if he comes out and looks okay.

I just find the entire beginning of this season to be odd.

Fair points. Not sure how or why we looked so terrible against bad teams, but then suddenly looked like the team we thought they would be in the 2nd half of the game. There was a new energy. Whether it was CJ or anything else, I hope they can maintain it the rest of the season.

 

[GesterHawk]

Well, what we can do against the little sisters of the poor is one thing. Doing it against better opponents is something else.

Not sure if you saw Jon's article the week after the ISU loss, but it broke down Iowa's running stats year by year, and most of the time, Iowa was in the bottom half of the country. It's an urban legend that Iowa's running game is its "bread and butter". The running game really hasn't been very good at all, with the exception of a couple years.

You can move the ball between the 20's all you want, but if it doesn't result in points, then what's that really worth? I'm not sure how much of it to attribute directly to CJB, but the offense scored 17 points in the second half with him in the game. Not bad in a road game against a solid opponent. No, Rudock hasn't played horribly by any stretch, but the points just haven't been there, and at the end of the day, it's what the scoreboard says that counts, regardless of whether JR hits a career high in passing yards or not (like against Ball State).

It's not that I think Rudock *deserves* to be replaced, but if CJB is ultimately the better option, then I'm OK with the change.

And you are totally correct in saying that Iowa is never great numbers -wise running the ball.
And you are right that running the ball is not our bread and butter.

Our bread and butter is the defense giving the offense a short field to work with.
Iowa's best teams ppg-wise rarely had to go 70+ multiple times a game to get in the end zone.

That being said, running the ball has been the staple of this offense. It is what the entire offense was built around. The Iowa offense is much more potent when dealing with second and 5 all day long because that is when PA passing or the threat of PA passing are most effective. We saw that in the second half against Pitt. We started having success running the ball and the PA pass opened up.

 

[Knight78]

Sometimes, though, it's more than stats. Look at MSU from 2012. Their starter was Maxwell....had a pretty good year, statistically.....2,600 yards and 13 tds. Unforunately, MSU only scored about 21 ppg that year and finished 110th in the country. The next year, they let the QBs compete and, even though Maxwell, by all accounts, looked better in practice (more than likely due to him getting a full year of 1st team reps the year before and throwing all but 16 passes that year)....D'Antonio went with the guy who, while may have been a little "high risk" at first, gave them a MUCH bigger ceiling in terms of potential. The end result being that they beat every B1G team that year by 10 or more and won the Rose Bowl. Sometimes, especially with QBs, that "it" factor is enough to put them over the top. We've seen enough of JR that, while he's a good QB, CJ just seems to have "it" and the team feeds off that. CJ is definitely gives the team a higher ceiling and that's why he should take over.

Actually, Cook and Maxwell were splitting time. Cook was throwing interceptions and not playing well until the game after their bye week; he was even benched during the Notre Dame game in favor of Maxwell. Who did MSU play after their bye week? Iowa. The Iowa game last year solidified his starting status and completely relegated Maxwell to the backup. And that was their fifth game of the season. THAT was when D'Antonio decided to go with Cook.

 

[SpiderRico]

Actually, Cook and Maxwell were splitting time. Cook was throwing interceptions and not playing well until the game after their bye week; he was even benched during the Notre Dame game in favor of Maxwell. Who did MSU play after their bye week? Iowa. The Iowa game last year solidified his starting status and completely relegated Maxwell to the backup. And that was their fifth game of the season. THAT was when D'Antonio decided to go with Cook.

I wasn't meaning to imply that he went with Cook right out of fall camp. But he did open up the competition and ultimately went with the guy who had a bigger ceiling....even if he may have been outplayed for the better part of camp and during the early part of the season. But there's no doubt it paid dividends and, while we don't have the defense (yet) that MSU had last year, we do have the ability, I think, to flip the ****** on the season like MSU did last year.....IF we go with the playmaker instead of the safe game manager. I like an analogy I heard on the radio today....Do you want to invest in a Certificate of Deposit that's going to pay a safe 2% on your investment or do you want to invest in the stock market where, you have the potential to make some pretty killer returns?