Special teams - what game will they cost us?

A

alexzelada

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Giving up onside kicks? Check

Field Goal struggles? Check

Average to subpar punting? Check

Can't defend two-point conversion? Check

Punt return fails? Check

A fumble on a kick return? Check

Not getting any blocks against kicks/punts? Check

Our special teams have been anything but special this year. Any predictions on which game they will prove a fatal Achilles heel?
 
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For whatever reason, Kirk really does not trust our kicker. We are going for it on 4th and 8 rather than taking gimmie field goals. Very strange.
 
I'm actually pretty darn happy with our kicking game since the early struggles.

first off he kicks it out of the end zone nearly every kickoff and accuracy has improved.
 
Special teams hasn't cost us a game yet. It has also completely eliminated areas we
have struggled in the past with kickoff return coverage and fake punts (punt safe defense everytime). Personally I like the changes there.. and Koehn has improved since his struggles.
 
I must be watching a different Hawkeye team than the OP. I think that outside of the first two games, special teams has done a pretty good job. We knew that there were going to be some learning curves this season, but they have gained a lot of traction recently.
 
My guess is it will cost us the game/s that matter most. Could be Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Nebraska. The first two we need to win, so that's the two im gonna be the most nervous for. Or we can just take care of business and handle northwestern and Minnesota.
 
Koehn leads the nation in touchbacks. That's about as good as it gets. Punting has been decent. I think Kidd was 42 yards a punt with 3 inside the 20 against Indiana. That second onside kid was about as perfect as you will ever see. Back to Koehn, he might have the strongest leg we have seen at Iowa in a very long time. looks like he is hitting his stride, kind of like the rest of the team. This weekend will tell us what we need to know for the rest of the year.
 
Kill will be onsiding at least 2-3 times when we play the Goofs. Cost us an embarrassment up there a few years back. We'd better be ready, I don't want to lose to those schmucks.
 
hawkfan1319 said:
Didn't they already cost us ISU?
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Not sure what you mean. I feel like that game was the turning point for special teams and especially for the Iowa FG kicker getting his confidence.

Setting it up to have Koehn wait to last second before telling him to run onto the field right before he kicked that long game-tieing field goal work out brilliantly. It gave Koehn no time to over think it. I dont know if it was by design or not but it worked out great and Koehn has been fine ever since.

Unless you are talking about a penalty on ISU punt that gave ISU a first down? I seem to have vague memory of that happening but not sure.

Or do you mean the time out at the very end that gave the ISU kicker a second chance to kick the game winning FG.
 
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tweeterhawk said:
Maryland's special teams are going to take Kirk & Co. to the woodshed Saturday. Sorry.
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In reality though it will be about our offensive production... which it ALWAYS comes down to. I would reckon 80-90% of our losses can be attributed to a lack of offensive consistency.
 
BlindDogScooter said:
Don't feel bad, guys. The Sun will shine in your world some day. It won't always be doom and gloom...
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Good call. I just won the lottery. A cool 2.5 mil coming my way. BTW, I added a category to my original list, I'll share some of my winnings with you if you can identify it.
 
hawkfan1319 said:
Didn't they already cost us ISU?
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I tried to block that game out of my mind. We did have 3 negative-yardage kick returns. And we did punt one time around our opponents 33 yard line. A FG would've been nice there. And it would've been nice if we could've blocked the field goal that won the game a la UNI Panthers. Of course we probably would've called a time out to let ISU kick another one.:p
 
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INTIMIDATORHawk said:
I must be watching a different Hawkeye team than the OP. I think that outside of the first two games, special teams has done a pretty good job. We knew that there were going to be some learning curves this season, but they have gained a lot of traction recently.
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3 words: Onside kicks
 
GVhawk10 said:
Koehn leads the nation in touchbacks. That's about as good as it gets. Punting has been decent. I think Kidd was 42 yards a punt with 3 inside the 20 against Indiana. That second onside kid was about as perfect as you will ever see. Back to Koehn, he might have the strongest leg we have seen at Iowa in a very long time. looks like he is hitting his stride, kind of like the rest of the team. This weekend will tell us what we need to know for the rest of the year.
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That's uplifting. But you do realize special teams is more than Iowa kicking the ball?
 
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