mbpharmhawk
Member
I occasionally read the posts on this board, and most revolve around Iowa's defense and offense. But, I rarely see posts regarding the special teams and other intangibles.
I don't have the stats research to prove my thoughts here, but I just have these feelings from watching the Hawks week in and week out, year after year.
Great special teams have marked Iowa's above average seasons. It seemed like Iowa had great special teams play after play when KF was building the program from 1-10 in 1999 to our great run from 2002-2004. We always seemed to have the edge on the other team.
Some of the great special teams plays I can remember were not necessarily from the fastest or biggest players either. Ramon Ochoa running back punts and kickoffs vs Michigan in 2003 to set up short fields. Matt Malloy blocking a punt for TD vs Florida or LSU in the Outback or Cap One Bowl (can't remember which one). And the games that had special teams written all over the win for Iowa... 2002 Purdue, 2003 Michigan, 2004 MSU, 2003 Outback Bowl, 2004 Cap One Bowl, etc...
But, notice that most of my "special" memories from special teams reside in the earlier years of the Farentz era. I think the attitude of those teams and the leadership was correspondingly higher as well. It seems like we went from dominating special teams in the 2002-2004 range to getting beat consistently in the more recent history (exception = 2009). It seems to me that this covered our deficiencies of talent in the offense and defense. We probably won countless games where the other team out-gained us in yards, 1st downs, etc., but we dominated the scoreboard from those intangibles in the special teams game. Why the apparent drop-off? Has KF forgotten to emphasize this area of the game? Maybe it's all in my perspective.
It seems like lately (with the exception of the famous Clayborn block & TD vs PSU in 2009) all I can think of are special teams blunders that have cost us games (or contributed to it). Wisconsin fake punt last year & big k-off return, PSU fake this year, Arizona k-off return for TD last year, missed field goals vs Minn last week, etc. It's not just the blunders that come to mind either, but even more glaring is the LACK of making plays ourselves. It's the short kickoffs and bad coverage consistently setting teams up a good 15-20 yards better field position. Even with a rare 3 and out on defense, teams are usually setting up shop at roughly the 30 yd line every time. Even if they get 1 first down, they are already at about midfield. We get a stop, but then our offense must start at its own 20 or worse. Our offense hardly ever gets a short field it seems like. They must earn it the hard way every time. No wonder Coker can run for 250 yards on the ground and we still only get 21 points in a game! No wonder we can never seem to put up big scores! We never seem to get a short field anymore!
I think you get the point of my rant. We seem to be lacking speed and depth on defense especially this year. We probably won't be able to keep up with Michigan on Sat... UNLESS we rediscover the magic of our special teams. Great special teams doesn't show up on the stats, but it fires up the players and fans, it sets up the team in great field position, and it can even score points!
Farentz needs to rewind back to when he 1st built the program and get back to emphasizing special teams to a greater degree!
I don't have the stats research to prove my thoughts here, but I just have these feelings from watching the Hawks week in and week out, year after year.
Great special teams have marked Iowa's above average seasons. It seemed like Iowa had great special teams play after play when KF was building the program from 1-10 in 1999 to our great run from 2002-2004. We always seemed to have the edge on the other team.
Some of the great special teams plays I can remember were not necessarily from the fastest or biggest players either. Ramon Ochoa running back punts and kickoffs vs Michigan in 2003 to set up short fields. Matt Malloy blocking a punt for TD vs Florida or LSU in the Outback or Cap One Bowl (can't remember which one). And the games that had special teams written all over the win for Iowa... 2002 Purdue, 2003 Michigan, 2004 MSU, 2003 Outback Bowl, 2004 Cap One Bowl, etc...
But, notice that most of my "special" memories from special teams reside in the earlier years of the Farentz era. I think the attitude of those teams and the leadership was correspondingly higher as well. It seems like we went from dominating special teams in the 2002-2004 range to getting beat consistently in the more recent history (exception = 2009). It seems to me that this covered our deficiencies of talent in the offense and defense. We probably won countless games where the other team out-gained us in yards, 1st downs, etc., but we dominated the scoreboard from those intangibles in the special teams game. Why the apparent drop-off? Has KF forgotten to emphasize this area of the game? Maybe it's all in my perspective.
It seems like lately (with the exception of the famous Clayborn block & TD vs PSU in 2009) all I can think of are special teams blunders that have cost us games (or contributed to it). Wisconsin fake punt last year & big k-off return, PSU fake this year, Arizona k-off return for TD last year, missed field goals vs Minn last week, etc. It's not just the blunders that come to mind either, but even more glaring is the LACK of making plays ourselves. It's the short kickoffs and bad coverage consistently setting teams up a good 15-20 yards better field position. Even with a rare 3 and out on defense, teams are usually setting up shop at roughly the 30 yd line every time. Even if they get 1 first down, they are already at about midfield. We get a stop, but then our offense must start at its own 20 or worse. Our offense hardly ever gets a short field it seems like. They must earn it the hard way every time. No wonder Coker can run for 250 yards on the ground and we still only get 21 points in a game! No wonder we can never seem to put up big scores! We never seem to get a short field anymore!
I think you get the point of my rant. We seem to be lacking speed and depth on defense especially this year. We probably won't be able to keep up with Michigan on Sat... UNLESS we rediscover the magic of our special teams. Great special teams doesn't show up on the stats, but it fires up the players and fans, it sets up the team in great field position, and it can even score points!
Farentz needs to rewind back to when he 1st built the program and get back to emphasizing special teams to a greater degree!
