The “Highest scoring Iowa offense since 2002” gambit



Who was that poster that tried to explain to me that Iowa's offense wasn't ranked well due to Iowa's defense being so good?

It's a chicken and egg issue. Iowa's strategy in the KF era has been to shorten games. Gotta run ball control offense. You're not gonna put up video game stats doing that. In turn, it makes the defense look better because hopefully they aren't on the field as much or for as possessions. This year is a good example. I would take lower overall offensive stats if Iowa had a better o-line and could have controlled the LOS better and had more long drives and a better run game in short yardage situations. If Iowa could have imposed its will on the line of scrimmage in the red zone and late in the game against Northwestern, PSU and Wisconsin, they would be sitting at 11-1.

Sure, it's nice to look at stats showing a prolific offense, but when it gets skewed by putting up 63, 48 and 42 against Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana but is completely inept at converting inside the 5 or mustering a late drive, I'll take the lower stats with the salty o-line that can strangle the clock and is automatic in short yardage situations over the flashy stats any day.
 


Who was that poster that tried to explain to me that Iowa's offense wasn't ranked well due to Iowa's defense being so good?
That would be me. And I stand by the post as it was about the yards per game ranking, and how I really don't think that yards per game is the best indicator of how efficiently an offense is performing. Does it have merit, yes, but I still think offensive points per posession is a better metric.

Somehow that was lost on some posters but not on others. Oh well.
 


That would be me. And I stand by the post as it was about the yards per game ranking, and how I really don't think that yards per game is the best indicator of how efficiently an offense is performing. Does it have merit, yes, but I still think offensive points per posession is a better metric.

Somehow that was lost on some posters but not on others. Oh well.
It makes sense. Look, if you can control the ball for 40-45 minutes a game while running exactly 3.5 yards per play and don't have any offensive penalties or turnovers, you'll have ugly "overall offense" statistics but your team is going to have double digit wins. Your defense will look amazing, too. My guess is that is KF's idea of Nirvana.
 


Iowa's offense was pretty good this year I felt. We crushed the teams we should crush, and we put ourselves in situations to win games vs everyone else. Iowa put up 390 yards per game, that is pretty good for Iowa. It is 3 yards more per game than Iowa's 12 win season.

As OKFP said, Kirk is gonna protect his defense, and so those numbers are gonna always look somewhat better than they should and his offensive numbers aren't going to be as high. What does it really matter though, as long as it is competent? For instance when Iowa beat Illinois 63-0, they only put up 400 total yards of offense. Whereas when Nebraska beat Illinois 54-35 they put up over 600 yards of total offense. In the scheme of things, who freaking cares that Nebraska put up way more yards vs Illinois while beating them by less than 20 and we put up way less yards beating them by 63?
 


So what years do you think were better? 08 09 and 10 are possibly. 15 maybe? In my opinion, our offensive coaching was pretty good because Stanley left a lot of makeable plays on the field.
What part of “they beat one team - the clowns- with a winning record, don’t you understand?
 


It makes sense. Look, if you can control the ball for 40-45 minutes a game while running exactly 3.5 yards per play and don't have any offensive penalties or turnovers, you'll have ugly "overall offense" statistics but your team is going to have double digit wins. Your defense will look amazing, too. My guess is that is KF's idea of Nirvana.
This is how KF views the game - the offense is the the 12th defender and the defense is a 6th offensive lineman. Throw in decent to good special teams and you can completely demoralize a team with this game plan.

The biggest thing this team lacked compared to previous successful KF teams is a bit cliche, a punter.
 


In the Twilight Zone, a great defense gives their own offense less opportunities to gain yards and score points, not more opportunities. More time of possession equates to less yardage and less points in the Land of the Insane.

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Iowa's offense was pretty good this year I felt. We crushed the teams we should crush, and we put ourselves in situations to win games vs everyone else. Iowa put up 390 yards per game, that is pretty good for Iowa. It is 3 yards more per game than Iowa's 12 win season.

As OKFP said, Kirk is gonna protect his defense, and so those numbers are gonna always look somewhat better than they should and his offensive numbers aren't going to be as high. What does it really matter though, as long as it is competent? For instance when Iowa beat Illinois 63-0, they only put up 400 total yards of offense. Whereas when Nebraska beat Illinois 54-35 they put up over 600 yards of total offense. In the scheme of things, who freaking cares that Nebraska put up way more yards vs Illinois while beating them by less than 20 and we put up way less yards beating them by 63?
I think saying Iowa’s offense was pretty good this year is a stretch. Pretty good when compared to other shitty Iowa offenses maybe.

Iowa offense had the ball with a chance to go win the game in three of our losses. UW threw a pick. Penn State threw a pick. Purdue had the ball with the left 3 minutes left and punted. Our other loss was completely on the offense against a NW team they could have buried in the 1H.

Again if this is considered good offense, it’s more a testament to just how inept our offense has been in the KF era.
 








You are indeed a joke. I certainly was responding to his post. He was, as you state, making the argument that "if you dug deeper" then the offense was not so adept. But, hey, just because every single team in the country has their offensive output based on points scored, regardless of the source, you found a way to create a new fact. Way to go.

Again, it must be going over your head because you still don't get it.
 








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