The Petras naysayers are pretty quiet. 2 big TDS, no picks cause he threw a bunch to green grass

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uihawk82

Well-Known Member
I still say he is pretty accurate so when he throws a ball halfway between two hawks who are separated by 12 yards and the green fake grass makes the catch , I think he is throwing it away, maybe under orders to not force it.

He seems to be improving, hard to say as we dont know the calls, he doesnt seem to be audiblizing much at this point,

Without some throwaways he was about 65%+or- a few for over 200 yards against a team our QBs really struggle against.

With our defense the main difference between 2nd game Petras and his 3 INTs and the last few days is just dont lose the game, make some plays, run the ball, and let the defense and special teams win the game
 
When his feet are set. Different qb.

Confidence, slowing down his mind. And improved seeing the field and feel in pocket....

If he can improve the mental side, the physical is there. That said, things like pocket presence, feel, and progression are usually kinda innate and tough to develop.

The 2nd half of the last two games....he's the qb I thought he'd be. But the bad halves, throws. Decisions, panics....have been really concerning.

I'm rooting for him. Hes got 2 more games and an off-season.

That said, competition should be open...starting Feb 1.
 
I wouldn’t be heart broken if there was an open competition this Spring. Not going to be disappointed if they pluck someone from the transfer portal. 8+ games is a pretty good sample size and I need to see waaaaay more consistency before I am all in with Petras.
 
When he stinks, he stinks...and you're honest about it. When he plays well and throws great passes you're honest about it too. It's not one or the other.

SP was pathetic early in the season. He's improved. In the last several games he's thrown a lot of dead-on bullet passes. Today he threw some beauties, especially those TD passes. Killer!

It's possible for all of those things to be true.
 
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I root for the Hawkeyes. I dont root against any Iowa player. He made a couple of big plays. In a couple games he didn't make the plays. We are 6-2. Not a bad record. Plenty of Iowa Qb's have had 9-3 (75% win pct) seasons. The defense is the main reason. His passing numbers are subpar. Good defense out there today from Wisconsin. He's still far from an all-Big Ten QB. I want one of those.
 
HawkeyeWalker said:
When his feet are set. Different qb.

Confidence, slowing down his mind. And improved seeing the field and feel in pocket....

If he can improve the mental side, the physical is there. That said, things like pocket presence, feel, and progression are usually kinda innate and tough to develop.

The 2nd half of the last two games....he's the qb I thought he'd be. But the bad halves, throws. Decisions, panics....have been really concerning.

I'm rooting for him. Hes got 2 more games and an off-season.

That said, competition should be open...starting Feb 1.
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Iowa was very lucky that Wisconsin was as ineffective as Iowa on offense. If Iowa's D hadn't had their best game of the year we might have been down multiple scores by halftime. Petras was very poor on the early series, but so was our rushing game. Nice to see him short throw Marsette and rebound later in the series with the TD throw. "Ya take the good Ya take the bad" Facts of Life.
 
Spencer’s play reminds me of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead:

“When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
“But when she was bad she was horrid.”

Such an enigma. He can be off-mark, off-target, not see the field for an entire half, then come out and mastermind a scoring drive, stink the next drive, then manage a pretty good game the rest of the way.

I don’t get it.
 
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hawkdrummer1 said:
JFC... when he stinks, he stinks...and you're honest about it. When he plays well and throws great passes you're honest about it too. It's not one or the other.

SP was pathetic early in the season. He's improved. In the last several games he's thrown a lot of dead-on bullet passes. Today he threw some beauties, especially those TD passes. Killer!

It's possible for all of those things to be true.
Click to expand...
It seems like each game he regresses to the happy feet, throwing scared routine and has to be talked off the ledge by the staff.

It looks to me like he’s scared to death of INTs, and the overthrows are coming from not wanting to give the DBs a chance. The rest of the missed throws seem to either be nervous 90 mph fastballs, or just getting scared and forcing it.

Like you said he can do some beautiful work out there, but it’s not great that he has to go through the first half routine of struggling before either he or the staff has to talk him down. One of these days I think it’s going to bite us in the ass.
 
Do you guys remember Stanley going for what seemed like negative yardage against UW a couple of years ago when he was a Junior? The UW defense is legit. Petras played damn good in the second half. Iowa QBs don't usually get to throw more than one TD against that defense!
 
Second Half Spencer is a QB who can and will win a lot of games for the Hawks.

He seems to play much better when the offense plays a bot more uptempo. I wish they would start the game like that.
 
I've certainly had my doubts at times. It's easy for us to see things differently on the tv, but Spenser sees things way different on the field. So, is it Spenser or more O'keefe or BF when it comes to our 2nd halves? It does seem it's been a tale of two halves. We always talk adjustments at halftime, so maybe it's more BF who's doing a better job. Spenser is merely executing the plan. Our offensive line has done outstanding. Who didn't notice Linderbaum sprinting downfield right behind Goodson? Giving Spenser time makes him as accurate as anyone.
 
Man, this is a tough crowd. I think what's difficult for people is that Spencer looks really bad on certain plays and he's still listening to the clock in his head and not staying in the moment. He's not doing much off schedule right now. He needs to relax as his offensive line is really freaking good. He needs to remove the panic button...and make the right decision and believe in it. Easier said than done.

That being said, this kid now has 6 straight wins, has 9 TDs vs 5 INTS and he had 3 INTS against Northwestern. He's beaten Penn State & Wisconsin. What people don't give him credit for is that he's made great plays too. The second throw yesterday to ISM was perfect...given the space he had. He's making enough plays.

Wisconsin led the B10 and country in total defense and points allowed. We scored 28 and had no defensive touchdowns. They never came close to giving up 4 touchdowns all year.

Give the kid a Spring (hopefully), Summer training, and a full Fall Camp. It's hard to believe after what he's done as a first year starter, it's not going to be much, much better. The team is averaging 31.5 points a game.
 
I’ll naysay, if he hit all the open guys he was throwing to we win by 40. Being able to make the throw is step 1 for a QB and you learn to read defenses as time goes on, concerning he’s still struggling with fundamentals.
 
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