The real issue hurting Iowa

TheBattman

TheBattman

Well-Known Member
first is the running back depth. Adam Robinson is getting a ton of carries but He still is not getting to the amount of carries of last year by him and Wegher.

Last year vs Wisconsin. Iowa ran the ball 39 times with 23 passes. This year it was 30 times with 37 passes. 9 runs isn't a big deal but Iowa threw 14 more passes than last year, add up the extra first downs and time for incompletions and that gave the game many extra plays.

Obviously special teams hurt in a big way but a big part of Iowa's game has always been running alot but having just 1 guy limits the amount of carries you can really give one guy.
 
How is the RB situation having an affect on the Special Teams play? or any of the other issue we saw this weekend?

Quick answer is it's not...
 
TheBattman said:
first is the running back depth. Adam Robinson is getting a ton of carries but He still is not getting to the amount of carries of last year by him and Wegher.

Last year vs Wisconsin. Iowa ran the ball 39 times with 23 passes. This year it was 30 times with 37 passes. 9 runs isn't a big deal but Iowa threw 14 more passes than last year, add up the extra first downs and time for incompletions and that gave the game many extra plays.

Obviously special teams hurt in a big way but a big part of Iowa's game has always been running alot but having just 1 guy limits the amount of carries you can really give one guy.
Click to expand...

We've got, in no particular order:
1. Bad special teams play
2. Bad coaching/clock management
3. Poor play by Stanzi
4. Poor defense
5. No depth at running back
6. Overpaid head coach
Am I missing any?

Saturday can't get here soon enough, we're starting to gnaw off our own leg.
 
I thought we passed too mauch as well.
KF's fault for not trusting Rodgers or Coker to give Robinson a break?
KOK's fault for calling so many goddamned passing plays?
 
Too many drama queens around these days.

Bad coaching? Cant get to where Iowa is with bad coaching. Ill give ya bad clock mgt.

Poor play by Stanzi? You cant be serious.

Over paid HC. Once again, you cant be serious.

Poor D? Again, you cant be serious.

If you thought a win by Wisky was out of the question, you really need to re-evaluate. They were 2 pretty evenly matched teams. Wisky just didnt make mistakes on ST and it cost Iowa a W. Simple as that.
 
homes said:
We've got, in no particular order:
1. Bad special teams play
2. Bad coaching/clock management
3. Poor play by Stanzi
4. Poor defense
5. No depth at running back
6. Overpaid head coach
Am I missing any?

Saturday can't get here soon enough, we're starting to gnaw off our own leg.
Click to expand...

Our passing game is definitely improved compared to last year, and our running game is decent. Maybe not quite as good as last year running the ball, but at least in the same ballpark I would say. I agree that the lack of depth at RB probably means we have to run the ball less than we would otherwise, but I think A-Rob as been very good with the carries he has had. I disagree about Stanzi playing poorly. The numbers just don't back your statement up. He has 16 TD's and only 2 INT's and is the 2nd highest rated passer in the nation. So the better QB play and the lack of depth at RB means that the new & improved Stanzi-ball needs to be thrown more this year than last year. I'll admit that Stanzi has made some poor decisions late in games, but he has also been put into bad situations due to bad special teams play and the defense not making stops when they are needed the most. And as for all the bashing of Ferentz... IN KIRK I TRUST!
 
Last edited:
I think Homes post was somewhat sarcastic, pointing out all the "ills" that this team has, according to posts made on this board...but I could be wrong.
 
TheBattman said:
first is the running back depth. Adam Robinson is getting a ton of carries but He still is not getting to the amount of carries of last year by him and Wegher.

Last year vs Wisconsin. Iowa ran the ball 39 times with 23 passes. This year it was 30 times with 37 passes. 9 runs isn't a big deal but Iowa threw 14 more passes than last year, add up the extra first downs and time for incompletions and that gave the game many extra plays.

Obviously special teams hurt in a big way but a big part of Iowa's game has always been running alot but having just 1 guy limits the amount of carries you can really give one guy.
Click to expand...

It's easy to argue we passed too much knowing how the game ended. BTW it would be just as easy for me to say that if we had passed more we would have had more than just 1min left in the game to engineer a comeback drive and we would have won.

The reason we lost had absolutely nothing to do with our run pass mix.
 
homes said:
We've got, in no particular order:
1. Bad special teams play - Yep
2. Bad coaching/clock management - Yep
3. Poor play by Stanzi - Lots of dropped passes. Not entirely Stanzi's fault.
4. Poor defense - Yep
5. No depth at running back - Robinson is looking good as a feature back, but yes, it would be nice to have some proven talent to back him up.
6. Overpaid head coach - WTF
Am I missing any?

Saturday can't get here soon enough, we're starting to gnaw off our own leg.
Click to expand...

I understand the disapointment about the loss to Wisconsin. IT ISN'T THE END OF THE SEASON. There are still plenty of games that the Hawks can win and that OSU/Wiscy/MSU can lose. The season is not a total loss. All you Chicken Littles need to quit your sniveling.
 
This team only has two real issues right now:
1) Poor special teams play.
2) The fact that Angerer and Edds graduated last year.
 
The Stanzi playing poorly comment is just odd. I think he's grown up, and playing wonderfully.

Yes he's had a few passes tha have missed the mark, but overall he's putting up great numbers and so is the offense.

Can he continue to improve? Of course. Throwing the ball away faster to avoid the sack, and improving his reads. I do get a bit annoyed with the deep ball on 3rd and 5 or less. Seems like a higher % play would be a dump off to RB or to a shorter route.

If we have Stanzi's turnovers from last year, we would have lost a lot more games by now.

It's special teams this year.
 
I wholeheartedly disagree with the OP. Adam Robinson has been playing lights-out ball all season and I don't think the depth is what's hurting us. It's not as though bringing in a second RB to spell ARob would help us make extra points and field goals or tighten up the LBs.

The reason it doesn't worry me is because of how much better our pass game is. They're throwing it a lot more because we have the right personnel for that kind of offense now. This post is kind of like saying that a community has a drug problem because there aren't enough nice bars in town to occupy their time. If only they had more bars to go to they wouldn't want to do crack anymore. Our problems have nothing to do with Robinson or the offense. This time, it's all on the D and ST.
 
DBAHawkFan said:
The Stanzi playing poorly comment is just odd. I think he's grown up, and playing wonderfully.

Yes he's had a few passes tha have missed the mark, but overall he's putting up great numbers and so is the offense.

Can he continue to improve? Of course. Throwing the ball away faster to avoid the sack, and improving his reads. I do get a bit annoyed with the deep ball on 3rd and 5 or less. Seems like a higher % play would be a dump off to RB or to a shorter route.

If we have Stanzi's turnovers from last year, we would have lost a lot more games by now.

It's special teams this year.
Click to expand...

Good post. Stanzi is playing A LOT better this year. He definitely needs to get rid of the ball instead of taking an 11yd sack like he did the final drive. Seems to have had some problems with that this year. I also am annoyed with the deep throws on 3rd and short; especially when the receiver doesn't have his man completely beat. Too many times Stanzi has just tossed it up there and hoped the receiver would come down with it. If it's there fine, if not hit the short pass for a better chance to keep the chains moving.
 
homes said:
We've got, in no particular order:
1. Bad special teams play
2. Bad coaching/clock management
3. Poor play by Stanzi
4. Poor defense
5. No depth at running back
6. Overpaid head coach
Am I missing any?

Saturday can't get here soon enough, we're starting to gnaw off our own leg.
Click to expand...
What team are you describing?
You must be an only child.
 
TheBattman said:
first is the running back depth. Adam Robinson is getting a ton of carries but He still is not getting to the amount of carries of last year by him and Wegher.

Last year vs Wisconsin. Iowa ran the ball 39 times with 23 passes. This year it was 30 times with 37 passes. 9 runs isn't a big deal but Iowa threw 14 more passes than last year, add up the extra first downs and time for incompletions and that gave the game many extra plays.

Obviously special teams hurt in a big way but a big part of Iowa's game has always been running alot but having just 1 guy limits the amount of carries you can really give one guy.
Click to expand...
People that know footbal realize we are two missed extra points away from being undefeated and talking NC season. Every team has parts of their team that hurt them from time to time...EVERY TEAM. So all the rest is moot...
 
loesshillshawk said:
People that know footbal realize we are two missed extra points away from being undefeated and talking NC season. Every team has parts of their team that hurt them from time to time...EVERY TEAM. So all the rest is moot...
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if we had lost but ran more than passed. Then people would just come on here and say we should have passed more. The mix was fine. Our special teams was a big reason we lost but our DEFENSE was just as much to blame.

Even if we make that extra point at Arizona our Defense crapped it down their leg on the next series. And if we would have made the extra point against Wisconsin we would have just taken a knee in with a min left so we could go to OT and then who in their right mind would think that we could have stopped them in OT when we couldn't all day.
 
The offense wasn't the problem against Wisconsin. It was special teams, and the fact that our defense couldn't get Wisconsin's offense off the field.

Typically, while it seems that we run the ball alot, we usually seem to be roughly 50/50 or so in terms of run/pass. I seem to remember in last year's game that we didn't really start scoring points and take control of last year's game until we started throwing the ball more in the 2nd half.. We were running the ball on almost every down in the first half last year, and the result was a 10-3 halftime deficit.

I don't see the fact that we threw the ball more this year against Wisconsin compared to last year as a problem, and certainly doesn't point to why we won last year's game, but lost this year. We were still moving the ball and scoring points. If it was working, why not continue to throw the ball? As Hayden used to say, scratch where it itches.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top