The reality of it
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#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
I actually thought McNamara was one of the few bright spots yesterday. He really only had one poor throw that I can recall, when he was scrambling to his right in the first quarter and threw a terrible ball to an open receiver in a scrambling situation.
Other than that, he was efficient and accurate, and moved around in the pocket as well as can be expected.
How many times did you see him have a clean pocket with enough time to go through progressions?
SCHawkeye2
Well-Known Member
I agree. But we are seeing what level of QB talent wants to come to Iowa to handoff on stretch zones.
You are right Hawker, neglected to the point offense can't be sellable to attract talent as long as KF is there. Right or wrong.....it is what it is!
A great QB would help, but I'm not sure Chuck Long would be a standout running this offense -- the college game has changed so much. It's almost impossible to be an elite college team without a dual-threat QB who can extend plays with his feet or run efficiently. And this holds true for the most elite teams in the nation: Saban figured this out what, 10+ years ago? Even OSU yesterday -- even tho they boast a roster featuring nearly all 5-star players -- had to resort to running their QB to beat Iowa, a team made up mainly of 3-star players.
Today, on a complety different topic, someone told me "There's no shame in losing when you don't have the tools to win." My mind immediately flashed to Iowa v Ohio St. & other elite teams. The disappointment for us Iowa fans this year is with 20 of 22 starters returning after a 10-3 season, we fooled ourselves into thinking perhaps, just perhaps, we had the tools this year. Turns out we didn't.
Today, on a complety different topic, someone told me "There's no shame in losing when you don't have the tools to win." My mind immediately flashed to Iowa v Ohio St. & other elite teams. The disappointment for us Iowa fans this year is with 20 of 22 starters returning after a 10-3 season, we fooled ourselves into thinking perhaps, just perhaps, we had the tools this year. Turns out we didn't.
How many turnovers did he have?
OUTofTOWNHAWK
Well-Known Member
There’s no reason for any good qb to come play for Kirk.
#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
Go back and watch each one. His protection broke down every time.
It's easy to criticize the QB, but if his eyes are looking downfield (as they should be), and he's hit blindly while in the act of throwing or climbing the pocket, that's exactly what's going to happen. It's not like he stood in a clean pocket for 4 seconds then threw a bad pass right into the hands of a defender.
Cade is far from perfect and he's going to have his share of bad plays, but what happened on offense yesterday is not on him.
Low hanging fruit.
SCHawkeye2
Well-Known Member
Our OL will be better next year.
It won't end up being that bad. The cupboard was really empty when KF took over. I suppose it could always end up that way with how fast transfers can leave. But I don't anticipate it being that bad. It just feels like it because of how we are so far off from the upper echelon schools. The gap between us and the top 10 or so schools is really wide.
Iowa is pretty much a top 20-35 school atm. Could they fall off more sure but hopefully it won't be much worse then this.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
And we'll still continue to win 8-9 games a year under KF. Mediocre teams are everywhere and everyone plays them. There's no shame in beating the teams your supposed to whether we consider them creampuff's or mediocre, while winning games against decent (but not great) teams, and losing to the truly elites. If people find themselves fuming after losing to an elite, or demanding that we should be competitive with everyone then I recommend finding a team with deep NIL wells and elite status, because they're most likely going to continue to find themselves disappointed regardless of who's coaching.
trj
Well-Known Member
No
However, my point remains the same. Do I expect Iowa to beat a team with a 20 million dollar payroll? No. I don't think it is too much to ask to have a pulse against ranked opponents. 2001-2021 they had a pulse, the last 3 years, they have have not.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
I hear you I guess my issue is our offense has been absolute shit the last 3 years going into this season. While I still feel that Lester can flip the script (optimistic, but could be way off) I still realize that were essentially playing with last years players and won't see signs of improvement until we see gradual improvement leading to better recruits (ie. receivers, QB's, etc.) and actual improve.
I guess from my perspective, while I want instant improvement, I've accepted the fact that if there's going to be any its going to be gradual and when we see ranked opponents were probably going to revert back to crap offensively because were just not there yet. So I guess from an optimism standpoint regarding our offense you've got more then me, because over the last 3 years I can't think of any real reason why I'd expect to see signs of life offensively against a ranked opponent.
LoyalSon
Well-Known Member
I haven't been in a comma; a semicolon maybe.
NCHawker
Well-Known Member
At least you are punctuat ationalI haven't been in a comma; a semicolon maybe.
NCHawker
Well-Known Member
thread title reminds me of Brian's favorite expression: The Realitiy Is.
I wonder what the realistic ceiling of this program is. And this could be its own thread. Feel free to start one.
It seems to me that, geography and $ Compansation and Reputation have a lot to do with recruiting.
I have no idea what the limits are on Iowa's ability to economicly compete for top talent. Right now its competitive but not elite. Iowa gets one or two All Americans each year. But teams that compete for Nattys have far more than that.
Even if all things were equal, the geographic challenge is present. THere just are not that many top wide receivers and quarter backs
(to be continued)
let me re-say that again... geography, compensation, repuration and coaching.
If you listen to the ANF Podcast, they share observations about Ohio State...they see things I dont see. They explained that the physical difference between Iowa's players and Ohios State's was very large. I often don't notice it but I do remember when Notre Dame played Alabama in the NC Game and the physical difference was so obvious. - I wonder if Iowa could ever be that dominating physically.
I wonder what the realistic ceiling of this program is. And this could be its own thread. Feel free to start one.
It seems to me that, geography and $ Compansation and Reputation have a lot to do with recruiting.
I have no idea what the limits are on Iowa's ability to economicly compete for top talent. Right now its competitive but not elite. Iowa gets one or two All Americans each year. But teams that compete for Nattys have far more than that.
Even if all things were equal, the geographic challenge is present. THere just are not that many top wide receivers and quarter backs
(to be continued)
let me re-say that again... geography, compensation, repuration and coaching.
If you listen to the ANF Podcast, they share observations about Ohio State...they see things I dont see. They explained that the physical difference between Iowa's players and Ohios State's was very large. I often don't notice it but I do remember when Notre Dame played Alabama in the NC Game and the physical difference was so obvious. - I wonder if Iowa could ever be that dominating physically.
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The only way we get out of this funk is to start preparing for next year now. That means getting our other QB's game reps. Lester has already improved our offense. Our OL needs to improve a lot and we should be getting the bench game reps as we will have a mostly new line next year. We have good enough RB's and tight ends. I expected much better defense than we have seen so far. Based on last year's play they can become great again. Those turnovers to OSU really put the defense in a hole.
BigD
Well-Known Member
Now it’s even exasperated more because Kirk doesn’t have the West division to breast feed off of.
