This year, the stats are lying

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
Scoring Defense: 7th
Rushing Defense 8th
Total Defense: 15th
Turnover Margin: 7th
Pass Effic Defense: 18th

Had you given me these numbers before the season I would have felt 10 wins minimum.

Total offense: 61st. Yet another 'below average' finish for the Iowa offense. Average is 60 this year, as there are 120 teams in FBS

DJK is 11th in kickoff returns,
 
This team packed it in after the MSU win. I guess that was their season. Good riddance to these seniors except a few. They should not go to the bowl game if they are not going to show up on the field. Let the backups play and leave the starters and seniors in Iowa City
 
Special teams has been the biggest killer of all-----we have continually let teams start at or near the 40 yard line. Yesterday alone we gave up an onside kick and couldnt get a guy off the field after a 3rd down stop when MN was punting. Giving a team 2 extra drives and a short field all day will result in a lot of losses.

The biggest mistake this season might have been moving Meyer away from only kicking off. He was crushing the ball early in the season and as soon as he started the double duty his kickoff length took a hit.

Mossbrucker kicking off yesterday was a joke. MN knew we would be kicking it short all day and adjusted after the first kick.
 
iowaboy85 said:
This team packed it in after the MSU win. I guess that was their season. Good riddance to these seniors except a few. They should not go to the bowl game if they are not going to show up on the field. Let the backups play and leave the starters and seniors in Iowa City
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Right. Classy post.
 
iowaboy85 said:
This team packed it in after the MSU win. I guess that was their season. Good riddance to these seniors except a few. They should not go to the bowl game if they are not going to show up on the field. Let the backups play and leave the starters and seniors in Iowa City
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I dont think they packed it in then. I think the NW loss was the crusher, but I also think it was easy for them to get up for OSU game at home on Senior Day...after that loss, nothing left in tank.

The offense hit a low point vs NW, 2-14 third down conversions. Perhaps that created a rift between offense and defense as the defense was on the field for 50 plays in the second half.
 
Defensively, we don't need wholesale changes just some tweaks.

Offensively, the hawks have become stale.........running the ball and setting up play action is fine... it is what Iowa does, their calling card.......maybe it is time to add a few wrinkles to that.
 
JonDMiller said:
Total offense: 61st. Yet another 'below average' finish for the Iowa offense. Average is 60 this year, as there are 120 teams in FBS
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To me, this remains the biggest issue with Iowa Football. Even with experience and playmakers this year (Stanzi, DJK, McNutt, Reisner, etc.) our offense still can't manage better than middle-of-the-pack nationally?

Since 2002, we haven't had a single Top-25 offense. Does KF really think that this is good?
 
The stats show the players were doing their part. So what happened? The team got consistently outcoached the entire year. Every team says it, "Iowa does what it does and never changes." Well, this is the year it came back to beat the Hawks. When teams can prepare for your weaknesses and you don't adjust, you are done.

Jon, I know you are too nice to do it and your livelihood depends more on your maintaining a good relationship with the Iowa program than asking the tough questions, but isn't it time that everyone take a good hard look at the manner by which KF handled the Parker situation? Just looked like a coach who couldn't make the hard decision, so he deferred and it really hurt his team.

Game plan Iowa. Hang around and then dink and dunk at the end of the game to win.
 
JonDMiller said:
I dont think they packed it in then. I think the NW loss was the crusher, but I also think it was easy for them to get up for OSU game at home on Senior Day...after that loss, nothing left in tank.

The offense hit a low point vs NW, 2-14 third down conversions. Perhaps that created a rift between offense and defense as the defense was on the field for 50 plays in the second half.
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At the end of the OSU game they showed the Iowa bench where Reisner and the guy next to him had their heads down and not only did they looked dejected, but emotionally spent......as if their tanks were on empty.
 
Jon, I have been looking at the same stats all year and they are fairly consistant. Defense plays well enough to win the games and this year as most others despite the serious injuries at linebacker position are usually ranked in the top 20 and the offense is usually down in the middle of the pack or worse. This year was the year we had the skilled players on offense with a lot of experience. I believe that Stanzi, DJK, McNutt, and Robinson had a standout year but the offense did not click as it should especially the last 4 games of the year. We could score better from 20 yards an out than first and goal. Unless we recruit a lot better players on the defensive unit I believe it is pretty clear where the problem is. Coaches have to evaluate players on a weekly basis, evidently many coaches have a tough time evauting themselves. I remember the year before Hayden left, every body new the problem was play calling running 90% on first down and doing play action on 3rd and long that would take four seconds to develop and invariably getting sacked. We all loved Hayden and none of us wanted him to go out like that. Some simple changes were needed to make them less predictable. Are coaches in general blind to their short comings?
 
JonDMiller said:
Scoring Defense: 7th
Rushing Defense 8th
Total Defense: 15th
Turnover Margin: 7th
Pass Effic Defense: 18th

Had you given me these numbers before the season I would have felt 10 wins minimum.

Total offense: 61st. Yet another 'below average' finish for the Iowa offense. Average is 60 this year, as there are 120 teams in FBS

DJK is 11th in kickoff returns,
Click to expand...

By that standard, they are below average. BUT, if you ran the numbers, I would be willing to bet that they did not finish below average for KF/KK teams.
 
Jon,
Is it a valid analysis of the current situation of this team is to say that the offensive line play has not allow the offense to pound the ball at people, dominant the time of possesion stats and keep the Iowa defense off the field at the end of games? That has been the winning formula in the Ferentz era.

Kirk has characterized the line as "undersized" various times during the year and the BTN graphics mentioned it again yesterday that the Iowa line was the "smallest line in the Big 10". Yes special teams play has been horrible all year long and if you make three makeable field goals at various points in the season you are sitting at 10-2 but this season has turned on the fact that the offense did not put together any game winning/gut check time drives as in years past. I say the root cause is the Iowa offensive line play.

I think there is reason to be hopeful in this area for next year, McMillian, Gettis, Donnel, etc. We need to see those bulldozers moving the Hawks down the field again.
 
CAARHawk said:
The stats show the players were doing their part. So what happened? The team got consistently outcoached the entire year. Every team says it, "Iowa does what it does and never changes." Well, this is the year it came back to beat the Hawks. When teams can prepare for your weaknesses and you don't adjust, you are done.

Jon, I know you are too nice to do it and your livelihood depends more on your maintaining a good relationship with the Iowa program than asking the tough questions, but isn't it time that everyone take a good hard look at the manner by which KF handled the Parker situation? Just looked like a coach who couldn't make the hard decision, so he deferred and it really hurt his team.

Game plan Iowa. Hang around and then dink and dunk at the end of the game to win.
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This is so true, Kirk knew Parker would not be back this season and did nothing about it. I said this months ago he gave up the season for Norm Parker his friend.
 
Iahwkfn said:
Jon,
Is it a valid analysis of the current situation of this team is to say that the offensive line play has not allow the offense to pound the ball at people, dominant the time of possesion stats and keep the Iowa defense off the field at the end of games? That has been the winning formula in the Ferentz era.
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I'm not totally sure I agree.. The winning formula seems to be to build a lead of 2 TD's or so with a more agressive offense (passing the ball), and then let the defense preserve the win from the 3rd quarter until the end of the game. With a lead, we usually go to the "run-run-run-punt" offense. I seldom have seen us be able to just hand off time after time and keep moving the ball.

I posted the stats a week or so ago, and according to ESPN (their stats only go back to 2004), our rushing offense usually rates somewhere around 70th, 80th, 100th, or so nationally. Hardly looks like a stength.

You bring up an interesting point about the small offensive line.. Wisconsin's OL is apparently one of the best in the country, and I remember them saying during our game with them that their OL was HUGE. Something like 320-330 pounds each.
 
If I would have told you those numbers in August, and said that Stanzi would be one of the most efficient passers in college football at the end of the year, everyone on here would have thought it was crazy to think of anything less that 12-0. Sad that things ended up this way. I will have to tell all the clone fans that they were right about Iowa tanking when pre-season expectations are too high. :(
 
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