thoughts after a few days...

M

mroptimist2

Member
Just a few thoughts from the UI vs UNI game:
1) Conservative play calling: This was very evident and serves a purpose. It allows us to build confidence with all the offensive players especially Rudock and doesn’t provide extra game film to the opponents. Remember it’s all about wins and losses even in the early part of the year….maybe especially this time of year when you have a physical advantage.
2) Defensive lapses are very easily corrected, as long as you have the tape and the students to study and learn. These teachable moments are the Holy Grail for coaches that want to help their team improve.
3) Athleticism is as good as or better than anything we have had in the last few years. I’m excited to too see this team compete in the B1G west. We have a great chance to win it. There are so many injuries and team difficulties within our future opponents that I am JACKED to see how this season turns out! Gotta go through Michigan State, but we have their number.
 
- honestly can anyone say that CD and LTP aren't one of the better Dtackle tandems that we have fielded? And the receivers may be the fastest and most athletic groups ever? Those two are facts and then you can couple that with the Oline strengths along with RB and QB depth has me excited!!
 
Well, the play calling was conservative because...that's Iowa football for the past 15 seasons. Nothing new there and I don't expect that to ever change as long as Kirk is the head coach.

I think we have an extremely good D line and they showed pretty well on Saturday. They'll be a real plus for this team.

It's been said already but the linebackers were pretty bad and need to improve; whether or not they are capable of doing that remains to be seen. I'm guessing teams will have trouble running on the Hawks but will be able to rack up the passing yards on them fairly easily.

I think Rudock is a decent but nowhere near exceptional QB who tries to avoid making mistakes and isn't a risk taker. Limits mistakes but also limits big plays which is exactly what Kirk wants in a QB. There is good talent at the RB, WR and TE positions. This offense could probably be fairly prolific if given free reign but I don't see that happening.

I see a team that should be able to win 8 games with their schedule, nearly all of which will be close.
 
I think its time to take a step back and detach. The offense was a big disappointment.

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everything in college football is cyclical. We had beaten the UW badgers for 17 straight years back in the 80/90's...now they are ready to take their step back into reality.
 
Benddontbreak said:
31 points with an ultra-conservative gameplan, missed FG, and dropped TD pass in the first game isn’t terrible.
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IT sure seems to me that every time we sneak by an opponent we use the "ultra conservative game plan or missed field goal here or missed assignment there line" at some point we just need to realize we are what we are. As of right now we are middle of the road BIG team until we win some games that matter. Nebraska has McNeese state this week at home. They are ranked 6 spots higher than NIU. I guess we will see how they compare to FCS competition at home like we did. I'm sorry but we didn't look like world beaters for some of the predictions we got from the national media. We looked average. Let's see if Nebraska stumbles like we did and I will feel more confident about our potential for being the best in the west.
 
It's early so I'll reserve judgment until after a few games. Parts of Saturday I did not like but Northern Iowa is a good team and it was the 1st game.

Improvement week to week is the key. Iowa needs to get better but I have faith good things will happen.

I will add I've never been a fan of Greg Davis but it appears the WR's might fit his offense better than in the past. Time will tell but they are a better unit then they were when Davis arrived.
 
mroptimist2 said:
Just a few thoughts from the UI vs UNI game:
1) Conservative play calling: This was very evident and serves a purpose. It allows us to build confidence with all the offensive players especially Rudock and doesn’t provide extra game film to the opponents. Remember it’s all about wins and losses even in the early part of the year….maybe especially this time of year when you have a physical advantage.
2) Defensive lapses are very easily corrected, as long as you have the tape and the students to study and learn. These teachable moments are the Holy Grail for coaches that want to help their team improve.
3) Athleticism is as good as or better than anything we have had in the last few years. I’m excited to too see this team compete in the B1G west. We have a great chance to win it. There are so many injuries and team difficulties within our future opponents that I am JACKED to see how this season turns out! Gotta go through Michigan State, but we have their number.
Click to expand...

All good points. Iowa is always vanilla in its first couple of games. Not that we will turn into a run 'n shoot during Week 3 but for the most part we are always conservative in the first couple of games.

I really do like our DLine ... and I do like our overall team speed. Porter (#10 I think) has some serious wheels. Would like to see more us get the ball in the hands of some of these guys and see what they can do.

One thing that does surprise me is Matt VB returning punts? Is that really our best option on punt return?

Overall, I still think this is a 9 or 10-win Iowa team that will continue to get better.
 
Hawks34467 said:
IT sure seems to me that every time we sneak by an opponent we use the "ultra conservative game plan or missed field goal here or missed assignment there line" at some point we just need to realize we are what we are. As of right now we are middle of the road BIG team until we win some games that matter. Nebraska has McNeese state this week at home. They are ranked 6 spots higher than NIU. I guess we will see how they compare to FCS competition at home like we did. I'm sorry but we didn't look like world beaters for some of the predictions we got from the national media. We looked average. Let's see if Nebraska stumbles like we did and I will feel more confident about our potential for being the best in the west.
Click to expand...

Speaking of missed field goal...our kickers scare the **** out of me this year for some reason.
 
I got a few thoughts:
#1 Rudock's arm looks stronger this year
#2 Our LB's are clueless in pass coverage
#3 Gotta agree with Sparky, kicking/punting is shaky
#4 I can't wait for hate week! I hope we pound them on the ground mercilessly
 
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