Thoughts from an outsider...

Cyclones17

Cyclones17

Well-Known Member
If any of you guys care

I was out having drinks with some buddies who are Hawk fans last night and all they kept complaining about was how bad Iowa's defense has been. I just don't get this. Sure you guys haven't had the sack numbers that you had last year but defense is not Iowa's problem. Not even close. You can't score 18 points against Indiana and 17 against Northwestern and complain about defense. Neither of those teams have defenses. Indiana just gave up 80 points in a game. They have given up 34 points to Ark St and 43 to Illinois.

And the thing is Iowa has the players on offense. Robinson runs hard. The line gives Stanzi a great pocket to throw in. It's the best WR group you guys have had in a long time. But for some reason you are just struggling to score points right now. The Indiana game was horrible play calling in the redzone. What happened yesterday?

I say the same thing for Iowa State but the defense always looks better when the offense scores points. Keeps the defense off the field, they stay fresh, gets them energized when the offense just scored, etc. But when you go 3 and out as many times as Iowa did yesterday, it's hard for the defense to stay tough all game. They are going to get worn down.

Just my thoughts. Good luck against Ohio State
 
Great post. I understand the frustration with the defense at times however in two of Iowa's losses this year (Northwestern and Arizona) Iowa's offense was very disappointing considering the talent that is on that side of the ball. Add to that the fact that Iowa's offense did not show up at Indiana and you have a case of the offense not showing up for two games against vastly inferior defenses. That to me is the story of this season. Our offense has been inconsistent and lacks any sort of killer instinct.

iahawk72

Cyclones17 said:
If any of you guys care

I was out having drinks with some buddies who are Hawk fans last night and all they kept complaining about was how bad Iowa's defense has been. I just don't get this. Sure you guys haven't had the sack numbers that you had last year but defense is not Iowa's problem. Not even close. You can't score 18 points against Indiana and 17 against Northwestern and complain about defense. Neither of those teams have defenses. Indiana just gave up 80 points in a game. They have given up 34 points to Ark St and 43 to Illinois.

And the thing is Iowa has the players on offense. Robinson runs hard. The line gives Stanzi a great pocket to throw in. It's the best WR group you guys have had in a long time. But for some reason you are just struggling to score points right now. The Indiana game was horrible play calling in the redzone. What happened yesterday?

I say the same thing for Iowa State but the defense always looks better when the offense scores points. Keeps the defense off the field, they stay fresh, gets them energized when the offense just scored, etc. But when you go 3 and out as many times as Iowa did yesterday, it's hard for the defense to stay tough all game. They are going to get worn down.

Just my thoughts. Good luck against Ohio State
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Cyclones17 said:
You can't score 18 points against Indiana and 17 against Northwestern and complain about defense. Neither of those teams have defenses. Indiana just gave up 80 points in a game. They have given up 34 points to Ark St and 43 to Illinois.
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Whoa - no way can you compare the defenses of Indiana and NW. NW"s D is much more physical and effective. They stop the run much better.
C'mon.
 
Our coaches are fine, they cannot run the play for the team!

We are one BRUISING BACK away from being good. You see it everytime we get down in the Red Zone AROB can't get free, he is not big enough to run people over and he is not quick enough to get outside! We need a back who is a little bigger and can run hard! I thought Iowa should of brought Coker in when we got down there before halftime and give him 1 shot at running it.

Dont get me wrong I love AROBs style he is a quick shifty back, but he doesn't have that BREAK away speed that other RB's have. Also he tries to cut back way too much. He just needs to follow his blockers, Coker did a great job on the runs he was in.

Yesterdays loss was a combination of everything. We still do the same scheme on defense and it drives me crazy, we cannot allow teams to throw the 7yd out/slant. Our Dline is doing nothing (basically because teams figured out how to neutralize them.) Our offense is mediocre at best, we can't seem score unless we are 30yds out, we allow the other team to dictate what we do. Special Teams actually played well outside of our Punting!
 
I'd say Coker is a bruising back, but we had some odd play calls against IN, and we never really sniffed the redzone yesterday.
 
Cyclones17 said:
If any of you guys care

I was out having drinks with some buddies who are Hawk fans last night and all they kept complaining about was how bad Iowa's defense has been. I just don't get this. Sure you guys haven't had the sack numbers that you had last year but defense is not Iowa's problem. Not even close. You can't score 18 points against Indiana and 17 against Northwestern and complain about defense. Neither of those teams have defenses. Indiana just gave up 80 points in a game. They have given up 34 points to Ark St and 43 to Illinois.

And the thing is Iowa has the players on offense. Robinson runs hard. The line gives Stanzi a great pocket to throw in. It's the best WR group you guys have had in a long time. But for some reason you are just struggling to score points right now. The Indiana game was horrible play calling in the redzone. What happened yesterday?

I say the same thing for Iowa State but the defense always looks better when the offense scores points. Keeps the defense off the field, they stay fresh, gets them energized when the offense just scored, etc. But when you go 3 and out as many times as Iowa did yesterday, it's hard for the defense to stay tough all game. They are going to get worn down.

Just my thoughts. Good luck against Ohio State
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Good post C-17...the overall defense isn't what's killing them. It's that Iowa's defensive secondary hasn't been the "ball hawking" secondary we've gotten used to...that "Brett Favre, lolly pop, jumping from the back foot with nothing on it" throw should've never found a purple jersey...something's just missing and I'm thinking it's "Amari Spievey"...because our safeties seem to be nowhere in sight when the ball needs picked (not as much as last season anyway).
 
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Point taken on the offensive problems, however the complaint's about the defense are valid when they have given up scoring drives to relinquish the lead very late in games. Arizona, Wisconsin, Northwestern and almost Indiana. Not to mention the points they gave up late to Michigan. The defense hasn't been able to close out games, that's the complaint.
 
If it's not the defense fault and if we have playmakers on offense, then what is the problem?

Pretty easy answer. Coaches.
Talent is on the field, but the play calling is not.

If the fans watching the game at home and at the game know what our play calling is going to be, then you know damn well the opponents coaches know exactly what we're doing.

Take a look at the Iowa/MSU game a couple weeks ago. 30 points to start the game! Our game plan was to just score score score, regardless to the game clock or the situation. Heck, we called timeout the final 10 seconds of the half with a 30 point lead.

If Iowa coaches play with the same game plan they had against MSU, this team has 1 loss.
However, they rarely choose to play with that type of 'style'
 
I guess my point is that if the offense takes care of business early, than it wouldn't keep coming down to the defense at the end of the game. It's tough for defenses to get stops when they are gassed at the end of the game.
 
The offensive has actually looked surprisingly good this year excluding the last two games however we've never had a high powered offense under KF/KOK except for 2002. I think we're all just used to the defense winning games for use these last few years (hell I think the offensive/Stanzi gave up more touchdowns last year then the defensive did). That said, the defense just hasn't stepped up this year (and they were out on the field just as much last year).

Who wouldn't be disappointed with a defense who has an opportunity to stop Arizona, Wisconsin, Indiana and Northwestern at the end of the game for a big win and can't stop one of these teams. NOT ONE.
 
Cyclones17 said:
I guess my point is that if the offense takes care of business early, than it wouldn't keep coming down to the defense at the end of the game. It's tough for defenses to get stops when they are gassed at the end of the game.
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You made some great points. I think it is a cumulation of things. If the Defense could create some more 3 and outs, the offense would have more oppurtunities to score. Our two weakest positions starting the season are both devastated with injuries OLINE and LB. I think we have tried to mask this and the OLINE did a great job until the past few weeks where we have become dangerously thin. The conditioning of the D-Line was troublesome yesterday and obviously some of the play calling at times. However, I'm not placing blame in any one area. I think this years team and last years teams are very similar. We lost a lot of great players to the NFL and the breaks(and we haven't created them) haven't gone our way this year. We may need to give the old Hayden Fry and scratch where it itches, and think out of the box a little more than we have in the past.
GO HAWKS
 
We are missing the guy who can get us 4yds a pop. Boy Greene was so good at getting us points in the red zone. I think coker will get bigger and faster in the off season and become our feature back next year. I love AROB but he lacks the break away speed and he is def lacking in Size!

Stanzi is not a good thrower inside the red zone, he cannot throw the ball with enough zip and that's why all those passes get deflected down, the only throw he can make is the throw to the corner and we haven't complete one of those in a while! I Think the Arizona game maybe?

This is just a year where we are killing ourselves, we are not allowing teams to beat us, we are beating ourselves. Our seniors are not doing their job and leading, they are ones making most of the mistakes which sucks! Oh well hope for 8-4 and win in the bowl game, we will hopefully get better next year!
 
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