Top 10 Positives Heading in to Purdue

H

Hawk1960

Well-Known Member
Here is my top 10 positives heading in to the Purdue game next Saturday. Feel free to add to this list ... but let's try and keep this thread "QB controversy free" ... plenty of threads already started on that. :cool:

10) We stabilized the ship with the win against Pitt. Two losses in a row would have been rough.

9) We no longer should fear the road. The Hawks have won 5 of their last 6 road games with the only loss a very respectable performance at Ohio State.

8) B1G saved some face this weekend. 12-1 overall and 4-1 against P5 conference teams.

7) Maybe the FG kicking will not be as bad as we first feared. Koehn's 52 yd. kick yesterday should build some confidence and the kid is leading the nation in touchbacks (16 for 19).

6) Plenty of tickets available in the $25-30 range for anyone interested in a road trip to West Lafayette.

5) Bye week after Purdue is timely ... no major injuries yesterday but we have some guys dinged up who could use the week off.

4) Indiana game at Kinnick should be more interesting than we thought. Nice win by the Hoosiers over Mizzou yesterday.

3) Hawks continue to play with discipline ... tied for 2nd in BIG with fewest penalties (despite a few bad calls the past two weeks).

2) LB inexperience no longer a huge fear. After the breakdowns in week 1 the LB play has been very good. Looks like we have five guys that can contribute.

1) The "silly season" is over ... the B1G slate starts Saturday.
 
Funny thing is beating Pitt did not give me any confidence that Iowa can win at Purdue. Purdue did put up a pretty good fight at Notre Dame.
 
Rotation on the defense, we didn't see that I the first weeks but having, should keep us from wearing down.
 
Darion Cooper getting hurt messed with the DLine rotation but Ekakiti and Johnson getting their reps.

I hope GD and KF learned our QBs and receivers can make plays on the deep ball and have good pass protecting line. Unfortunate drop and INT to powell early, long completion to Powell by CJB, long completion to Vandeberg by JR, and pass interference call as Tevaun Smith was breaking wide open torching the Dback.

We learned we can do well in the deep pass game and open up the run game.
 
The biggest positive imaginable is the following six game stretch:

Purdue- Away
Indiana- Home
Maryland- Away
Northwestern- Home
Minnesota- Away
Illinois- Away
 
It's nice you were able to stretch this to "TEN" positives...this type of list couldn't get past "FIVE" the previous 3 weeks!
 
ssckelley said:
Funny thing is beating Pitt did not give me any confidence that Iowa can win at Purdue. Purdue did put up a pretty good fight at Notre Dame.
Click to expand...

Purdue - Notre dame = Iowa vs. clowns
purdue has gotten a little better. The Hawks probably will keep it close the first half before pulling away to a 14 point advantage in the last quarter. This game will be the telling factor for me on how the rest of the season will look. We either improve alot or sit in a holding pattern of mediocrity. Still pretty nervous about this team. Really like the way the kicking game is improving and the way the d stepped up at the end of the game. The offense is showing signs of life and M W was so determined to score you could really see the fight they had in them yesterday. Things are looking up and I hope we pound purdue and win by at least 3 touchdowns.
 
I'm still not sold on the linebackers or secondary. Lots of Pitt receivers wide open most of the game, and still a lot of poor tackling. The linebackers are out of position way more than would be considered normal.
 
It'll be interesting to see who starts at QB. Keep them off balance with the different type of QB in Rudock and Beathard.

Want to see LeShun Daniels, Jr. more at RB. He adds a different dimension compared to Weisman, Bullock and Canzeri.

Like to see the Hawkeyes air it out more to Powell, Willies and Smith. Their speed is crucial in opening up the run game.

Maybe see some new faces at DL. Davis has been inconsistent this year.

LB and secondary need to get stronger. Maybe give Gilson an opportunity at LB. Like to see what Warfield and Rucker bring in the secondary.
 
Positive/Negative

Indiana's performance against a ranked SEC Mizzou squad was huge for the B10, but now I'm worried about that game.
 
Maryland and Indiana will be tough games. But Maryland's defense is giving up huge piles of yards and we should be able to shock them with our offense, pound and I hope go over the top.

Purdue we need to get on top of them early and pile it on, dont let them get a whiff of a victory.

Indiana like Maryland with a high powered offense but suspect defense.
 
LB coverage/position and depth at DB worry me greatly still. So does the RBs not seeing cutback lanes...which are there..a lot.

CJ had a fantastic half and should at the very least continue to get his chance to play. I normally don't dig dual QB system, but both have proven they can play. I think by a gotta start CJ to see if the hot hand continues.

I will regularly be cautioning people this week that Purdue should NOT be overlooked in any way. We need a complete game.

Some of the so called "easy wins - weak teams weak schedule" doesn't look all that weak to me. No easy win this year.

I'm not alkvthe way back to my optimistic self, but Saturdays performance both on the field and by the coaches helped....

Go Hawks.
 
Stanzi said:
I'm still not sold on the linebackers or secondary. Lots of Pitt receivers wide open most of the game, and still a lot of poor tackling. The linebackers are out of position way more than would be considered normal.
Click to expand...

Well, the good news is that can be fixed. The bad news is that it usually takes at least a full season of a guy playing in the back 7 on D in our scheme for it to actually be fixed.
 
Hawk1960 said:
10) We stabilized the ship with the win against Pitt. Two losses in a row would have been rough.
Click to expand...

Not to be a Denny downer but I wouldn't say stabilized but prevented from capsizing. Depending on what Kirk does against Purdue with the Offense the ship could still easily flip.

If they revert back to short passes only, Kirk will hear about it for 2 weeks and his stubbornness will hurt the program. I suspect a lot of people will walk away from the team for the rest of the season.
 
TacoHidalgo said:
The biggest positive imaginable is the following six game stretch:

Purdue- Away
Indiana- Home
Maryland- Away
Northwestern- Home
Minnesota- Away
Illinois- Away
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that I agree. Up to this point, both Maryland and Indiana have looked better than us. Hell, MN has looked just as good.

Of course, we all know that, under KF, we have consistently looked pretty bland the "preseason" and have gotten better as the year progresses. We need to hope that will be the case again this year...
 
hawkinn3 said:
Rotation on the defense, we didn't see that I the first weeks but having, should keep us from wearing down.
Click to expand...
Agree, I was a bit concerned Pitt's huge OL might wear us down in the 2nd half but that never happened. Good to see the depth on D ... and Phil using it wisely.
 
ssckelley said:
Funny thing is beating Pitt did not give me any confidence that Iowa can win at Purdue. Purdue did put up a pretty good fight at Notre Dame.
Click to expand...

My worry at Purdue is our D starting slow. Pitt abused us that first half. The D did buckle down (as evidenced by limiting Conner after his first big gainer in second half), and excepting that awful penalty called on King, we may have held them scoreless.

I worry about Purdue using their RBs out of the backfield, which Pitt didn't really do (at least the way UNI did). Their RBs have good speed.
 
TacoHidalgo said:
The biggest positive imaginable is the following six game stretch:

Purdue- Away
Indiana- Home
Maryland- Away
Northwestern- Home
Minnesota- Away
Illinois- Away
Click to expand...

Maryland on the road looks like the toughest game in that six pack to me ... maybe it's the fear of the unknown with them. Indiana plays Maryland this weekend so that might be an interesting game to watch ... Hoosiers a 4 point favorite at home.
 
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