Top 5 Things That Went Wrong in 2010

[PeoriaHWKI]

5. OL was the big Q of the year and by most accounts they did great. They only seemed to falter in the 2 minute offense. Some might say that is Rick's job to identify the defense in those situations. All in all they did a great job of protecting Ricky and opening holes for the running game.

4. The more I reflect of what happened this year I start to relaize that losing 3 NFL defensive players especially 2 LBs and a Shut down DB was probably the difference in those 4 4th qtr drives. Our guys did their best, but losig that much talent will hurt and shows up in the most important of times.

3. Injuries and Off Field problems at RB. The off field problems with BW, the suspension of Jewel and then his injury, along with Cokers injury all of the sudden depleted us to 1. AR did great but how nice would it have been to have the extra set of fresh legs and or the talent of Jewel?

2. A Big Time Playmaker. We just didn't have one. We don't have a guy that if the ball is in his hands he is a threat to take it to the house every time. Jewel might have been that guy but we never got to see it.

1.SPEACIAL TEAMS killed us in 3 of the 4 losses. Too many missed PATs, too many missed FGs, to many blown assignements on Kickoffs, too many mistakes ( WI especially ). This should be a major effort by the team in the off season because this was the major difference between a BCS bowl and Conference Championshiop and where we ended up.

I really enjoyed these seniors and I wish them the best of luck. They were special for some reason and I hope we relaize what we had in a group of guys even though the result wasn't exactly what we or they expected. Sometimes things don't work out but they sure were fun. There wasn't a week that went by that I didn't think we were not the best team on the field and that we could compete and beat anybody in the country. Go Hawks!

 

[hawkfan2679]

3. Injuries and Off Field problems at RB. The off field problems with BW, the suspension of Jewel and then his injury, along with Cokers injury all of the sudden depleted us to 1. AR did great but how nice would it have been to have the extra set of fresh legs and or the talent of Jewel?

Not a bad synopsis...

While not Jewel, we certainly did have a fresh set of legs after the Ball State game (Coker). Why he was not used until he almost had to be was a mystery to me...they burned his redshirt, might as well get him some playing time.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

I would add to the list

6. Norm's health
7. Overall coaching
8. Ricky Regression

 

[hawkfan340]

5. OL was the big Q of the year and by most accounts they did great. They only seemed to falter in the 2 minute offense. Some might say that is Rick's job to identify the defense in those situations. All in all they did a great job of protecting Ricky and opening holes for the running game.

4. The more I reflect of what happened this year I start to relaize that losing 3 NFL defensive players especially 2 LBs and a Shut down DB was probably the difference in those 4 4th qtr drives. Our guys did their best, but losig that much talent will hurt and shows up in the most important of times.

3. Injuries and Off Field problems at RB. The off field problems with BW, the suspension of Jewel and then his injury, along with Cokers injury all of the sudden depleted us to 1. AR did great but how nice would it have been to have the extra set of fresh legs and or the talent of Jewel?

2. A Big Time Playmaker. We just didn't have one. We don't have a guy that if the ball is in his hands he is a threat to take it to the house every time. Jewel might have been that guy but we never got to see it.

1.SPEACIAL TEAMS killed us in 3 of the 4 losses. Too many missed PATs, too many missed FGs, to many blown assignements on Kickoffs, too many mistakes ( WI especially ). This should be a major effort by the team in the off season because this was the major difference between a BCS bowl and Conference Championshiop and where we ended up.

I really enjoyed these seniors and I wish them the best of luck. They were special for some reason and I hope we relaize what we had in a group of guys even though the result wasn't exactly what we or they expected. Sometimes things don't work out but they sure were fun. There wasn't a week that went by that I didn't think we were not the best team on the field and that we could compete and beat anybody in the country. Go Hawks!

Nice post. I'd agree with most of these. The one thing I'd add is that injuries compounded our problems for #5, #4, and #1. Injuries happen every year, but the ones that happened to the O-line and LBs hurt particularly bad because these were already places where we had question marks. They also affected special teams because when you turn back-ups into starters, you usually lose them from special teams. In addition, I think not having Murray hurt. He may not be the best kicker we've ever had, but he had experience, was solid on XPs, and had made big kicks before.

 

[CAARHawk]

5. The injuries to MacMillan and then Gettis were huge. Koepel is a good guy, but he got blown up a guard. That was a huge weak spot in the last three games. The other teams recognized it and shot that gap and killed the pocket before Ricky could even finish his drop. No way to be successful in the 2 minute drill with that type of pressure up the middle when you are lining up under center.

4. Yes, the corners reverted back to the pre-Fletcher, Godfrey, Spievey days. Big cushions keep drives going, which work the D-Linemen making quarter number 4 much harder.

3. Also, coaches' caution and rotation. The possession by possession rotation at back is horrible. You need to have the best back out there to be successful on any given play. I understand that Coker's pass protection might not be what it could. Well, then don't stick him in too many situations where he is going to have to doing a lot of blocking. Pretty freaking simple.

2. Read 2. Coker is the game breaker. He needed to be on the field more.

1. Having ST's split amongst two coaches and having one of those coaches end up having to split additional time as half a defensive coordinator was a huge problem. It is time for KF to once and for all figure out how to do this special teams thing better from a coaching standpoint. He says it is important, but the way he allots coaching assignments to that part of the game seems to indicate that his words are pretty freaking empty.

Also, it is time for KF to face reality with the DC position. Give Norm an administrative job if you can't stomach just letting him go. But going through a whole season depleted in the coaching ranks has really hurt the whole team. Putting one guy's desires, needs, emotional well-being, etc over the whole team is just wrong. He saw this with Wegher, he needs to see it with Norm.

Just plain bad leadership there.

 

[JHHawk]

I boil it down to:

1. Injuries to Tarp,Davis,Johnson,Hunter and Nielsen at lb. If we have Tarp,Hunter and Nielsen in there vs Wis,NW and OSU in those last drives, we get the stop.

2. Injuries to Gettis and McMillan at guard. The o-line has not been as good without those two guys vs IU,NW,and OSU.

3. Special teams breakdowns,from bad long snapping,to missed fgs and PATs,to bad blocking on PATs, to bad kickoffs, to bad coverage. Even Donahue had a couple of critical bad punts. Again,injury to Murray was a key.

4. Our rb loss of Wegher, and injuries to Hampton,Coker and ARob.
We thought we were deep enough at rb,but again,the injury woes this year hit specific positions putting multiple guys out at rb,lb,and guard. Bad luck.
So, once again,we see that Iowa football is a few critical injuries away from being average. It has always been that way, and always will be that way. Our depth just cannot match OSU,and the wiskys,and MSU's have had injuries where they happen to be deep.

Last year Iowa was blessed injury wise until Ricky went down. Then we lost two games. In 2002, when we ran the table, we stayed remarkably healthy with only Mo Brown going down,and we had ample wrs to cover. Freddy Russell ,miniture rb, stayed healthy for 02 and 03,toting the ball a ton of times...go figure.

 

[hawkfan340]

5. The injuries to MacMillan and then Gettis were huge. Koepel is a good guy, but he got blown up a guard. That was a huge weak spot in the last three games. The other teams recognized it and shot that gap and killed the pocket before Ricky could even finish his drop. No way to be successful in the 2 minute drill with that type of pressure up the middle when you are lining up under center.

4. Yes, the corners reverted back to the pre-Fletcher, Godfrey, Spievey days. Big cushions keep drives going, which work the D-Linemen making quarter number 4 much harder.

3. Also, coaches' caution and rotation. The possession by possession rotation at back is horrible. You need to have the best back out there to be successful on any given play. I understand that Coker's pass protection might not be what it could. Well, then don't stick him in too many situations where he is going to have to doing a lot of blocking. Pretty freaking simple.

2. Read 2. Coker is the game breaker. He needed to be on the field more.

1. Having ST's split amongst two coaches and having one of those coaches end up having to split additional time as half a defensive coordinator was a huge problem. It is time for KF to once and for all figure out how to do this special teams thing better from a coaching standpoint. He says it is important, but the way he allots coaching assignments to that part of the game seems to indicate that his words are pretty freaking empty.

Regarding your number 5, did you notice OSU line Cam Heyward up on Koeppel several times? Heyward is a load for an All-Conf. type player, let alone our backup C/G. That was just unfair. (Nice coaching by OSU, btw.)

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Special teams have been the most disappointing to me. How many times have we scored a TD only to miss the extra point or kick it out of bounds or give up a huge return on the kickoff. I can't remember one long return we've had all year on either a punt or a kick off. Our special teams have just been flat out terrible this year. Combine that with an out of shape defense and horrendous two minute offense and it's surprising we've even won seven games this year.

 

[Iowafarmgirl]

This is a great thread. I have to say that #2, the lack of game breakers is one that has been completely overlooked. I would say that we lacked play makers on both sides of the ball. Last year, we could expect Clayborn to change the game with one play at least once a game. This year, it is like he is hiding from the mob.

 

[DuffMan]

I would add to the list

6. Norm's health
7. Overall coaching
8. Ricky Regression

 

[wdmhawk]

Special Teams, Injury at LB position and recent offensive struggles top my list. Lost the close ones this year, won the close ones last year. I doubt any team wants to face this Iowa bunch in a bowl game this year. This team is a handful of plays away from having met preseason hype.

 

[hawkfarmer]

This is a great thread. I have to say that #2, the lack of game breakers is one that has been completely overlooked. I would say that we lacked play makers on both sides of the ball. Last year, we could expect Clayborn to change the game with one play at least once a game. This year, it is like he is hiding from the mob.

He's being double teamed or chipped on about every play. I also heard he's been playing injured which doesn't help. The other DL haven't stepped up like everyone thought they would once AC got the attention from the O he deserved.

 

[sonofjim]

This will be an interesting team to watch in a bowl game. With time to recover a little and prepare, they may take a really good team completely by surprise. 8-4 just doesn't tell the whole story this year.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Wow. What a great OP and a great thread. Great analysis on what went wrong this year. This is the type of analysis that makes this site enjoyable.

Maybe they are "excuses", but they are valid ones.

This is so much better than the reckless "flaming" and "trolling" that has been going on with this site for the past 3 weeks.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

This will be an interesting team to watch in a bowl game. With time to recover a little and prepare, they may take a really good team completely by surprise. 8-4 just doesn't tell the whole story this year.

Well at 8-4 we won't be playing a really good team in a bowl game, but I expect us to come out and roll whoever we play. Ever since the USC game we have been terrificly prepared for our bowl games. We usually come out looking and loose and play with a more aggressive game plan than we do all season, which makes it a little frustrating when you realize how good we actually are.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

No doubt on the "Ricky Regression" thing.. He's got what, a 24/4 TD/INT ratio this year? Compared to something like 15 INT's a year ago. We could do with a little more regression if that's how you define it.

 

[kuhntz]

Robinson was our best player all season until he got hurt against MSU. Stop pretending like playing Coker more would have been a better idea....other than taking ARob out in that 4th Q to give him rest and protect against injury there was never a time to have him not on the field.

As for the hot hand against OSU....maybe instead of playing Coker more, they should have simply ran the ball more - UP THE MIDDLE. That is where the yards came against OSU, and that is how Wisconsin finished them off...and what I thought our coaches would do after they made it 17-13...instead we got 3 pass plays and a punt with 7 minutes to go.

 

[Iowafarmgirl]

He's being double teamed or chipped on about every play. I also heard he's been playing injured which doesn't help. The other DL haven't stepped up like everyone thought they would once AC got the attention from the O he deserved.

And he wasn't getting attention last year? If he can't make it through a chip in the big 10, I don't like his prospects of rushing through NFL tackles next season. If he's playing hurt, sit him down until he becomes effective and slide Ballard to the end.

 

[hawkfan340]

And he wasn't getting attention last year? If he can't make it through a chip in the big 10, I don't like his prospects of rushing through NFL tackles next season. If he's playing hurt, sit him down until he becomes effective and slide Ballard to the end.

AC at 80% is still better than most D-linemen in the country. It's just not as good as AC at 100%.

For the record, I thought Clayborn played a hell of a game on Saturday. Lots of tackles in the run game (the one where he fought through two blocker to get a TFL was awesome), a pass break-up, harassing Pryor in the passing game.

 

[hawktransplant]

And he wasn't getting attention last year? If he can't make it through a chip in the big 10, I don't like his prospects of rushing through NFL tackles next season. If he's playing hurt, sit him down until he becomes effective and slide Ballard to the end.

dead on accurate.