Unfortunately, in the end, this one's on the defense

[Rawkhawk73]

The old saying goes that Jim and Joe go across the street to the local tavern after work every day for 10 years. Jim buys Joe a beer each time. One day, Jim just orders himself a beer and Joe asks 'Hey...where's mine?'

IE: The Iowa defense does it and does it and does it...

The defense gave up a touchdown and two field goals against this offense. It took a throw where no one could catch the ball except a diving receiver to move the ball 38 yards on the first or second play of that drive. It was a freaking great football play.

Sometimes, the other team has great players too. Iowa didn't invent football, nor does a diving catch on a perfectly thrown football take away from the fact the defense more than did its part against the Arizona offense in this game.

Jon,

I know exactly what you're saying and, trust me, I don't take what I'm seeing for granted. I'm well aware of the fact that we are one bad hire away from becoming Minnesota.

However, you, me and 100 other posters on this board and thousands across the state were thinking this was the year that we broke through to go 12-0. And with 9 minutes to go, in a tie game, in what many thought would be our toughest test until OSU, we had our most dependable unit over the last 11 years on the field. You, me, and everyone else watching at home figured that unit would step up and make a stand. It didn't. Regardless of how good a throw it was, he was still wide open.....someone obviously blew a coverage assignment. And then with an opportunity to still hold them to a field goal, we gave up the touchdown.

This defense is going to assert itself before the year is over....I have no doubt about that. But at the end of this game, when we needed them, it didn't happen.

 

[code01]

Like Jon has stated repeatedly over and over it took a diving catch that only the reciever could possibly catch to gain 40 of those yards in the last drive. If that reciever doesnt make that catch who knows if Arizona moves the ball into scoring position on Iowa's D after an incomplete pass in that situation.

Iowa's D gave us a shot to win the game and that is all you can ask for especially with the way the game went last night!

 

[homes]

Like Jon has stated repeatedly over and over it took a diving catch that only the reciever could possibly catch to gain 40 of those yards in the last drive. If that reciever doesnt make that catch who knows if Arizona moves the ball into scoring position on Iowa's D after an incomplete pass in that situation.

Iowa's D gave us a shot to win the game and that is all you can ask for especially with the way the game went last night!

This is not an overall indictment of Greenwood, but on that particular play, he was late getting to the ball, which is unusual because things usually don't get past our safeties. But then, it was an unusual night overall for the Hawks.

I think they will shake this off, and will be ready for the rest of the season. As mentioned before, it's better to lose early in the season than late.

 

[JonDMiller]

However, you, me and 100 other posters on this board and thousands across the state were thinking this was the year that we broke through to go 12-0.

That's pretty much a you problem We are talking about your own expectations not being met, right?

While I picked them to go 12-0, we are talking about something Iowa has not done since 1920. The odds were very, very long. This was a year where the CHANCE to do it seemed the best...but even then, the CHANCES were slim, since one or two teams do it per year, and that's it.

I understand being disappointed that it didn't happen. I was disappointed last night too, as much as I allow myself to get disappointed over sporting events.

But the fact remains that the Iowa defense played a pretty darn salty game. And they cannot possibly be expected to perform their objective every single time they are out there...they are trying to do that, but few groups actually can do that

 

[Rawkhawk73]

That's pretty much a you problem We are talking about your own expectations not being met, right?

While I picked them to go 12-0, we are talking about something Iowa has not done since 1920. The odds were very, very long. This was a year where the CHANCE to do it seemed the best...but even then, the CHANCES were slim, since one or two teams do it per year, and that's it.

I understand being disappointed that it didn't happen. I was disappointed last night too, as much as I allow myself to get disappointed over sporting events.

But the fact remains that the Iowa defense played a pretty darn salty game. And they cannot possibly be expected to perform their objective every single time they are out there...they are trying to do that, but few groups actually can do that

Nice....I see you picked up a few "Deaceisms" to bring out from time to time.

We'll just both agree to hope that this was an aberation and not a trend that carries forward the rest of the season!!

 

[beanjo12]

Look, I understand we gave up a blocked punt, a KO for touchdown, a pick six and a blocked PAT......no excuses for any of that.

But the fact remains that we fought back from 27-7 to tie it up at 27-27. At that point, we had all the momentum. On TV, it sounded like Kinnick west, with all the Hawks going nuts and their fans in stunned disbelief. At this point, our defense had the chance to make a statement and stomp on their collective throats and give the ball back to our offense to put it away. They didn't.

So while it was our special teams that allowed the game to get out of hand and force our offense out of it's comfort zone......in the end, it was our defense that let us down and allowed Arizona to pull it out. That's probably why this stings so much. We've become so accustomed to having our defense come up big when it really matters that I think we're all still a little stunned that our defense gave up what it did on that last drive.

Wrong...lose games as a team. Every part of that team had a hand in the loss, we will learn from it and move on.

 

[JonDMiller]

We'll just both agree to hope that this was an aberation and not a trend that carries forward the rest of the season!!

There, we find consensus

 

[EddyP]

Wrong...lose games as a team. Every part of that team had a hand in the loss, we will learn from it and move on.

Exactly. You summed it up perfectly.