Urban Analysis....Iowa at Michigan

cincyhawk said:
The two read blitzer's are not on the side of the actual blitz. The guard and tackle have the same responsibility before and after the switch. Guard has LB, tackle has lineman. If they twist, Tackle has outside guard has inside. They didn't twist, and the guard didn't even block his man.

How do you fix that? Motion one of the backs out presnap. That forces Mich to show their coverage, and you can audible into a draw, which would have gone for 6/7 yards.

On the run spillage - if you, as a RB, can't make one guy miss or get positive yardage against a safety, that's on you. Run him over, juke him, or stiff-arm him. You know you'll be isolated before the play starts -- that's why it's an iso. You have to initiate contact and get away.
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I get what you are saying, but you can't run a draw if the RB is in motion and team has no RB's in the backfield to hand off to.

They should have loosened that D up a bit by throwing to the fullback a few times.

Doesn't Iowa have any trick plays to run on occasion besides in special teams. We can't do a half-back pass or WR pass down the sideline??
 
I dont question for one minute that Kirk isn't as knowledgeable as Urban. I know football has evolved into an RPO bliss in the last decade plus, but football is still football and Kirk knows his stuff. Especially with the offensive line, it isn't like Michigan did anything that was never thought of or invented a new kind of blitz. The were very active and disguised who was blitzing and where it was coming from pretty well, but, at the end of the day, basic gap responsibility by the offensive lineman pick those up. That is like offensive line coaching 101. And Kirk at this stage in his career has seen it all, every kind of blitz imaginable and how to protect it, as well as identifying its weakness and how to counter it. That much I don't doubt.

But saying that, it begs the question of how this happens then? Is Kirk that hands-off with the position coaches?
 
MelroseHawkins said:
DiNardo coached at Indiana so this makes sense and is no surprise. Lol.
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Urban wouldn’t be an urban legend if he coached at Indiana.

DiNardo was asking the softball questions for Meyer to answer. Every college coach knows the gaps are and how to coach LBs to take on FBs.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
I get what you are saying, but you can't run a draw if the RB is in motion and team has no RB's in the backfield to hand off to.

They should have loosened that D up a bit by throwing to the fullback a few times.

Doesn't Iowa have any trick plays to run on occasion besides in special teams. We can't do a half-back pass or WR pass down the sideline??
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i would think that
Half-back passes against a team that blitzes over 1/2 the time is a disaster waiting to happen
 
DDThompson said:
i would think that half-back passes against a team that blitzes over 1/2 the time is a disaster waiting to happen
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Not to mention with as much man coverage as Michigan was playing, it wouldn't have really worked the way we would hope anyway. HB passes are successful when you get bad eye discipline from defensive backs (see DJ Johnson on the double pass in the ISU game)...not so much when said DB's are in press man and disallowing a ton of separation.
 
guffus said:
Yet after learning all that, I still don't know how you fix the blocking on that play. I guess that's up to the Iowa coaches to figure out.
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I think it's safe to say that with the amount of tape out there now on our struggles to block an overload blitz, I would have to think that's going to be part of the prep, especially as we take on teams who are going to jump in and out of 30/40 fronts.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
I get what you are saying, but you can't run a draw if the RB is in motion and team has no RB's in the backfield to hand off to.

They should have loosened that D up a bit by throwing to the fullback a few times.

Doesn't Iowa have any trick plays to run on occasion besides in special teams. We can't do a half-back pass or WR pass down the sideline??
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Iowa had two backs in the backfield on that play. The play you are thinking if is the empty set 2nd and 10 where the DLine could cut-off. To make that set work against a quick defense like Michigan, you need a quick slant first read, and throw it at the ground otherwise, think McNutt vs MSU, or a QB who is a threat to run and a QB draw up the middle, or a quick wr screen to the trips on the right. You have three seconds. One, two, three - run or throw. If you're really good, you can run block with one guard and the center, while everyone else pass blocks, sucking the dl into overpersuing a pocket that just disappears while the QB slides 5 yards downfield without being touched.
 
It's amazing how Kirk and his staff seemed to get out-coached all the time, especially road games. It's because Iowa can be down by 5 touchdowns and they will still just stay with the original game plan, no matter what. Kirk is such a dinosaur of a head football coach.
 
guffus said:
That was great analysis on the 4-blocking-2 play.

Before the play they show the Iowa players pointing to who they should block. Then as the play starts 2 Michigan players suddenly drop back into coverage and the LB blitzes instead coming in untouched to sack Stanley.

Michigan only rushed 4 players on that play. No more than a normal rush. Michigan just did a good job of hiding who was rushing the passer until the last second and there was no RB there to pick up the blitzing LB in the backfield. Meanwhile Iowa had 4 OL blocking 2 Michigan players because 2 other players dropped back in coverage.

Yet after learning all that, I still don't know how you fix the blocking on that play. I guess that's up to the Iowa coaches to figure out.
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This is exactly what Wisconsin is very good at.
 
dirtwrap said:
I dont question for one minute that Kirk isn't as knowledgeable as Urban. I know football has evolved into an RPO bliss in the last decade plus, but football is still football and Kirk knows his stuff. Especially with the offensive line, it isn't like Michigan did anything that was never thought of or invented a new kind of blitz. The were very active and disguised who was blitzing and where it was coming from pretty well, but, at the end of the day, basic gap responsibility by the offensive lineman pick those up. That is like offensive line coaching 101. And Kirk at this stage in his career has seen it all, every kind of blitz imaginable and how to protect it, as well as identifying its weakness and how to counter it. That much I don't doubt.

But saying that, it begs the question of how this happens then? Is Kirk that hands-off with the position coaches?
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There are probably 1000 coaches as knowledgeable as urban. Football isn’t neurosurgery. It’s the million other factors that urban excels at whether its managing a program, recruiting, game management, motivating and leading a team, hiring the best assistants and so on.
 
EstronHawkKing said:
It's amazing how Kirk and his staff seemed to get out-coached all the time, especially road games. It's because Iowa can be down by 5 touchdowns and they will still just stay with the original game plan, no matter what. Kirk is such a dinosaur of a head football coach.
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What? Iowa lost the Michigan game because it WENT AWAY from it's game plan and identity vs Michigan. Instead of being a physical offense that runs the ball and plays downhill, they became a pass happy team that threw it 18 out of 19 plays in the 4th qtr.
 
Few good points brought here (and before)

Iowa’s guards are undersized and honestly when was the last time we had a stud at the position ? Our tackles get drafted to play guard at the next level. Our centers have been pretty good and made the league. Our guards???? Could be part of the running game problem since we tend to get blown up inside a lot (and outside too....)

Playclock. “Get the fucking play off OKeefe!!!” Has been an issue dating back to Drew Tate. But it’s been really bad this year, and i think it’s worse on the road. It’s no secret Kirk wants to squeeze the clock, but it kills any chance of momentum and gives the defense an advantage. One, we cannot audible (to a run, short side of the field haha) or make proper line calls. Two, pretty easy for blitzing when you have a 1-2 second window to time your run. I’ve never seen so many blitzes get to Nate within his 2nd to 3rd step before. That’s timing on the defense, and poor awareness on OL. But they’re screwed due to defense getting a better jump

Yes Iowa has broken some tendencies but i think what Meyer is talking about is more our formation and the plays we run out of them. We go 2 TE set, 90% run. We go 4 wide, no chance of a QB beating you with his legs. Do we really have RPO in this offense ? Iowa runs jet sweeps twice a game. One will be a fake to the sweep, the 2’d will use the motion man

And lastly, Iowa doesn’t really scheme for opponents. They work on fundamentals. It’s why we see the same basic plays every week. We always hear that in OOC we keep things vanilla, yet i couldn’t tell much of a difference between week one plays and what we run on Black Friday. It is partially what adds to the myth that Iowa plays better as the year goes on. While our record doesn’t really prove it, i do think there’s SOME truth to it. Of course you’ll execute the same plays better the more experience you have running them live.

But what wrinkles does Iowa show week to week? We don’t do trick plays consistently. I do think a flea flicker is in the cards this week since we’re at home. There’s just nothing done on Iowa’s part to get our playmakers involved.

For example against UM, Goodson was a weapon coming out of the backfield. Maybe keep going to that well until it’s dry ? Dude was responsible for getting us into their territory the few times he was in there

Anyway, same shit different week
 
We should just get Art Briles on the staff too. Him and Urbs. We would be #1 for sure. experts on cover ups as well.
 
dirtwrap said:
I dont question for one minute that Kirk isn't as knowledgeable as Urban. I know football has evolved into an RPO bliss in the last decade plus, but football is still football and Kirk knows his stuff. Especially with the offensive line, it isn't like Michigan did anything that was never thought of or invented a new kind of blitz. The were very active and disguised who was blitzing and where it was coming from pretty well, but, at the end of the day, basic gap responsibility by the offensive lineman pick those up. That is like offensive line coaching 101. And Kirk at this stage in his career has seen it all, every kind of blitz imaginable and how to protect it, as well as identifying its weakness and how to counter it. That much I don't doubt.

But saying that, it begs the question of how this happens then? Is Kirk that hands-off with the position coaches?
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He does know his shit and he lets the position coaches do their thing. I have a feeling he will be in the Oline meetings more from now on.
 
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