Very cautiously Optimisyic

L

longtimer

Well-Known Member
Kind of a hard game to evaluate. We were very bad against a FCS team at home in the first half. I'm talking offense of course as the defense was great. Second half as good as we were bad in the first. ????
We blocked better. Cade was way better at throwing the ball and isn't it good to see someone who can at least move around a little. Wide receivers were involved and our running attack really got a lift with Johnson in the game. And of course the defense was great

The big if is it was Illinois State and they ran completely out of gas

The big positives


Cade He just looked good throwing the ball and moving in the pocket
Wide receivers especially Vanderzee. he reminds me of the kid Clones had a few years ago from Des Moines
Johnson running the ball will be surprised if he doesn't start next week
Wetgen (sp) running back punts
OK the Defense is pretty good

Questions

Offensive line still not convinced
Why does it seem like we never have receivers wide open?
Cade can he do it against a good defense?

Next week will tell a lot
 
Not me. I'm all in. I love what I saw in the 2nd half and it looked like we finally turned the f'n page. That being said, the first half shit-show is going to show up again at some point in the season, probably multiple times. But I truly think what we saw in the 2nd half will, for the most part, stick.
 
longtimer said:
Kind of a hard game to evaluate. We were very bad against a FCS team at home in the first half. I'm talking offense of course as the defense was great. Second half as good as we were bad in the first. ????
We blocked better. Cade was way better at throwing the ball and isn't it good to see someone who can at least move around a little. Wide receivers were involved and our running attack really got a lift with Johnson in the game. And of course the defense was great

The big if is it was Illinois State and they ran completely out of gas

The big positives


Cade He just looked good throwing the ball and moving in the pocket
Wide receivers especially Vanderzee. he reminds me of the kid Clones had a few years ago from Des Moines
Johnson running the ball will be surprised if he doesn't start next week
Wetgen (sp) running back punts
OK the Defense is pretty good

Questions

Offensive line still not convinced
Why does it seem like we never have receivers wide open?
Cade can he do it against a good defense?

Next week will tell a lot
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I'm glad we're successful Saturday, but let's look at the reality of it.. 1. Our play calling and execution stunk, in the 1st two quarters, we're going to get waxed by isu if we start out that way.. 2. Remember if KF was there he would have squashed Lester's offense by being happy with 19-0 win.. Playing not to loose, again.. Hope I wrong.. seen it to many years..
 
Hawkeye/swish said:
I'm glad we're successful Saturday, but let's look at the reality of it.. 1. Our play calling and execution stunk, in the 1st two quarters, we're going to get waxed by isu if we start out that way.. 2. Remember if KF was there he would have squashed Lester's offense by being happy with 19-0 win.. Playing not to loose, again.. Hope I wrong.. seen it to many years..
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If we start out that way, we probably still roll into half up 6-0, just like we did yesterday. Except the clown run defense looks to be all time bad, so we might honestly have 250 yards rushing. As bad as we looked in the first half, the clowns looked that bad all game. The only opener I can compare it to was 2020 when they got slapped by The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. They won, but clean up the officiating and have BF calling plays and ND wins a close one. Seriously, all they had to do was keep running it down their throats. The clowns couldn't stop their run game. BF is down 14-3 and just keeps running to victory. The tortoise could've won that race. ND also missed two field goals and failed a fourth down conversion.
 
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What I saw:

The OLine was getting whipped SSDD and cade was throwing off balance leaning backward. A total shit show.

What I read / heard: Informed people were saying ILST was loading the box and coming downhill - no respect for the passing game. Gamefilm (twitter) said after rewatching, the difference in 2nd half was mainly that Cade was playing better. Unlike past years, Cade and the WRs made plays. Once the passing game proved credible, the running game got going. I was reminded of 2004.

Lester could see what was happening. He kept running the offense (mature play callers do that), Watch what their doing, how the players are responding. Are they just winning because of numbers? Are the guys who are blocking a guy doing at least that well or are they getting beat and getting beat with numbers?

I sure hope the OLine will be able to hold up in against ISU / B1G competition. If they suck it just won't be fun.
 
NCHawker said:
What I saw:

The OLine was getting whipped SSDD and cade was throwing off balance leaning backward. A total shit show.

What I read / heard: Informed people were saying ILST was loading the box and coming downhill - no respect for the passing game. Gamefilm (twitter) said after rewatching, the difference in 2nd half was mainly that Cade was playing better. Unlike past years, Cade and the WRs made plays. Once the passing game proved credible, the running game got going. I was reminded of 2004.

Lester could see what was happening. He kept running the offense (mature play callers do that), Watch what their doing, how the players are responding. Are they just winning because of numbers? Are the guys who are blocking a guy doing at least that well or are they getting beat and getting beat with numbers?

I sure hope the OLine will be able to hold up in against ISU / B1G competition. If they suck it just won't be fun.
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I too thought McNamara was backpedaling and throwing off his back foot. He threw some soft floaters up for grabs and got lucky on a couple. Don’t think that works against a decent P5 team.
We will see this week.
 
First game jitters

Overcome in fine fashion

We looked better in the second half than we have
since perhaps the Stanley years

There is a lot of prospect and potential this season

Perhaps not a national championship

But a fun team to watch and cheer on to victory

A healthy Cade in an essential ingredient
 
That first half triggered too much PTSD, I am going to skip the optimism for now. I have to see it for multiple games against decent teams before I believe this is anything different from what we have seen the last 3 years. But there is a glimmer of hope, and that is enough for now.
 
Things I did like...

It looked like we came out running RPO effectively in the 2nd, getting Lachey, Vander Zee, and Gill behind crashing defenders with quick slants.

KJ is a beast, and I think he will only get better with more carries. And the guys who will spell him are no slouches.

All 3 TEs made an impact in the passing game.

Our top 2 WR (expected) coming into the season were not available (KB suspension, Anderson injury). While I don't think we have any top-flight WR, it seems like we could have solid depth.

Things I was disappointed in...

I thought the OL would dominate an FCS school from the start, and they did not. Hoping that was just a numbers thing, and a little more respect for the passing game will open up the box.

Surprised there was very little jet-sweep action. They faked reverse a few times, and I think ran it once. We heard a lot about movement confusing our own D in practice...I am hoping this was being saved for ISU.

Not much success in incorporating the RBs in the passing game.

Still not impressed with McNamara. His stats were excellent in the 2nd half, but to the eye test, he still looked like a pretty mediocre player who was playing against bad competition.
 
My comp for a healthy CM has always been a Penn St. Trace McSorley. The 2nd half of this game is the first time I saw it in a Iowa uniform. If he is healthy, confident and the mechanics are on point, this is a playoff team.
 
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CP87 said:
Things I did like...

It looked like we came out running RPO effectively in the 2nd, getting Lachey, Vander Zee, and Gill behind crashing defenders with quick slants.

KJ is a beast, and I think he will only get better with more carries. And the guys who will spell him are no slouches.

All 3 TEs made an impact in the passing game.

Our top 2 WR (expected) coming into the season were not available (KB suspension, Anderson injury). While I don't think we have any top-flight WR, it seems like we could have solid depth.

Things I was disappointed in...

I thought the OL would dominate an FCS school from the start, and they did not. Hoping that was just a numbers thing, and a little more respect for the passing game will open up the box.

Surprised there was very little jet-sweep action. They faked reverse a few times, and I think ran it once. We heard a lot about movement confusing our own D in practice...I am hoping this was being saved for ISU.

Not much success in incorporating the RBs in the passing game.

Still not impressed with McNamara. His stats were excellent in the 2nd half, but to the eye test, he still looked like a pretty mediocre player who was playing against bad competition.
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If that is your only nitpicks…they probably win 10 games.
 
I expected a lot more pre snap motion than what I saw. That’s supposed to be the biggest scheme difference
 
NCHawker said:
I expected a lot more pre snap motion than what I saw. That’s supposed to be the biggest scheme difference
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There was a lot in terms of raw number of plays with motion, but they were all always either a single receiver or TE motioning from one side of the field to the other pre-snap, and then immediately turning up field on snap. I wonder if that's a wrinkle that will become more complex overtime. I definitely got the feeling that we saw the most basic parts of the playbook. Get a lot of reps to increase the overall comfort with the bread and butter plays, and I imagine we see a bit more each week. Even just throughout the game, we saw more variety. First two drives could've been BF calling the plays.
 
JoeyLabasForPresident said:
There was a lot in terms of raw number of plays with motion, but they were all always either a single receiver or TE motioning from one side of the field to the other pre-snap, and then immediately turning up field on snap. I wonder if that's a wrinkle that will become more complex overtime. I definitely got the feeling that we saw the most basic parts of the playbook. Get a lot of reps to increase the overall comfort with the bread and butter plays, and I imagine we see a bit more each week. Even just throughout the game, we saw more variety. First two drives could've been BF calling the plays.
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First half pretty vanilla. Second half vanilla with some strawberries. We haven’t seen the rocky road version yet. Let’s hope it’s rocky road for the opponent’s defense.

Anyway you look at this game it’s beats the last three years of train wrecks and smoking pile of rubble.
 
Illinois State was ranked 19th in FCS and N Dakota was ranked as high as 22 in FCS. I'm not sure if you can assume anything, but ISU struggled on defense and had fewer offensive plays than N Dakota.
 
Well, you have to like the trendline. That second half was the best half of offense since before any of us knew what COVID was. And, the defense was just stifling all game long.

CM looked very shaky in the first half, much more comfortable in the second half, but even in the second half he looked a little rusty. Another week of practice and confidence in his arm and legs will help. From what I can tell from week 1, he won't have to do a ton to foster a victory next week. 20 points should win this one.

While CM never looked amazing, the bottom line is that he made plays. That is what has been missing from the position for three years.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Well, you have to like the trendline. That second half was the best half of offense since before any of us knew what COVID was. And, the defense was just stifling all game long.

CM looked very shaky in the first half, much more comfortable in the second half, but even in the second half he looked a little rusty. Another week of practice and confidence in his arm and legs will help. From what I can tell from week 1, he won't have to do a ton to foster a victory next week. 20 points should win this one.

While CM never looked amazing, the bottom line is that he made plays. That is what has been missing from the position for three years.
Click to expand...

I will submit this as a better, post-COVID half of offensive football (pick a half):
www.youtube.com

#5 Iowa vs Maryland Highlights | College Football Week 5 | 2021 College Football Highlights

Iowa vs Maryland Highlights (Maryland vs Iowa) | 2021 College Football Highlights. Iowa and Maryland played in Week 5 of the 2021 College Football Season.Cov...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
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