What do you take from this quote?

Ditka

Well-Known Member
"What are we going to do to come up with some solutions. The good news is we still have a lot of players on our football team that are healthy and will be playing this Saturday and we have to play to our strengths right now and get everybody else to catch up." Kirk Ferentz


I think our strength is our passing game right now. What are the odds of the staff opening up the offense a little more? Maybe a 4 reciever set?
 
They did that multiple times saturday night. 5 wide too. Better execution in pass protection is key.
 
I think it'd be a good idea to not run 5 & 7 step drops when the other team is throwing the kitchen sink at you. That's called not playing to your weaknesses. Ever heard of shotgun, KOK?
 
I can see Iowa still running the ball with Coker and Robinson. I think they can get a lot of toss sweeps and some screen plays set up. I have faith in this coaching staff that they will rally the troops and get them back to playing ball this week. We are fine, we just need the defense to step up even more in future weeks!
 
First thing they're going to do is take a hammer and break the "Do Not Break Except in Case of Emergency" glass that is protecting the 2004 playbook.
 
I figure they'll play Johnson and Coker in rotation second half Saturday. Let them decide on the field who the backup should be.
 
They won't go completely 2004 on this team but I think Iowa will be forced to open up the playbook and pass more.....short passes that are designed as runs.

Ferentz today they want to keep the redshirt on Johnson. Coker will play.
 
And burn both redshirts? Don't think so.

You're right, best to worry about who our 5th-year RB will be in 2014 than play the best guys to win now. That makes a ton of sense. When was the last time we had a guy stay healthy for 4 seasons and graduate as a 5th-year RB? We have Gordon and hopefully Darrian Miller coming next year, plus ATH Torrey Campbell is faster than all get-out and played RB in high school. We can't worry about "what if" situations when injuries are involved. We didn't fret about burning BW's redshirt last season.
 
And burn both redshirts? Don't think so.

Hello?? Look for both of them to play, from Kirk's presser transcript:

We’ve got Adam, obviously, and then right now with Jewel out, plus Jason White is going to be out another week or two would be my guess so that moves Marcus Coker and De’Andre Johnson up.


 
You're right, best to worry about who our 5th-year RB will be in 2014 than play the best guys to win now. That makes a ton of sense. When was the last time we had a guy stay healthy for 4 seasons and graduate as a 5th-year RB? We have Gordon and hopefully Darrian Miller coming next year, plus ATH Torrey Campbell is faster than all get-out and played RB in high school. We can't worry about "what if" situations when injuries are involved. We didn't fret about burning BW's redshirt last season.

Considering how Ferentz typically operates, the odds of BOTH guys burning redshirts just doesn't seem very likely. The coaches apparently feel that Coker is a better fit for our need, and Johnson is coming off of an ACL tear. But if I were coaching, I'm not burning both redshirts just to run a trial to see which will be the #2 for the rest of the season. Because then the guy who loses sits around and hopes for an injury while using up a year of eligibility. If they plan to use all three regularly, then I'm fine with that. But I don't want to waste a year of Johnson or Coker's eligibility for one half against Ball State.
 
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