Rawkhawk73
Banned
This coaching staff has a pretty good track record of looking at issues within the program that need addressing, gathering the appropriate data, and making changes.
Case #1 - Bowl preparation. We had, argueably, the most talented team in the nation in 2002 heading into the 2003 Orange Bowl. We ended up getting blitzkrieged that evening. Kirk had his coaches gather information from different teams and take a good, hard look at their faults and made adjustments to their preparation. The result, a 4-2 bowl record since then with the only losses being to Florida and Texas in games that certainly could have gone either way.
Case #2 - Playing true freshman. This coaching staff has done a nearly a complete 180 and are now playing players more based on true talent and trusting some freshmen to make plays that in the past they would have never done.
There are several more instances of this, but I wanted a couple to show that this staff is, in fact, capable of making adjustments to endemic issues within the program.
Which leads me to another issue that I believe needs to be addressed.
There have been 27 teams that have been to a BCS bowl since 2005. Of those 27 teams, Iowa has the WORST record in games decided by 8 points or less. This was even before Saturday's game.
Some might say, "Well, our style of play lends itself to being in so many close games, so we probably have more close games to deal with." Unfortunately, that's not the case. Teams such as LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia and Oregon......those teams that most would consider having more high-powered offenses have all played at least 20 games decided by 8 points or less (we have played 26). So it's not the fact that we're playing so many close games, it's what we're doing (or not doing) to close them out.
So what say you, Hawkeye Nation? What do you see as some of the potential answers to this issue?
Case #1 - Bowl preparation. We had, argueably, the most talented team in the nation in 2002 heading into the 2003 Orange Bowl. We ended up getting blitzkrieged that evening. Kirk had his coaches gather information from different teams and take a good, hard look at their faults and made adjustments to their preparation. The result, a 4-2 bowl record since then with the only losses being to Florida and Texas in games that certainly could have gone either way.
Case #2 - Playing true freshman. This coaching staff has done a nearly a complete 180 and are now playing players more based on true talent and trusting some freshmen to make plays that in the past they would have never done.
There are several more instances of this, but I wanted a couple to show that this staff is, in fact, capable of making adjustments to endemic issues within the program.
Which leads me to another issue that I believe needs to be addressed.
There have been 27 teams that have been to a BCS bowl since 2005. Of those 27 teams, Iowa has the WORST record in games decided by 8 points or less. This was even before Saturday's game.
Some might say, "Well, our style of play lends itself to being in so many close games, so we probably have more close games to deal with." Unfortunately, that's not the case. Teams such as LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia and Oregon......those teams that most would consider having more high-powered offenses have all played at least 20 games decided by 8 points or less (we have played 26). So it's not the fact that we're playing so many close games, it's what we're doing (or not doing) to close them out.
So what say you, Hawkeye Nation? What do you see as some of the potential answers to this issue?
