What is keeping us from being great?

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PeoriaHWKI

Well-Known Member
I have been thinking about why Iowa loses to NW and what is it about Iowa that just seems to keep us from getting over the hump. I think we are close but some things need to change and I do not know if KF is the type to admit or make these changes and or if our AD has the balls to request them being made. What are your opinions?

1. Killer instinct of putting teams away hard. Hear me out on this. Teams that can run up the score seem to score fast. This type of play where Iowa currently gets a comfortable lead and then grinds out the win I think hurts them when they need ot score fast, or it keeps teams around that shouldn't. Now Saturday was just weird and awful How many dropped passes did Stanzi have that were not his fault? I guess we did go deep on the INT that swung the momentum back to NW. I would just like to see us make some better play calling where we act like we are the best team on the field.

2. QB coach... I think if we are going to compete nationally we need to act like it and have the support staff to develop the QB's into NFL prospects. I think Stanzi has done a great job but it sounds as if he has put the time in himself. It seems that other QBs in the league develop faster and out of nowhere when compared to ours.

3. Special Teams coach... shared duties on a part of the game that could be the differecne of a 9-1 season right now. More time and attention needs ot be put in place I think.

So my theories are all opinion but it seems we are just not there yet and it seems we are so close. I am just guessing at what I jhave observed this year. This is a dispointing season based on expectations, but it could be worse. Go Hawks!
 
What keep us from being great is offensive play calling that lacks cohesion at best and is totally disjointed at worst. And a defensive scheme that doesn't do anything to stop opposing teams and instead acts like a tennis player who just collies back and forth until the other player hits one into the net.

I understand that KF wants it this way since he authorizes the plays and the gameplan but my question would simply be why?

NFL mentality, always big picture, always about only worrying about the season after the season is over etc...

KF is truly the best football COACH in america with what he does with unheralded players, but his game management skills are mediocre.
 
I think it's a mentality offensively. The offense doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency. It looks like the offense has taken a mindset of don't turn it over, let the defense bail us out. Actually it should be the opposite. The offense needs to take on the pressure of getting as many points as possible, the next play is the most important of the game etc. The defense should not be put into a position they have been put in lately. They are being pushed too hard, they are tired toward the end of games because Iowa's offense sputters and stops with way too many 3 and outs.
This "mentality" is a reflection on philosophy of the coaching staff. I'm not putting any blame on any of the players. God knows they want to win more than anyone.
I'm dissapointed with the look of complacency with the offense. I'm just frustrated at the inability to score these past 2 games. We had been averaging over 30pts before Indiana.
Maybe it's the weather, but the weather affects both teams.
I don't know what the answer is. That's what Kirk and his staff have the task of figuring out.
 
We are missing a killer instinct. Should have driven the nail in the coffin against Wisconsin and NW but didn't do it. Emotion, from KF down do the guy that holds the snaps. Where is it? Imagination on both sides of the ball. Willingness to adapt the scheme as the game progresses. Seriously guys, Iowa is a few mental blunders and a few game management errors away from being undefeated. But we are 7-3 wondering WTF went wrong!
 
ForeverHawk said:
We are missing a killer instinct. Should have driven the nail in the coffin against Wisconsin and NW but didn't do it. Emotion, from KF down do the guy that holds the snaps. Where is it? Imagination on both sides of the ball. Willingness to adapt the scheme as the game progresses. Seriously guys, Iowa is a few mental blunders and a few game management errors away from being undefeated. But we are 7-3 wondering WTF went wrong!
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Absolutely right!
 
Offensive Philosophy. Luck.

Let's face it. If Jewel Hampton doesn't get hurt and our LB's don't get bit by the injury bug I think it's safe to say we only have 2 losses right now. Maybe only 1 loss. Also, a team like Iowa is going to have some bad games during the year. Almost every team has a bad showing. You just have to hope those bad showings come against a team where you can afford to play bad.

When we go 12-1 or 11-2.... there's luck involved. Any team that goes 12-1 got lucky during the season. Too much parity in college football to go 12-1 and not receive some gifts during the year.
 
Unwilling to adapt, unwilling to go for the kill has killed this team. And confusing decision making.

We get the INT against WI, and Kinnick is loudest it's ever been, and we come out in the I and run to the short side of the field for two straight plays. Settle for FG when a TD or even converting a 1st down may have been enough to demoralize WI.

And then we get a INT against NW, and we call a play that has DJK running a deep post into the wind? And we have our senior QB actually throw it?????

All of us probably would have been fine with some running plays there, especially since AROB blew up in the 2nd half.

So it's eating the clock when we shouldn't, and vice versa.

Also 2 min drills have been horrible. Way more bad than good.

What i'm sick of is allowing every team we play to be right with us. I just refuse to believe that Iowa doesn't have more talent than NW or IN, or some of the other schools we allow to hang close.

Iowa's proven they can blow out a good school, MSU, and a bad school, ISU. Yet these are rare occurences.

It's time to shed the "aw shucks, we're Iowa, we're not sexy" and start playing with confidence.

I'm not saying we come out and throw 50 straight passes, or try 5 trick plays. But play smarter. Not safe, smart!
 
Stale predictability.

I know it sucks because we all love and respect KF, but the buck stops at the top. KF has the tools to run a truly elite program if he's willing to make some hard choices.

With a few exceptions the offense has underperformed for years and the defensive scheme is eminently exploitable by smart offensive coordinators who are willing to ditch balance and air it out. Now our defensive system can work if we have a shutdown corner, exceptional safeties, hyper-athletic linebackers and a line that can create some kind of a push with 4 linemen. If you're missing even one of those ingredients? Well, you're living with the results of that.

I guess i just don't believe that "if you're patient and execute you can beat us" is the best defensive philosophy in the world. I'll gladly take more risk and aggression and live with the outcome.

As for O'Keefe...well, he lost me against Michigan in 2001 when he pulled Banks for McCann. So I'm not surprised at all with futility on that side of the ball. I just expect it.
 
Don't know what the answer is...

Hawkize1 said:
I think it's a mentality offensively. The offense doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency. It looks like the offense has taken a mindset of don't turn it over, let the defense bail us out. Actually it should be the opposite. The offense needs to take on the pressure of getting as many points as possible, the next play is the most important of the game etc. The defense should not be put into a position they have been put in lately. They are being pushed too hard, they are tired toward the end of games because Iowa's offense sputters and stops with way too many 3 and outs.
This "mentality" is a reflection on philosophy of the coaching staff. I'm not putting any blame on any of the players. God knows they want to win more than anyone.
I'm dissapointed with the look of complacency with the offense. I'm just frustrated at the inability to score these past 2 games. We had been averaging over 30pts before Indiana.
Maybe it's the weather, but the weather affects both teams.
I don't know what the answer is. That's what Kirk and his staff have the task of figuring out.
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But it seemed like we were plenty aggressive in the second half. Iowa scores two TD's to go up 17-7, then Hunter gets an INT to stop a NU drive. Reisner makes a beautiful catch for 18 yards to put Iowa at the NU 42. Then ARob gets 4 yards on first down. Second and 6 at the 38, we are in perfect position to take control of the game. Then a 5-yard penalty against Iowa and we are 2nd and 11. At that point Stanzi makes the ill-fated decision to throw to DJK who is covered by two guys when McNutt is running underneath wide open. The rest goes downhill. Is that "lack of killer instinct" or is that just plain not being good enough? I have no idea, maybe a bit of both.

Numerous other examples from Saturday. Coker falling either over his own feet or on Stanzi's foot when he has nothing but green grass in front of him on a draw play. Stanzi overshooting a wide open McNutt on a deep ball in the first half. Hunter inexplicably chasing a receiver out of his area of the zone and Persa then runs right through the vacated area for a key third-down conversion. Sometimes part of winning is just making fewer mistakes than the other guy, and Iowa made so many mistakes. Didn't even give ourselves a chance in the first half with the costly penalties on the first two drives. Northwestern made a few too, but Hawks need to play with some confidence and make the plays that are there to be made.
 
Re: Don't know what the answer is...

DodgerHawki said:
But it seemed like we were plenty aggressive in the second half. Iowa scores two TD's to go up 17-7, then Hunter gets an INT to stop a NU drive. Reisner makes a beautiful catch for 18 yards to put Iowa at the NU 42. Then ARob gets 4 yards on first down. Second and 6 at the 38, we are in perfect position to take control of the game. Then a 5-yard penalty against Iowa and we are 2nd and 11. At that point Stanzi makes the ill-fated decision to throw to DJK who is covered by two guys when McNutt is running underneath wide open. The rest goes downhill. Is that "lack of killer instinct" or is that just plain not being good enough? I have no idea, maybe a bit of both.

Numerous other examples from Saturday. Coker falling either over his own feet or on Stanzi's foot when he has nothing but green grass in front of him on a draw play. Stanzi overshooting a wide open McNutt on a deep ball in the first half. Hunter inexplicably chasing a receiver out of his area of the zone and Persa then runs right through the vacated area for a key third-down conversion. Sometimes part of winning is just making fewer mistakes than the other guy, and Iowa made so many mistakes. Didn't even give ourselves a chance in the first half with the costly penalties on the first two drives. Northwestern made a few too, but Hawks need to play with some confidence and make the plays that are there to be made.
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Some great points here!

If we go back and look at the losses or close wins by this team, it is easy to pinpoint key mental mistakes and execution mistakes. Now, no team is infallable, but the first two drive by the Hawks on Saturday were stalled (when first downs were made) by needless penalties. False starts inside the 10, missed blocking on punt/FG/PAT, play calls at crucial times that have very little chance of succeeding (repeatedly running naked reverse bootleg to short side of field), poor time management, etc

If KF chooses to employ fairly conservative schemes, than it is imperative that big mistakes are not made, as the margin of error is slight. You can't have it both ways. Simplicity demands impeccable execution and discipline.
 
Re: Don't know what the answer is...

-Time Management

-Dumbfounded play calling (pass when we need to run, run when we need to pass, call a timeout when we need to spike the ball, spike the ball when we need to call a timeout, kick a fg when we should be trying to score a touchdown, when we run a trick play it is at the completely wrong time)

-No guts, no glory. Taking a knee to go to OT on the road against big time opponents.

- Almost always using a base ultra conservative defense and offense regardless of the talent we have. Little to no adjustments according to who we are playing.

-Injuries and losing key players to the NFL (but that happens to almost every team, at least the injury part)

-Player regression at QB (even though Stanzi's picks are down this year, I think he was a more savvy QB last year. For the most part, not always, QBs seem to get worse in the program with each year they play).

-Not getting up for teams with lesser talent

-Not getting up for key big games when the spotlight is on us (when we are trying to make a move to the next level). We seem to always play better in our bigger games when we are expected to lose.

-Poor Special Teams play
 
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Re: Don't know what the answer is...

HaydenHawk56 said:
-Time Management

-Dumbfounded play calling (pass when we need to run, run when we need to pass, call a timeout when we need to spike the ball, spike the ball when we need to call a timeout, kick a fg when we should be trying to score a touchdown, when we run a trick play it is at the completely wrong time)

-No guts, no glory. Taking a knee to go to OT on the road against big time opponents.

- Almost always using a base ultra conservative defense and offense regardless of the talent we have. Little to no adjustments according to who we are playing.

-Injuries and losing key players to the NFL (but that happens to almost every team, at least the injury part)

-Player regression at QB (even though Stanzi's picks are down this year, I think he was a more savvy QB last year. For the most part, not always, QBs seem to get worse in the program with each year they play).

-Not getting up for teams with lesser talent

-Not getting up for key big games when the spotlight is on us (when we are trying to make a move to the next level). We seem to always play better in our bigger games when we are expected to lose.

-Poor Special Teams play
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Book this Dano. Couldn't have said it any better.
 
Being the "little engine that could" and having that underdog attitude and thriving with it instead of being the big engine that runs over people without slowing down and or caring what lays in their wake.

When the coaches realize that this team isn't 2005, 2006, or 2007 and figures out that they have a lot of talent, Iowa could make that step to being great.
 
DBAHawkFan said:
Unwilling to adapt, unwilling to go for the kill has killed this team. And confusing decision making.

We get the INT against WI, and Kinnick is loudest it's ever been, and we come out in the I and run to the short side of the field for two straight plays. Settle for FG when a TD or even converting a 1st down may have been enough to demoralize WI.

And then we get a INT against NW, and we call a play that has DJK running a deep post into the wind? And we have our senior QB actually throw it?????

All of us probably would have been fine with some running plays there, especially since AROB blew up in the 2nd half.

So it's eating the clock when we shouldn't, and vice versa.

Also 2 min drills have been horrible. Way more bad than good.

What i'm sick of is allowing every team we play to be right with us. I just refuse to believe that Iowa doesn't have more talent than NW or IN, or some of the other schools we allow to hang close.

Iowa's proven they can blow out a good school, MSU, and a bad school, ISU. Yet these are rare occurences.

It's time to shed the "aw shucks, we're Iowa, we're not sexy" and start playing with confidence.

I'm not saying we come out and throw 50 straight passes, or try 5 trick plays. But play smarter. Not safe, smart!
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Read your post and you are spot on!! I am sick too death of the "aw
shucks, we're Iowa, we're not sex" lets play with confidence. We have 31 players in NFL we have lots of talent we pay KF the most in the conference for 7 win avg season not acceptable. KF and staff need to meet with Iowa wrestling staff and learn how to coach as a favorite and generate some confidence every week.
 
To answer the original subject line ....

1. More consistent special teams play (on players)

2. Better retention of depth (hard to control ... partially on coaches)

3. Having guys more consistently make plays when they're given the opportunity (on players)

4. Better and more consistent motivation of the players (on team leaders on the field AND on the coaches)

Iowa fans like to ignore reality ... but the margin for error really is MINISCULE. It's the small things that can make the difference.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
To answer the original subject line ....

1. More consistent special teams play (on players)

2. Better retention of depth (hard to control ... partially on coaches)

3. Having guys more consistently make plays when they're given the opportunity (on players)

4. Better and more consistent motivation of the players (on team leaders on the field AND on the coaches)

Iowa fans like to ignore reality ... but the margin for error really is MINISCULE. It's the small things that can make the difference.
Click to expand...


You mean like the reality that the Iowa Offense has consistantly been unable to put production on the field for a number of years now regardless of the level of talent on the Offense and how that is, ultimately, on the coaches in general and the OC in particular? Like that?
 
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In my opinion, the answer to the title of this thread is two words: Our offense.

I'm as disappointed as anyone with this year's team's seeming inability to come up with a stop late in the 4th in a close game, but historically, our defense has not been a problem under KF. We've had good records BECAUSE of our defense.

What has been a problem, outside of 2002, is our offense.

How often can we put together that big drive in the 4th to take the lead when we are down by 3 or 4 points. How often can we put the other team away when we have the chance?

What would our records look like if some of those close games we've lost, we were able to score an extra 7-10 points?

If our offense was even at least decent to good, I'm betting money that most every year would look much like 2002. But our offense is usually more of a liability and the pressure all goes to the defense to win the game for us.

This year, we are just outside the Top 40 in total offense (one of our better offenses), but don't tell me our offense didn't hurt us the last two weeks:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/team/_/stat/total/sort/netYardsPerGame
 
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From my link above on ESPN.com's college football stats.

Below are our national rankings in both Yards per game, and points per game. It didn't go back any further than 2004.

We have never really had a Top-25 offense since 2002. I'm sure our offense wasn't highly rated in 2003 either, but I haven't found the actual stats to back that up.

Year Yards Points
2010 46 42
2009 89 87
2008 53 33
2007 106 111
2006 29 58
2005 23 36
2004 93 68
 
1977Hawkeye said:
From my link above on ESPN.com's college football stats.

Below are our national rankings in both Yards per game, and points per game. It didn't go back any further than 2004.

We have never really had a Top-25 offense since 2002. I'm sure our offense wasn't highly rated in 2003 either, but I haven't found the actual stats to back that up.

Year Yards Points
2010 46 42
2009 89 87
2008 53 33
2007 106 111
2006 29 58
2005 23 36
2004 93 68
Click to expand...

Don't you think if we had a QB coach that would help? Are we the norm our the exception when youy look at the top tier programs and our staffing?
 
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