What wasnt so good Saturday

L

longtimer

Well-Known Member
Prior to the game I would have thought QB might be the winner. QB wasnt that great but I thought the biggest dissapointment was the offensive line hands down. Sure Daniels didnt play but all fall people have been talking about the great depth. Wadley got his 100+ yards but most were on his own. I sure didnt see our offensive line blowing people down the field. And the pass protection wasnt good either. This wasnt the Green Bay packers we were playing. I think they gave up about 35 per game last year. I think we better see a huge improvement this week because if we dont run the ball well it will be tough to win.

One other quick thing. Iowa and Ferentz took some criticism from Cunningham for leaving Bethard in the Florida game after it was long decided and he was clearly hurting. Unfortunately justified. So what was Wadley doing running the ball with 2 minutes to go??? I have always appreciated Ferentz and the way he treated his players and not playing them when hurt, but these were 2 occasions I have no idea what he was thinking?
 
The OL did have some misses; particularly, in pass pro. But it is tough to continually run against 8+ man fronts. I get blasted on this board for my full support of a more wide open offense that passes the ball more often. That takes a man out of the box. The OL wasn't horrible, but they did struggle at times. I'd give them a B- grade. AJax looked surprised, at times, with game speed pass rush. He missed on a couple. Boettgher, I think is just an avg player. He's been getting beat in pass pro for 3 seasons, now. He was whipped several times, as well. But, he shouldn't be surprised by game speed. He's a seasoned vet.

I would note that all 3 td's on Saturday were passes. I liked the pass plays that were called; but I don't like that only 15 were called. Almost half (3 out of 8) of our pass completions were for tds.

Re: AW, I just don't know what the iowa conglomerate are thinking, sometimes. Why NOT give JB the last series, up by 21? Why NOT give TW the last series or two?
 
Yeah with or without Daniels the OL left a lot to be desired out there. It didn't feel like a 100 plus yard game for Wadley watching it. I dunno maybe he'd spoiled us some last yr and I just was expecting more. I look for both he and Butler to be used in the passing game more. I was surprised they weren't used this game...
I agree with both of your points about the last series.... Game was over I thought maybe even Young should have been in there that series.... It wasn't like Wadley was chasing a record or stats... If anything I'd have rather he not have those 3 or 4 more touches.... I mean if your going to treat the guy with kids gloves in spring and all of summer practice and then in the 1st game once the game is long decided not take him out it just makes me scratch my head. If Wadley had gotten hurt.....
 
longtimer said:
So what was Wadley doing running the ball with 2 minutes to go??? I have always appreciated Ferentz and the way he treated his players and not playing them when hurt, but these were 2 occasions I have no idea what he was thinking?
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Mr. Cunningham, please just enjoy retirement. You don't need to be here wasting your time making comments about Coach Ferentz. Who you are obviously extremely jealous of.
 
Caddy said:
It was stupid for Wadley to be in the game at that point. I'm not sure how anyone could argue that point. Butler, and Young should have been getting carries at that point.
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Wadley is the #1 back. When you run out the clock you give it to your main guy. Not the backup who for all we know could have had issues holding onto the ball in practice.
 
If I understand correctly, Render found out he was starting at center early Friday afternoon. He hasn't game time at center since high school. Alaric Jackson is a red shirt freshman playing his first down of college ball at left tackle. The Boone Meyers at guard thing didn't work out so well last year, and that was without a gimpy foot. So it wasn't a particularly good start.

Past performance would say that this line will do well at run blocking and pass blocking will be a work in progress. Hopefully they will get to take their next step with James Daniels at center. The line calls will be more consistent. Won't have to be nervous about the center - quarterback exchange. More people doing their regular blocking assignments. Getting Stanley settled in will be the number one priority. I expect their to be an effort to keep what is happening in the offensive backfield like what they have been practicing all fall.
 
Offense looked lethargic at first. I wonder if Stanley is holding back a bit for that he may feel like he is walking on egg shells. If he makes a mistake or two, maybe he's afraid he will get benched by Ken and Brian. We really need Daniels back on the o-line, he is really good.
 
Probably shouldn't overlook that Wyoming was daring Stanley to beat them, i.e., keying on Iowa's running game. As Stanley improves, so will the running game.
 
longtimer said:
Prior to the game I would have thought QB might be the winner. QB wasnt that great but I thought the biggest dissapointment was the offensive line hands down. Sure Daniels didnt play but all fall people have been talking about the great depth. Wadley got his 100+ yards but most were on his own. I sure didnt see our offensive line blowing people down the field. And the pass protection wasnt good either. This wasnt the Green Bay packers we were playing. I think they gave up about 35 per game last year. I think we better see a huge improvement this week because if we dont run the ball well it will be tough to win.

One other quick thing. Iowa and Ferentz took some criticism from Cunningham for leaving Bethard in the Florida game after it was long decided and he was clearly hurting. Unfortunately justified. So what was Wadley doing running the ball with 2 minutes to go??? I have always appreciated Ferentz and the way he treated his players and not playing them when hurt, but these were 2 occasions I have no idea what he was thinking?
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1. We started a Redshirt Frosh at LT. We played a kid at center who took his first practice snaps there in August. We had the back up LG in most of the game. Were they dominate, no. Were there times they look bad, yup. Were there times Nate had all day to pass, yes. Did they do enough to get Wadley his yards and Butler some good runs, yes. Sounds lile decent enough depth when they had to replace 60% of the starting line. Room for improvement YES. Reason to worry - not yet.

2. Wadley was in no way injured or hobbled. No reason to worry about having him in at the end of the game. Totally dofferent situation.
 
AreWeThereYet said:
If I understand correctly, Render found out he was starting at center early Friday afternoon. He hasn't game time at center since high school. Alaric Jackson is a red shirt freshman playing his first down of college ball at left tackle. The Boone Meyers at guard thing didn't work out so well last year, and that was without a gimpy foot. So it wasn't a particularly good start.

Past performance would say that this line will do well at run blocking and pass blocking will be a work in progress. Hopefully they will get to take their next step with James Daniels at center. The line calls will be more consistent. Won't have to be nervous about the center - quarterback exchange. More people doing their regular blocking assignments. Getting Stanley settled in will be the number one priority. I expect their to be an effort to keep what is happening in the offensive backfield like what they have been practicing all fall.
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so we had no backup center? Nice.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
so we had no backup center? Nice.
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A redshirt freshman I believe. I think that is why he started getting snaps in August. If the rest of the line was in place, he might have got the nod. Can't really blame the coaches for wanting some experience out there.
 
What wasn't so good? Guess this will come off as negative

It's the Deja Vu of every year us complaining about the offense. Literally could go back to 2012 and it's the same complaints every year.

QB looks confused
WR are lacking skill / experience
OL struggles to open holes (for slower RB), but mostly Pass Protection
Predictable Play Calling

I watched a lot of other games over the weekend and it's just amazing how much faster other teams are compared to Iowa. Granted, it's the style that we play that compresses everyone between the hashes, but other teams make changes at OC, graduate players, and yet it doesn't appear (it's my perception) that they look as BAD as Iowa does every year to start out on offense.

Stanley scares me right now. He couldn't hold on to the ball, and he locked on to his WR. There are going to be some growing pains, but due to the style of offense we play, we put so much pressure on the defense to carry the load if we have turnovers or inept at moving the ball.

Some positives. Wadley is a stud. It was nice to see some passes down the middle of the field. I'm hopeful that BF gets a little more creative with his calls. More screens, and more passes to Wadley Butler to take advantage of blitzes
 
DBAHawkFan said:
What wasn't so good? Guess this will come off as negative

It's the Deja Vu of every year us complaining about the offense. Literally could go back to 2012 and it's the same complaints every year.

QB looks confused
WR are lacking skill / experience
OL struggles to open holes (for slower RB), but mostly Pass Protection
Predictable Play Calling

I watched a lot of other games over the weekend and it's just amazing how much faster other teams are compared to Iowa. Granted, it's the style that we play that compresses everyone between the hashes, but other teams make changes at OC, graduate players, and yet it doesn't appear (it's my perception) that they look as BAD as Iowa does every year to start out on offense.

Stanley scares me right now. He couldn't hold on to the ball, and he locked on to his WR. There are going to be some growing pains, but due to the style of offense we play, we put so much pressure on the defense to carry the load if we have turnovers or inept at moving the ball.

Some positives. Wadley is a stud. It was nice to see some passes down the middle of the field. I'm hopeful that BF gets a little more creative with his calls. More screens, and more passes to Wadley Butler to take advantage of blitzes
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This is spot on. I watched games all weekend too and we are clearly nowhere near the top 25 teams in the country on the offensive side of the ball. Another poster said that it's always the same complaints with Iowa, and that is so true. We are always saying it's the first game and just give our QB some time to grow while I watch freshman and first year starters at other schools looking polished. Watching the Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia game I couldn't help but thinking we would get destroyed if we played those teams. How many top 25 teams would only score 24 points against Wyoming? I would bet many would double that output. It's a little bit talent gap and a lot of the coaches style.
 
Butler needs to block better. At times he looked like a freshman instead of a guy who gained over 1000 yards in his last two years. Stanley needs a lot of polishing. But he can throw that ball with touch. He needs to get a sense of the pocket and feel the pressure. The offensive line wasn't perfect, but it looked good. Pass blocking still not good. Missed assignments.

Still an open question about WRs but it looks like Iowa has a QB that can get the ball to them if they get open. I would expect Fant to rate special attention from defenses now on.
 
-turnovers
-punting
-too few WR targets (gotta find a way to air out a few deep shots). Also would like to see some young guys(that aren't redshirting) get a few targets. Anything less than 20 passes(12-15 beyond 5 yards) is too few.

I'm less concerned about oline, unless we see similar struggles going forward.

Everything is correctable.
 
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