When Will Iowa Journalists Call Out OC/HC For Poor Offensive Play Calling?

[InGoodCo]

I disagree. Teams are loading up and selling out on 1st down to stop the run, and Iowa is running it anyway. That and Iowa is running the ball on 2nd and 10 for 1 yard and then screwed on 3rd down.

Iowa is also sending all 180 pounds of Akrum Wadley straight up the gut into an 8 man wall where he cant use his talents.

Teams know exactly what Iowa is going to do so they stop it...and yet Iowa is doing it anyway.

How many times have we watched Iowa get stopped running the ball over and over in the first half to suddenly watch it start working in the 2nd? It's happened time and time again, it's called not abandoning the run and staying true to who you are and what you are trying to establish. I will say that I think using a different back besides AW would help that... I agree, it's not his strength.

 

[HuckFinn]

The Media: First, read Mike Hlas' column on the MSU game. If that is not critical enough, you can't read. And, as another poster rightly pointed out, a bunch of negatives from the press achieves nothing. Get over it.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

In WW2, the Germans had the best weapons pretty much across the board. However,they didn't have enough of them.

When fighting Japan, Germany, and Italy, MOST US soldiers used the M1 Girand. They could fire off a clip of 8 rounds in seconds.

The Axis, including the Germans mostly fought with bolt action single shot rifles from pre-WW1 design. Who's gonna win that fight?

That pretty much is comparable to Iowa's Offensive schemes and firepower.

I got on HawkeyeNation and a World History class broke out!!

 

[HuckFinn]

Geez, Melrose, I kind of like this WW II, the Big One post...

 

[mopkins]

How many times have we watched Iowa get stopped running the ball over and over in the first half to suddenly watch it start working in the 2nd? It's happened time and time again, it's called not abandoning the run and staying true to who you are and what you are trying to establish. I will say that I think using a different back besides AW would help that... I agree, it's not his strength.

Wadley's 35 yard touchdown run on 1st down vs Penn State was a handoff out of shotgun and off-tackle instead of straight up the gut with the QB under center. It also came after 3 straight pass plays including a pass interference, an 8 yard pass and a 22 yard pass. Completely different scenario and IMO more along the lines of how Wadley should be used. Other than that...Iowa has been miserable running the ball on 1st down, including the second half.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Geez, Melrose, I kind of like this WW II, the Big One post...

Oh, I never said I didn't like it. Thought it was a nifty comparison, actually.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Wadley's 35 yard touchdown run on 1st down vs Penn State was a handoff out of shotgun and off-tackle instead of straight up the gut with the QB under center. It also came after 3 straight pass plays including a pass interference, an 8 yard pass and a 22 yard pass. Completely different scenario and IMO more along the lines of how Wadley should be used. Other than that...Iowa has been miserable running the ball on 1st down, including the second half.

Iowa's offense--at least under KF--has been predicated on the success of the run opening up play-action. What might be needed now is using Wadley as more of a receiver, then using play-action more successfully on third down.

The problem with that, of course, is that receivers have been dropping balls or being overthrown, negating the effectiveness of a well-executed play-action fake.

 

[SpiderRico]

I disagree. Teams are loading up and selling out on 1st down to stop the run, and Iowa is running it anyway. That and Iowa is running the ball on 2nd and 10 for 1 yard and then screwed on 3rd down.

Iowa is also sending all 180 pounds of Akrum Wadley straight up the gut into an 8 man wall where he cant use his talents.

Teams know exactly what Iowa is going to do so they stop it...and yet Iowa is doing it anyway.

Iowa is not "just running it anyway" on 1st down. In this game, they had 22 first down plays. Of those, they passed on 15 of them, or 68% of the time. They completed only 7 of them and on one of them they did complete, it was fumbled by Brandon Smith.

The issue isn't play calling or design because we are passing MUCH more on 1st down this year than I can ever remember and there are guys open on damn near every pass play (compared to the last 2 years' issue of SEPARATION by the wide receiver - in other words, poor design and route trees).

Our issue right now is three fold....First, we've got an offensive line that has 2 starters from the prior year that are injured...one for the year. In their places we have a redshirt freshman LT and a guard that we've moved out to tackle. It's pretty tough to get any cohesion, especially in the run game, with an OL that has 40% of it's starters not playing or not playing effectively because of injury. Second, we have a brand new QB who is just not hitting receivers on a consistent basis. Passing on 1st down is great when we can complete it. When we can't, it puts us at 2nd and long which, for all but the very best teams in the country, is about a 35% conversion rate to a first down. Third, we just aren't protecting the ball.

 

[mopkins]

Iowa is not "just running it anyway" on 1st down. In this game, they had 22 first down plays. Of those, they passed on 15 of them, or 68% of the time. They completed only 7 of them and on one of them they did complete, it was fumbled by Brandon Smith.

The issue isn't play calling or design because we are passing MUCH more on 1st down this year than I can ever remember and there are guys open on damn near every pass play (compared to the last 2 years' issue of SEPARATION by the wide receiver - in other words, poor design and route trees).

Our issue right now is three fold....First, we've got an offensive line that has 2 starters from the prior year that are injured...one for the year. In their places we have a redshirt freshman LT and a guard that we've moved out to tackle. It's pretty tough to get any cohesion, especially in the run game, with an OL that has 40% of it's starters not playing or not playing effectively because of injury. Second, we have a brand new QB who is just not hitting receivers on a consistent basis. Passing on 1st down is great when we can complete it. When we can't, it puts us at 2nd and long which, for all but the very best teams in the country, is about a 35% conversion rate to a first down. Third, we just aren't protecting the ball.

My argument is that they are running it from under center on first down and slamming it up the gut. I posted in another thread all of Iowa's 1st down rushing plays vs Michigan state. I think it was something like 10 carries for 6 yards. They are just slamming it into a brick wall "because that's Iowa football" and its not working.

Iowa's 35 yard rushing TD on 1st down vs Penn State was out of the shotgun and run off tackle to wadley. Why not do more shotgun handoffs like that on 1st down?

Iowa is throwing on first down more often, you are correct and I'm not denying that. However the teams are still daring Iowa to take a handoff under center run it right up the gut on 1st down and Iowa is doing that 30% of the time. If wasting a 1st down 30% of the time "just to keep teams honest" is good/solid play-calling then count me out.

I feel like all these threads are coming back to the same spot, but Wadley is not a bruising power tailback. He needs to be in space. Wadley had 3 catches for 17 yards vs Michigan State. He had 17 carries for 30 yards. 1.7 yards per carry vs 5.7 yards per catch? Why not throw him the ball more instead of slamming him into an 8 man front?

 

[Fryowa]

I disagree. Teams are loading up and selling out on 1st down to stop the run, and Iowa is running it anyway. That and Iowa is running the ball on 2nd and 10 for 1 yard and then screwed on 3rd down.

Iowa is also sending all 180 pounds of Akrum Wadley straight up the gut into an 8 man wall where he cant use his talents.

Teams know exactly what Iowa is going to do so they stop it...and yet Iowa is doing it anyway.

I get what you're saying, but our QB is so in over his head it's unbelievable. I don't want to defend the staff totally, but the truth is we just plain suck right now and there aren't a lot of other options that don't involve Stanley throwing. He played ok non-con with Fant and Easley, but this is the big time now and B1G football ain't no joke.

Bringing 8 guys like that;even outside the tackles Wadley doesn't have time or room.

Stanley is seriously bad right now. I'm not giving up on the kid but he just doesn't have the experience and you can tell he's totally shitting his pants when he's out there.The polar opposite of CJ Beathard. This MSU game and the ridiculous fumble/INT/whatever sure didn't help matters either. He may seem ok in TV Interviews, but he's not ok on the field.

 

[mopkins]

I get what you're saying, but our QB is so in over his head it's unbelievable. I don't want to defend the staff totally, but the truth is we just plain suck right now and there aren't a lot of other options that don't involve Stanley throwing. He played ok non-con with Fant and Easley, but this is the big time now and B1G football ain't no joke.

Bringing 8 guys like that;even outside the tackles Wadley doesn't have time or room.

Stanley is seriously bad right now. I'm not giving up on the kid but he just doesn't have the experience and you can tell he's totally shitting his pants when he's out there.The polar opposite of CJ Beathard. This MSU game and the ridiculous fumble/INT/whatever sure didn't help matters either. He may seem ok in TV Interviews, but he's not ok on the field.

I think Stanley just looks like a 20 year old true sophomore. It doesn't help that he had to start league play vs 2 of the better defenses in the Big Ten. Hopefully they can overpower Illinois and then figure some shit out during the bye week.

 

[SpiderRico]

I get what you're saying, but our QB is so in over his head it's unbelievable. I don't want to defend the staff totally, but the truth is we just plain suck right now and there aren't a lot of other options that don't involve Stanley throwing. He played ok non-con with Fant and Easley, but this is the big time now and B1G football ain't no joke.

Bringing 8 guys like that;even outside the tackles Wadley doesn't have time or room.

Stanley is seriously bad right now. I'm not giving up on the kid but he just doesn't have the experience and you can tell he's totally shitting his pants when he's out there.The polar opposite of CJ Beathard. This MSU game and the ridiculous fumble/INT/whatever sure didn't help matters either. He may seem ok in TV Interviews, but he's not ok on the field.

I agree with this assessment for the most part. Stanley reminds me a lot of Stanzi early in his sophomore year in 2008. For those that can't remember, he was pretty inconsistent, and that's probably putting it mildly. In the ISU game, for instance, he had to be replaced by JC or we would most likely have lost. People remember how we finished that year, but oftentimes forget how we started. In fact, a similarity is that we started 0-2 that year as well. My hope is that Stanley can improve as the year goes on, as Ricky did in 2008....

 

[SpiderRico]

My argument is that they are running it from under center on first down and slamming it up the gut. I posted in another thread all of Iowa's 1st down rushing plays vs Michigan state. I think it was something like 10 carries for 6 yards. They are just slamming it into a brick wall "because that's Iowa football" and its not working.

Iowa's 35 yard rushing TD on 1st down vs Penn State was out of the shotgun and run off tackle to wadley. Why not do more shotgun handoffs like that on 1st down?

Iowa is throwing on first down more often, you are correct and I'm not denying that. However the teams are still daring Iowa to take a handoff under center run it right up the gut on 1st down and Iowa is doing that 30% of the time. If wasting a 1st down 30% of the time "just to keep teams honest" is good/solid play-calling then count me out.

I feel like all these threads are coming back to the same spot, but Wadley is not a bruising power tailback. He needs to be in space. Wadley had 3 catches for 17 yards vs Michigan State. He had 17 carries for 30 yards. 1.7 yards per carry vs 5.7 yards per catch? Why not throw him the ball more instead of slamming him into an 8 man front?

I don't think it's Wadley, though...I think it's the OL. Freddie Russel was pretty similar to AW....small, shifty, fast. The difference was the line Freddie ran behind. Damien Sims was the same way....small, shifty, fast, and he did pretty good as well.

If the OL can't get to the 2nd level, then we're going to continue to have this issue.

Hopefully we can get to the bye with a win against Illinois and get some OL continuity going for the next 2 weeks in practice and see what happens.

 

[InGoodCo]

I get what you're saying, but our QB is so in over his head it's unbelievable. I don't want to defend the staff totally, but the truth is we just plain suck right now and there aren't a lot of other options that don't involve Stanley throwing. He played ok non-con with Fant and Easley, but this is the big time now and B1G football ain't no joke.

Bringing 8 guys like that;even outside the tackles Wadley doesn't have time or room.

Stanley is seriously bad right now. I'm not giving up on the kid but he just doesn't have the experience and you can tell he's totally shitting his pants when he's out there.The polar opposite of CJ Beathard. This MSU game and the ridiculous fumble/INT/whatever sure didn't help matters either. He may seem ok in TV Interviews, but he's not ok on the field.

I don't see that with Stanley AT ALL. He faced the blitz constantly Saturday, moved in the pocket, extended plays - hard to believe he's a sophomore making his 2nd road start IMO. The deep throws IMO will come with reps and as he learns to master the offense and gets more in sync with his WR's (who besides MVB will all be back next year) . He gets the ball out fast... makes good decisions and seems well beyond his years. His fumble was very costly though. He's one of the few bright spots that has me excited about the future

 

[Fryowa]

I don't see that with Stanley AT ALL. He faced the blitz constantly Saturday, moved in the pocket, extended plays - hard to believe he's a sophomore making his 2nd road start IMO. The deep throws IMO will come with reps and as he learns to master the offense and gets more in sync with his WR's (who besides MVB will all be back next year) . He gets the ball out fast... makes good decisions and seems well beyond his years. His fumble was very costly though. He's one of the few bright spots that has me excited about the future

I support the kid and think he'll be really good in the future. He's just not now.

 

[earlkoppelman]

I agree with this assessment for the most part. Stanley reminds me a lot of Stanzi early in his sophomore year in 2008. For those that can't remember, he was pretty inconsistent, and that's probably putting it mildly. In the ISU game, for instance, he had to be replaced by JC or we would most likely have lost. People remember how we finished that year, but oftentimes forget how we started. In fact, a similarity is that we started 0-2 that year as well. My hope is that Stanley can improve as the year goes on, as Ricky did in 2008....

So many answers!! So many correct.Say what you want.I will watch boring win sat.Then allow cap time to correct some things and go from there.7 wins and bowl in marvin gay country would well... I thought it was 5 to 6 wins. CAP never changes.His boss "the regent" is happy" That boss is boss no? BB looks good

 

[Hawk4Fan]

They are to scared KF will have their privileges revoked for asking hard questions.!

 

[RobHowe]

They are to scared KF will have their privileges revoked for asking hard questions.!

Mensa member.

 

[Fryowa]

Mensa member.

I get the sentiment in your post but I have an honest, non sarcastic question for you strictly because I'm curious. Also, I've become slightly more "meh" and less neurotic regarding Iowa football lately so there's no frustration in my asking it.

Two questions actually...

I think it's a fair statement to say that the media is rougher on coaches during down times when dealing with much bigger programs such as LSU and Texas, etc.

1. Do you think this is because the market and media outlets are so much bigger with those types of schools so reporters don't fear getting push back from the staff?

2. What do you think would happen to the local media's relationship with Kirk and his staff if people started asking the loaded, abrasive questions that you sometimes hear in those bigger programs and markets? Would Kirk vent his frustration, withdraw access, or none of the above?

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

In WW2, the Germans had the best weapons pretty much across the board. However,they didn't have enough of them.

When fighting Japan, Germany, and Italy, MOST US soldiers used the M1 Girand. They could fire off a clip of 8 rounds in seconds.

The Axis, including the Germans mostly fought with bolt action single shot rifles from pre-WW1 design. Who's gonna win that fight?

That pretty much is comparable to Iowa's Offensive schemes and firepower.

Over?! DID YOU SAY OVER?! Nothing is over until we say it is....Was it over when the Germans bombed pearl harbor?? He'll no!