Not sure this has been posted but Iowa has been out scored 127-7 since 2018 I believe against top 25 teams… BARFFFFFFFFFFF!
127-7
- Thread starter JerseyCityHawki
- Start date
Well, sure. But before Saturday, Iowa had 0. So, baby steps.
And that gap isn’t going to get any better unless our staff decides to recruit/develop offensive linemen and play athletes at the quarterback position.
They have royally fu*ked this whole thing up over the last 4-5 years.
The Capt must go away.
(speaking it into existence)
(speaking it into existence)
127-7 is just since the beginning of last season (Penn St, Mich, Tenn, OSU).
Iowa actually had some solid wins in 2018 and 2019 before KF/BF absolutely drove the offense into the Dark Ages....
Iowa actually had some solid wins in 2018 and 2019 before KF/BF absolutely drove the offense into the Dark Ages....
This is also 3 opponents in top 10, 2 who were in top 3. So the quality of opponent is up there. Also none of those games were at home: 2 on the road, 2 at neutral sites. Tennessee was expected to be pretty darn good this year too, but that one still stings. Really wish Lainez would have started that one, if only so we could have seen him run it a few more times
It’s been posted about 48 times since Saturday. And it’s not since 2018, that stat is 2023-2024.
P.S. You will never catch franisdaman in post count.
From 2008-2021, Iowa was 8-8 against Top 10 teams and only 1 of those 8 losses was by more than 10 points. That's pretty damn good.
In it's last 8 games against ranked teams, Iowa is 0-8 with an average score of 34-9.
It's not just the offense that's broken. It's the entire machine.
In it's last 8 games against ranked teams, Iowa is 0-8 with an average score of 34-9.
It's not just the offense that's broken. It's the entire machine.
The downward arc of the Iowa OL and offense in general is correlated with the ascension of Brian Ferentz to OC. It has now become apparent that little if any talent (understandably) wanted anything to do with the Iowa offense under his tenure.
The damage has been done and the cupboard is now bare.
(For those of you too young to have experienced it, I can attest that we have Bob Commings era offensive talent out there right now.)
Even if Lester can facilitate a complete culture/offensive philosophy change (re: Hayden Fry in 1979) it will take a few years to turn this offense around with new talent via recruiting and portal.
Sadly, I dont think Kirk will allow the philosophy to change.
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Before I get killed I want to say I put about 98% of the blame in these blowouts on Kirk, Brian, recruiting, and the offense in general.
However at same point I feel Phil needs to look in a mirror a little bit also. He took Norm's philosophy of bend/don't break and made it better, perhaps even perfected it. These elite teams we seem to hang in for maybe a half and that's about it. I know some of it is fatigue but I think the sit back and give them little things may not work anymore. These elite QBs and WR's are playing way more football during the year participating in camps, drills, and private workouts than they ever have before. Basically an elite HS kid is playing WAY MORE football year round than any of us ever did.
The whole mindset of "sit back and let the young college age QB or offense make a mistake" maybe just doesn't work against elite competition. Case in point last year a highly recruited kid named Drew Allar just picked us apart 4-6 yards at a time and didn't seem to struggle at all. You could almost tell that entire week his coaches coached that mindset into him.
I didn't rewatch the OSU game but maybe it's time to mix up coverages more, or blitz more, or send zone blitzes. Hell when's the last time we've seen that Raider package?
Again I blame Kirk for these embarrassments but these are my thoughts at least defensively.
However at same point I feel Phil needs to look in a mirror a little bit also. He took Norm's philosophy of bend/don't break and made it better, perhaps even perfected it. These elite teams we seem to hang in for maybe a half and that's about it. I know some of it is fatigue but I think the sit back and give them little things may not work anymore. These elite QBs and WR's are playing way more football during the year participating in camps, drills, and private workouts than they ever have before. Basically an elite HS kid is playing WAY MORE football year round than any of us ever did.
The whole mindset of "sit back and let the young college age QB or offense make a mistake" maybe just doesn't work against elite competition. Case in point last year a highly recruited kid named Drew Allar just picked us apart 4-6 yards at a time and didn't seem to struggle at all. You could almost tell that entire week his coaches coached that mindset into him.
I didn't rewatch the OSU game but maybe it's time to mix up coverages more, or blitz more, or send zone blitzes. Hell when's the last time we've seen that Raider package?
Again I blame Kirk for these embarrassments but these are my thoughts at least defensively.
I agree with you. The inventiveness that Phil used to do, whether it was going to the Raider package, or switching to the 4-2-5 seems to have completely disappeared. I don't know if that's related to the talent, or if it's more a function of KF going into his conservative shell again ("New Kirk" is completely dead now.....the 4th down attempts, the ST fakes, the blitzes, etc are totally gone) and telling Phil to "play it safe". Whatever it is, the D hasn't been what it once was the last few years. Yes, the stats looked good last year, but when you play all but a couple games against 1970's West Division teams, it's going to look good. The telltale sign is against the "big boys". Before, Phil's D could absolutely hold their own. Now, not so much.
I think a lot of the problem with the defense this year has been the lack of the DL to put pressure on the QB. Pressure, not necessarily sacks, changes timing, makes a QB throw earlier than he wants to, or puts him on the run and out of sequence. If a college level QB has time to throw, he'll do fine. Look at the Minnesota game. First half, not much pressure and he picked Iowa apart, particularly in the second quarter. Second half, pressure from blitzes, and he struggled. The OSU game is a hard one to draw any conclusions from because their athletes are so much better. I don't think Phil could afford to blitz much in that game because he needed as much help in the secondary he could get, and even that wasn't enough. It was a pick your poison, either way they were going to get killed. But the rest of the year, I expect we'll see more blitzing, like what we saw in the second half of the Gopher game. The DL alone just isn't getting any pressure on the QB.
You are right on, my friend. Phil hasn't evolved either. Most other teams around the country pressure the QB. No QB ever has been or ever will be very good when he's under pressure. That's the only way to defend a modern QB who can scramble, run, and throw, and almost everyone has that guy except Iowa. Well, Iowa has that guy, they just won't let him play.
Iowa needs to use one of the D-backs as a pass rusher in obvious situations. Hayden brought undersized LeRoy Smith to that role, and Smith was terrific. He was faster and quicker than the best tackles and TEs who tried to block him, so Smith was after the QB constantly. Nestor is one guy who might work in that role.
So you're right: while the offense--QB especially--is the glaring weakness of the Iowa program, Phil's defense has failed to evolve too, and so, Iowa City, we have a problem . . . two problems actually. And KF clearly ain't gonna be the guy to fix either one of them.
ISU is leaving the Hawkeyes in the dust. If Beth really is a big-time AD, she has to convince KF to retire at the end of the year or suffer the indignity of being fired. Will that be expensive? Yes, thanks to the goofy Gary Barta. But it could be argued it would be far more expensive to let KF continue to embarrass himself and the Iowa football program.
While Saban was at Alabama he realized that their offense had to go in a different direction and he made the necessary changes.
While I think Phil is a top 5 coordinator, maybe even higher, I do agree w/this a bit. Ohio St on their first drive just took what we gave them, we got them in 3rd down 3 different times on that drive but yet we also let them complete the easy 8-10 yard pass on 3rd downs. For the most part our defense works great against most QB's. Put Minny, Rutgers, MIchigan St in 3rd and long w/poor QB play and we cause havoc. Even still our defense did create 2 turnovers in the 1st half but our shit offense can't capitalize. But in the end this truly lies on the offense. 8-8 against top 10 competition from 08-2021. Again, for a team like Iowa that's incredible. We have taken a huge step backwards, especially talent wise offensively these last 4 years. It's killing recruiting on that side of the ball, and it really doesn't matter who we get as a coordinator unless Kirk changes his grip on how we play, which he won't. He's got to go.
If Ferentz is still bringing money into the program he won't be fired.
With the tv money coming in is there a need to be 10-2? Not as long as we are above .500 which will happen even if there is no change. We will always have a chance against the lower rated teams. The top 10 teams, maybe do something else then watch ineptitude.
I agree with this. When we've had a guy on the edge that can pressure the QB on a consistent basis, Phil's D design is nearly unstoppable. When we don't, it's pretty pedestrian.....unless you have a game changer at corner like we did last year in Coop or before that in Riley Moss.
What do you mean by Kirk bringing money into the program? I’m coming to the game as an Iowa fan not a Kirk fan anymore. I come for the school.
And the Iowa try hard kids need to go. Trying to hide them at deep deep deep saftey doesn't work vs good teams as you watched them get splattered on run plays and trailing 20 yd backs on pass plays. The bean pole receiver is a joke too. No wonder the real players are leaving in droves. Keep this up and Iowa will be Drake in a few years, if not already.
Is that bad?
It sounds bad.
It's bad, isn't it?
Wait.
Don't answer that.
It sounds bad.
It's bad, isn't it?
Wait.
Don't answer that.
LOL. Yeah, I don't think KF is going to be bringing a Lane Kiffin-type on board anytime soon....
Bottom line....Kirk hurt the program and his legacy by choosing his son's career over a legitimate QB coach/OC.
Here’s the cognitive dissonance part of that - They won 10 games 3 times in those 7 years, and 9 in another. (6 if you don’t include 2020). The defense of course had a lot to do with that and the later years they didn’t hold up well against the top teams. And they were not improving. A change was needed.
Yup. Well advertised around here. At least we don't have SEVEN losing seasons in a row.
Could be much worse.
