Really and truly, every last piece of our offense has ranged from underwhelming (TE) to flat-out embarrassing (literally every other position). I really feel for LaPorta and Lachey because they are probably the only players on offense that are worth a look come draft day, and as good as they are they can't lift the offense out of their doldrums by themselves. They need someone to step up, and soon.
At the end of the day, the buck stops with KF. I like to make fun of him for being a stodgy old dinosaur, but I'm also 99.9% positive he's as aware of the situation as anyone else. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be able to actually *fix* the situation (at least in the short term), but he's also privy to a lot of things that we the fans aren't (i.e. how things shake down during practice). Surely he knows there's a difference between how players perform during practice (I'm sure Spencer is a Practice Heisman Award candidate) and how they perform when it counts (SP's WAR rating is probably well below zero, to use a baseball reference). Maybe Padilla or Labas don't look as good in practice because they're bored (the offensive scheme, playing against the same guys over and over again, or just want a challenge) and want to start playing with live rounds.
Brian gets ripped (and fairly I may add) because he's the son of the CEO of this whole operation. It'd be a different story if we were able to do something right on offense - ANYTHING right. If we could at least run the ball with consistency, or have a semblance of a passing game we'd probably have a different opinion of him. While it's up to the offensive coaches to find ways of designing and calling plays based on their personnel's strengths, it's also up to the players to execute. And honestly, right now they just aren't going to do much of anything regardless if BF implements an air raid, pro, or spread offense. There's very little chemistry, leadership, and accountability from the players up all the way up to KF. This is a wooden ship held together with little more than pine tar and luck, and things are going to get real ugly once we start hitting the choppier waters.
The season is still young and Iowa can still have a solid season, but maybe a clunker of a season (i.e. going 5-7 or 6-6) could force KF to swallow his pride. It's no secret he's not a big fan of NIL or the portal, but if he's going to maintain any sense of relevance in today's game he's got to accept that he needs to utilize them (not the same thing as liking them) if Iowa is going to remain a consistent challenger for the B1G West. He's earned the right to depart Iowa City on his terms (barring a total disaster of a season or a scandal), but I also don't want him staying a season or two too long and leaving too little for his successor to work with, like what happened at the end of JHF's tenure.
