We might. Guys are developing and with some success hopefully we can recruit the weapons we need. Either way I used the words moving toward to indicate that BF is looking to incorporate more of that type of offense to become more dangerous. I know full well we are not looking to go full Air Raid, but being able to stretch things vertically when we choose to is invaluable. We will still be a power run team of course.Don Coryell used the pass to set up the next pass. Iowa's offense under KF will NEVER be call The Greatest Show on Turf.
Every OC says this, but you have to have tools to do it. Does Iowa?
Yep Intermediate and deep passing game. Air Coryell. Obviously some of this is already in play, but just need more dependable weapons outside of the TE. Coryell was also instrumental in the expanded use of TE's in the passing game. That part has long been in play here at Iowa.It would be simply awesome if Iowa could have some success downfield early in the season - and I don't mean 50 yard home runs (although that would be fine!). I just mean if Iowa could complete a bunch of 15-20 yard completions if will keep those DB's and LB's from crowding the LOS.
Wait till he catches a few passes on Sunday, before putting him in that "HIGH COTTON".
So throw the football to receivers downfield and have them catch it. Got it. Sounds simple enough.
Even with Ken O'Keefe at the helm, teams would tend to crowd the box - because of the difficulties that Iowa's run-blocking can pose. Ken's philosophy wasn't to spread the field horizontally as much as forcing opposing Ds to defend the whole field. Even with the different philosophy, the Hawks were still forced to do things to exploit the crowded box ... or pay the consequences for failing to diffuse the aggressiveness of the D.
Having rewatched a lot of the 2009 and 2015 seasons along with some other bright points in the seasons prior to those, I can confidently say two things:
I'd imagine that the Hawks would try to establish an efficient passing game, supported by a strong, grinding running game. As always, we'll take our shots down field too. I would guess that the goal will be to distribute the ball around to a lot of guys ... and give each guy a good opportunity to work on his fundamentals.
Either our OL got worse as the season progressed......or those teams blitzed or won individual matchups and our youth and inconsistency showed on the line in keeping with the tradition of consistently inconsistent football here at Iowa.
Of these games in the last 3 seasons and going back further, I believe there could be some in which getting to 100 yds rushing was facilitated by our ability to pass. Teams throw passes to the boundary to spread defenses out even if the yardage gained is 2yds or less. Iowa and any team can loosen up a defense with passing and that will open up the running game. It is not just the running that brings wins, its running and passing. How the 2 different facets contribute to the other is a topic of further study. I'm reminded of years where we won 10+ and had little to no running game. We ran to keep the defense honest with little expectation of significant gained yardage. To touch on the inconsistency factor it also appears to have a different interplay from game to game.
