Colorado State had a great game plan and executed it fairly well for a half. It was obvious that it was to:
- Control the clock and keep Iowa's offense off the field. In the first half, Iowa ran 23 plays and had the ball for 11:43 while CSU ran 41 plays and had the ball for 18:17
- The took the ball and had the wind to start the game. They wanted to out-Iowa Iowa, and play the field position game. CSU's punter is every bit as good as Taylor and he proved it. In the first half, our starting field position was just shy of the 20, while theirs was just shy of the 40.
- Take advantage of mistakes. The shanked punt may as well be a turnover, and the interception that was returned a long ways is what they were looking for, and scored touchdowns off of each.
- Don't make mistakes of their own. And they didn't. No turnovers.
- Take advantage of the mismatch they have with their TE. He is the best we will see all season and is very very good.
- Stop our run. And they did, the entire game, and that was at a cost to many times leaving their corners on an island. But at all cost, to not let Goodson get going.
- Make Petras beat them by putting us in 2nd and 3rd and long situations. Aside from the first possession, first play throwing a pass off bootleg action and then TD to Johnson, we ran on every first down except one which was a shallow cross.
Now, on the flip side of this, I think the game plan of the Iowa coaches was to:
- establish the run
- not turn the ball over
- let special teams continue to give us an advantage in field position
- Not have to be in a position to take risks with Petras. That means no second level throws over a linebacker or corner, especially the always available second level out route.
- Then the wind at the beginning of the game dictated the play calling to where they were not going to do anything on the outside, then wait for the 2nd quarter to strike.
- And I don't think there was any part of the game plan to score a specific number of points, or gain an amount of yards. However they have to get the win is fine by them as long as they are able to get game reps for this offense. They know this offense has to improve, but it didn't need to be great to win this game. That was because CSU was going to play tight end football, which can shorten a game, control the clock, but hard to score.
We won 24-14. I was interested at the start of this game if CSU would even score, and I doubt they would have had there not been the interception or the shanked punt. Also, I counted 6 passes that the CSU quarterback threw that could have been picked off by either putting it in the wrong place or having it tipped. They got very lucky here. Petras only had the one, and I don't know if he has even had a pass tipped this year. But at the end of the day, it was a really good win against an opponent who tried to attack us in specific areas, we faced adversity after some mistakes, and we got to see some looks that are going to help us in the next couple of games.
Offensively
- The offensive line as a whole, especially the tackles, need to sustain their blocks better. They are blocking but then disengaging too often which allows backside penetration or a free tackler. The tackles need to set the edge better.
- Goodson and the running backs need to hit the holes quicker. There is a lot of lateral running going on, which they are trying to see what opens up, but it just allows for too much penetration by an overloaded defense.
- What are we now at wide receiver? We went twice to Johnson when he had man coverage, once to Jones, but I have yet to see us go to Tracy when he is manned up. I think this room needs to get solidified. Personally, I think Tracy is better in the slot, and if Johnson is going to be the man-beater, then line him up on the outside. I just don't know right now what Tracy is.
- We don't know how Petras is coached and what his progressions are, as well as how much freedom he has, but he often times turns his head and body at the snap in one direction and does not waver from that.
- If we are truly going to try to take what the defense gives us, then are we going to be prepared to take advantage of these 1 on 1 matchups. I didn't see Petras audible one time, so I don't know if that is just something they werent going to do because it was CSU or if they can do it at all.
- I think we all need to embrace the fact that the pass game and the run game in this offense are one in the same. By that I mean this offense is going to be all about setting up the make-ables. We are showing multiple formations and propensity to run and throw out of them in both 12 and 22 personnel packages, and if they set up 3 or 4 a game it may be enough.
Defensively
- There was a lot of experimentation with personnel changes with Merriweather and Benson. I think this game shows that our defense is much more active with Benson in the lineup vs Merriweather. Merriweather is a good player, but Benson can do many things on the line as well as showing how he can cover normal tight ends and spy the quarterback on his side.
- I am glad to see CSU go empty and beat us with the QB run, because that will definitely be a thing we have to stop in the next 3 weeks.
- Our defensive line depth really shows up in the second half, and it definitely did here as well. This defense is built to have a lead and suffocate 1 dimensional offenses in the second half.
- Jacobs played really well and is a fixture now, but has a lot of film study to do after covering that tight end.
Special Teams
- Jones played really well. Huge asset.
- Taylor's shanked punt cost us, but we will still take him. Probably the only game that Taylor gets out-punted.
Oh, one more thing. I don't think all the blame on the failed tunnel screen should go on Petras. I don't think he should have thrown it until Tracy was clear of our tackle, but saying that, it isn't like Tracy was putting forth 100% effort here to gain position. And Brian deserves a lot of blame here because of its risk with the corner pressing so much on that side anyway.
On to Maryland.
- Control the clock and keep Iowa's offense off the field. In the first half, Iowa ran 23 plays and had the ball for 11:43 while CSU ran 41 plays and had the ball for 18:17
- The took the ball and had the wind to start the game. They wanted to out-Iowa Iowa, and play the field position game. CSU's punter is every bit as good as Taylor and he proved it. In the first half, our starting field position was just shy of the 20, while theirs was just shy of the 40.
- Take advantage of mistakes. The shanked punt may as well be a turnover, and the interception that was returned a long ways is what they were looking for, and scored touchdowns off of each.
- Don't make mistakes of their own. And they didn't. No turnovers.
- Take advantage of the mismatch they have with their TE. He is the best we will see all season and is very very good.
- Stop our run. And they did, the entire game, and that was at a cost to many times leaving their corners on an island. But at all cost, to not let Goodson get going.
- Make Petras beat them by putting us in 2nd and 3rd and long situations. Aside from the first possession, first play throwing a pass off bootleg action and then TD to Johnson, we ran on every first down except one which was a shallow cross.
Now, on the flip side of this, I think the game plan of the Iowa coaches was to:
- establish the run
- not turn the ball over
- let special teams continue to give us an advantage in field position
- Not have to be in a position to take risks with Petras. That means no second level throws over a linebacker or corner, especially the always available second level out route.
- Then the wind at the beginning of the game dictated the play calling to where they were not going to do anything on the outside, then wait for the 2nd quarter to strike.
- And I don't think there was any part of the game plan to score a specific number of points, or gain an amount of yards. However they have to get the win is fine by them as long as they are able to get game reps for this offense. They know this offense has to improve, but it didn't need to be great to win this game. That was because CSU was going to play tight end football, which can shorten a game, control the clock, but hard to score.
We won 24-14. I was interested at the start of this game if CSU would even score, and I doubt they would have had there not been the interception or the shanked punt. Also, I counted 6 passes that the CSU quarterback threw that could have been picked off by either putting it in the wrong place or having it tipped. They got very lucky here. Petras only had the one, and I don't know if he has even had a pass tipped this year. But at the end of the day, it was a really good win against an opponent who tried to attack us in specific areas, we faced adversity after some mistakes, and we got to see some looks that are going to help us in the next couple of games.
Offensively
- The offensive line as a whole, especially the tackles, need to sustain their blocks better. They are blocking but then disengaging too often which allows backside penetration or a free tackler. The tackles need to set the edge better.
- Goodson and the running backs need to hit the holes quicker. There is a lot of lateral running going on, which they are trying to see what opens up, but it just allows for too much penetration by an overloaded defense.
- What are we now at wide receiver? We went twice to Johnson when he had man coverage, once to Jones, but I have yet to see us go to Tracy when he is manned up. I think this room needs to get solidified. Personally, I think Tracy is better in the slot, and if Johnson is going to be the man-beater, then line him up on the outside. I just don't know right now what Tracy is.
- We don't know how Petras is coached and what his progressions are, as well as how much freedom he has, but he often times turns his head and body at the snap in one direction and does not waver from that.
- If we are truly going to try to take what the defense gives us, then are we going to be prepared to take advantage of these 1 on 1 matchups. I didn't see Petras audible one time, so I don't know if that is just something they werent going to do because it was CSU or if they can do it at all.
- I think we all need to embrace the fact that the pass game and the run game in this offense are one in the same. By that I mean this offense is going to be all about setting up the make-ables. We are showing multiple formations and propensity to run and throw out of them in both 12 and 22 personnel packages, and if they set up 3 or 4 a game it may be enough.
Defensively
- There was a lot of experimentation with personnel changes with Merriweather and Benson. I think this game shows that our defense is much more active with Benson in the lineup vs Merriweather. Merriweather is a good player, but Benson can do many things on the line as well as showing how he can cover normal tight ends and spy the quarterback on his side.
- I am glad to see CSU go empty and beat us with the QB run, because that will definitely be a thing we have to stop in the next 3 weeks.
- Our defensive line depth really shows up in the second half, and it definitely did here as well. This defense is built to have a lead and suffocate 1 dimensional offenses in the second half.
- Jacobs played really well and is a fixture now, but has a lot of film study to do after covering that tight end.
Special Teams
- Jones played really well. Huge asset.
- Taylor's shanked punt cost us, but we will still take him. Probably the only game that Taylor gets out-punted.
Oh, one more thing. I don't think all the blame on the failed tunnel screen should go on Petras. I don't think he should have thrown it until Tracy was clear of our tackle, but saying that, it isn't like Tracy was putting forth 100% effort here to gain position. And Brian deserves a lot of blame here because of its risk with the corner pressing so much on that side anyway.
On to Maryland.