Did a case study on HF/KF scoring 40 plus..

[cmhawks99]

Norm did not blitz. We blitz way more under Phil than we did under Norm (albeit, still not much) and substitute way more. Norm's whole thing was staying in base and preventing the big play. We just had crazy ass DLs and the occasional Bob Sanders, so it felt like we had 10 guys in the box.

Honestly I don't remember well enough to say for sure but when Norm was at Vanderbilt he blitzed all the time. It's conceivable early in his career here at Iowa when we had less overall defensive talent and athletes we blitzed a bit more to manufacture some pressure. But as the athletes caught up to our scheme we definitely didn't blitz much.

But two things you said that I think have been great improvements for us. Number one that 2010 team really fell off the edge. I personally think because we didn't have enough of a D line rotation.. and we were gassed. Coupled with the fact that I think we played 14 different linebackers because of injuries & the DL trying to do much. I really do believe that was a recipe for our difficulties down the stretch.

We have made a concerted effort in recent years to grow that depth and play more guys. Coming from this very uneducated eye it looks like we have better high-quality depth down there than we have ever had. We also play a lot of Dbs in the backfield so from a defensive standpoint. What has always been a very sound to great D, that could be gutted by injuries. I believe has become one of the 20 or so most gifted and athletic in the nation, 2 deep in most cases.

Per the blitzing...yes Phil blitzes a little bit more. But probably more important than that. They clearly spend some time practicing it because when we were doing it years back, not only did we not do it much but we were not very good at it. I'm not a huge blitz fan anyway. But when we do it and we don't get home and we leave a guy on an island I really don't like it.

 

[dbrocket]

Yeah, we're definitely deeper on the DL than at any point since the Norm years (the whole Rick Kascinsky [sp] thing screwed us for years) and we use our depth more effectively than Norm did (he also believed in keeping starters in as much as possible; didn't rotate much).

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I love these facts. A great antidote for hyperbole and revisionists history. Well done.

 

[robchawk]

Norm did not blitz. We blitz way more under Phil than we did under Norm (albeit, still not much) and substitute way more. Norm's whole thing was staying in base and preventing the big play. We just had crazy ass DLs and the occasional Bob Sanders, so it felt like we had 10 guys in the box.

You are patently and respectfully wrong here and need to go back and watch games in 98-99. Norm was aggressive at Vanderbilt as well.
We did not have either of those things the first couple of years, actually Ryan Hansen I believe was the safety at the Penn St game.when they made the same calls in the overtime..

On a side note, Norm has said the turning point in KF tenure was the hit Sanders put on the MSU guy on the kickoff that knocked off his helmut. Norm said after that hit every player on the team would have followed Sanders off a cliff if he wanted.
Once Sanders got here the die was cast for the present Defense system we still use today.

Norm also told me once about recruiting and stars, he said he wasn't sure about 4 star 2 star or whatever. In his opinion you needed to get kids that would still be hungry when they got here and not kids that worked hard to get a college scholarship and once they had it were not able to refocus their goals.
About the stars he said all I know is when that 4 star running back comes into the locker room as a freshman he would see guys like Angerer and Roth and all they would think was get ready for practice because today we are kicking your A.....
Sort of like what you hear about Iowa wrestling, these 3 time state guys come in all hyped and the room is filled with national champs, world and olympic guys and high school champs do not mean much then right?

 

[robchawk]

Also what happened to the 2010 team happened to the 97 team as well. They were riding high until the first loss and with their goals set so high and having so much talent they lost their focus afterwards,
Remember Clayborn saying they had lost the will to win, but I think it was they lost out on the biggest prize and were not able to refocus the dream.
97 team was the same, once they lost to Mich. in that comeback game they lost their focus as well and ended up in the Sun Bowl of all places...

 

[dbrocket]

You are patently and respectfully wrong here and need to go back and watch games in 98-99. Norm was aggressive at Vanderbilt as well.
We did not have either of those things the first couple of years, actually Ryan Hansen I believe was the safety at the Penn St game.when they made the same calls in the overtime..

On a side note, Norm has said the turning point in KF tenure was the hit Sanders put on the MSU guy on the kickoff that knocked off his helmut. Norm said after that hit every player on the team would have followed Sanders off a cliff if he wanted.
Once Sanders got here the die was cast for the present Defense system we still use today.

Norm also told me once about recruiting and stars, he said he wasn't sure about 4 star 2 star or whatever. In his opinion you needed to get kids that would still be hungry when they got here and not kids that worked hard to get a college scholarship and once they had it were not able to refocus their goals.
About the stars he said all I know is when that 4 star running back comes into the locker room as a freshman he would see guys like Angerer and Roth and all they would think was get ready for practice because today we are kicking your A.....
Sort of like what you hear about Iowa wrestling, these 3 time state guys come in all hyped and the room is filled with national champs, world and olympic guys and high school champs do not mean much then right?

Why would I watch two aberrational years, when we did not have our personnel in place, when we were really bad, to get an idea of what Norm's defense was about? I watched his defenses for like a decade, when it was established. It was simple, with almost no blitzing, sub-packages or rotating. It was about putting his 11 best guys out there and letting them play fast in a simple scheme. It was bend, don't break.

 

[hawkcub]

Why would I watch two aberrational years, when we did not have our personnel in place, when we were really bad, to get an idea of what Norm's defense was about? I watched his defenses for like a decade, when it was established. It was simple, with almost no blitzing, sub-packages or rotating. It was about putting his 11 best guys out there and letting them play fast in a simple scheme. It was bend, don't break.

I don't see why anyone is arguing what you're saying. It was a weekly occurrence about people complaining about why don't we Blitz more. Every game the announcers would say Norm just puts his base defense out there and doesn't deviate from it that much.

 

[dbrocket]

I don't see why anyone is arguing what you're saying. It was a weekly occurrence about people complaining about why don't we Blitz more. Every game the announcers would say Norm just puts his base defense out there and doesn't deviate from it that much.

Right! It's like people don't remember those years at all. They just remember him as a good DC, so assume he was aggressive.