Edit-The 1974 USC game-Coach Bob Commings' running game they built

[uihawk82]

I listened to this game against the Natty Champs USCand some stats below. The hawks pushed USC all over the field offensively and were pretty stout defensively. Turnovers killed them. This USC team won that controversial Rose Bowl over OHio St and they crushed NDame.
IOWA USC
Total plays 91 44
First Downs 21 15
Yards rushing 249 118 (both include lost sack yards, etc)
Paaing-Att-Comp-Yds 17-9-114 USC 16-9-114
turnovers 5 2
Final Score 3 41

I am bringing this up as a comparison. I will look up some stats later. But after taking over a zero win team it took a couple of years but Commings did build up some excellent running game teams. IIRC, in the last few years of his tenure he had 2 or 3 offensive linemen at the same time for multiple seasons who would play in the pros. His teams could and would pound and ground opponents with huge rushing yardage. I remember when they played Minny about 1976 and everything was clicking they just crushed the goofs up and down the field. There were qoutes from players after the game about how dazed the gopher defenders' eyes looked. Commings' teams at times could actually pass the ball pretty well also.

I bring this up to say that an average head coach can build up that running game to be very good. If Kirk wants to play his style of ball he needs to figure out how to run the ball to set up his play action passing or reverse those two phases.

Maybe Brian needs to have his offensive line and a TEnd actually run block totally on some play action passing to totally sell the run game and open up some receivers.

 

[artradley]

Yes, an average coach can build up the gunning game. But our OC is not an average coach. He is a very, very bad offensive coordinator.

 

[West Dundee Hawkeye]

I am bringing this up as a comparison. I will look up some stats later. But after taking over a zero win team it took a couple of years but Commings did build up some excellent running game teams. IIRC, in the last few years of his tenure he had 2 or 3 offensive linemen at the same time for multiple seasons who would play in the pros. His teams could and would pound and ground opponents with huge rushing yardage. I remember when they played Minny about 1976 and everything was clicking they just crushed the goofs up and down the field. There were qoutes from players after the game about how dazed the gopher defenders' eyes looked. Commings' teams at times could actually pass the ball pretty well also.

I bring this up to say that an average head coach can build up that running game to be very good. If Kirk wants to play his style of ball he needs to figure out how to run the ball to set up his play action passing or reverse those two phases.

Maybe Brian needs to have his offensive line and a TEnd actually run block totally on some play action passing to totally sell the run game and open up some receivers.

Commings never had a winless year. I think you are thinking of Frank Lauterbur. He had a team go 0-11.

I was a student at Iowa during Commings time as coach. Even though the Offense had some great OL, overall it was crap. If Iowa got three 1st downs in a row, people started chanting Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl. The Defense had some studs.

We need a little Hayden & Snyder magic. Hayden's first game was against Indiana and the offense looked 100% better.

 

[oldxbbc]

Unfortunately I went to about every FXL and Commings coached home game many years ago. Really don’t want to go back there. Empty stands, even North end zone seats mostly empty.

 

[squeezebox]

This is the problem, if antiquated styles of offense worked, Debby would still be running the option. I am not stating that Iowa needs to go full Wazzu, but they do not physically dominate any team, and yet are able to isolate and hit open reads. The West coast/spread offense is here to stay.

 

[toddhawkwi]

Oldxbbc I agree I have no desire to go back to the FXL / Commings days. In Commings last year, we in the Marching Band did the chant "Run to the left, Run to the right, Run up the middle and punt." The Winged T was not the answer even back in the 70s. But a good portion of the young players on the 78 team were the heart and soul of our Rose Bowl 81 team. If only I'd stayed at Iowa, I'd have marched in Pasadena as a senior. But if you'd told me to "stay the course" in front of the band in 78, the entire band would've been rolling on the floor in laughter. No desire to see those days again.

 

[uihawk82]

Commings never had a winless year. I think you are thinking of Frank Lauterbur. He had a team go 0-11.

I was a student at Iowa during Commings time as coach. Even though the Offense had some great OL, overall it was crap. If Iowa got three 1st downs in a row, people started chanting Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl. The Defense had some studs.

We need a little Hayden & Snyder magic. Hayden's first game was against Indiana and the offense looked 100% better.

I dont think I said Commings had a winless team.

 

[uihawk82]

Commings never had a winless year. I think you are thinking of Frank Lauterbur. He had a team go 0-11.

I was a student at Iowa during Commings time as coach. Even though the Offense had some great OL, overall it was crap. If Iowa got three 1st downs in a row, people started chanting Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl. The Defense had some studs.

We need a little Hayden & Snyder magic. Hayden's first game was against Indiana and the offense looked 100% better.

Commings didnt have much in the way of a passing game most seasons. Some games they would hit 50% but that was rare. But those days teams like Ohio St only tried a few passes a game.

The game clock kept running and with so few incomplete passes both teams would many times just get off 50 offensive plays.

So I look at some of those games where Commings teams had about 300 yards or a bit more that was pretty good, and mostly through the run game.

 

[Hawkeye Marching Band]

I am bringing this up as a comparison. I will look up some stats later. But after taking over a zero win team it took a couple of years but Commings did build up some excellent running game teams. IIRC, in the last few years of his tenure he had 2 or 3 offensive linemen at the same time for multiple seasons who would play in the pros. His teams could and would pound and ground opponents with huge rushing yardage. I remember when they played Minny about 1976 and everything was clicking they just crushed the goofs up and down the field. There were qoutes from players after the game about how dazed the gopher defenders' eyes looked. Commings' teams at times could actually pass the ball pretty well also.

I bring this up to say that an average head coach can build up that running game to be very good. If Kirk wants to play his style of ball he needs to figure out how to run the ball to set up his play action passing or reverse those two phases.

Maybe Brian needs to have his offensive line and a TEnd actually run block totally on some play action passing to totally sell the run game and open up some receivers.

Sorry, Bob was a good guy and loyal Hawkeye, but his teams never passed well. You're right, though, that they had some running success against non-elite teams, and also had solid defense.

I remember people in the stands yelling out, "Run the other play, Bob." Today's offense may have passed its shelf life, but it is still more imaginative Bob's. The single wing was already outdated even then. It was also the same offense City High was using, which is why Doug Piro and Bob Jr. could step right in at QB.

 

[pistachio1999]

Just change the thread title to "If you are a really old geezer read this thread!"

 

[twindman]

I really want to aspire to the Cummings era - lol. His last (and best) year the Hawks were 5-6. And we scored a huge 14.6 points a game. Although to be fair, I think scoring back then was much lower than now. The opponents only scored 21 points a game. I couldn't find and detailed stats like for passing or running stuff.

 

[Ripcord280]

Jon Lazar was on those teams, wasn't he? I think he was leading rusher IIRC.

 

[Quintana]

Jon Lazar was on those teams, wasn't he? I think he was leading rusher IIRC.

they needed to hire jon's brother, bob to reverse engineer some anti-gravitational cleats. would really have helped the yards/rush avg.

 

[Macbride79]

Best year for Bob Commings was 1976, when the record was 5-6. 1977 was a disappointing 4-7, since they started out 2-0 (including the 12-10 win over Iowa State). 1978 was the dumpster fire of 2-9 (lots of blowouts).

While I grew up in Iowa City on 1970s Iowa football, I'm not in the group that is afraid of change due to going back to the 1970s results. The game changes, and the coaching approaches have to change to fit the times.

 

[twindman]

In the late 60s my wife said the students thru the toilet paper rolls after we got a first down in the 2nd half!! No score in the first half. Probably Lauteber(sp?) when we went 0-11.

 

[hawkjt]

Commings passing attack was horrible.
I remember in Haydens 1st game the 5th year senior Suess completed a pass right away and the crowd went crazy as it was so rare in commings years.
Seuss never played until Hayden came in and he was respectable that year.
Commings was a HS coach trying to coach in the BIG. Nice guy tho and a good player for his size at Iowa.

 

[BrotherHawkeye]

Back in his era, the Big Ten was a running conference. The famous Woody Hayes quote, 3 things can happen when you pass the ball, and 2 of them are bad. Only Purdue was traditionally known as having a "good" passing game.

 

[NevadaHawk]

Commings was a great high school in Ohio but never came close to matching that success at Iowa.

 

[paednoch23]

I am bringing this up as a comparison. I will look up some stats later. But after taking over a zero win team it took a couple of years but Commings did build up some excellent running game teams. IIRC, in the last few years of his tenure he had 2 or 3 offensive linemen at the same time for multiple seasons who would play in the pros. His teams could and would pound and ground opponents with huge rushing yardage. I remember when they played Minny about 1976 and everything was clicking they just crushed the goofs up and down the field. There were qoutes from players after the game about how dazed the gopher defenders' eyes looked. Commings' teams at times could actually pass the ball pretty well also.

I bring this up to say that an average head coach can build up that running game to be very good. If Kirk wants to play his style of ball he needs to figure out how to run the ball to set up his play action passing or reverse those two phases.

Maybe Brian needs to have his offensive line and a TEnd actually run block totally on some play action passing to totally sell the run game and open up some receivers.

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

 

[83Hawk]

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

I'm 65 and I remember.

 

[HawkMachine]

I'm not on Viagra yet.

So no.

 

[Hawkeye Marching Band]

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

Only 61, but I remember. I was a kid growing up in Iowa City during the Commings era and went to school with his youngest son.

 

[paednoch23]

Only 61, but I remember. I was a kid growing up in Iowa City during the Commings era and went to school with his youngest son.

So you remember the rushing scheme the OP mentions? I find that hard to believe.

 

[Macbride79]

Only 61, but I remember. I was a kid growing up in Iowa City during the Commings era and went to school with his youngest son.

I also knew Don Commings in high school and college — really nice guy.

I’m 62, so the later Nagel years, Lauterbur debacle, and Bob Commings are the Iowa football coaches I grew up with. Part of the reason I’m a skeptic about Hawkeye sports.

 

[uihawk82]

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

I wrote why I brought it up as Commings could have a pretty good rushing team. You dont have to have known about it to get the meaning. Yes things are different but defenses still tried to stop his teams.

 

[Hawk68]

Unfortunately I went to about every FXL and Commings coached home game many years ago. Really don’t want to go back there. Empty stands, even North end zone seats mostly empty.

At least it brought back the knot hole program that I used in the 50's.

 

[BlackNGoldWings]

So you remember the rushing scheme the OP mentions? I find that hard to believe.

I remember watching from my seat in the south end zone bleachers as Commings' son, the QB, pulled a foot back two seconds before the ball was hiked, always the foot on the side to which the play was going to go. Most opponents figured that out pretty quickly. Depressing, but not quite as bad as Lauterbur. The marching band, which sat directly behind he team at that time, gave ol' FXL a hard time toward the end of the season with its low monotonous chat, "Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl", just a reminder of his promise to get Iowa there. He didn't like it much. But the band stayed; he didn't.

 

[artradley]

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

I’m 66 and I was in college when he was coaching. So, honestly, people in their mid-50’s can remember watching his teams.

 

[IamHawkeye]

I also knew Don Commings in high school and college — really nice guy.

I’m 62, so the later Nagel years, Lauterbur debacle, and Bob Commings are the Iowa football coaches I grew up with. Part of the reason I’m a skeptic about Hawkeye sports.

So you remember the chosen children quote.

 

[hawk halen]

I'm 62 and attended every home game during the 70's, coming down from Waterloo with my dad. There were high hopes at running back with Rodney Wellington, Tom Renn, Eddie Donovan, and Jim Arkeilpane. We already had a force in "Laser-beam" Lazar and his football spin touchdown celebration, which the refs were too baffled to flag.

 

[Macbride79]

So you remember the chosen children quote.

After the 1974 UCLA game. Ran on the field after that shocking win. Also known as the Patty Hearst game.

 

[oldxbbc]

$2 in South end zone!

At least it brought back the knot hole program

 

[uihawk82]

I listened to this game against the Natty Champs USCand some stats below. The hawks pushed USC all over the field offensively and were pretty stout defensively. Turnovers killed them. This USC team won that controversial Rose Bowl over OHio St and they crushed NDame.
IOWA USC
Total plays 91 44
First Downs 21 15
Yards rushing 249 118 (both include lost sack yards, etc)
Paaing-Att-Comp-Yds 17-9-114 USC 16-9-114
turnovers 5 2
Final Score 3 41

 

[MarkRules]

At least it brought back the knot hole program that I used in the 50's.

I sat in $2 knothole seats for several games.
That plus a $5 train ride from Davenport made for a pretty awesome Saturday for a kid in the 70’s. Different world

 

[toddhawkwi]

Wow - so many memories. Anytime their AthlDep declared a game a $2 knothole game, my dad always took my twin brother and myself. Started in 68. Yes Iowa got clobbered most games but the 74 win over UCLA was won of the greatest feelings ever. But that world is long gone. Now I'm taking my grandchildren and making them Hawk fans.

 

[Ridgebackm]

Unless a person is 70 years old..then no they dont remember. You are talking about a football coach that coaches 1 year after the Vietnam conflict ended. For comparison 1976 was 47 years ago. 1976 was only 30 years after Iwo Jima and 13 years after JFK assassination. So no. Nobody remembers. Even those of us who are grandparents dont remember.

I remember it because I was at the game. 11 years old watching the crowd go crazy and ripping down the goal post.
I also very much remember a game. I can’t remember who we played but my father started talking to this big guy in front of us. He ended up being one of starting tackles for Iowa. I thought it was strange that he was not with the team but with his parents. He was out with a pinched nerve in his back, I think his name was Matt Petrazekla or something like that.
It’s funny what you remember.
Now if I remember right it was John Lazzar the fullback that would run the ball 70% of the time and every time they handed it off to him late in the game, the crowd would boo. He was limping a little but they kept giving him the ball. After the game Matt asked if my pee wee football friend and I if we wanted to go into the locker room.
We were dumb founded and of course said yes.
We would feel lucky if we could get a chinstrap or wrist band when games ended and they ran back to the locker room.
Anyway 3 things I still remember.
First he told us to wait while he went inside to see if it was ok. Then he brought us inside and Bob Cummings was in his office, door shut and no one could talk to him. Then I remember seeing the fullback sitting on a bench, shoulder pads off, shoes off and he was unwrapping his ankle tape I could see a spot of blood on the tape, after each unwrap that spot kept getting larger and larger until it was a bloody mess. Then, I thought to myself how many of the fans would have boo’ed if they knew what was wrong.

 

[Mohawkeye]

Commings passing attack was horrible.
I remember in Haydens 1st game the 5th year senior Suess completed a pass right away and the crowd went crazy as it was so rare in commings years.
Seuss never played until Hayden came in and he was respectable that year.
Commings was a HS coach trying to coach in the BIG. Nice guy tho and a good player for his size at Iowa.

I think he actually recruited some good talent. Guys like Dennis Moseley and Harty and Pete Gales. But his offense made BF’s look imaginative.

 

[unclesammy]

I listened to this game against the Natty Champs USCand some stats below. The hawks pushed USC all over the field offensively and were pretty stout defensively. Turnovers killed them. This USC team won that controversial Rose Bowl over OHio St and they crushed NDame.
IOWA USC
Total plays 91 44
First Downs 21 15
Yards rushing 249 118 (both include lost sack yards, etc)
Paaing-Att-Comp-Yds 17-9-114 USC 16-9-114
turnovers 5 2
Final Score 3 41

I remember that game too. On 1 play we were about to score from the 2 yard line, but fumbled into the endzone. They picked it up and ran over 100 yards for a touchdown. That's how that game went.

 

[Ronman]

I knew Bob Commings and he was very bitter about his firing. He had a garage sale and got rid of most of his Iowa stuff, and a bunch of his Massillon HS stuff. I came away with some nice items.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Jon Lazar was on those teams, wasn't he? I think he was leading rusher IIRC.

Dennis Mosley

Lazar was FB. Pete Gales at QB