Iowa 54th in Total Offense

[Champ_Kind_whammy]

We woulda won against moo u if defense didn't give up big plays. Much like they did against Troy.

The first part I struggle with, but I was pleased to see the OFFENSE bail out the defense against TROY. I asked for that in another post and they delivered. Now they have 25 years of backlog, so they need to keep doing that.
The first game of the yr felt sooooo good, because both sides delivered. Probably too much to ask that become a regular thing.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Will you stop this nonsense.

 

[BioHawk]

Lachey has to be frustrated with coming back to hardly any targets at the tightend position. I’m hoping Iowa is saving some sort of spread formations with their wide receivers to spread the field to help the passing game with the tight ends as well as the running game out of the backfield. Keeping Jaz healthy to this point helps in a long and tough B1G schedule.

I don't think he's where he was before the injury and may have lost a step. Even the announcers were saying how his run blocking wasn't where it needed to be.

 

[Champ_Kind_whammy]

I don't think he's where he was before the injury and may have lost a step. Even the announcers were saying how his run blocking wasn't where it needed to be.

I hope the coaches aren't saying "let's use Kamari and Jazz as run blockers instead of KJ and LW"
That just seems like a recipe for crippling your smaller backs.

 

[BioHawk]

I hope the coaches aren't saying "let's use Kamari and Jazz as run blockers instead of KJ and LW"
That just seems like a recipe for crippling your smaller backs.

Yeah, I have no idea. I don't have enough knowledge to evaluate that even if I had good footage of every play.

 

[Shafthawk]

I fear we haven’t seen the end of Cade struggling. Nor KF sticking with him, rather than seeing if Sully can provide a spark.

 

[eyesofhawk]

Hey, one person is impressed we beat Illinois State and Troy State. 🤣

Was just stating Iowa's record.

But yes, I'll take any and all wins

 

[ItsAllBallBearingsNowadays]

I see that ranking rapidly falling as competition picks up. The talent level from here on out will resemble closer to ISU than Illinois St or Troy. I think Johnson getting 100 yards will be huge as the passing game isn’t there yet….somehow.

Maybe but the competition is picking up for all P4 teams next week.

 

[swagsurfer02]

Maybe but the competition is picking up for all P4 teams next week.

I’m not sure how the competition picking up for all P4 teams makes our offense better though? I mean I can understand to an extent that it gets more difficult on people but at least recently our offense has struggled unless we are seeing some real changes. I would suggest that McNamara has really only put about 4 or 5 good quarters of football together.

It’s Kaleb Johnson that has actually made the offense not look terrible.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I’m not sure how the competition picking up for all P4 teams makes our offense better though? I mean I can understand to an extent that it gets more difficult on people but at least recently our offense has struggled unless we are seeing some real changes. I would suggest that McNamara has really only put about 4 or 5 good quarters of football together.

It’s Kaleb Johnson that has actually made the offense not look terrible.

Actually, I'd venture to say it's the new scheme and offensive coaching that has made the offense not look terrible............well, at least the run game.

 

[eyesofhawk]

Actually, I'd venture to say it's the new scheme and offensive coaching that has made the offense not look terrible............well, at least the run game.

Increased strength of the O-line too.

And the offense is nothing close to terrible

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

And the offense is nothing close to terrible

Ehhhhhhh.........save that thought for when we're a handful of games to B10 play where QB play is the reason everything is either working or making us miss 2017 OSU Brian Ferentz.

 

[jonesy5960]

The first part I struggle with, but I was pleased to see the OFFENSE bail out the defense against TROY. I asked for that in another post and they delivered. Now they have 25 years of backlog, so they need to keep doing that.
The first game of the yr felt sooooo good, because both sides delivered. Probably too much to ask that become a regular thing.

The Iowa defense that gave up all of 14 points needed bailing out (7 were vs special teams) ? I get it that those long pass plays are really concerning given how out of character they are for an Iowa defense, but 14 points isn't normally a bail out situation. It will still need to be somewhat dominant for them to win most games. The offense has looked a lot better than last year's debacle against bad teams, but it will struggle going forward if they can't improve the passing game. If the offense can break 20 vs next week's opponent it will be an encouraging sign that maybe a slightly less dominant defense will be enough to win a lot of games this year.

 

[Hawksofly101789]

The Iowa defense that gave up all of 14 points needed bailing out (7 were vs special teams) ? I get it that those long pass plays are really concerning given how out of character they are for an Iowa defense, but 14 points isn't normally a bail out situation. It will still need to be somewhat dominant for them to win most games. The offense has looked a lot better than last year's debacle against bad teams, but it will struggle going forward if they can't improve the passing game. If the offense can break 20 vs next week's opponent it will be an encouraging sign that maybe a slightly less dominant defense will be enough to win a lot of games this year.

I agree with everything here….the defensive backfield break downs are concerning for sure but even the best mess up…..both plays were not the CB’s fault the safety was supposed to be over top help on one but he drifted to the other side of the field instead. If Minnesota exposes our defense then I’d say we have an issue because supposedly they aren’t very good on the “O” side this year. But I do like the “new” look to the offense if we can maintain and stay in the top 75 offensively I like our chances to make the playoffs every couple years as long as we don’t play the top 3 teams in the conference in one year.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Taking the quality of competition into consideration, I do think the offense has improved significantly and I like a lot of the things Lester is doing that Brian apparently never even considered. If we had put in the goal line package with Sullivan, there's a very good chance we're 3-0 with a better offensive rating on the strength of 8 additional points from 2 TD's instead of field goals. The failure to sneak it on 1st and goal at the 1 was a massive brain fart by Lester, but at least he has shown that he can adapt and do things that make sense like using Sullivan on the goal line instead of Cade.

I think we have a legit chance of ending up in the top 80 in total offense this season. Not lighting the world on fire but still a definite improvement over the complete ineptitude of the last several years.

 

[Franisdaman]

Just think, Iowa could be #1 in offense if they could just schedule some junior high teams. Dumb thread. The tough teams are on the horizon. Let's see how that goes. Remember how Iowa mightily struggled against ISU? That was a better litmus test.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset !!!!!

 

[swagsurfer02]

Actually, I'd venture to say it's the new scheme and offensive coaching that has made the offense not look terrible............well, at least the run game.

Had we not rolled over and just decided to go into halftime down to Troy when clearly people were frustrated (fans sure, but McNarara was also visibly upset) I would agree with you.

 

[ItsAllBallBearingsNowadays]

I’m not sure how the competition picking up for all P4 teams makes our offense better though? I mean I can understand to an extent that it gets more difficult on people but at least recently our offense has struggled unless we are seeing some real changes. I would suggest that McNamara has really only put about 4 or 5 good quarters of football together.

It’s Kaleb Johnson that has actually made the offense not look terrible.

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying but I wouldn’t expect Iowa’s offense to be the only one’s whose numbers decline is my point. I’d venture to guess that most teams offensive numbers take a hit when they enter conference play. Therefore there’s not much of a shakeup in the rankings.

 

[LetsGoHawks83]

Had we not rolled over and just decided to go into halftime down to Troy when clearly people were frustrated (fans sure, but McNarara was also visibly upset) I would agree with you.

Watched the game replay last night and Cade was PISSED.

Losing to Troy with 1 minute left in the half and we pack it in and play wuss ball. The KF specialty.

Aren't these games supposed to be tune up games? Use that situation to try and drive for at least a FG. Trust your damn senior QB.

Otherwise, submit paperwork for retirement. FFS

 

[TampaHawkfan]

Keep in mind that last year's team was near the bottom of the country even early on.. Then when Hill became QB1, the team became dead last by a country mile. So it seems like a positive indicator to even be 54th even if the competition hasn't been that stellar. Last year's team was NEVER anywhere near 54th.

We'll see where they end up, but got to be an improvement from last year, even if they end up 90th or so.

 

[littlez]

Remember when we were dying to be in the 90's? We're 54. I know someone who has more time could look it up but when was the last time we were ranked that high, no matter at what point in a season? Does the passing game need work? Of course it does. We've got a raggedy armed QB and no receivers. So to somehow still be ranked 54 is pretty damn good. Some of you guys have been saying forever to just run the ball. The last few years we've averaged about 3 yards a run? We ran the ball 45 times for 284 yards on Saturday. We couldn't do that last year against a Junior High school team. So whatever Lester is doing is a HUGE improvement over last year.

 

[pistachio1999]

Watched the game replay last night and Cade was PISSED.

Losing to Troy with 1 minute left in the half and we pack it in and play wuss ball. The KF specialty.

Aren't these games supposed to be tune up games? Use that situation to try and drive for at least a FG. Trust your damn senior QB.

Otherwise, submit paperwork for retirement. FFS

Kirk wanted to get to the locker room so he could blister ass.

 

[hawkeyemark18]

Remember when we were dying to be in the 90's? We're 54. I know someone who has more time could look it up but when was the last time we were ranked that high, no matter at what point in a season? Does the passing game need work? Of course it does. We've got a raggedy armed QB and no receivers. So to somehow still be ranked 54 is pretty damn good. Some of you guys have been saying forever to just run the ball. The last few years we've averaged about 3 yards a run? We ran the ball 45 times for 284 yards on Saturday. We couldn't do that last year against a Junior High school team. So whatever Lester is doing is a HUGE improvement over last year.

I totally agree with you. Interesting to read where Kirk said talking about the Sullivan package that we have to score when we get down to the 5 yard line. That seems kind of new to me. Yet he took a knee at the end of the first half.

Still risk averse by nature yet willingly to work with Lester at the same time. The pistol formation I think blew everybody away.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

I agree with everything here….the defensive backfield break downs are concerning for sure but even the best mess up…..both plays were not the CB’s fault the safety was supposed to be over top help on one but he drifted to the other side of the field instead. If Minnesota exposes our defense then I’d say we have an issue because supposedly they aren’t very good on the “O” side this year. But I do like the “new” look to the offense if we can maintain and stay in the top 75 offensively I like our chances to make the playoffs every couple years as long as we don’t play the top 3 teams in the conference in one year.

I disagree that Hall wasn’t at fault. Watching the replay he bit on the quick out jab step and the guy blew by him both times. It certainly looked like he had man to man coverage, for sure on the first one and likely both times.

 

[JerNHawk]

Minnesota has the #5 ranked defense so I guess we are going to find out.

By comparison the amazing Nebraska offense with Patrick Mahomes Jr. is ranked #50.

I call him Cubic Zirconia Mahomes. I’ve never seen anyone try to copy every little thing from someone the way this kid copies everything Mahomes. Now that he even copied his pregame ritual, it’s officially in the “it’s gotten weird” stage.

 

[acuhawk]

Too early to tell anything at this point but that stat seems a very positive indicator. That does include one game against a pretty salty defense in Iowa State where many of us felt we had some questionable play calling. We will see game by game progression and we as fans just need to enjoy seeing the offense get better.

I agree with your point except saying the clowns have a salty defense. How many linebackers are they missing? People need to let the season play out against some better competition before giving out final offensive grades.

 

[joelbc1]

Just think, Iowa could be #1 in offense if they could just schedule some junior high teams. Dumb thread. The tough teams are on the horizon. Let's see how that goes. Remember how Iowa mightily struggled against ISU? That was a better litmus test.

“A thousand mile journey starts with a single step”….

 

[littlez]

“A thousand mile journey starts with a single step”….

True. @texas twister it’s not a dumb thread. Against similar competition last year we couldn’t move the ball on the ground or the air. Yes, the meltdowns inside the 3 yard line against Iowa St killed us. And I think Lester outsmarted himself there. But it’s disingenuous to say there’s not been huge improvement in the running game. No matter who we’re playing. Are we going to need to be able to throw the ball better? Hell yes. But with our receivers and QB that we have it’s not going to be great. But it sure as Hell beats the last 3 years.

 

[Old Uncle Teddy]

Going from 134 to 54 is jumping 79 programs...that's enormous improvement.

Judging from video only I opine Sullivan has a stronger arm. Stronger arm and better runner. We will know a QB debate really exists if we see Sullivan playing a series, for example. On the other hand, McN is completing 63% and is coming off a 19/23 game. So McN isn't missing a lot of passes. McN has not thrown a lot of interceptions or lost fumbles. Iowa can win pretty big for Iowa with that kind of quarterbacking. The key is completing a very high percentage of 10–20-yard passes, and that keeps the ball moving forward.

 

[hawkeyemark18]

I agree with your point except saying the clowns have a salty defense. How many linebackers are they missing? People need to let the season play out against some better competition before giving out final offensive grades.

I thought overall Iowa State played pretty well on defense even missing the linebackers. Agree with your point on the offensive grades. This just gives us a snapshot of where things sit for now.

 

[2D_]

Lester magic!

Let's hope it continues into B1G play, because we're going to need it.

 

[AEG82]

Keep in mind that last year's team was near the bottom of the country even early on.. Then when Hill became QB1, the team became dead last by a country mile. So it seems like a positive indicator to even be 54th even if the competition hasn't been that stellar. Last year's team was NEVER anywhere near 54th.

We'll see where they end up, but got to be an improvement from last year, even if they end up 90th or so.

I agree. It's definitely much better than last year already. We can at least get first downs.

I recall entire halves where we got one or less. I'll never forget. It haunts me.

Much happier where we are now but there's still a lot of work to do. Lester is doing alright thus far IMO.

 

[pistachio1999]

Hey we have a C average kid now!

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Hey we have a C average kid now!

I hear those are typically the least expensive......