Iowa at Northwestern set for 11 AM kickoff on 10/21
- Thread starter Blair Sanderson
- Start date
Its hard to put pressure on a spread passing attach where the ball gets out in under 2 to 2.5 seconds most of the time. I think selling out to pressure the passer is a bad strategy, and yet, sitting back in a straight zone is not much better, almost certainty invites another 90 plus plays from our opponent. Against the Turtles, it seamed like when Thornson had time and couldn't find an open vertical route in the zone, he hit the drag pattern from a slot receiver a lot, for 5 to 12 yards (almost 1 out of every 3 of his total completions). Even when it seemed like there was tight man to man coverage, an unpressed Thornson's accuracy was impressive, perhaps his best game of the year. Ouch.
Agreed. A balanced ball control offense (mixing up the run and pass on first down) staying on or ahead of schedule (2nd and short), avoiding penalties and turnovers, are the most important ingredients to keeping our ToP high, D fresh and the Cats score low.
On D, I look for a mix of man under zone schemes, nickle and dime packages, and sad to say, mostly our base 4 man rush although mixing up and hiding their initial alignment. While I hope to see several knock downs from our D-ends and an occasional blitz from Jewel, Bowers or a Strong safety, stopping them on 1st down will be key, getting them behind the chains changes the time needed to throw sightly deeper routes giving D-line slightly more time to get to the QB or disturb his throw, and slightly more time for LBs and DBs to react to routes.
I see the Hawks being more effective stopping Jackson and better in our coverage then Maryland. In the end, the Hawks will have to score over 30 and keep the Cats under 30 to win the game.Both very doable.
I know, I know, "No sh!t Sherlock!"
Agreed. A balanced ball control offense (mixing up the run and pass on first down) staying on or ahead of schedule (2nd and short), avoiding penalties and turnovers, are the most important ingredients to keeping our ToP high, D fresh and the Cats score low.
On D, I look for a mix of man under zone schemes, nickle and dime packages, and sad to say, mostly our base 4 man rush although mixing up and hiding their initial alignment. While I hope to see several knock downs from our D-ends and an occasional blitz from Jewel, Bowers or a Strong safety, stopping them on 1st down will be key, getting them behind the chains changes the time needed to throw sightly deeper routes giving D-line slightly more time to get to the QB or disturb his throw, and slightly more time for LBs and DBs to react to routes.
I see the Hawks being more effective stopping Jackson and better in our coverage then Maryland. In the end, the Hawks will have to score over 30 and keep the Cats under 30 to win the game.Both very doable.
I know, I know, "No sh!t Sherlock!"
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Fitzgerald has the kind of Offense that exploits zone coverage,Jackson only makes it more effective, and when all that clicks, it has been a long day for the Hawks in recent history. I'd like to see Hesse, Nelson, Eppy dropping back into that drag pattern zone occasionally along with other possible tipped passes that could result in a big play or two that could make the difference. Lets hope.
