Iowa Law's Objective Post-Game Comments: Penn State

[iowalaw]

This one stings a bit. We played as well as anyone could have imagined, and were in it until the end against a top 3 team. Not bad for a Hawkeye team most projected for a middle of the pack Big 10 team. The sad part is, we really should have won this one if it weren't for a little thing here and a little thing there.

1. Wadley - It was quite a showdown between the two best backs we will see all year. Wadley did everything he could to carry the team on his shoulders like he did last year against Michigan, but it wasn't quite enough. His coaches didn't exactly put him in a position to succeed in the first half, having him run up the middle against 10 men in the box over and over again. Barkley had 211 yards rushing and 94 yards receiving...mostly yards after contact against a pretty tough Hawkeye defense. Look for Barkley to be on a lot of fantasy football rosters in the NFL next year...but man we are going to miss Wadley. He's truly a once in a generation RB at Iowa.

2. Brian Ferentz Play Calling - I think most objective fans believed Brian was in over his head when his dad promoted him to OC despite having never called a single play in his life and only even being OL coach for a few years. Well, it showed, at Iowa's expense. The Iowa offense came out in the first half absolutely clueless. Really, Brian...you didn't know Penn State would stack the box and make us throw? We were utterly confused out there running up the middle time and time again despite Penn State being 2 yards into the backfield before Wadley could even touch the ball. Running on first and 10 meant we had 2nd and 11 over and over throughout the game. Not enough play action to keep them honest, and we mustered like 6 yards rushing at halftime. The icing on the cake was calling a pitch to Wadley from inside our own 1 yard line. Dear lord, talk about randying around! That play alone cost us the game, and anyone who defends Brian on that boneheaded call knows nothing about football.

3. Stanley's Audibles - Stanley is going to be a great QB one day. He already has the poise of a guy much older, and his arm and decision making are going to win Iowa a lot of games over the next 3 years. But am I the only one who noticed that each and every time he called an audible, he changed the play to a run up the middle, for which we would lose at least 2 yards? If you look back at the tape, I'm guessing he called 8 audibles, for 8 runs (zero passes), for a total of - 16 yards. If I could call it from a mile away, you'd better believe the defenses saw this and laughed.

4. LB Play - Josey Jewell is one of my all time favorite Hawks. He plays with heart that far exceeds his athletic ability. 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, an int. The guy was everywhere. But it's quite frustrating when you have one LB who seems to be in on every play...you've got a guy standing next to him that has started equally as many games in Bo Bower who never ever seems to be in on a play. How can that be? The guys stand 2 feet apart from each other on the field at the beginning of every play! It's time to take away Bower's union card and give someone else a chance.

5. DBs - I really liked how well the DBs played against a top QB and top notch WRs. Hooker had 11 solo tackles and was extremely physical. Rugamba and Taylor had 9 and 7 tackles respectively, and gave Penn State WRs fits, for the most part. We forced Barkley out of the backfield to be their only major receiving threat, which is quite a feat.

6. OL Play - What happened to our OL this year? They were the most hyped unit on the team coming into the season, but did you see many big holes for Wadley to run through? I didn't. They held the wall pretty well in pass protection, as Stanley's pocket awareness continues to improve, but for a line with 3 or 4 future NFLers on it, you would think that they wouldn't allow immediate penetration on almost every run play. If Wadley were running behind PSU's 330lb avg OL, imagine the damage he could do!

All in all, I will feel like I was sucker punched in the gut all week, but at the end of the day, I think we all now realize that this year's team is legit and has a shot at a rematch in the Big 10 Title game after this gutty performance. Let's hope the night game atmosphere and the electric crowd were not a one time thing, as we have a lot of football left to play this year.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

I think you are pretty spot on for the most part.

I disagree somewhat with the assessment of the offensive line. I'm not an expert on offensive line play or zone blocking schemes, but the math seems pretty simple to me: 8 or 9 defenders in the box and selling out to stop the run on 1st down vs 5 OL (and whatever TEs) = offensive line outmatched. I will add, given the criticism of the OL in the past, that they did a pretty good job of pass protecting Stanley last night.

I think the simple fact is 1) Iowa was playing the #4 team in the country (who happens to have the most explosive player in college football) and 2) all things considered played a remarkable game. I think the one thing that stands out, if you want to be critical, is, as you mentioned, the play calling. It took Iowa almost 2 and 2/3 of a quarter to break tendencies (running play on 1st down) and actually open things up a bit. Especially given how well the OL was pass blocking, Iowa should have went to pass mode to establish the run long before the final minutes of the 3rd quarter. Stanley's audibles are an unknown factor as far as what play he was checking out of (we assume pass but he may have just been changing the part of the formation Iowa was running to). But, overall, the play calling left a lot to be desired (IMHO).

 

[HawkNole09]

I agree with most points.

But, Brian made calls for the most part that needed to be called. It was obvious that the game plan was to run clock while we were within striking distance, and limit the dangerous thows across the middle. As the game progressed he open things up just a bit -- to give Nate the highest chance for success and give the team, who were at a slight disadvantage the opportunity to win the ball game.

Sequon Barkley is a once in a generational player.

But I'd feel really good about a rematch:
1) We schemed the RPO pretty well. Give up yards not touchdowns.
2) Our DL is going to continues to get stronger with experience and staying fresher than they have in years past.
3) Our secondary took a huge step forward with Hooker. We've got corners that we're comfortable with, and who have good technique.
4) Our young guys on offense are just getting their feet wet -- Marsette, IKM, Young, Smith, Hockenson, Jackson, Wirfs WILL develop to differing degrees over the course over the year. Their learning curve will be steeper than the average SO, JR, SR.
5) And finally, our QB is going to be much more comfortable and improved. The coaches will have developed more trust in his game, and the offense will be more varied in its approach.

It was a tough loss. But, it was one of those rare games, where even though we lost, we executed a great game plan. I walked out feeling better about our team than I did walking in. I had PSU at about 34 and us at 20.

 

[And1Hawk]

I agree on some points but disagree on others. By far in mind is the disappointment with the OL in the run game. Specifically the guards. We have a young LT and Welsch is out of position at RT but playing his heart out. I've yet to see any physicality and nastiness from the guards. Despite all the other points if we could have moved the ball some on the ground we could have won the game. Wadley needs only a crease to take it to the house. Our interior lineman have been getting handled all year and pushed into our own backfield. Stop with the excuses and put some tough SOBs in there. Forget the technique bull crap and block someone. You can't run the football with that kind of penetration that keeps happening.

The only play call aspects I had a problem with is not going down the field more. There were ample opportunities to make big plays as PSU had everyone up to stop the run and the short passing game. The first offensive play should have been a play action bomb to ISM. When you are the under dog you have to seize momentum early with the crowd juiced. PSU is very vulnerable to the big play based on their D and when we threw down field good things happened most of the time. This is how USC torched them in the Rose Bowl. What happened to 'attack'???? Brian will learn this lesson.

 

[Johnsoda123]

Poor field position all night long dictated the play calling.

The safety kept us in the game. Allowed us to flip the field, one of the few times that happened.

Stanley will learn. He got fooled several times thinking a blitz was coming. He audibled out of a pass to a run.

 

[HawkIDrummer]

the audible into the run for no gain is a KFz signature. It's never going away.

 

[Johnsoda123]

the audible into the run for no gain is a KFz signature. It's never going away.

You think KF is calling the audible? K.

 

[dekhawk]

Hawks will win one they shouldn't and lose one the game shouldn't. Unfortunately the one they shouldn't win was last night, so that ones gone. The other half , lose one they shouldn't is still to come.

While a great game last night , the defense gave up almost 600 yards. That does not bode well for the season

 

[HawkIDrummer]

You think KF is calling the audible? K.

Yeah, sure. JFC.

Three offensive coordinators...many quarterbacks... the pattern hasn't changed. I think it's fair to say the Head Coach wants it, and as such...the QB is coached to do it.

 

[madmustang4]

Until Stanley can generate a more consistent passing game, the opposition will stack the box and lead some to believe the O line is not very good.
Weakest link right now is punting.

 

[greenelite]

The OL play (actually it was the Penn State DL play) caused Brian to turtle in the first half. We left the first half with the lead... somehow. The defense played inspired football and give it all they got.

That PSU front 4 is nasty.

 

[speed4power]

You think KF is calling the audible? K.

Why don't we ever audible into a pass play that takes advantage of the blitz, rather than a run every time for no gain?

 

[Herky T Hawk]

To defend the play calling on offense...

Remember that we didn’t drive past midfield until the second half drive that ended with a Wadley fumble. We were stuck with absolutely horrible field position for the entire first half until the interception that we scored off of. First play where we had good position ended up with a big pass downfield and a touchdown. Honestly I think our punter really hurt us last night. He never once flipped field position for us, although he had one or two in the second half that put PSU deep. But we ran ultra vanilla offense, which was easy to stop, to avoid throwing interceptions deep in our own territory. The kind of thing that KF knows would kill us in a game against a top opponent.

As for the safety, that might have helped us more than it hurt. Face it we weren’t going to do much down there and they were going to bring the heat, so we likely would have punted and they start a drive on our side of the 50 with a good shot at 3 to 7 points. So we effectively sacrificed 2 knowing our defense would have a shot at stopping them after a kickoff and gaining better field position in the process. I’m guessing it wasn’t planned, but KF has taken safeties intentionally before.

 

[scotthawk1964]

Iowa law has spoken, we can now officially put Penn State behind us now.

 

[HawkLogic]

I agree with most points.

But, Brian made calls for the most part that needed to be called. It was obvious that the game plan was to run clock while we were within striking distance, and limit the dangerous thows across the middle. As the game progressed he open things up just a bit -- to give Nate the highest chance for success and give the team, who were at a slight disadvantage the opportunity to win the ball game.

Sequon Barkley is a once in a generational player.

But I'd feel really good about a rematch:
1) We schemed the RPO pretty well. Give up yards not touchdowns.
2) Our DL is going to continues to get stronger with experience and staying fresher than they have in years past.
3) Our secondary took a huge step forward with Hooker. We've got corners that we're comfortable with, and who have good technique.
4) Our young guys on offense are just getting their feet wet -- Marsette, IKM, Young, Smith, Hockenson, Jackson, Wirfs WILL develop to differing degrees over the course over the year. Their learning curve will be steeper than the average SO, JR, SR.
5) And finally, our QB is going to be much more comfortable and improved. The coaches will have developed more trust in his game, and the offense will be more varied in its approach.

It was a tough loss. But, it was one of those rare games, where even though we lost, we executed a great game plan. I walked out feeling better about our team than I did walking in. I had PSU at about 34 and us at 20.

You don't burn clock by going 3 and out. So if you think it was smart to run into a PSU selling out to stop the run, the stats say different. Look at the time of possession being huge in PSU favor--your argument fails.

Iowa ran on 1st and 2nd down and then were in 3rd and long all the 1st half. The Audibles were not successful, so you can't really defend those. An early big overthrow by Stanley and drop by Vandenberg in 1st couple series did make Brian's job more difficult.
The lone TD in 1st half was a deep throw on 1st down and the other two TDs were Iowa again doing the unexpected....a TD pass to wadley releasing on a blitz and a mis-direction run on a last Iowa drive when PSU was expecting pass or zone stretch play.

 

[speed4power]

You don't burn clock by going 3 and out. So if you think it was smart to run into a PSU selling out to stop the run, the stats say different.

Iowa ran on 1st and 2nd down and then were in 3rd and long all the 1st half.

This. This. This.

I understand the strategy of run the ball early and often against a theoretically superior opponent, to shorten the game.

BUT if they are stuffing the run you have to adapt earlier. Incorporate more passes and stretch the field. Refusing to pass on early downs and putting yourself in 3rd and long for the first three quarters is not generally a winning strategy. We were lucky that game was as close as it was because we did nothing offensively for most of the game, even though we could have in the passing game.

 

[jo2knight]

Looks like the Iowa Defense is checking in at #78 out of 129 FBS teams at 398 yards per game they give up. We aren't exactly stopping our opponents. I'm not really thrilled we are getting into shoot outs.

 

[iowalaw]

Having the #78 defense after a cupcake non-conference schedule and 1 Big 10 game does not bode well for the rest of the schedule. After our game, Wyoming lost to Oregon by 40 pts and beat Hawaii in overtime...and North Texas gave up 54 points to SMU and 43 points to UAB.

We are going to have to develop a solid passing game to stay in games against upper echelon opponents. It's time to start playing Pac 12/Big 12 ball to win games.

Looks like the Iowa Defense is checking in at #78 out of 129 FBS teams at 398 yards per game they give up. We aren't exactly stopping our opponents. I'm not really thrilled we are getting into shoot outs.

 

[David1979]

Having the #78 defense after a cupcake nonconference schedule and 1 Big 10 game does not bode well for the rest of the schedule, where we are actually playing against Big 10 QBs, RBs and WRs. We are going to have to develop a solid passing game to stay in games against upper echelon opponents.

You are funny.

 

[Hawk24]

Play calling wasn't the issue....execution was. From Chad Leistikow after re-watching the game:

"After Akrum Wadley was tackled for a second-quarter safety to give Penn State a 5-0 lead, ABC announcer Kirk Herbstreit said this of Penn State’s defense: “They do not respect the Hawkeyes’ ability right now to throw, and they are attacking the line of scrimmage, and attacking the running game. Makes it so hard on Wadley and this offensive line.”

That was a common postgame criticism in Hawkeye circles: Why didn’t offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz loosen up Penn State’s defense with the passing game?

Upon review, he tried.

And when the execution was there, it worked. When it wasn’t, it failed.

Iowa’s first four possessions were sabotaged by a lack of basic execution in the passing game.

Possession 1: On Iowa’s second play, quarterback Nate Stanley had Matt VandeBerg wide open over the middle for at least a 20-yard game. The throw sailed high. Third-and-9, then punt.

Possession 2: The first play of the drive from Iowa’s own 10 was a safe pass to VandeBerg in the right flat. He dropped it. Instead of a healthy 6-yard gain on first down, it was second-and-10. Two plays later, punt.

Possession 3: On the first play after Iowa got its initial first down, Stanley had VandeBerg open on a short crossing pattern. The throw was slightly off, but VandeBerg flat-out dropped it. Two plays later, punt.

Possession 4: On third-and-7, Stanley's pass hit freshman Ihmir Smith-Marsette over the middle in the hands. Dropped. Iowa was flagged for offensive pass interference, which was declined. Punt.

Once Iowa cleaned up mistakes, the passing game clicked – and so did the running game.

After a 1-for-8 start, Stanley completed 12 of his final 14 attempts for 178 yards.

That opened up the run, as Herbstreit suggested. After Wadley's first 11 carries netted minus-3 yards rushing, his final eight produced 83.

One of Stanley’s final two incompletions? A high third-quarter throw to wide-open Nick Easley that was initially ruled an interception. That turned into a key three-and-out, with Iowa trailing, 15-7.

“Great play call there by Ferentz; execution just off,” Herbstreit observed. “Ball just floated a little bit for Stanley. ... If the execution’s there, that’s a big gain.”

Bottom line: If you’re down on Brian Ferentz’s play-calling, think again.

The calls were there; the connections weren’t. And it all ties together. Instead of long drives – Iowa entered the game sixth nationally in time of possession – Iowa had too many three-and-outs and held the ball for only 20:21 of game clock."

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Yeah, sure. JFC.

Three offensive coordinators...many quarterbacks... the pattern hasn't changed. I think it's fair to say the Head Coach wants it, and as such...the QB is coached to do it.

LOL...I'm imagining Kirk in a meeting with the other coaches: "Oh, and if we audible, I want to stick with that one for no gain. I really like that play."

 

[Tacticalhawk]

This one stings a bit. We played as well as anyone could have imagined, and were in it until the end against a top 3 team. Not bad for a Hawkeye team most projected for a middle of the pack Big 10 team. The sad part is, we really should have won this one if it weren't for a little thing here and a little thing there.

1. Wadley - It was quite a showdown between the two best backs we will see all year. Wadley did everything he could to carry the team on his shoulders like he did last year against Michigan, but it wasn't quite enough. His coaches didn't exactly put him in a position to succeed in the first half, having him run up the middle against 10 men in the box over and over again. Barkley had 211 yards rushing and 94 yards receiving...mostly yards after contact against a pretty tough Hawkeye defense. Look for Barkley to be on a lot of fantasy football rosters in the NFL next year...but man we are going to miss Wadley. He's truly a once in a generation RB at Iowa.

2. Brian Ferentz Play Calling - I think most objective fans believed Brian was in over his head when his dad promoted him to OC despite having never called a single play in his life and only even being OL coach for a few years. Well, it showed, at Iowa's expense. The Iowa offense came out in the first half absolutely clueless. Really, Brian...you didn't know Penn State would stack the box and make us throw? We were utterly confused out there running up the middle time and time again despite Penn State being 2 yards into the backfield before Wadley could even touch the ball. Running on first and 10 meant we had 2nd and 11 over and over throughout the game. Not enough play action to keep them honest, and we mustered like 6 yards rushing at halftime. The icing on the cake was calling a pitch to Wadley from inside our own 1 yard line. Dear lord, talk about randying around! That play alone cost us the game, and anyone who defends Brian on that boneheaded call knows nothing about football.

3. Stanley's Audibles - Stanley is going to be a great QB one day. He already has the poise of a guy much older, and his arm and decision making are going to win Iowa a lot of games over the next 3 years. But am I the only one who noticed that each and every time he called an audible, he changed the play to a run up the middle, for which we would lose at least 2 yards? If you look back at the tape, I'm guessing he called 8 audibles, for 8 runs (zero passes), for a total of - 16 yards. If I could call it from a mile away, you'd better believe the defenses saw this and laughed.

4. LB Play - Josey Jewell is one of my all time favorite Hawks. He plays with heart that far exceeds his athletic ability. 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, an int. The guy was everywhere. But it's quite frustrating when you have one LB who seems to be in on every play...you've got a guy standing next to him that has started equally as many games in Bo Bower who never ever seems to be in on a play. How can that be? The guys stand 2 feet apart from each other on the field at the beginning of every play! It's time to take away Bower's union card and give someone else a chance.

5. DBs - I really liked how well the DBs played against a top QB and top notch WRs. Hooker had 11 solo tackles and was extremely physical. Rugamba and Taylor had 9 and 7 tackles respectively, and gave Penn State WRs fits, for the most part. We forced Barkley out of the backfield to be their only major receiving threat, which is quite a feat.

6. OL Play - What happened to our OL this year? They were the most hyped unit on the team coming into the season, but did you see many big holes for Wadley to run through? I didn't. They held the wall pretty well in pass protection, as Stanley's pocket awareness continues to improve, but for a line with 3 or 4 future NFLers on it, you would think that they wouldn't allow immediate penetration on almost every run play. If Wadley were running behind PSU's 330lb avg OL, imagine the damage he could do!

All in all, I will feel like I was sucker punched in the gut all week, but at the end of the day, I think we all now realize that this year's team is legit and has a shot at a rematch in the Big 10 Title game after this gutty performance. Let's hope the night game atmosphere and the electric crowd were not a one time thing, as we have a lot of football left to play this year.

First off what makes you a good troll is you mix it up. I really dont believe this is a troll post.

#2) I disagree. I do believe his play call was a gamble but its not that horrendous in my eyes. I do believe the result was horrendous though.

#3) couldnt agree more. This is not on Stanley though. This was also happening with CJ. If you need more details feel free to ask. I will be hapoy to educate!

#6) see #3 as to why you feel bad about our offensive line.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Looks like the Iowa Defense is checking in at #78 out of 129 FBS teams at 398 yards per game they give up. We aren't exactly stopping our opponents. I'm not really thrilled we are getting into shoot outs.

The only game so far I'd call a "shoot out" would be ISU.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Having the #78 defense after a cupcake non-conference schedule and 1 Big 10 game does not bode well for the rest of the schedule. After our game, Wyoming lost to Oregon by 40 pts and beat Hawaii in overtime...and North Texas gave up 54 points to SMU and 43 points to UAB.

We are going to have to develop a solid passing game to stay in games against upper echelon opponents. It's time to start playing Pac 12/Big 12 ball to win games.

Don't forget the pretty much everyone else is playing cupcake non-conference schedules. Saturday we had horrible field position for most of the first half that really hamstrung our offense. I'm honestly not worried about the O. We ran some pass plays on those early possessions to loosen up the D, but they were doomed by execution mistakes. Clean those up and the overall game probably looks considerably different as we could have dug out of the hole, kept some drives alive and upped our TOP.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Penn State defensive backs were crashing HARD on the cutback lanes for Wadley in the first half especially. Iowa did nothing to stop it or make them pay.

 

[cecilB]

message boards never fail to deliver.

 

[Herkmeister]

Having the #78 defense after a cupcake non-conference schedule and 1 Big 10 game does not bode well for the rest of the schedule. After our game, Wyoming lost to Oregon by 40 pts and beat Hawaii in overtime...and North Texas gave up 54 points to SMU and 43 points to UAB.

We are going to have to develop a solid passing game to stay in games against upper echelon opponents. It's time to start playing Pac 12/Big 12 ball to win games.

Damn I wish I'd gone to law school. They didn't teach us any of this stuff where I went to school.

Well done Iowalaw.

 

[F6n6]

I think IowaLow is referring to this...
when he talks about how poor a player Bo Bower is

 

[j0nnyhb_Prime]

Play calling wasn't the issue....execution was. From Chad Leistikow after re-watching the game:

"After Akrum Wadley was tackled for a second-quarter safety to give Penn State a 5-0 lead, ABC announcer Kirk Herbstreit said this of Penn State’s defense: “They do not respect the Hawkeyes’ ability right now to throw, and they are attacking the line of scrimmage, and attacking the running game. Makes it so hard on Wadley and this offensive line.”

That was a common postgame criticism in Hawkeye circles: Why didn’t offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz loosen up Penn State’s defense with the passing game?

Upon review, he tried.

And when the execution was there, it worked. When it wasn’t, it failed.

Iowa’s first four possessions were sabotaged by a lack of basic execution in the passing game.

Possession 1: On Iowa’s second play, quarterback Nate Stanley had Matt VandeBerg wide open over the middle for at least a 20-yard game. The throw sailed high. Third-and-9, then punt.

Possession 2: The first play of the drive from Iowa’s own 10 was a safe pass to VandeBerg in the right flat. He dropped it. Instead of a healthy 6-yard gain on first down, it was second-and-10. Two plays later, punt.

Possession 3: On the first play after Iowa got its initial first down, Stanley had VandeBerg open on a short crossing pattern. The throw was slightly off, but VandeBerg flat-out dropped it. Two plays later, punt.

Possession 4: On third-and-7, Stanley's pass hit freshman Ihmir Smith-Marsette over the middle in the hands. Dropped. Iowa was flagged for offensive pass interference, which was declined. Punt.

Once Iowa cleaned up mistakes, the passing game clicked – and so did the running game.

After a 1-for-8 start, Stanley completed 12 of his final 14 attempts for 178 yards.

That opened up the run, as Herbstreit suggested. After Wadley's first 11 carries netted minus-3 yards rushing, his final eight produced 83.

One of Stanley’s final two incompletions? A high third-quarter throw to wide-open Nick Easley that was initially ruled an interception. That turned into a key three-and-out, with Iowa trailing, 15-7.

“Great play call there by Ferentz; execution just off,” Herbstreit observed. “Ball just floated a little bit for Stanley. ... If the execution’s there, that’s a big gain.”

Bottom line: If you’re down on Brian Ferentz’s play-calling, think again.

The calls were there; the connections weren’t. And it all ties together. Instead of long drives – Iowa entered the game sixth nationally in time of possession – Iowa had too many three-and-outs and held the ball for only 20:21 of game clock."

This is a great post! I would rather have iowalaw banned and have hawk24 take over the "object" post game posts.

 

[herk90]

You seem to forget the two dropped balls in the first quarter. Different game if those balls are caught. Hawks just took the best team in the BIG to the finish. Those plays need to be made to beat a team like that. There will be calls that don't work but when a good call is made you have to execute.