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Iowa passing game could be special.

pkongsh

pkongsh

HB Heisman
Dec 28, 2004
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ISM needs to find consistency, but not many people (including no recent Iowa players) make that TD catch he made against ISU. Elite athleticism. Smith has similar tools but also size. Easley is solid and I believe Cooper along with a few others will provide solid depth with upside. At WR, take away Smith and Marsette and I think that's what we're typically heading into a season with... some guys who might be good. It's great that we only need a couple to emerge for depth out of that group behind the starters.

Two NFL tight ends, and my pick to be a surprise contributor this year is Cook. He is a phenomenal athlete and is growing into his frame. I think he'll fly under the radar and flash this season in relief of our stars at this position. I understand we have additional talent that could prevent that, which only speaks to our deep talent at TE.

Throw Wagner in as a wildcard wr, te, h-back... I don't care, if he exhibits the ball skills we all hope, split him out and let him rebound a few critical 1st downs and td's.

I don't know if IKM can run routes downfield like Wadley, but as long as he and Young can catch screens and pass block, our level of success will hinge on Stanley achieving overall consistency and deep ball accuracy. If he improves, behind this line, we could see the best passing game (and overall offense) that we've seen in a long time.

Lastly, we need better consistency from BF as well. He's smart and I trust him. If he gains confidence and builds upon the things we all saw that worked last season, and (dare I say) embraces the type of unpredictability that we typically do not have but did see at times... it could be a special season.

Or they could break my heart again, I'm not placing any bets. :)
 
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pkongsh said:
ISM needs to find consistency, but not many people (including no recent Iowa players) make that TD catch he made against ISU. Elite athleticism. Smith has similar tools but also size. Easley is solid and I believe Cooper along with a few others will provide solid depth with upside. At WR, take away Smith and Marsette and I think that's what we're typically heading into a season with... some guys who might be good. It's great that we only need a couple to emerge for depth out of that group behind the starters.

Two NFL tight ends, and my pick to be a surprise contributor this year is Cook. He is a phenomenal athlete and is growing into his frame. I think he'll fly under the radar and flash this season in relief of our stars at this position. I understand we have additional talent that could prevent that, which only speaks to our deep talent at TE.

Throw Wagner in as a wildcard wr, te, h-back... I don't care, if he exhibits the ball skills we all hope, split him out and let him rebound a few critical 1st downs and td's.

I don't know if IKM can run routes downfield like Wadley, but as long as he and Young can catch screens and pass block, our level of success will hinge on Stanley achieving overall consistency and deep ball accuracy. If he improves, behind this line, we could see the best passing game (and overall offense) that we've seen in a long time.

Lastly, we need better consistency from BF as well. He's smart and I trust him. If he gains confidence and builds upon the things we all saw that worked last season, and (dare I say) embraces the type of unpredictability that we typically do not have but did see at times... it could be a special season.

Or they could break my heart again, I'm not placing any bets. :)
Click to expand...
I'd settle for a 'good' or 'consistently solid' passing attack. That would give them a good 'chance' at 9+ wins.
 
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pkongsh said:
ISM needs to find consistency, but not many people (including no recent Iowa players) make that TD catch he made against ISU. Elite athleticism. Smith has similar tools but also size. Easley is solid and I believe Cooper along with a few others will provide solid depth with upside. At WR, take away Smith and Marsette and I think that's what we're typically heading into a season with... some guys who might be good. It's great that we only need a couple to emerge for depth out of that group behind the starters.

Two NFL tight ends, and my pick to be a surprise contributor this year is Cook. He is a phenomenal athlete and is growing into his frame. I think he'll fly under the radar and flash this season in relief of our stars at this position. I understand we have additional talent that could prevent that, which only speaks to our deep talent at TE.

Throw Wagner in as a wildcard wr, te, h-back... I don't care, if he exhibits the ball skills we all hope, split him out and let him rebound a few critical 1st downs and td's.

I don't know if IKM can run routes downfield like Wadley, but as long as he and Young can catch screens and pass block, our level of success will hinge on Stanley achieving overall consistency and deep ball accuracy. If he improves, behind this line, we could see the best passing game (and overall offense) that we've seen in a long time.

Lastly, we need better consistency from BF as well. He's smart and I trust him. If he gains confidence and builds upon the things we all saw that worked last season, and (dare I say) embraces the type of unpredictability that we typically do not have but did see at times... it could be a special season.

Or they could break my heart again, I'm not placing any bets. :)[/QUOTE Losing James HUGE.
]
Click to expand...
 
I'll be fascinated to see how Iowa's passing game develops. This might be the first season where we see Iowa's TE receiving numbers eclipse 1000 yards. On the flip side ... maybe all the attention that our TEs will garner will open up more opportunities for our passing game to the WRs. I have no idea what to expect ... but it's exciting to anticipate that Stanley should be an improved player (and his OL will likely be better too).
 
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My big hope is that we see as much pre-snap motion as we did against Ohio State, and as varied as we saw against Ohio State. That game really reminded me of the Hawkeye game against North Dakota State a few years ago, where they had a ton of different types of motion out of the same set, and it kept us on our heels. That is exactly what we saw gainst Ohio State, and considering that Brian Ferentz was suspended that week, it makes me wonder if coach Tim had a lot of input to that particular game plan.
Not bashing Brian at all, it was just something curious that I noted during the season, that the Ohio State game seem to be quite different than the rest, and not just from a result standpoint.
 
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chapchad said:
My big hope is that we see as much pre-snap motion as we did against Ohio State, and as varied as we saw against Ohio State. That game really reminded me of the Hawkeye game against North Dakota State a few years ago, where they had a ton of different types of motion out of the same set, and it kept us on our heels. That is exactly what we saw gainst Ohio State, and considering that Brian Ferentz was suspended that week, it makes me wonder if coach Tim had a lot of input to that particular game plan.
Not bashing Brian at all, it was just something curious that I noted during the season, that the Ohio State game seem to be quite different than the rest, and not just from a result standpoint.
Click to expand...

He wasn't suspended. He and Iowa issued statements of apology to the conference. It was his one mulligan/do-over. He was the coach the entire week of prep for OSU.

OSU game was confluence of events, my personal opinion on what happened:

  • OSU not prepared. Previous 4 weeks Iowa offense had been not good. Natural for teams to let down.
  • Iowa let it all hang out. Iowa had nothing to lose as a big underdog, so they went after the Buckeyes from the get-go. It's easy to take this attitude as an underdog.
Once the crowd had reason to get into it with Hooker's TD on the first play, Iowa started to believe it could win. Which allows most anything to happen. And it did.

Only thing I would like to see Iowa take forward is the "let it all hang out" approach to offense. Use your tools, be aggressive and go against all tendencies. Sounds easy to me from my couch, so make it happen.
 
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The Ohio State game was different for one reason. They did not blitz or pressure. They assumed that their front 4 could get to the QB. When that didn’t happen, we torched them both on the ground and in the air.

Hopefully we work extra hard this year on picking up the blitz and make teams pay for doing it. With all these TEs that could be relief valves, I would think we can do some damage against the blitz.
 
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TKingpin said:
The Ohio State game was different for one reason. They did not blitz or pressure. They assumed that their front 4 could get to the QB. When that didn’t happen, we torched them both on the ground and in the air.

Hopefully we work extra hard this year on picking up the blitz and make teams pay for doing it. With all these TEs that could be relief valves, I would think we can do some damage against the blitz.
Click to expand...
And when Bosa was ejected it all came apart on the OSU defense. You are right, they didn't respect us and assumed pressure with their front 4. Daniels played like a man possessed in that game, was often running at the 2nd level and hitting LBs. I barely hit the couch before the Hooker pick 6, but then OSU scored quick and thought 'well that was fun while it lasted.'

It was a confluence of many factors, Iowa playing its best game in quite some time, the OSU demons of the past were exercised, Iowa was OSU's sandwich game and we were hyper aggressive all day long.

I still remember a HUGE play somewhere in the 3rd quarter IIRC. I think it was 3rd and 10ish and MVB had a diving/sideline catch for a first down. Real time, ruled a catch but slow mo review casted some doubt. I was screaming for Iowa to hurry up assuming a review, luckily they got the play off as I think we were ahead by 7 or 14 and scored later on drive, it got lost in the shuffle but at the time could've been a game changer. Good times...good times...
 
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There is more than a good chance none of this happens and you just wasted your time posting this.
 
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If this team can figure out how to run the ball against 8 man fronts they will win a lot of games. I anticipate a heavy dose of play action out of heavy sets. It plays to Stanley’s stengths and it gives time for our tightends to clear their coverage.

The most recent interview with Toren Young revealed we may have a power run game. Dude is yoked. If we can find some consistency from the run game, and keep our o lineman healthy, I think it could be a serviceable rushing attack. Also, given our talent at QB and potential threats at TE and WR. We may see 2015 like offensive numbers. We don’t need a prolific offense to win 9-10 games. However, if ISM, Smith and Tracey become threats. Watch out.

I do think Iowa will go undefeated into the Wisco game. Will probably decide the big ten west in the big ten opener. Kinnick will be rocking.
 
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DodgerHawki said:
He wasn't suspended. He and Iowa issued statements of apology to the conference. It was his one mulligan/do-over. He was the coach the entire week of prep for OSU.

OSU game was confluence of events, my personal opinion on what happened:

  • OSU not prepared. Previous 4 weeks Iowa offense had been not good. Natural for teams to let down.
  • Iowa let it all hang out. Iowa had nothing to lose as a big underdog, so they went after the Buckeyes from the get-go. It's easy to take this attitude as an underdog.
Once the crowd had reason to get into it with Hooker's TD on the first play, Iowa started to believe it could win. Which allows most anything to happen. And it did.

Only thing I would like to see Iowa take forward is the "let it all hang out" approach to offense. Use your tools, be aggressive and go against all tendencies. Sounds easy to me from my couch, so make it happen.
Click to expand...
Not to mention O$U's Schiano arrogantly refused to blitz and just rushed 4 because his all-world DL should be enough to dishevel Iowa's passing game. But it didn't.
 
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I'd be fine if we had a passing game that existed this season. Last year was brutal.
 
Now is the time to be optimistic, not a single play has been blown.

The passing game could be very close. This time last year Iowa had 1 receiver on roster that had ever caught a pass out of HS with a promising JUCO recruit as the next most experienced receiver. Breaking in a brand new QB with a brand new OC. Bringing back an outstanding QB coach. But mostly-simply no receivers.

There are a lot of reasons to be more optimistic about the passing game. Experienced quality QB. Two TEs that will have to be tightly factored into every opponent's game plan. We now know that Easley can be a good possession guy that can get open if he gets a little room.

The big question remains, is there an X receiver that can make enough downfield plays to drag defenders away from the more proven receivers and, of course, the line? ISM has proven some ability to do that. There are some guys on campus with college experience (Smith & Cooper) and some new guys that sound somewhat promising.

There are a reasons to be very optimistic about the passing game. If the players can do more the coaches will give them a chance to do more, making the whole offense less predictable.

Go Hawks!
 
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If Brandon Smith has a breakout year, things good get interesting.

B Smith
ISM
Fant
Easley
Hock

Pretty good options for Stanley
 
chapchad said:
My big hope is that we see as much pre-snap motion as we did against Ohio State, and as varied as we saw against Ohio State. That game really reminded me of the Hawkeye game against North Dakota State a few years ago, where they had a ton of different types of motion out of the same set, and it kept us on our heels. That is exactly what we saw gainst Ohio State, and considering that Brian Ferentz was suspended that week, it makes me wonder if coach Tim had a lot of input to that particular game plan.
Not bashing Brian at all, it was just something curious that I noted during the season, that the Ohio State game seem to be quite different than the rest, and not just from a result standpoint.
Click to expand...

The line may have talent but not sure it is all proven to this point. I think they can be good on offense but need them to stay healthy in order to reach their potential.
 
INXS83 said:
Not to mention O$U's Schiano arrogantly refused to blitz and just rushed 4 because his all-world DL should be enough to dishevel Iowa's passing game. But it didn't.
Click to expand...
Kirk often remarks about how teams almost always throw a lot of hat in the box when playing Iowa ... typically bringing a lot of pressure too. In his own sarcastic sort of way, he voices incredulity that opposing teams still defend them that way ... even when the Iowa running game is seemingly not as much of a threat.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that when a Ferentz-coached OL comes together ... it's tough for opposing Ds to have success defending it with only 7 hats in the box. This was every bit as evident in 2009 against Penn State when we were featuring 2 freshmen running backs than when we pulverized Ohio State in 2017.

Wisconsin not only flummoxed our protections by bringing pressure from all over the place ... but they also completely disrupted the routes of our TEs right off the line of scrimmage. On of the best mismatches we could have owned in that game were our TEs against their LBs ... but for that to happen, our TEs needed to win the battle on the line of scrimmage in order to get a clean enough release. Stanley was already going to be a little overly amped for the game anyhow ... it was obviously going to matter a little more to him since it was against the team from his home state ... but once the Badger D got in his head ... he proceeded to also have the worst game of his career.
 
Hawk94Mn said:
If this team can figure out how to run the ball against 8 man fronts they will win a lot of games. I anticipate a heavy dose of play action out of heavy sets. It plays to Stanley’s stengths and it gives time for our tightends to clear their coverage.

The most recent interview with Toren Young revealed we may have a power run game. Dude is yoked. If we can find some consistency from the run game, and keep our o lineman healthy, I think it could be a serviceable rushing attack. Also, given our talent at QB and potential threats at TE and WR. We may see 2015 like offensive numbers. We don’t need a prolific offense to win 9-10 games. However, if ISM, Smith and Tracey become threats. Watch out.

I do think Iowa will go undefeated into the Wisco game. Will probably decide the big ten west in the big ten opener. Kinnick will be rocking.
Click to expand...
You throw against 8 man fronts
 
iowa12 said:
You throw against 8 man fronts
Click to expand...
It depends where the hats are. Passing is one option ... but if you can still get more hats blocking than there are defenders ... that's still a recipe to get to the second level (and beyond). The whole point of audibles is for the QB to check the play ... sometimes to a pass if its the best option ... or more frequently for young QBs learning the ropes ... checking what side the run goes to based on the Ds formation and the number of hats he counts.
 
DodgerHawki said:
He wasn't suspended. He and Iowa issued statements of apology to the conference. It was his one mulligan/do-over. He was the coach the entire week of prep for OSU.

OSU game was confluence of events, my personal opinion on what happened:

  • OSU not prepared. Previous 4 weeks Iowa offense had been not good. Natural for teams to let down.
  • Iowa let it all hang out. Iowa had nothing to lose as a big underdog, so they went after the Buckeyes from the get-go. It's easy to take this attitude as an underdog.
Once the crowd had reason to get into it with Hooker's TD on the first play, Iowa started to believe it could win. Which allows most anything to happen. And it did.

Only thing I would like to see Iowa take forward is the "let it all hang out" approach to offense. Use your tools, be aggressive and go against all tendencies. Sounds easy to me from my couch, so make it happen.
Click to expand...

Man, I swore there were threads (perhaps in the Lounge) that stated he was suspended for much or all of that week. My bad. And I wholly agree with the let it hang out there sentiment. Don't want a spread offense, just want to see aggression and variation.
 
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BG2004 said:
just curious- how often do we audible into a pass?
Click to expand...

Ferentz-finger.jpg
 
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Agree it could be good.

You have Fant and Hock who are probably the best TE duo in the country
You have NE who is a very solid slot guy and coming off a good year.
You have ISM who had a great year for a Frosh and has great speed outside
Couple that with what should be a good to very good running game and QB

The wild card is Smith. If he can figure it out and step up and be a threat, then watch out.
 
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BG2004 said:
just curious- how often do we audible into a pass?
Click to expand...
I would surmise that it largely depends on the knowledge and experience-level of the QB. I believe that younger QBs are typically given much simpler checks to work with - largely ascertaining what side of the field to direct the play towards. However, for more experienced guys ... the QB can switch things to a number of different options based on what he sees from the D. Beathard was on record stating that a number of the TD passes he through were originally run plays that got audibled to a pass. I've heard comparable things said by Tate and Stanzi, when executing out of O'Keefe's O too. Thus, I expect that we'll see more and more options and responsibilities heaped on Stanley's plate as he continues to grow as a player.
 
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ghostOfHomer777 said:
It depends where the hats are. Passing is one option ... but if you can still get more hats blocking than there are defenders ... that's still a recipe to get to the second level (and beyond). The whole point of audibles is for the QB to check the play ... sometimes to a pass if its the best option ... or more frequently for young QBs learning the ropes ... checking what side the run goes to based on the Ds formation and the number of hats he counts.
Click to expand...
Ghost, you need a new hobby
 
hexumhawk said:
Agree it could be good.

You have Fant and Hock who are probably the best TE duo in the country
You have NE who is a very solid slot guy and coming off a good year.
You have ISM who had a great year for a Frosh and has great speed outside
Couple that with what should be a good to very good running game and QB

The wild card is Smith. If he can figure it out and step up and be a threat, then watch out.
Click to expand...
Smith has possession receiver written all over him. Big and strong enough to go over the middle. That would be so helpful to Stanley on third down.
 
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chapchad said:
My big hope is that we see as much pre-snap motion as we did against Ohio State, and as varied as we saw against Ohio State. That game really reminded me of the Hawkeye game against North Dakota State a few years ago, where they had a ton of different types of motion out of the same set, and it kept us on our heels. That is exactly what we saw gainst Ohio State, and considering that Brian Ferentz was suspended that week, it makes me wonder if coach Tim had a lot of input to that particular game plan.
Not bashing Brian at all, it was just something curious that I noted during the season, that the Ohio State game seem to be quite different than the rest, and not just from a result standpoint.
Click to expand...

It helped that Ohio State rarely blitzed us. On the contrary, Wisconsin blitzed the pants off us and Kirk/Brian had no clue how to adjust. Bucky has blitzed us for years and Kirk 1.0 keeps trying to run it down their throat to no avail.
 
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