IowaLaw's Objective Post Game Analysis: Western Michigan

[IowasLaw]

The Hawks took care of business this week, doing everything they were expected to do in this week's tune up before Penn State. The final score was 41-10, topped by a first in the Ferentz era, ramming it in for a last second touchdown when up by 24. I think most understand what that was all about, and it had nothing to do with "getting walkons a chance to score."

1. Rushing Attack Dominates. Leshon Williams, Iowa's most overlooked back, was dominant behind Iowa's big OL. He racked up 145 yards on just 12 carries, plus had more receiving yards than the entire WR corp combined. True freshmen Moulton, who was very lightly recruited last year (decommitted from Florida Atlantic before signing day), looked like he'll be a stud when his time comes. How often does Iowa's 4th string back finish with 50 yards rushing and two touchdowns? It's too soon to tell whether Iowa's RB room is stacked, the OL is finally coming together, or simply the opponent's defense was really, really bad. We'll find out next week how they run against an elite defense!

2. Jackson Finally Shows Up at LB. After getting off to a rough start, Jackson finally seems to be buying into the system. His angles and instincts aren't the NFL caliber fans have become accustomed to, but he was in on a lot of plays this week. In addition to leading the team in tackles, he recorded a nice sack and played much better in coverage. With Jay Higgins at his side, the Hawkeye LB corp should be solid. Will they be elite? Probably not.

3. Nwankpa Fails To Show Up, Yet Again. IowaLaw may have been the only person, fan or media, who picked up on how poorly X played last week, recording no stats and interfering with an easy interception by DeJean. Sadly, this week X wasn't any better. He got absolutely torched early in the game in a way Iowa DBs haven't been torched in a decade, giving up a wide open 64 yard touchdown grab where the WR actually distanced himself from X after the catch. He then got torched on another deep ball when his assignment was to have back side coverage behind Jermari Harris. I'm not sure what's going on with Iowa's lone 5***** recruit, but he appears to be having a sophomore slump.

4. Zero Penalties in Back to Back Weeks. After watching an undisciplined Colorado State team blow what should have been an easy win last night by racking up TEN personal foul penalties and a total of 185 penalty yards, one can appreciate just how disciplined this team plays. The OL isn't perfect, but to make it through two games in a row with zero holding penalties is worthy of praise. No offsides by our aggressive defense, no pass interference by our corners...and a refreshing no delay of game penalties by our QBs can go a long way in wins and losses.

5. Cade Doesn't Have It. Iowa's most hyped grad transfer pickup in history isn't going to be the QB many hoped he would be. Is 9 of 19 for 103 yards and 2 interceptions really any better than a typical Petras performance? Stats would say no. To Cade's credit, he has a much better pocket presence than Petras and can get out of trouble with his feet...but Petras will never be the standard by which to rate a Big 10 QB. Cade is one of the Big 10's only senior QBs, yet he ranks 11th in completion percentage, 11th in yards per attempt, and 11th in yards per game. By comparison, Michigan's current QB has a 30% higher completion percentage while averaging 5 yards per pass more than Cade. The ol QB regression pattern at Iowa under Brian.

6. Can Someone Please Get the WRs the Ball? We are 3 weeks into the season. The fullback and the 4th string TE both have more receiving yards than the 4**** WR transfer from Ohio State. Is Brown that bad...is the offense that complicated...or the offensive coordinator has absolutely no clue how to utilize the talent on his roster? It's a national embarrassment how infrequently Iowa even attempts to throw passes to the WRs. Vines had a decent game, catching two balls today for just 7 yards...but one was basically shot putted 2 yard pass to him behind the line of scrimmage and the other was a 5 yard reception. Sixth year senior Ragaini, who had 46 catches way back in 2019, had just 4 yards receiving. The two yard, slow forming passing game is not how you stretch the field. It's definitely not how "pro style" football was meant to be played.

 

[jonesy5960]

Gee, this is the most flattering review to date. Must have been post bowel movement.

 

[Randon]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

 

[jonesy5960]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

Watching games this weekend it seems obvious that we're not running the same stuff as other successful offenses. Other teams are running a lot of route combinations to create confusion and collisions between Db's to provide help in separation. I think the problem with Iowa receivers is that they are the ones that are confused and running into each other.

 

[HawkDoggy]

Solid post....essentially regurgitating a bunch of stuff that has already been posted and discussed. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose.

 

[IamHawkeye]

The Hawks took care of business this week, doing everything they were expected to do in this week's tune up before Penn State. The final score was 41-10, topped by a first in the Ferentz era, ramming it in for a last second touchdown when up by 24. I think most understand what that was all about, and it had nothing to do with "getting walkons a chance to score."

1. Rushing Attack Dominates. Leshon Williams, Iowa's most overlooked back, was dominant behind Iowa's big OL. He racked up 145 yards on just 12 carries, plus had more receiving yards than the entire WR corp combined. True freshmen Moulton, who was very lightly recruited last year (decommitted from Florida Atlantic before signing day), looked like he'll be a stud when his time comes. How often does Iowa's 4th string back finish with 50 yards rushing and two touchdowns? It's too soon to tell whether Iowa's RB room is stacked, the OL is finally coming together, or simply the opponent's defense was really, really bad. We'll find out next week how they run against an elite defense!

2. Jackson Finally Shows Up at LB. After getting off to a rough start, Jackson finally seems to be buying into the system. His angles and instincts aren't the NFL caliber fans have become accustomed to, but he was in on a lot of plays this week. In addition to leading the team in tackles, he recorded a nice sack and played much better in coverage. With Jay Higgins at his side, the Hawkeye LB corp should be solid. Will they be elite? Probably not.

3. Nwankpa Fails To Show Up, Yet Again. IowaLaw may have been the only person, fan or media, who picked up on how poorly X played last week, recording no stats and interfering with an easy interception by DeJean. Sadly, this week X wasn't any better. He got absolutely torched early in the game in a way Iowa DBs haven't been torched in a decade, giving up a wide open 64 yard touchdown grab where the WR actually distanced himself from X after the catch. He then got torched on another deep ball when his assignment was to have back side coverage behind Jermari Harris. I'm not sure what's going on with Iowa's lone 5***** recruit, but he appears to be having a sophomore slump.

4. Zero Penalties in Back to Back Weeks. After watching an undisciplined Colorado State team blow what should have been an easy win last night by racking up TEN personal foul penalties and a total of 185 penalty yards, one can appreciate just how disciplined this team plays. The OL isn't perfect, but to make it through two games in a row with zero holding penalties is worthy of praise. No offsides by our aggressive defense, no pass interference by our corners...and a refreshing no delay of game penalties by our QBs can go a long way in wins and losses.

5. Cade Doesn't Have It. Iowa's most hyped grad transfer pickup in history isn't going to be the QB many hoped he would be. Is 9 of 19 for 103 yards and 2 interceptions really any better than a typical Petras performance? Stats would say no. To Cade's credit, he has a much better pocket presence than Petras and can get out of trouble with his feet...but Petras will never be the standard by which to rate a Big 10 QB. Cade is one of the Big 10's only senior QBs, yet he ranks 11th in completion percentage, 11th in yards per attempt, and 11th in yards per game. By comparison, Michigan's current QB has a 30% higher completion percentage while averaging 5 yards per pass more than Cade. The ol QB regression pattern at Iowa under Brian.

6. Can Someone Please Get the WRs the Ball? We are 3 weeks into the season. The fullback and the 4th string TE both have more receiving yards than the 4**** WR transfer from Ohio State. Is Brown that bad...is the offense that complicated...or the offensive coordinator has absolutely no clue how to utilize the talent on his roster? It's a national embarrassment how infrequently Iowa even attempts to throw passes to the WRs. Vines had a decent game, catching two balls today for just 7 yards...but one was basically shot putted 2 yard pass to him behind the line of scrimmage and the other was a 5 yard reception. Sixth year senior Ragaini, who had 46 catches way back in 2019, had just 4 yards receiving. The two yard, slow forming passing game is not how you stretch the field. It's definitely not how "pro style" football was meant to be played.

It's all on X and none on Harris?

 

[cubsMDdmb]

“I think most understand what that was all about, and it had nothing to do with "getting walkons a chance to score."

While I agree the offense was a little more aggressive than normal in the last few minutes we used all backups and a 6th string RB to score at the end. I’m not saying for sure that the coaches weren’t trying to get a few extra points but it’s a bit of a stretch. And so what if they were? Lots of teams run the score up a bit. That’s definitely not what we are known for and in other opportunities we haven’t done that. And in the end the 25 point goal was for us to score more points, which we did. Still some people complain (not necessarily OP).

 

[im4hawks50595]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

No crossing routes in the middle of the field or routes trying to make the db's having to guess which way the wr is going, its like BF has them just run straight down the field.

 

[denmar81]

Had some wr’s open yesterday but Cade seemed to never notice them, which seems like a yearly issue. Is it scheme, qb progression, or coaching? Pass pro seems ok this year so what gives?

 

[littlez]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

So last year everyone said the same thing. Except they said the o line couldn’t block. Receivers couldn’t get separation. Brown was recruited by Ohio St for Christs sake. Anderson is a huge upgrade from what we had last year. Vines is healthy and athletic. I’m sorry but I’m not buying that BS anymore. Our scheme to get the ball to receivers is shit. We find way to get it to our tight ends no problem.

 

[RagnarLothbrok]

It's all on X and none on Harris?

Depends who has deep third responsibility.

 

[uihawk82]

Watching games this weekend it seems obvious that we're not running the same stuff as other successful offenses. Other teams are running a lot of route combinations to create confusion and collisions between Db's to provide help in separation. I think the problem with Iowa receivers is that they are the ones that are confused and running into each other.

Part of it seems to be what Kirk said postgame that Cade is very good but right now he is trying to do too much, force the ball.

On Cade's first INT, and Nico was open, the analysts said Cade double clutched, which he did and he was just late and a little behind Nico. But on that same play there was a TEnd about 7 yards downfield open with the defenders about two yards behind him so this was a very safe and easy pass.

I think Brian and Kirk need to have at the start of the game some pretty quick passes with routes so that receivers are doing comeback patterns and sit down in the zone holes type routes. Some easy throws to get Cade settled in.

His TD throw to Vines was very decisive as he had time and looked over the whole endzone. I think we need to be patient and let Cade get into a groove.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Solid post....essentially regurgitating a bunch of stuff that has already been posted and discussed. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose.

Thank you.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

So last year everyone said the same thing. Except they said the o line couldn’t block. Receivers couldn’t get separation. Brown was recruited by Ohio St for Christs sake. Anderson is a huge upgrade from what we had last year. Vines is healthy and athletic. I’m sorry but I’m not buying that BS anymore. Our scheme to get the ball to receivers is shit. We find way to get it to our tight ends no problem.

The WRs are decoys for our TEs.

 

[littlez]

The WRs are decoys for our TEs.

True.

 

[herkhatescy]

It's all on X and none on Harris?

It sure looked like most of it was on Harris.

 

[jonesy5960]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

So I'm not going to suggest that people are running wild out there, but there have been quite a few situations where either Cade didn't see them, the ball got there late, or Cade saw them and the ball was off target.

Watch the play against WM where Cade threw that interception in the red zone when Brian went ballistic. There was an open receiver in the end zone. Cade threw the ball late giving the defenders a chance to recover for the int. Meanwhile there was another receiver in the middle of the field completely uncovered by the defense that could have resulted in an easy completion. Cade either never saw him or decided not to take the easy first down, but the guy was wide open.

 

[TRHawkeye145]

Depends who has deep third responsibility.

Looked like Phil was quickly trying to get a TO on that first TD. Something he didn't like... we may have been in some type of zone like you mentioned expecting a run or quick pass... not a deep fly route

I'll have to watch the replay again

 

[madmustang4]

Cade Holds the ball to long. Needs to get rid of it and a avoid the sack.
Throws into coverage way to often.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Cade Holds the ball to long. Needs to get rid of it and a avoid the sack.
Throws into coverage way to often.

Probably second guessing himself because of the garbage long developing route trees.......

 

[BigOHawk]

No crossing routes in the middle of the field or routes trying to make the db's having to guess which way the wr is going, its like BF has them just run straight down the field.

I definitely saw crossers Saturday, especially on the 2 point conversion to All Jr.

 

[IowasLaw]

The WR's aren't getting the ball because they're not getting open. Collectively, this is one of the worst groups I've seen for not getting separation. Part of it may be due to the scheme we're running.

I think that's an oversimplification of the problem. Sure, our WRs are below average, but even Western Michigan's MAC caliber receivers had 130 yards receiving, including a touchdown. They did so against Iowa's vaunted defense.

It's not THAT hard for a WR to get open. If anyone watched the Colorado game, it was clear pretty much every play someone was open if the QB simply gets the ball to them.

Iowa had receivers open all day. The problem is, the Big 10's 11th best QB struggled to find them or locked on to the check down route before even looking for them.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I think that's an oversimplification of the problem. Sure, our WRs are below average, but even Western Michigan's MAC caliber receivers had 130 yards receiving, including a touchdown. They did so against Iowa's vaunted defense.

It's not THAT hard for a WR to get open. If anyone watched the Colorado game, it was clear pretty much every play someone was open if the QB simply gets the ball to them.

Iowa had receivers open all day. The problem is, the Big 10's 11th best QB struggled to find them or locked on to the check down route before even looking for them.

How's Sam LaPorta doing?


P.S. keep that radio silence drive-by troll energy.

 

[2D_]

You can have your opinion, but don't straight up lie. You aren't the only person to notice X has had issues. Coach Don Patterson has pointed this out already on Cory Brada's live show.