Iowalaw's Objective Post-Game Thoughts: NDSU

[iowalaw]

A tough tough loss. Second highest ranked team in history to lose to a IAA school. This one stings. C- for effort and execution. BTW - all of these observations are things I pointed out after big wins as well and got blasted by short sighted hawk fans. Issues are apparent regardless of win/loss...and most of our wins have been a result of WHO we play rather than HOW we play.

1. Old Ferentz - People don't change, and anyone who thought there was a "new Kirk" is wishful thinking. What do you do when you've got a 1 point lead and first down with 2 mins left to go? Run up the middle with Daniels for -1 yard, followed by run up the middle to Daniels for 0 yards. This is what Kirk would have called 5 years ago, 10 years ago and 15 yrs ago. It fails every time, esp when you've got 44 yards rushing for the entire game.

2. Barta - probably the worst contract negotiator in the history of sport. After taking major heat for giving Ferentz a lifetime contract after the orange bowl (when we peaked) only to have Ferentz's effort decline over the next 5 years in fat cat mode, Barta doubled down and gave him an even bigger lifetime contract after a great year last year fueled by a soft schedule and a stud QB.

3. OL - Nepotism boy's squad looked god awful. This is the kid who many claim should be Iowa's head coach based entirely on his last name. Well he's in charge of an OL that got absolutely manhandled in both pass and run blocking against a IAA school.

4. LB - Jewel is a beast. Great game out of him, but where were the rest of the LBs? Nieman looked good, but Bower? He was torched. I sure hope Jewel comes back next year, but I'm thinking the pros are going to come calling.

5. CB - King may go down in history as the most underutilized all-American at the U of I. Any time ND had one WR sets, it wasn't King guarding the guy, it was Mabin. Zero imagination out of the coaching staff to figure out a way to get King in the game doing anything other than jumping on the pile after a run. If he's not thrown to, PUT HIM ON THEIR TOP RECEIVER, don't have him just play the weak side of the field where they never throw.

6. Special Teams - Coluzzi continues to be a stud. He booted a rugby punt about 60 yrds in the air (into the endzone) and I don't think he's had a punt or kickoff returned all season. The guy is a stud.

7. Stanley - the lone bright spot. Stanely is the future, and he showed nice touch coming in cold in a clutch situation. I liked that he came out of the gates throwing.

8. CJ - Beathard was off today. Still so conservative and afraid to throw a pick (must be couched into them). He's got a great arm but refuses to use it and would rather throw 4 yrds and hope they gain yards after catch. When he does throw down the field, good things happen.

9. TE - We have a stud first teamer, and he proved it again today with over 100 yrds receiving. But who is our backup TE? Was Fant in there? What about the Dowling kid? Are we running any two TE sets?

10. DL - I thought they looked tough. Jaleel was a man among boys. But to give up that many rushing yards against a IAA team that has gone into overtime in their past two games is not a good sign when we are going to go up against future NFL backs when we play the big boys of the Big 10.

 

[DewHawk]

don't disagree with much (especially 1 & 2). KF neuters his QB's no matter how good they could be. Also, LD is not a first team running back and never will be, he doe not pick up his feet or run thru tackles. They were outplayed on both sides of the ball all game long. Pathetic game plan.

 

[CP84]

Christian McCaffrey's performance wasn't just because he's that good it's a testament to our poor front seven. They allowed 240 yards rushing at almost 5 yards per carry.

 

[CP84]

The biggest problem is they lost a couple Playmakers from last year's team at wide receiver and tight end and haven't gained any playmakers.

Smith and McCarron do not look like Big Ten caliber wide receivers.

This looks like a depleted version of last year's team rather than a team that was building on success.

 

[Hawks_Rock_12]

The biggest problem is they lost a couple Playmakers from last year's team at wide receiver and tight end and haven't gained any playmakers.

Smith and McCarron do not look like Big Ten caliber wide receivers.

This looks like a depleted version of last year's team rather than a team that was building on success.

How can this be ??? Iowa Law was blasted by the HR know it all's when he started a thread " NOT SOLD ON WR SMITH " funny how all those know it all's are quite now.

 

[CP84]

How can this be ??? Iowa Law was blasted by the HR know it all's when he started a thread " NOT SOLD ON WR SMITH " funny how all those know it all's are quite now.

Admittedly I was one of them but it was a joke. Everybody should have at least been a little skeptical of the number 2 and 3 receiver.

 

[DougERot]

This game was lost at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

 

[iowalaw]

Now Ferentz is saying Wadley was healthy the whole game and STILL got just 4 carries (for 5 yrds per carry), while Kirk's pet Daniels got 14 carries and averaged 2 yrds per carry. I have been saying this after every game not just this year but for the last 3 years. When is Kirk going to stop playing favorites and put the best players on the field.

Jay Scheel was on the bench in favor of trusty Jereminic Smith and McCarron. Great move.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Okay, first of all, iowalaw, you need to take "objective" out of the subject line because let's be honest here............you haven't been fooling anybody for a while.

Secondly, you contradict that statement within your posts numerous times (and it's arguably intentional too). I'm not saying you have no problem being hypocritical..................but still...

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Now Ferentz is saying Wadley was healthy the whole game and STILL got just 4 carries (for 5 yrds per carry), while Kirk's pet Daniels got 14 carries and averaged 2 yrds per carry. I have been saying this after every game not just this year but for the last 3 years. When is Kirk going to stop playing favorites and put the best players on the field.

Jay Scheel was on the bench in favor of trusty Jereminic Smith and McCarron. Great move.

This is not an objective post-game thought...........deal with it.

 

[BigDan21]

Now Ferentz is saying Wadley was healthy the whole game and STILL got just 4 carries (for 5 yrds per carry), while Kirk's pet Daniels got 14 carries and averaged 2 yrds per carry. I have been saying this after every game not just this year but for the last 3 years. When is Kirk going to stop playing favorites and put the best players on the field.

Jay Scheel was on the bench in favor of trusty Jereminic Smith and McCarron. Great move.

Unfortunately this is way too common in football in general

 

[BigDan21]

But I agree with Iowalaw. Daniels is a solid back, but Wadley is an absolute beast and he has no business only getting 4 carries in a game. That is on the coaches. Wadley is one of the best playmakers we have. He's incredibly shifty and can bust big runs when it looks like there is nothing there. One play today he had 2 NDST guys right in front of him with no blockers, and his split them for a 7 yard gain. The coaches are definitely being stubborn and playing favorites by not giving him more touches

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

A tough tough loss. Second highest ranked team in history to lose to a IAA school. This one stings. C- for effort and execution. BTW - all of these observations are things I pointed out after big wins as well and got blasted by short sighted hawk fans. (A broken clock is right twice a day, you know......) Issues are apparent regardless of win/loss...and most of our wins have been a result of WHO we play rather than HOW we play. (Basically, what you're saying is that it is the other team's fault that they lost to Iowa. Yes, that's pretty much what you're saying. How far back are you gonna run that claim? Since 1999? Objective, indeed. )

1. Old Ferentz - People don't change, and anyone who thought there was a "new Kirk" is wishful thinking. What do you do when you've got a 1 point lead and first down with 2 mins left to go? Run up the middle with Daniels for -1 yard, followed by run up the middle to Daniels for 0 yards. This is what Kirk would have called 5 years ago, 10 years ago and 15 yrs ago. It fails every time, esp when you've got 44 yards rushing for the entire game. (To be fair, Iowa was rarely, if ever, in that position last year....but apparently that was because of WHO we played, if we're to take your opening statement seriously. )

2. Barta - probably the worst contract negotiator in the history of sport. After taking major heat for giving Ferentz a lifetime contract after the orange bowl (when we peaked) only to have Ferentz's effort decline over the next 5 years in fat cat mode, Barta doubled down and gave him an even bigger lifetime contract after a great year last year fueled by a soft schedule and a stud QB.
(I'm hoping you're not taking any credit for this opinion. I, personally, thought that it was unnecessary and that the timing was terrible. Wait until after the season if anything. We just came off of one good breakthrough season and all the talk was about a follow-up....let's wait and see how we do there before we hand out inescapable contracts.
Oh and I'll be damned if you're gonna take credit for an opinion I have to share with you. ........especially if it was shared by others almost immediately after it happened.)

3. OL - Nepotism boy's squad looked god awful. (I'm not saying this isn't an objective comment but.........it definitely sounds like it is not an objective comment.) This is the kid who many (how many?) claim should be Iowa's head coach based entirely on his last name. Well he's in charge of an OL that got absolutely manhandled in both pass and run blocking against a IAA school. (I got this one. Brian gets hamstrung in games like this because Ferentz likes feel-good stories and especially against the underdog teams, which is what NDSU technically is....but NDSU is also full of try-hards. I know this because, well, that's for me to know and you to find out. But yeah, try-hards......and when you pair pandering-play-not-to-lose-stick-to-basics-and-hope-the-other-team-just-goes-away mentality against a team and staff of try-hards.....you can probably guess which team is going to win. Iowa had this problem when it came to Minnesota, Iowa State, and Northwestern. They've seemed to remedy that for the most part. Not sure why they couldn't apply that to today's game, but it's in the past now, isn't it.................................)

4. LB - Jewel is a beast. (Now THAT is an objective comment.) Great game out of him, but where were the rest of the LBs? Nieman looked good, but Bower? He was torched. I sure hope Jewel comes back next year, but I'm thinking the pros are going to come calling. (Ehh, Niemann had some good moments and bad moments. They really wanted to go after our linebackers today, which is what a lot of teams that have given us fits in the past usually tried to do. Find our weaker linebackers and put them in matchups with faster receivers or backs and try to exploit that. Better than risking throws Desmond King's way. NDSU also likes to be multiple in their offensive scheme and recruits that way, so they usually have a number of different options to go to on any given play. With all that said.....once it became apparent that they were trying to pick on our linebackers, they stepped up for the most part. It was the run game that burned us and that was a 'front 7 as a whole' issue....

5. CB - King may go down in history as the most underutilized all-American at the U of I. Any time ND had one WR sets, it wasn't King guarding the guy, it was Mabin. Zero imagination out of the coaching staff to figure out a way to get King in the game doing anything other than jumping on the pile after a run. If he's not thrown to, PUT HIM ON THEIR TOP RECEIVER, don't have him just play the weak side of the field where they never throw. (I believe this was already addressed elsewhere.....but I'll add this sarcastic comment: "Gotta save him for later..."

6. Special Teams - Coluzzi continues to be a stud. He booted a rugby punt about 60 yrds in the air (into the endzone) and I don't think he's had a punt or kickoff returned all season. The guy is a stud.

7. Stanley - the lone bright spot. Stanely is the future, and he showed nice touch coming in cold in a clutch situation. I liked that he came out of the gates throwing. (Now you're a fan because they gave him something to do. The first two weeks you were whining about the coaching staff removing his re-shirt to do hand-offs. Patience is a virtue..........amirite? (rhetorical).

8. CJ - Beathard was off today. Still so conservative and afraid to throw a pick (must be couched into them). He's got a great arm but refuses to use it and would rather throw 4 yrds and hope they gain yards after catch. When he does throw down the field, good things happen.

9. TE - We have a stud first teamer, and he proved it again today with over 100 yrds receiving. But who is our backup TE? Was Fant in there? What about the Dowling kid? Are we running any two TE sets? (They serve as glorified linemen....)

10. DL - I thought they looked tough. Jaleel was a man among boys. But to give up that many rushing yards against a IAA team that has gone into overtime in their past two games is not a good sign when we are going to go up against future NFL backs when we play the big boys of the Big 10. (Well we were wanting to see more of a pass rush....we just apparently had to give up our run defense in the process. )

 

[Eternal Return]

A tough tough loss. .

I agree with 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8. I don't disagree with 3, 6, 9, or 10. Surprisingly, you are being kinder than I am toward Iowa this weekend.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

3. OL - Nepotism boy's squad looked god awful. This is the kid who many claim should be Iowa's head coach based entirely on his last name. Well he's in charge of an OL that got absolutely manhandled in both pass and run blocking against a IAA school.

C'mon guys. Iowa had TWO WHOLE ENTIRE offensive linemen out for this game. You can't expect them to stand up to the juggernaut NDSU defense that had ONLY given up like 1000 yards in its first two games (both nail-biter OT wins at home), with TWO WHOLE ENTIRE offensive linemen out. With TWO WHOLE ENTIRE offensive linemen out, you can also see why that would impact our DEFENSIVE line's ability to shed blockers and control gaps. It all makes perfect sense.

Besides, it's not like we have one of the highest paid coaches in the history of college football who is supposedly an OL expert....or THE highest paid S&C coach in all the land who makes more than the entire combined salaries of NDSU's staff. Could you even imagine such absurdity!!?

Nor have we pumped nearly $200m into our practice and gameday facilities over the past 10 years or so, with more coming online in the near future.

And it's not as if Iowa has a national recruiting platform, is the defending Big Ten West champions, immediate-past Big Ten representative in the Rose Bowl, and came within a whisker of playing in the CFP last year or something!

Oh, and finally, it's not as if Iowa has about two-dozen more scholarships to use each year than NDSU to build the kind of quality depth that would allow us to overcome the loss of TWO WHOLE ENTIRE offensive linemen.

Now, IF...and believe Ol' Doodle when he says it, this is all purely hypothetical...if all of those things were true, then you'd all have a right to be upset. But in lieu of that, jeez guys, come on...be reasonable!

That's football.

 

[birdman1973]

How can this be ??? Iowa Law was blasted by the HR know it all's when he started a thread " NOT SOLD ON WR SMITH " funny how all those know it all's are quite now.

I am not a H.R. KNOW IT ALL but some of these post are from people who have never played the game but are All American arm chair quarterbacks. These kids are not pro's. They are 18-22 year olds and will have a bad day every once in a while. Let them cast the first stone who was perfect when they were that age, NEVER met a person yet that had a good thing to say about a loss. We need to be encouraging the team to do better rather than taking a free shot ( opp's I forgot I paid $100 to read these great posts). Coaches can't play the game the kids do.None of us are perfect! If you think so be sure and ask your wife if you have one or look at your last review from work! We can do better. I believe the ndsu player who got the sack on CJ in last series ran right by Mr, Daniels untouched. Yes we can do better! I didn't go to the game but in several tv shots of the fans in the stands they were just standing not yelling just standing, We all need to get better.

 

[Floyd_Of_Rosedale]

A tough tough loss. Second highest ranked team in history to lose to a IAA school. This one stings. C- for effort and execution. BTW - all of these observations are things I pointed out after big wins as well and got blasted by short sighted hawk fans. Issues are apparent regardless of win/loss...and most of our wins have been a result of WHO we play rather than HOW we play.

1. Old Ferentz - People don't change, and anyone who thought there was a "new Kirk" is wishful thinking. What do you do when you've got a 1 point lead and first down with 2 mins left to go? Run up the middle with Daniels for -1 yard, followed by run up the middle to Daniels for 0 yards. This is what Kirk would have called 5 years ago, 10 years ago and 15 yrs ago. It fails every time, esp when you've got 44 yards rushing for the entire game.

2. Barta - probably the worst contract negotiator in the history of sport. After taking major heat for giving Ferentz a lifetime contract after the orange bowl (when we peaked) only to have Ferentz's effort decline over the next 5 years in fat cat mode, Barta doubled down and gave him an even bigger lifetime contract after a great year last year fueled by a soft schedule and a stud QB.

3. OL - Nepotism boy's squad looked god awful. This is the kid who many claim should be Iowa's head coach based entirely on his last name. Well he's in charge of an OL that got absolutely manhandled in both pass and run blocking against a IAA school.

4. LB - Jewel is a beast. Great game out of him, but where were the rest of the LBs? Nieman looked good, but Bower? He was torched. I sure hope Jewel comes back next year, but I'm thinking the pros are going to come calling.

5. CB - King may go down in history as the most underutilized all-American at the U of I. Any time ND had one WR sets, it wasn't King guarding the guy, it was Mabin. Zero imagination out of the coaching staff to figure out a way to get King in the game doing anything other than jumping on the pile after a run. If he's not thrown to, PUT HIM ON THEIR TOP RECEIVER, don't have him just play the weak side of the field where they never throw.

6. Special Teams - Coluzzi continues to be a stud. He booted a rugby punt about 60 yrds in the air (into the endzone) and I don't think he's had a punt or kickoff returned all season. The guy is a stud.

7. Stanley - the lone bright spot. Stanely is the future, and he showed nice touch coming in cold in a clutch situation. I liked that he came out of the gates throwing.

8. CJ - Beathard was off today. Still so conservative and afraid to throw a pick (must be couched into them). He's got a great arm but refuses to use it and would rather throw 4 yrds and hope they gain yards after catch. When he does throw down the field, good things happen.

9. TE - We have a stud first teamer, and he proved it again today with over 100 yrds receiving. But who is our backup TE? Was Fant in there? What about the Dowling kid? Are we running any two TE sets?

10. DL - I thought they looked tough. Jaleel was a man among boys. But to give up that many rushing yards against a IAA team that has gone into overtime in their past two games is not a good sign when we are going to go up against future NFL backs when we play the big boys of the Big 10.

Great summary....you might have built onto point #3 to include the Running Backs Coordinator. This will be an ongoing problem.

 

[latenighter84]

LD was responsible for at least three of the sacks yesterday and I thought he was starting because he executed more facets of his position better?
IMO he is #3 RB on Iowa's team right now. They get much more reliable production from the others.

 

[Hawks_Rock_12]

I am not a H.R. KNOW IT ALL but some of these post are from people who have never played the game but are All American arm chair quarterbacks. These kids are not pro's. They are 18-22 year olds and will have a bad day every once in a while. Let them cast the first stone who was perfect when they were that age, NEVER met a person yet that had a good thing to say about a loss. We need to be encouraging the team to do better rather than taking a free shot ( opp's I forgot I paid $100 to read these great posts). Coaches can't play the game the kids do.None of us are perfect! If you think so be sure and ask your wife if you have one or look at your last review from work! We can do better. I believe the ndsu player who got the sack on CJ in last series ran right by Mr, Daniels untouched. Yes we can do better! I didn't go to the game but in several tv shots of the fans in the stands they were just standing not yelling just standing, We all need to get better.

Was your point that you paid $100 to read post on the free board ? Perhaps you aren't the smartest person to be giving advise to others. Now go back to the lounge.

 

[HawkLogic]

Was your point that you paid $100 to read post on the free board ? Perhaps you are the smartest person to be giving advise to others. Now go back to the lounge.

I don't think he had a point other than he likes to lose.

 

[Mulls1975]

Good post. I really think #1 was the problem. Iowa knew they needed to come out throwing but it seemed like the staff would not fully commit to this. Remember what CJ did with quick slants against Pitts blitzing d? Just a lack of being different and aggressive on passing until that opened up the run. The defense needed to get off the field on some key third downs and we needed to bring the house but are too risk adverse to play to win. Iowa's coaching philosophy allows us to beat just about anyone but also allows us to lose too anyone since we are never the aggressor.

The other thing I saw was what appeared to be a lack of speed and physicality of the front 7. Iowa stuffs the run when the front four hold the line but don't get out of position which allows the linebackers to make the tackle going downhill. I think the DL has the talent but they are just undisciplined and out of position. The line backers are slow and too hesitant.

As for the db's Taylor and Snyder are lost. Hope Jones and Ojmendi (sp?) mature quickly so they can get on the field. King and Maybin are studs and we did allow them to play press man coverage a lot on islands which worked just fine.

 

[iowalaw]

The biggest question going forward will be how can we keep our playmakers on the field making plays the most.

If Wadley is the best yards per carry back, how do we give him the most touches. 4 runs in an entire game? Is that a joke?

If King is an all american CB, how do we put him in a position to actually make interceptions and sacks? Not blitzing him and not having him cover anyone is NOT utilizing him. The guy came back to school to up his draft stock. Let him run some WR routes. Actually block for him on special teams.

Where is Mitchell and how do we get him 10 touches per game?

Where the hell is Scheel????? Once again we have a bottom tier WR corp yet our only 4 star skill position player is watching the game from the bench or coming in to block for running plays.

 

[DewHawk]

The biggest question going forward will be how can we keep our playmakers on the field making plays the most.

If Wadley is the best yards per carry back, how do we give him the most touches. 4 runs in an entire game? Is that a joke?

If King is an all american CB, how do we put him in a position to actually make interceptions and sacks? Not blitzing him and not having him cover anyone is NOT utilizing him.

Where is Mitchell and how do we get him 10 touches per game?

Where the hell is Scheel????? Once again we have a bottom tier WR corp yet our only 4 star skill position player is watching the game from the bench or coming in to block for running plays.

The aforementioned will not happen (sadly) because KF will not change his decisions on players or adjust to the competition. KF is my way or the highway/losing. Nothing will change with KF and last year was all about the schedule and a bit of luck. This year we are back to the real KF coaching and for the next 10 effing years.

 

[GoHawks2009]

The biggest question going forward will be how can we keep our playmakers on the field making plays the most.

If Wadley is the best yards per carry back, how do we give him the most touches. 4 runs in an entire game? Is that a joke?

If King is an all american CB, how do we put him in a position to actually make interceptions and sacks? Not blitzing him and not having him cover anyone is NOT utilizing him. The guy came back to school to up his draft stock. Let him run some WR routes. Actually block for him on special teams.

Where is Mitchell and how do we get him 10 touches per game?

Where the hell is Scheel????? Once again we have a bottom tier WR corp yet our only 4 star skill position player is watching the game from the bench or coming in to block for running plays.

Mitchell was hurt. This was announced well before the game....

Scheel is probably even more hype than your favorite punching bag Smith.

 

[birdman1973]

Was your point that you paid $100 to read post on the free board ? Perhaps you aren't the smartest person to be giving advise to others. Now go back to the lounge.

For all you that do nothing but bitch I was trying to point out that we can either support the team or not support the team! Complaining will not change a thing. I would wage a lot that before the game both of you were on the band wagon. So you got disappointed get over it. Do you think the kids like to lose? I doubt if any of the coaches or players need you to tell them they could have played better. Armchair qb's who don't even coach jr high You should go back top the lounge/ better to be seen not heard.