Iowalaws Objective Thoughts: ISU Game

[iowalaw]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops (he has 4 or 5 in two games). Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was held in check until one long run at the end of the game.

 

[StormHawk42]

You found a lot more negatives than me. And your hyperbole is a bit much.

 

[terrehawk]

I didn't even read. As soon as I saw who posted it I just did an eye roll and clicked so I could mock him. I know that makes me a bad person

 

[Hawks_Rock_12]

KF knows Wadley's body wouldn't hold up as the # 1 back during a B1G schedule. I'll be very surprised if he ever averages 15-20 carries a game for a season.

 

[HawksDominate]

I thought they played great, I really had no complaints. Either you are being knit picky or I'm wearing rose colored glasses.

 

[5Fan5]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

Anyone who supposedly was in Kinnick to watch the game last evening coming away with this analysis leaves much to be desired. Do not quit whatever it is that keeps you occupied otherwise.

Iowa opened the game with #29 running 8 yards. On just his second touch of the football, Daniels ran for a first down (one of four he was responsible for in only the first half of play.) His third carry netted 13 yards and his fourth another 6 yards. By half-time, Daniels had toted the pigskin ten times for 61 yards. Do the math - he was not "stuffed entirely" until one long run that happened to occur in the third quarter and not at the end of the game.

 

[HawkAssassin]

1. What pass did McCarron drop? Mitchell was the 3rd down back in passing situations every time pretty much. Your concerns about Vandeberg considering his body of work these last two years are laughable.

2. If by getting drilled often, you mean like 3 times then yeah. Minor stuff happens when you're without two starters for a good chunk of the game.

3. Enough handwringing about Stanley. The decision has been made. Move on.

4. 2 games.

5. Let's use up the playbook in a 42-3 manhandling.

6. This "other than that one really great play he was average" cliche is and always will be stupid nor is it remotely applicable here anyway.

 

[Freyvet]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

You had to fly into Iowa City after your shift at the Solon Caseys????

 

[wneff]

I thought they played great, Inreally had no complaints. Either you are being knit picky or I'm wearing rose colored glasses.

New WOB?

 

[citizenHawk]

Why press for long passes when the alternative is marching another drive down the field? Unreasonable complaint, especially when there were a few long pass attempts you apparently missed.

Never underestimate how difficult it is to defend against two different types of running back in the same game. The two running backs seem to compliment one another--and are both better because of it.

 

[StormHawk42]

Oh and your #6 is BS. Take away Daniels long run and he still has more yards but who gives a flying f***? Oh and Wadley had a banged up knee this week, thereby limiting his touches.

 

[ConvenientParking]

ConvenientParking's objective take on iowalaw's objective thoughts:
1. VandeBerg had 1 rough drop. He would admit it and I'm sure he's not happy with it. I bet CJ also wants that one back as that ball was ever so slightly behind VandBerg and would have cost him half a step against the defense if he had caught it. Both played very well in this game and both have proven that they'll take a critical look at their performances and do what they can to improve.
2. Pass protection is difficult. Running the ball well makes it easier. Pass blocking is the difference between an effective Big Ten lineman and an NFL draftee. We have good size and mobility. We have good fight. This is an area where you can always improve.
3. I trust CJ's talent and his decisions. People point out that we played a lot of close games last year against a weak schedule. The easiest way to lose close games is to give the ball away. I saw a confident CJ trusting his line and backs to make plays for him. He took some shots with tight balls to VandeBerg and Kittle in the red zone. I would be very interested to know who was responsible for sending Wadley out on that wheel. We haven't been rolling him out much at all yet and we haven't had to take many shots downfield. We've seen him succeed there before.
4. I hope we get some opportunities to see Duncan kick some 30-40 yarders. We won't always win in/near the red zone. Pleased with the PATs. Coluzzi is a fantastic addition. So far, he's making the most of a great opportunity. Kickoffs were outstanding and his punts have had great distance/hang time. Very pleased overall with how aggressively the Hawkeyes have played on special teams. Looking forward to King breaking a return TD.
5. I don't think we've ended the competition here. This group has talent and experience and a great leader in Jewell.
6. Wadley can't be expected to play the majority of downs and carry the ball 25 times per game for 12 games. Mitchell got some quality PT. Daniels is a beast physically (oh yeah, he's also not slow). We will need all three guys this year. Toks has also gotten his feet wet, which is nice in case AIRBHG makes some decisions about our rotation.

 

[amahawk]

You found a lot more negatives than me. And your hyperbole is a bit much.

The Hawkeyes looked pretty good. There is still room for improvement. Remember this was against ISU for better or worse.

 

[MIHawk]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

Wow, you must have watched a different game than I. I remember Vandy had 1 drop. George had 1 too. But I don't remember any others. And he more than made up for it with some great catches. I remember CJ having plenty of time on most throws. In fact, on one blitz I remember the OL doing a great job picking it up. The announcers even commenting on CJ having plenty of time to throw. And Daniels getting stuffed? He had several nice runs. Yes they have room to improve, but you are way too negative.

 

[Cougar63]

I only read your posts because you botch things up so badly that by the end of the thread I have the actual information.

 

[Cougar63]

Iowa beat a BXII team 42-3.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

I don't think McCaron dropped a pass all night. The pass protection was pretty good, 2 sacks and C.J. wasn't hit very often. As far as C.J.'s speed, he didn't try to run much at all, I think he will be able to run just fine when it is needed.

 

[BioHawk]

That reads like a coach trying to find things to motivate for work this week.

 

[bagdropper]

I guess you expect perfection always.

Duly noted. You win a cookie.

 

[Roy-munson]

The only negative I can think of is Iowa allowed 3 points to that team.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Pretty much wrong on every point. Other than that, good job.

 

[AuroraHawk]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

I suggest that you go back and read the play by play. Daniels was running all over ISU. Wadley wasn't.

 

[zachbacker54]

This is funny sh!t!

You had to fly into Iowa City after your shift at the Solon Caseys????

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

ConvenientParking's objective take on iowalaw's objective thoughts:
1. VandeBerg had 1 rough drop. He would admit it and I'm sure he's not happy with it. I bet CJ also wants that one back as that ball was ever so slightly behind VandBerg and would have cost him half a step against the defense if he had caught it. Both played very well in this game and both have proven that they'll take a critical look at their performances and do what they can to improve.

Yeah I read his OP talking about Vandeberg "drops" and at first I was like, "you must've flown in to watch a different game than everyone else watched last night" but then I remembered who the OP was.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. Those would kill us against a good team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops. Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is far and away our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was stuffed entirely until one long run at the end of the game.

You are pretty much like a vacuum, every time you come on- you suck. That is all I have to say about this

 

[iowalaw]

I can appreciate differing opinions that actually have thought and reason behind them, but true to form, most Hawk fans just blindly follow every decision Ferentz makes and as long as the Hawks win a game, there can't possibly any room for improvement...even when our schedule to date has been the easiest in all Division 1 football.

Let's get our facts straight. Take away Daniels late game long run, and he was averaging just over 4 yards per carry against the worst Power 5 team in football. Wadley averaged 5.5 yards (plus a touchdown catch), and over 10 against Miami, not to mention he is more of a threat catching passes. Yet Daniels continues to get the majority of carries

Those who said Wadley can't take the pounding and Daniels can...and that's why Ferentz isn't playing our best back as much as he should. Again, get your facts straight. Daniels is the injury prone guy that has been hurt most of his career. Wadley has been relatively healthy. Wadley is bigger than Fred Russel was and Freddy was an every down back. So keeping his carries down because he might get hurt is not a valid argument. It's Daniels that should have carries kept down if injuries is the concern.

CJ DOES look slower out there then last year. Watch the game. I think he only has one run of positive yards so far this year, and it was like a 3 yard gain. Meanwhile, he's been sacked quite a bit. As a result, his rushing yards this year are -30.

Our WRs do have quite a few drops in spite of great placement by CJ. That's just a fact. Why argue with it?

CJ has not stretched defenses this year like most Big 10 QBs have. His completion percentage is great in part because most of his passes are only a few yards past the line of scrimmage. If he's got an NFL arm, we are going to need to use it to keep defenses honest.

CJ got hit 3 times alone in the very last series that he played late in the game (at a point where he should not have even been playing). So yes, he was getting hit...pretty often given the level of competition.

If anyone can argue with any of these facts with actual thoughtful responses, it would be interesting to hear it. Trust me, every coach and professional in business can objectively point out flaws as well as successes after a win. Why can't most people on this board?

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

I can appreciate differing opinions that actually have thought and reason behind them, but true to form, most Hawk fans just blindly follow every decision Ferentz makes and as long as the Hawks win a game, there can't possibly any room for improvement...even when our schedule to date has been the easiest in all Division 1 football.

Let's get our facts straight. Take away Daniels late game long run, and he was averaging just over 4 yards per carry against the worst Power 5 team in football. Wadley averaged yards. Yet Daniels continues to get the majority of carries. Those who said Wadley can't take the pounding and Daniels can...and that's why Ferentz plays an inferior player over a more talented one. Again, get your facts straight. Daniels is the guy that has been hurt most of his career. Wadley has been healthy. Wadley is bigger than Fred Russel was and Freddy was an every down back.

CJ DOES look slower out there then last year. Watch the game. I think he only has one run of positive yards so far this year, and it was like a 3 yard gain.

Our WRs do have quite a few drops in spite of great placement by CJ. That's just a fact. Why argue with it?

CJ has not stretched defenses this year like most Big 10 QBs have. His completion percentage is great in part because most of his passes are only a few yards past the line of scrimmage. If he's got an NFL arm, we are going to need to use it to keep defenses honest.

CJ got hit 3 times alone in the very last series that he played late in the game (at a point where he should not have even been playing). So yes, he was getting hit...pretty often given the level of competition.

If anyone can argue with any of these facts with actual thoughtful responses, it would be interesting to hear it. Trust me, every coach and professional in business can objectively point out flaws as well as successes after a win. Why can't most people on this board?

1) CJ Looking slower- As you said he has one run, sooooo not much data to back this up. Also wearing a knee brace so that is pry why
2) We are averaging 40+ points and maybe just maybe have not displayed our entire offense because why would we? Duh
3) Yes their have been a few drops, also so pretty nice adjustments on catches as well....considering CJB has 67% completion percentage I think we are fine
4) CJ is going to get hit sometimes, the defense is trying to do that. Especially when teams are down by a lot they will take chances. One hit was from Daniels (James) falling and one CJ did not adjust the protection properly.....relax

 

[Birky]

Surely you can find a problem with the kicking game. Try harder next time. Pretty disappointed in your effort, Law.

 

[David1979]

I can appreciate differing opinions that actually have thought and reason behind them, but true to form, most Hawk fans just blindly follow every decision Ferentz makes and as long as the Hawks win a game, there can't possibly any room for improvement...even when our schedule to date has been the easiest in all Division 1 football.

Let's get our facts straight. Take away Daniels late game long run, and he was averaging just over 4 yards per carry against the worst Power 5 team in football. Wadley averaged 5.5 yards (plus a touchdown catch), and over 10 against Miami, not to mention he is more of a threat catching passes. Yet Daniels continues to get the majority of carries

Those who said Wadley can't take the pounding and Daniels can...and that's why Ferentz isn't playing our best back as much as he should. Again, get your facts straight. Daniels is the injury prone guy that has been hurt most of his career. Wadley has been relatively healthy. Wadley is bigger than Fred Russel was and Freddy was an every down back. So keeping his carries down because he might get hurt is not a valid argument. It's Daniels that should have carries kept down if injuries is the concern.

CJ DOES look slower out there then last year. Watch the game. I think he only has one run of positive yards so far this year, and it was like a 3 yard gain. Meanwhile, he's been sacked quite a bit. As a result, his rushing yards this year are -30.

Our WRs do have quite a few drops in spite of great placement by CJ. That's just a fact. Why argue with it?

CJ has not stretched defenses this year like most Big 10 QBs have. His completion percentage is great in part because most of his passes are only a few yards past the line of scrimmage. If he's got an NFL arm, we are going to need to use it to keep defenses honest.

CJ got hit 3 times alone in the very last series that he played late in the game (at a point where he should not have even been playing). So yes, he was getting hit...pretty often given the level of competition.

If anyone can argue with any of these facts with actual thoughtful responses, it would be interesting to hear it. Trust me, every coach and professional in business can objectively point out flaws as well as successes after a win. Why can't most people on this board?

Can't argue with stupid.

 

[David1979]

CJ is not slower. Ferentz mentioned he was winning a lot of competitive running drills in camp.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

CJ is not slower. Ferentz mentioned he was winning a lot of competitive running drills in camp.

That was also before CJ dinged his knee in camp. He missed a few a days during camp as a result.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

Iowalaw, if you look at it from this perspective:
Lets say Iowa was off to an 0-2 start and I came on here and starting spatting of ridiculous reasons as why we should be opptmistic about our 0-2 start. Like hey at least our QB threw the ball forward and our OL didn't false start, etc. I think you might think that is a bit ridiculous. Being that we are 2-0 and ranked in top 15, most of us (if not all) really do not need your "objective" critics anymore than people need false optimism. Many of us are enjoying this little stretch and anybody who was actually "objective" would notice that this is probably the best and most balanced Iowa team I have seen since maybe 1985. My advice just enjoy the ride and stop being a pessimistic douche, because at some point you might actually have something to complain about and by that time we all be so sick of your douchey comments.

 

[David1979]

That was also before CJ dinged his knee in camp. He missed a few a days during camp as a result.

Ok, even if that is true. I don't see him as any slower than last year. He is wearing a knee brace which doesn't help his running but he is also not looking to run.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Ok, even if that is true. I don't see him as any slower than last year. He is wearing a knee brace which doesn't help his running but he is also not looking to run.

That is completely true and is likely the key observation. I don't think that CJ is really looking to run. He realizes that we didn't need him to run in order to win the game - so he was able to pump the brakes on himself a little bit.

My guess is that they're continuing to work on rehabbing him ... that way he'll be able to run-speed when we really need it.

 

[SoFla-Hawkeye]

...even when our schedule to date has been the easiest in all Division 1 football.

To date the University of Miami has played Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic University. This week they play Appalachian State. The University of Florida has played the university of Massachusetts and the University of Kentucky. They play the North Texas Mean Green this weekend with a game against the Presbyterian Blue Hose later in the season. I think you are wrong.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

To date the University of Miami has played Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic University. This week they play Appalachian State. The University of Florida has played the university of Massachusetts and the University of Kentucky. They play the North Texas Mean Green this weekend with a game against the Presbyterian Blue Hose later in the season. I think you are wrong.

Iowalaw being wrong is usually the norm as opposed to being an exception

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I can appreciate differing opinions that actually have thought and reason behind them, but true to form, most Hawk fans just blindly follow every decision Ferentz makes (subjective statement, inserting your own opinion into the argument.........lulz at you, lawyer.) and as long as the Hawks win a game, there can't possibly any room for improvement (ohhh I get it, so we're not suppose to take you seriously, because you weren't being serious right there. I'm fine with not taking you seriously, then.)...even when our schedule to date has been the easiest in all Division 1 football. (haha oh now I know you're joking.....)

Let's get our facts straight. Take away Daniels late game long run, and he was averaging just over 4 yards per carry against the worst Power 5 team in football. (So?) Wadley averaged 5.5 yards (plus a touchdown catch), and over 10 against Miami, not to mention he is more of a threat catching passes. Yet Daniels continues to get the majority of carries (this is pretty self-explanatory.......and I would tell you why.....but I want you to respond to this post, too.)

Those who said Wadley can't take the pounding and Daniels can...and that's why Ferentz isn't playing our best back as much as he should. Again, get your facts straight. Daniels is the injury prone guy that has been hurt most of his career. Wadley has been relatively healthy. Wadley is bigger than Fred Russel was and Freddy was an every down back. So keeping his carries down because he might get hurt is not a valid argument. (Except that Freddie never got hurt during his career either.......................................oh wait.) It's Daniels that should have carries kept down if injuries is the concern. (Good thing they aren't......curious comment, you gave there. )

CJ DOES look slower out there then last year. (He's also wearing more sh** to protect himself. That alone may slow him down some.) Watch the game. (You first.) I think he only has one run of positive yards so far this year, and it was like a 3 yard gain. Meanwhile, he's been sacked quite a bit. As a result, his rushing yards this year are -30. (Nevermind that Iowa State had guys up to play the possibility of a CJ scramble. That threat allows our receivers a bit more space to work with.....even if they still struggle getting open, 1-on-1.)

Our WRs do have quite a few drops in spite of great placement by CJ. That's just a fact. Why argue with it? (List all of them. Wouldn't hurt your credibility..............unless you can't.)

CJ has not stretched defenses this year like most Big 10 QBs have. His completion percentage is great in part because most of his passes are only a few yards past the line of scrimmage. If he's got an NFL arm, we are going to need to use it to keep defenses honest. (Okay, coach. Thanks.)

CJ got hit 3 times alone in the very last series that he played late in the game (at a point where he should not have even been playing). So yes, he was getting hit...pretty often given the level of competition. (Good thing it's week two, and no team improves as the season progresses. You worry about things never happening......that's why everyone calls you a pessimist. And then you act all shocked and pissy when they do.)

If anyone can argue with any of these facts with actual thoughtful responses (when you start putting less of your opinion into said "facts", I think you will get more thoughtful responses................................food for thought.), it would be interesting to hear it. Trust me, every coach and professional in business can objectively point out flaws as well as successes after a win. (Except you're not exactly portraying what people in the business industry would call "constructive criticism". You don't elaborate on how any of the sh- I mean information you post could be useful to the football team........it's all about why we should be worried and how we shouldn't trust Kirk Ferentz as much as we do.....................................................WHY IN THE ACTUAL F*** should we respond in any other manner than how we do now, if that's the way you're gonna present yourself?) Why can't most people on this board?

Also, stop pretending like you're the only one that sees any flaws with their favorite football team, regardless of what kind of poster they are.

Deal with it.

 

[Sums]

"Let's get our facts straight. Take away Daniels late game long run, and he was averaging just over 4 yards per carry against the worst Power 5 team in football. Wadley averaged 5.5 yards (plus a touchdown catch), and over 10 against Miami, not to mention he is more of a threat catching passes. Yet Daniels continues to get the majority of carries"

Daniels had 15 carries for 112 yards for a 7.5 average if we do what you said and take away his long touchdown run of 43 yards that gives him 14 carries for 69 yards. If my math is correct that is 4.92 ypc not just over 4 like you were saying. I get you don't like Daniels but at least get the math correct.

 

[the24fan]

Great: another "whats wrong with the Hawks ?" thread two games into the damn season. Come on Law, haven't you followed Iowa's MO at all....??

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Great night to fly in for a game. I saw a lot of positives, but some things that need to be cleaned up given we were playing the worst team in d1 football and last weeks opponent, Miami, lost to a 1aa team.

1. WR/Vandy - had some great catches and really helped cjs stats out a lot with yards after catch on 2 yrd passes. That td catch was a thing of beauty. But wow, too many drops by a #1 WR on a top 15 team. I'm still not a fan of mccarron. Very small, not real quick, and more drops (he has 4 or 5 in two games). Scheel played sparingly...wasn't he supposed to start? Isn't he our most athletic wr? No Mitchell as 3rd down back? These are things that will be obvious against good teams.

2. OL - they got a great push off the ball and made things easy for the rbs. Every play they pushed the DL back 3 yards. But damn, they were pretty terrible at pass blocking. CJ was getting drilled way too often and had no time to throw unless he rolled out of the pocket. Again, against big 10 DEs, I worry for his safety.

3. QB - cj is a stud. No doubt about it. Great accuracy, great decision making. There are enough threads singing his praise. But I wish he would make defenses honest by throwing deep every now and then. Come on, he's a pro armed qb and his avg throw is 5 yards. Maybe it's conservative play calling, but don't fall into the rudock trap. Also, he looks a step slower than last year. I still think we blew Stanley's redshirt and should have someone else handing off in mop up duty.

4. Kicking game - wow. We majorly upgraded in the kicking game despite starting two guys who have been in Iowa city for 3 months in their life. Kick offs are deeper than koehn, punts are higher and deeper than Kidd, and the extra points are right down the middle.

5. LBs - josey will make or break our defense. They looked so good with him in there. Wish bower would step it up a bit. No blitzing, and very few sacks. Very conservative d so far.

6. RB - wadley is our best back. Anyone who watches Iowa football would agree. Ferentz has a favorite in Daniels, however, and Daniels is going get the playing time. In his post game interview asking about Iowas great 1 2 punch at rb, ferentz praised Daniels and didn't say a word about wadley, even tho Daniels was held in check until one long run at the end of the game.

I see iowalaw as trying to troll a little bit ... but mostly in a way to try to stimulate conversation. Last week, his/her impressions were mostly positive ... even though we largely looked like crap. This week, we looked a lot better - but we were also playing against a depleted team learning new schemes. Thus, I appreciate trying to view the games in a measured fashion.

Anyhow, iowalaw has "hooked me" in this thread ... so, like any good fish, let's see if I'm good for a run ....

RE: point 1 - Here is some of the data as presented by Marc Morehouse:
-----------------------------------------
Targets went like this (C = completion, I = incompletion and D = drop/defended pass):

VandeBerg: CIICCCCCIDC (7 of 11 targets)
McCarron: CICCC (4 of 5 targets)
Smith: ICII (1 of 4)
George Kittle: CCIC (3 of 4)
Wadley: C (1 of 1)
Jay Scheel: C (1 of 1)
Derrick Mitchell: CCI (2 of 3)
-----------------------------------------------
I do believe that Marc missed a defended pass on Iowa's first failed conversion on 3rd down, but apart from that, I think that his numbers largely reflect reality.

The key observations are that McCarron caught the ball well. Furthermore, there really weren't many egregious misses by VandeBerg.

RE: point 2 - CJ was barely harassed in the game. One of the sacks came against Render - and it was when there was essentially a missed communication between Boettger and Render ... and Boettger didn't "pass" the rusher off to Render quite like he could/should have. As a result, the DE split the blockers and got to CJ.

Jaustin also came off pretty cleanly against the RT when he got called for the face-mask on CJ. I'll have to go back and check that one out. Sometimes you have to give the D credit.

Otherwise, CJ had quite a bit of time to throw the ball. If you look at the analytics, the game was relatively rough for LeGrand ... but he also drew the chore of going up against ISU's best D-lineman (Tucker). Thus, all things considered, I was pretty pleased with what I saw from him.

Lastly, for a good hunk of the game, Iowa was essentially without 2 of their best O-linemen (Daniels and Welsh) ... and yet they still controlled the line of scrimmage. That's a pretty good days work. They'll certainly have to clean things up and improve ... but do we have any reasons to believe that they won't improve? Apart from Welsh, who on the OL has more than a season of starts at their respective position on the OL? In fact, NONE of Iowa's starting offensive linemen not named Welsh even have a FULL season of starts under their belt at their given position. Thus, we have EVERY reason to believe that they'll improve as the season unfolds!

As iowalaw rightly points out - they'll definitely need to improve though.

RE: point 3 - I've already discussed CJ. I just don't think that the CJ "mobility button" has been pushed yet ... and that may be for a number or reasons.

As for the issue concerning Stanley - I think that the move is brilliant. Firstly, if the coaches really think that he could win the job next year - it is critical that he gets used to game-speed against different opponents. Secondly, if the coaches really like Mansell in the '17 class, then it is ideal that there be a 2-year gap in eligibility in order to sell playing time. Thirdly, it could light a fire under Wiegers ... encouraging him to really up the level of his game ... that will push the development of both top guys further forward. Lastly, it allows both Boyle and Cook to know that long-term position moves are a good idea ... and it can be THEIR decision ... so they can enter into the position change fully invested. It will allow Boyle to continue to embrace playing at WR ... whereas, it might indirectly encourage Cook to ask for a position move to TE (or similar).

RE: point 4 - The kicking game HAS been a pleasant surprise thus far. Let's hope that that trend remains the trend.

RE: point 5 - Josey is obviously a difference maker for us on the D. He leads ... he gets guys positioned ... and he also makes plays. The sort of attitude and energy he plays with permeates the entire D.

And yes, the defensive game plans HAVE been vanilla up until this point. Given that we have a number of new pieces in place ... it's nice to see the D executing the base schemes better than they did last week.

RE: point 6 - Both RBs have been playing well. I'd even remark that when healthy ... it seems like Mitchell was playing more 3rd down snaps too (as compared to the number or reps he saw against Miami)

As for performance, Wadley looked good ... and that was even without him being at 100%. Pretty impressive! Also, Daniels was looking the best I've seen yet too. As has been commented before and in other contexts, Daniels and Wadley were given reps that were against trend ... and they both fared well. That will hopefully make things a little harder for opposing Ds to scheme against. Wadley isn't just our "outside" runner ... Daniels isn't just our tough yardage guy. They're both developing into complete backs ... and that will make them both harder to defend.

As for being "held in check" ... both guys benefitted from long runs. That impacted BOTH of their respective stat sheets. It also impacted their numbers that they were running against trend AND behind an OL that featured some inexperience (as discussed earlier).