The Hawks won ugly yet again, improving to 9-2. Is there another 9 win team in the country that makes their fans sweat it out every single week? Black Friday will be bigger than usual this year with the Hawks having a shot at a Big 10 west title.
1. Is Padilla the Guy NEXT Year? Most fans have been so fed up with 2 years of Petras that they will give ANY replacement the benefit of the doubt. Padilla is clearly an upgrade. He's mobile, he makes better decisions, and he doesn't have Petras' happy feet. But does Petras' ineffectiveness automatically mean Padilla is the guy next year? Padilla was just 6 of 18 for 83 yards and 1 interception against a pretty bad Illinois team. That is one of the worst QB stat lines in the past 20 years. He wasn't a whole lot better the previous week, going just 11 of 24. Granted, there have been quite a few drops all season, but if it weren't for Petras setting such a low bar, would anyone be happy with Padilla's performance? There are quite a few Power 5 QBs out there who complete 70% of their passes. Quite a few more average at least 9 yards per attempt. I hope Padilla is the guy for years to come, but I'd like to see an actual open competition during spring ball next year. As we know, that doesn't happen at Iowa. From what some are saying, Joey Labas may be the best QB on the roster and we may never find out.
2. Why Does Brian Still Have a Job? Whether it's the mystifying play calls, the vanilla offense, the awful 3rd down efficiency, or the inability to recognize your playmakers until the end of the season, the one non-subjective factor that Brian cannot avoid is statistics. The Hawks rank 124th out of 130 teams in total offense, ahead of juggernauts like UMass and New Mexico. The rushing offense, Iowa's bread and butter, behind an all-Big 10 back, ranks 113th. I don't care how Brian got his job, Barta is required to step in and have a serious personnel discussion with Kirk at the end of the season and make it clear that Brian's job performance is unacceptable and it's time for a change.
3. Goodson Back to Being Goodson. The most puzzling and inconsistent player on the roster has got to be Goodson. One week, he's afraid of contact and can't muster 60 yards rushing in a game. The next, he's reeling off 132 yards on 27 carries like a stud Big 10 back. While I'd still like to see Goodson used more as a receiving threat out of the backfield, he seemed to be in old form vs. Illinois. It's time for Iowa to throw out the stretch that result in a loss of 3 yards no matter what the RB does and start playing to the team's strengths.
4. Safety Recruiting Whiffs. Walk-on Jack Koerner has been a tremendous feel good story for the Hawks. He grew up wanting to be a Hawk, Phil Parker didn't offer him a scholarship, so he paid his own way to come to Iowa. 29 starts later, he's made himself a durable all-Big 10 caliber safety. After 3 years, he finally misses a game due to injury. Surely there's a stable of recruits on the bench ready to come in and replace him, right? Welp...sophomore walk-on Quinn Schulte was the next man in?? C'mon. When a team has 85 scholarship players and is known for putting defensive backs in the league, there's no excuse for the team relying on walk-on safeties at such an important position year in and year out.
5. Surprise: Another Horrible 2 Min Offense. Nearly every week the Hawks botch a series at the end of the half and this week was no different. Dane Belton intercepted a pass and ran it back to Illinois' 39 yard line with 1 min to play. The Hawks were up 17-13 in a very even game. What happens? Padilla throws the 1st down pass 10 rows into the bleachers. On 2nd down, run up the middle for no gain. Third down, and Padilla guns a 2 yard incomplete pass to Goodson that wouldn't have even come close to a first down anyway. Puzzling. Shudak then came in and missed a 58 yarder with 45 seconds to play. Wah wah. Another squandered opportunity. Is there a 2 minute offense guru out there that Kirk can pay $500k for a little insight into how to actually manage a clock and march down the field efficiently?
1. Is Padilla the Guy NEXT Year? Most fans have been so fed up with 2 years of Petras that they will give ANY replacement the benefit of the doubt. Padilla is clearly an upgrade. He's mobile, he makes better decisions, and he doesn't have Petras' happy feet. But does Petras' ineffectiveness automatically mean Padilla is the guy next year? Padilla was just 6 of 18 for 83 yards and 1 interception against a pretty bad Illinois team. That is one of the worst QB stat lines in the past 20 years. He wasn't a whole lot better the previous week, going just 11 of 24. Granted, there have been quite a few drops all season, but if it weren't for Petras setting such a low bar, would anyone be happy with Padilla's performance? There are quite a few Power 5 QBs out there who complete 70% of their passes. Quite a few more average at least 9 yards per attempt. I hope Padilla is the guy for years to come, but I'd like to see an actual open competition during spring ball next year. As we know, that doesn't happen at Iowa. From what some are saying, Joey Labas may be the best QB on the roster and we may never find out.
2. Why Does Brian Still Have a Job? Whether it's the mystifying play calls, the vanilla offense, the awful 3rd down efficiency, or the inability to recognize your playmakers until the end of the season, the one non-subjective factor that Brian cannot avoid is statistics. The Hawks rank 124th out of 130 teams in total offense, ahead of juggernauts like UMass and New Mexico. The rushing offense, Iowa's bread and butter, behind an all-Big 10 back, ranks 113th. I don't care how Brian got his job, Barta is required to step in and have a serious personnel discussion with Kirk at the end of the season and make it clear that Brian's job performance is unacceptable and it's time for a change.
3. Goodson Back to Being Goodson. The most puzzling and inconsistent player on the roster has got to be Goodson. One week, he's afraid of contact and can't muster 60 yards rushing in a game. The next, he's reeling off 132 yards on 27 carries like a stud Big 10 back. While I'd still like to see Goodson used more as a receiving threat out of the backfield, he seemed to be in old form vs. Illinois. It's time for Iowa to throw out the stretch that result in a loss of 3 yards no matter what the RB does and start playing to the team's strengths.
4. Safety Recruiting Whiffs. Walk-on Jack Koerner has been a tremendous feel good story for the Hawks. He grew up wanting to be a Hawk, Phil Parker didn't offer him a scholarship, so he paid his own way to come to Iowa. 29 starts later, he's made himself a durable all-Big 10 caliber safety. After 3 years, he finally misses a game due to injury. Surely there's a stable of recruits on the bench ready to come in and replace him, right? Welp...sophomore walk-on Quinn Schulte was the next man in?? C'mon. When a team has 85 scholarship players and is known for putting defensive backs in the league, there's no excuse for the team relying on walk-on safeties at such an important position year in and year out.
5. Surprise: Another Horrible 2 Min Offense. Nearly every week the Hawks botch a series at the end of the half and this week was no different. Dane Belton intercepted a pass and ran it back to Illinois' 39 yard line with 1 min to play. The Hawks were up 17-13 in a very even game. What happens? Padilla throws the 1st down pass 10 rows into the bleachers. On 2nd down, run up the middle for no gain. Third down, and Padilla guns a 2 yard incomplete pass to Goodson that wouldn't have even come close to a first down anyway. Puzzling. Shudak then came in and missed a 58 yarder with 45 seconds to play. Wah wah. Another squandered opportunity. Is there a 2 minute offense guru out there that Kirk can pay $500k for a little insight into how to actually manage a clock and march down the field efficiently?
