Kirk, Brian, and Petras and the homers on this board somehow feel vindicated after the staff elected to play Petras yet again, despite his body of work, in a decisive win against hapless 1-7 Northwestern. Yep, even after Petras went 6/14 for 49 yards and 2 ints in his previous outing, he still got the start.
Iowa is now .500, but their other wins come against 1-7 Northwestern, 2-7 Nevada, 4-4 Rutgers, and a IAA school.
Brecht is an Athlete, Right? - You want your WRs to be guys who can catch a ball in stride and gain yards after the catch, right? You especially want that out of a tall, super star multi-sport athlete. So why is it that any time a ball comes Brecht's way, his instinct is to dive/fall toward the ball, regardless of whether it's thrown right at his chest. Brecht is experienced by now and is finishing his 2nd season as a Big 10 WR. Presumably he's coached by a WRs coach every day. Yet I'm not sure he's gained a single yard after catch in his career because of his tendency to fall catch. On the plus side, his 3 catches vs. Northwestern doubled his career total. With even average coaching, he'd have that strange glitch fixed.
Questionable Personnel Judgment at RB & Other Positions - Just 8 weeks ago, the staff anointed Gavin Williams the team's #1 RB, Leshon Williams #2, and Kaleb Johnson #3 at the back of the depth chart. They did so after evaluating them day after day all spring/summer/fall. Looking back at their judgment, they had the depth chart completely backwards. Gavin probably isn't even the 3rd best back on the team and is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Leshon is averaging just 3.7 while still getting about half the team's carries. Johnson, an after thought, is clearly the cream of the crop, averaging 4.8 yards (including 7.2 vs Northwestern). Casual fans are only able to see Brian/Betts picked the wrong guy because we've had the chance to see the backups perform on the field. It makes you wonder, though, about other mistakes in personnel at positions where the backups never take a single snap. The QB position comes to mind (has anyone ever seen Labas throw a single pass or avoid a blitz in his 2 years at Iowa? the guy was a scout team legend last year). If staff was so wrong in their RB evaluations, there must be others on the bench that shouldn't be.
Jay Higgins - Iowa's leading tackler against Northwestern was not Jack Campbell (the Big 10 leader) or Seth Benson (4th in the Big 10). It was unheralded Jay Higgins, who racked up a career high 12 tackles and is starting to come of age in this his junior year. Look for Higgins to take on a leadership role next year when Campbell and Benson graduate. Hopefully Jacobs will be back next year, and it'll be interesting to see who steps up for the 3rd LB position.
Bruce is Back - IowaLaw was hard on Bruce last week after some glaring mental mistakes on special teams and at WR. This week, Bruce redeemed himself by actually fielding the punts that he's back there to catch, and making some nifty moves to gain Iowa some much needed positive yards. 4 punt returns for 40 yards is no Charlie Jones, but it's a huge improvement over recent weeks where we needed every yard we could get. I still don't think Bruce is an every down Big 10 WR, but it would be interesting to see what a creative/qualified offensive coordinator could do with a guy like that. If he transfers to a Purdue type school next year to increase his targets, I wouldn't blame him one bit.
Brian Still Needs to Be Fired - I've seen some shortsighted fans magically change their tune on Brian because the offense put up a few easy points against a bottom feeder. News flash, even after Petras got to inflate his stats by taking every snap against a cupcake, the offense is STILL a national laughing stock, moving to just 129th out of 131 teams in total offense, 125th in scoring offense, and 122nd in 3rd down conversions. The "creativity" shown against an inferior opponent is lipstick on a pig. Iowa still can't score touchdowns and would still be a top 20 team with an average offensive coordinator.
Iowa is now .500, but their other wins come against 1-7 Northwestern, 2-7 Nevada, 4-4 Rutgers, and a IAA school.
Brecht is an Athlete, Right? - You want your WRs to be guys who can catch a ball in stride and gain yards after the catch, right? You especially want that out of a tall, super star multi-sport athlete. So why is it that any time a ball comes Brecht's way, his instinct is to dive/fall toward the ball, regardless of whether it's thrown right at his chest. Brecht is experienced by now and is finishing his 2nd season as a Big 10 WR. Presumably he's coached by a WRs coach every day. Yet I'm not sure he's gained a single yard after catch in his career because of his tendency to fall catch. On the plus side, his 3 catches vs. Northwestern doubled his career total. With even average coaching, he'd have that strange glitch fixed.
Questionable Personnel Judgment at RB & Other Positions - Just 8 weeks ago, the staff anointed Gavin Williams the team's #1 RB, Leshon Williams #2, and Kaleb Johnson #3 at the back of the depth chart. They did so after evaluating them day after day all spring/summer/fall. Looking back at their judgment, they had the depth chart completely backwards. Gavin probably isn't even the 3rd best back on the team and is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Leshon is averaging just 3.7 while still getting about half the team's carries. Johnson, an after thought, is clearly the cream of the crop, averaging 4.8 yards (including 7.2 vs Northwestern). Casual fans are only able to see Brian/Betts picked the wrong guy because we've had the chance to see the backups perform on the field. It makes you wonder, though, about other mistakes in personnel at positions where the backups never take a single snap. The QB position comes to mind (has anyone ever seen Labas throw a single pass or avoid a blitz in his 2 years at Iowa? the guy was a scout team legend last year). If staff was so wrong in their RB evaluations, there must be others on the bench that shouldn't be.
Jay Higgins - Iowa's leading tackler against Northwestern was not Jack Campbell (the Big 10 leader) or Seth Benson (4th in the Big 10). It was unheralded Jay Higgins, who racked up a career high 12 tackles and is starting to come of age in this his junior year. Look for Higgins to take on a leadership role next year when Campbell and Benson graduate. Hopefully Jacobs will be back next year, and it'll be interesting to see who steps up for the 3rd LB position.
Bruce is Back - IowaLaw was hard on Bruce last week after some glaring mental mistakes on special teams and at WR. This week, Bruce redeemed himself by actually fielding the punts that he's back there to catch, and making some nifty moves to gain Iowa some much needed positive yards. 4 punt returns for 40 yards is no Charlie Jones, but it's a huge improvement over recent weeks where we needed every yard we could get. I still don't think Bruce is an every down Big 10 WR, but it would be interesting to see what a creative/qualified offensive coordinator could do with a guy like that. If he transfers to a Purdue type school next year to increase his targets, I wouldn't blame him one bit.
Brian Still Needs to Be Fired - I've seen some shortsighted fans magically change their tune on Brian because the offense put up a few easy points against a bottom feeder. News flash, even after Petras got to inflate his stats by taking every snap against a cupcake, the offense is STILL a national laughing stock, moving to just 129th out of 131 teams in total offense, 125th in scoring offense, and 122nd in 3rd down conversions. The "creativity" shown against an inferior opponent is lipstick on a pig. Iowa still can't score touchdowns and would still be a top 20 team with an average offensive coordinator.
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