We're all experts here, but I haven't rewatched the game so just wondering if anyone has pinpointed specific changes we made on offense but particularly on defense that turned the tide.
My initial observations were:
DEFENSE:
We were focused more on containing the QB (like prior years) and let him sit back and find an open receiver in the first quarter. Containment meant no LB spy and so even though we seemed to form a slowly collapsing pocket most times, he either found a receiver or when we failed to do this he was also able to run a few times. Looked so much like prior years that I was very frustrated after the first 15 minutes, especially when Ott when out. The combination looked very ominous at that time.
However, after the 1st quarter it seemed like we made adjustments that really locked down on the QB's primary options, really shut down the running game by forcing it wide and flowing to the ball, and starting to get some pressure perhaps with a bit more blitzing. Did anyone notice any secondary adjustments?
My sense going into the game was that we needed to dictate the game to ISU instead of being dictated to, and that meant letting Ott do his thing and having a LB blitzing or spying most of the time. Not sure how much of this actually happened, but it didn't seem to happen much in the 1st quarter other than the one blitz that did work well. In the second quarter things tightened up a lot and their 2nd TD required the special seam route with the backup RB Ryen (nice play) and a miracle TD throw that was 1 handed. Other than that they struggled in the 2nd quarter imo.
OFFENSE:
At times it seemed we fell prey to predictability and were getting into too many 3rd and shorts, which I hate because a team is only going to make 50% of those and if you have too many of them you can plan on a lot of punts and FG's. However for some reason this team has been able to put a ton of long drives together this year (85+ yards) and after the first 20 minutes we seemed to find big plays out there when we needed them.
I chalk this up to (1) a more diverse playbook; (2) RB's that can break the 20 yard gain; (3) CJ Beathard.
Not sure if we actually changed things on offense during the game, but we started executing better and made some big plays.
Thoughts from the rest of HROT specifically on adjustments?
My initial observations were:
DEFENSE:
We were focused more on containing the QB (like prior years) and let him sit back and find an open receiver in the first quarter. Containment meant no LB spy and so even though we seemed to form a slowly collapsing pocket most times, he either found a receiver or when we failed to do this he was also able to run a few times. Looked so much like prior years that I was very frustrated after the first 15 minutes, especially when Ott when out. The combination looked very ominous at that time.
However, after the 1st quarter it seemed like we made adjustments that really locked down on the QB's primary options, really shut down the running game by forcing it wide and flowing to the ball, and starting to get some pressure perhaps with a bit more blitzing. Did anyone notice any secondary adjustments?
My sense going into the game was that we needed to dictate the game to ISU instead of being dictated to, and that meant letting Ott do his thing and having a LB blitzing or spying most of the time. Not sure how much of this actually happened, but it didn't seem to happen much in the 1st quarter other than the one blitz that did work well. In the second quarter things tightened up a lot and their 2nd TD required the special seam route with the backup RB Ryen (nice play) and a miracle TD throw that was 1 handed. Other than that they struggled in the 2nd quarter imo.
OFFENSE:
At times it seemed we fell prey to predictability and were getting into too many 3rd and shorts, which I hate because a team is only going to make 50% of those and if you have too many of them you can plan on a lot of punts and FG's. However for some reason this team has been able to put a ton of long drives together this year (85+ yards) and after the first 20 minutes we seemed to find big plays out there when we needed them.
I chalk this up to (1) a more diverse playbook; (2) RB's that can break the 20 yard gain; (3) CJ Beathard.
Not sure if we actually changed things on offense during the game, but we started executing better and made some big plays.
Thoughts from the rest of HROT specifically on adjustments?
