Rewatching 4th Down and 2. We had it stopped, if not for our linebacker's angle. - Pictures/Video

[Jhawkfootball06]

Wow. Unbelievable. We had it stopped. What the hell kind of angle was the linebacker thinking? We had it stopped, the hole for him to go through to make the tackle was right there!

He actually went backwards a couple yards without anybody touching him.

Starts at 1:54:18. Watch at .5 or .25 speed.

 

[Dauminator]

My defense of him is this: he was probably thinking what I was thinking in real time. There's no way in hell Cook is keeping that. He's a statue anyway, and gimped at that. Assume he will pitch it.

It's easy in hindsight to criticize what actually happened, and disciplined gap football would have had keep and pitch both covered. But live, I totally understand why it worked.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Jewell might not have felt he could get upfield enough behind those O-linemen to catch up with Cook behind the LOS. Remember, Cook was moving laterally, whereas Jewell would have had to have gotten upfield first before tracking him down from behind. It would have been close, but he may have been better off taking that angle. Split-second decision, and tough to second-guess. Jewell is a fantastic LB; without him, our defense isn't nearly as tough this year. Wish he'd been able to get the TFL there, needless to say, but it's easy for us to look back at still photos and see the other angle he might have taken. Much tougher when you're right there in the middle of the action.

Those photos are a reminder, though, of how far behind the LOS Cook was. Have to say it is frustrating that none of our guys was able to shoot a gap and stop him. He's not exactly lightning quick. Their O-line really had to hold their blocks for that play to work. They blocked it very well and he still barely made it. Not a real high-percentage play for them in my mind, but it obviously got the job done for them as it turned out.

 

[David1979]

so close

 

[ichawk24]

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt
Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic"
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

 

[AuroraHawk]

I'm guessing that Lomax's assignment was to cover the back in case there was a pitch. That written, it is unfortunate that he didn't immediately go after Cook and force a pitch. If Cook pitches it, I still like the chances of stopping the RB on the short side of the field.

Oh well . . . hindsight is always 20/20. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the opponent.

 

[HawkRugged17]

"Missed it by that much".

Maxwell Smart

 

[parker01]

He should've stayed backside and played the cutback, but he overpursued. That being said, he's an outstanding LB, that misplayed that particular play. Oh well, all LBs misplay plays, but it often goes unnoticed because a DL gets off a block and makes a play.

 

[youflog1hawk]

Hesse was pulled to the ground there. Re watch it. He might have had a play if he could have got separation. Its an obvious holding call.

 

[Jhawkfootball06]

GIF of the play

 

[bagdropper]

There were a few other plays that also changed the course of that game. We can pick apart every flaw there was in that game, but the simple fact remains that Iowa lost, and now we got Stanford to worry about.

Iowa made bad plays in every game this year. Up to Saturday, none of them led to a loss. MSU was a much better team than anybody else Iowa played, and made Iowa pay for those few mistakes.

And yet, Iowa played better against MSU than any other game this year. That was Big Boy Football right there. Iowa played great...just not great enough to win the game.

It happens. Time to move on. Play that well against Stanford, they'll win.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

It was a good play call by MSU, I have not seen every MSU game but not many speed options throughout the year. LB definately was caught off gaurd and he overpursued just slightly (enough for cook to get 1st down) Lomax's responsibility was the pitch man, once again good motion on MSU's part b/c it forced King to play man-man and forced Lomax to play pitch.....without the motion (and man-man coverage, which you have to inside the 10) King would be pitch man, Lomax would be alley player and would have lit Cook up. Tough play for ILB to scrape and shut down the alley on that play....in hindsight he should have went underneath and played inside out....but in real time that is easier said than done, would be different if we expected and prepped for that play, but MSU hardly ran that play from my knowledge all year

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

The first objective is to prevent the score. The second objective is to stop the first down. If you prevent the score, you at least live to see another down.

The D was caring first and foremost about preventing anybody from getting the edge.

There was a play that could have been made ... but, had the D been manned by more multi-year starters ... the recognition likely would have been made more quickly and the guys would be playing faster accordingly.

As others have said, there were plenty of plays that could have been made earlier ... but weren't. It's not fair to focus solely on one ... particularly when the whole team played well and fought so hard for so long. The loss was painful to everybody who bleeds black and gold ... but there is still one more game left to play for.

 

[broth87]

It was a good play call by MSU, I have not seen every MSU game but not many speed options throughout the year. LB definately was caught off gaurd and he overpursued just slightly (enough for cook to get 1st down) Lomax's responsibility was the pitch man, once again good motion on MSU's part b/c it forced King to play man-man and forced Lomax to play pitch.....without the motion (and man-man coverage, which you have to inside the 10) King would be pitch man, Lomax would be alley player and would have lit Cook up. Tough play for ILB to scrape and shut down the alley on that play....in hindsight he should have went underneath and played inside out....but in real time that is easier said than done, would be different if we expected and prepped for that play, but MSU hardly ran that play from my knowledge all year

Picture 3 in the series shows the illegal chit block on Cole Fisher. Offensive linemen engage up high and he's being taken out down low. That's a text book chop block.
I'm sorry but we didn't lose that game. The officials swallowed the whistles on that last drive and sparty got away with raping our guys the whole drive. Even Herbstreit said yesterday the officials were watching a different game in the 4th quarter. It turned into backyard football and there might as well have not even been officials on the field.

 

[Hawk and Awe]

And if we just wouldve let them score there'd be 2 minutes!!!!!!

Crazy sequence, just wasn't our night. It's a bummer, but I'm pretty happy with how well they played

 

[Multi-Hawk]

The center would have blocked Jewell if he tried to shoot the gap. Once the center saw Jewell was going outside, he went after Fisher. The left OG's blocking assignment was Fisher, therefore both lineman illegally blocked Fisher - one high and one low. .

 

[bravehawks1]

You can always blame penalties, but the Fisher chop block, Josey getting tackled on touchdown and the possible targeting in the end zone would all have been nice. However, two penalties that were correctly called probably hurt the most to the Iowa momentum. Roughing the kicker (should have been running in to kicker but still would be first down) and the holding on Vande Berg that likely prevented a touchdown and a 20-9 score were more devasting.

Great season, look for the guys to take this week off, get refreshed and healed a bit, study for finals and then go to So Cal ready to put on the same kind of show. One thing that I think about Stanford is there defense is not nearly stout as MSU, so offense should be able to be more productive.

Any thought on using Jewel to spy on McCaffrey in RB? Or is that giving up our best defender?

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

Picture 3 in the series shows the illegal chit block on Cole Fisher. Offensive linemen engage up high and he's being taken out down low. That's a text book chop block.
I'm sorry but we didn't lose that game. The officials swallowed the whistles on that last drive and sparty got away with raping our guys the whole drive. Even Herbstreit said yesterday the officials were watching a different game in the 4th quarter. It turned into backyard football and there might as well have not even been officials on the field.

I am not arguing with you and I am sure there were some missed calls.....but say what you want we lost the game, even if you are correct, we make a few more plays in the 1st 3 quarters the officials or lack of calls are a moot point. Besides I would much rather lose a game because officials swallowed their whistle then how North Carolina lost.....

 

[David1979]

Picture 3 in the series shows the illegal chit block on Cole Fisher. Offensive linemen engage up high and he's being taken out down low. That's a text book chop block.
I'm sorry but we didn't lose that game. The officials swallowed the whistles on that last drive and sparty got away with raping our guys the whole drive. Even Herbstreit said yesterday the officials were watching a different game in the 4th quarter. It turned into backyard football and there might as well have not even been officials on the field.

Herbsreit called the officials out? I missed that.

 

[broth87]

The center would have blocked Jewell if he tried to shoot the gap. Once the center saw Jewell was going outside, he went after Fisher. The left OG's blocking assignment was Fisher, therefore both lineman illegally blocked Fisher - one high and one low. .

THIS!

 

[broth87]

Herbsreit called the officials out? I missed that.

His exact quote was "the officials were watching a different game at the end."

 

[DavenportHawk8]

I am not arguing with you and I am sure there were some missed calls.....but say what you want we lost the game, even if you are correct, we make a few more plays in the 1st 3 quarters the officials or lack of calls are a moot point. Besides I would much rather lose a game because officials swallowed their whistle then how North Carolina lost.....

I agree. Yes these guys maybe missed a couple of calls, but we killed ourselves. I mean roughing the punter was an obvious call. The kickers leg was taken out from underneath him, that's PF right there.

But our offense was very stagnant the first quarter. I mean we didn't try anything out of the ordinary and losing Canzeri really hurt Iowa. I am sorry but he is our best RB and he can cut back against the MSU defense better than anyone. Sucked to lose him.

CJB didn't scramble as much as I thought he would, and give MSU credit, their Dline is very good.

If I was a UNC fan, I would of been irate, that guy had no business throwing that flag, the ball was already kicked?? That flag should of come out right at contact if was Off sides. WOW!

 

[David1979]

His exact quote was "the officials were watching a different game at the end."

Wow that's pretty bad. When you have fans calling out officials it is one thing because they usually do but to get called out by a neutral commentator you have to be pretty bad. Is it right that they were the same crew that did MSU and Nebraska?

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

His exact quote was "the officials were watching a different game at the end."

I did not hear this nor have I heard anybody else who has.....not saying you are wrong just curious if there is a link or if anybody else heard this....not that Herby's word is automatic truth anyway.....I know MSU had more penalties and more penalty yards than Iowa and I know that most football purest would like the results of the game to be the results of the players and other than one high low penalty that was not called (and often times it is because there is a mess of people in that area) I do not remember anything crazy in the 22 play drive that would make me think that the refs had anything to do with the outcome of the game....I was as upset as the next guy, but I took it more as two great teams going at it and somebody had to win and somebody had to lose.....

 

[David1979]

The chop block was obvious. I don't know how the officials missed it.

 

[David1979]

Refs also gave a bad spot to Beathard on his QB sneak. with final push he got the first down.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Looked that way to me, too. Sadly, those are pretty much impossible to review.

 

[icu81222]

The center would have blocked Jewell if he tried to shoot the gap. Once the center saw Jewell was going outside, he went after Fisher. The left OG's blocking assignment was Fisher, therefore both lineman illegally blocked Fisher - one high and one low. .

I actually just watched the game again about an hour ago. I rewound it 10 times minimum. My initial thought was same as op but.....someone in the know , modern coaching wise, correct me if I am wrong.

Isn't his assignment outside in? If so, he made right read. Scrape, scrape and work outside in. I played and coached offense but that seems the way I remember it being taught back in the day.

Besides, if jewel would have shot that gap, he might not have had enough of an angle to stay square and make the play. Maybe not even catch up to him because of the angle.

At least that is what I thought.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

I actually just watched the game again about an hour ago. I rewound it 10 times minimum. My initial thought was same as op but.....someone in the know , modern coaching wise, correct me if I am wrong.

Isn't his assignment outside in? If so, he made right read. Scrape, scrape and work outside in. I played and coached offense but that seems the way I remember it being taught back in the day.

Besides, if jewel would have shot that gap, he might not have had enough of an angle to stay square and make the play. Maybe not even catch up to him because of the angle.

At least that is what I thought.

It appears to me that he did do what he "should" have done, it appears as though we were pretty gap sound.....the motion to that side made it very tough to defend. As I said earlier, if no motion to that side King would have had pitch, Lomax would be alley/QB player, and LB did what he was supposed to do by scraping, but if a gap opens such LB's are given the option to go inside out if they can get to the angle. I allow my DB to go under/below a WR block even if they have contain as long as the can flatten out and have time to contain....that being said in real time that is not easy to do and it appears to me everybody did what they were supposed to do, just an inch away from a stop

 

[DavenportHawk8]

It appears to me that he did do what he "should" have done, it appears as though we were pretty gap sound.....the motion to that side made it very tough to defend. As I said earlier, if no motion to that side King would have had pitch, Lomax would be alley/QB player, and LB did what he was supposed to do by scraping, but if a gap opens such LB's are given the option to go inside out if they can get to the angle. I allow my DB to go under/below a WR block even if they have contain as long as the can flatten out and have time to contain....that being said in real time that is not easy to do and it appears to me everybody did what they were supposed to do, just an inch away from a stop

I thought he got it and then when the reviewed it I thought "uh oh" its gonna be close.

The measurement was only about 16 inches. I thought he got it by a yard or two. Tough break for the hawks. It was a great play and one that I did not think of to call in that situation. I seriously thought they would run some sort of PA and get cook rolling out and give him a pass/run option. That was a great/gutsy call by MSU O Coordinator.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Agree it was a gutsy call, because if he gets stopped, Spartan Nation is wondering why the $#%@ they put the ball in the hands of their relatively immobile QB without an option to throw it.

Like others, I wish Lomax had forced Cook to pitch it. Would have come down to King to stop him, and Dez would have had to shed a block to do it. It would have been a tough play, but he would have had the boundary working for him. Man, would it have been cool for an overlooked recruit from Detroit to make the game-winning stop! Woulda, coulda, shoulda. . . . I guess we can dream.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

I think we can all agree that was a damn good game, two great teams, and what a great representation of the BigTen! IMO the BigTen is hands down the best conference this year, not even close really! If we lined up from top to bottom with any conference this year BigTen wins majority of every match up from top to bottom. I really do not think any conference has chance, PAC 12, Big 12, and SEC were/are so over rated it is not even funny.
Best Conferences IMO:
1) Big Ten
2) ACC
3) SEC
4) PAC 12
5) AAC
6) BIG 12

Yes I honestly think the American Conference is better than the big 12 and the ACC is better than the SEC from top to bottom.
Florida playing in SEC championship is laughable and tell me why in the hell has there been this huge stink about Iowa's schedule when nobody in the entire Big 12 played anybody worth a shit in the non conference

 

[broth87]

I think we can all agree that was a damn good game, two great teams, and what a great representation of the BigTen! IMO the BigTen is hands down the best conference this year, not even close really! If we lined up from top to bottom with any conference this year BigTen wins majority of every match up from top to bottom. I really do not think any conference has chance, PAC 12, Big 12, and SEC were/are so over rated it is not even funny.
Best Conferences IMO:
1) Big Ten
2) ACC
3) SEC
4) PAC 12
5) AAC
6) BIG 12

Yes I honestly think the American Conference is better than the big 12 and the ACC is better than the SEC from top to bottom.
Florida playing in SEC championship is laughable and tell me why in the hell has there been this huge stink about Iowa's schedule when nobody in the entire Big 12 played anybody worth a shit in the non conference

Can't argue any of that.

 

[mthawkeyes]

I did not hear this nor have I heard anybody else who has.....not saying you are wrong just curious if there is a link or if anybody else heard this....not that Herby's word is automatic truth anyway.....I know MSU had more penalties and more penalty yards than Iowa and I know that most football purest would like the results of the game to be the results of the players and other than one high low penalty that was not called (and often times it is because there is a mess of people in that area) I do not remember anything crazy in the 22 play drive that would make me think that the refs had anything to do with the outcome of the game....I was as upset as the next guy, but I took it more as two great teams going at it and somebody had to win and somebody had to lose.....

He said it sometime during that 3-hour ranking/bowl selection show. I was surprised when I heard that too, and actually rewound to make sure he was referring to what I thought he was.

 

[mthawkeyes]

You can always blame penalties, but the Fisher chop block, Josey getting tackled on touchdown and the possible targeting in the end zone would all have been nice. However, two penalties that were correctly called probably hurt the most to the Iowa momentum. Roughing the kicker (should have been running in to kicker but still would be first down) and the holding on Vande Berg that likely prevented a touchdown and a 20-9 score were more devasting.

Great season, look for the guys to take this week off, get refreshed and healed a bit, study for finals and then go to So Cal ready to put on the same kind of show. One thing that I think about Stanford is there defense is not nearly stout as MSU, so offense should be able to be more productive.

Any thought on using Jewel to spy on McCaffrey in RB? Or is that giving up our best defender?

It was 4th and slightly more than 5. MSU would have had 4th and inches.

 

[sloehawk]

I'm guessing that Lomax's assignment was to cover the back in case there was a pitch. That written, it is unfortunate that he didn't immediately go after Cook and force a pitch. If Cook pitches it, I still like the chances of stopping the RB on the short side of the field.

Oh well . . . hindsight is always 20/20. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the opponent.

A Gopher fan I work with and I were discussing this play today (said I probably didn't want to hear it since we lost, but it was a Great game, FWIW). My take was that I believed Lomax should have first and foremost went after the ball carrier, then you hope the guys behind you do their job if there is a successful pitch, which isn't a given in that situation. He stated a similar sentiment as you proposed, that perhaps Lomax's "assignment" was to defend the pitch. My reaction was "we weren't playing Navy".

You seldom see an option type play like this throughout the year in the Big Ten, though it certainly does happen, so who knows if they even plan on such a thing. I don't think an option was at the top of the list of the potential plays that MSU would run in that situation (unless it's on tape somewhere that this is something they do from time to time, which I doubt but all things are possible I suppose).

In THAT situation you absolutely go after the ball, IMO.

 

[WORTHYWISH]

Y'all saw Jewell get tackled from behind on the last TD play, right?

 

[24hansi]

Wow. Unbelievable. We had it stopped. What the hell kind of angle was the linebacker thinking? We had it stopped, the hole for him to go through to make the tackle was right there!

He actually went backwards a couple yards without anybody touching him.

Starts at 1:54:18. Watch at .5 or .25 speed.

View embedded media

Wrong. Safety has QB on option all day every day. The mistake was made at safety not LB. Watch the play again

 

[broth87]

Y'all saw Jewell get tackled from behind on the last TD play, right?[/QUOTE
Wish there was a photo series of that as well. Plain and simple, in a game of that magnitude with all that was on the line, those calls have to be made. The officials swallowed the whistles on that last drive. Yes Scott is tough and we didn't tackle well the whole night but especially on that drive. But you simply cannot miss those calls which were both at or very near the point of attack and had an impact on the outcome of both plays. You can say I'm blaming the officials or whatever you want, but if you watch them again, it's blatant and has to be called. And it changes everything.

 

[83Hawk]

Why torture yourselves re-hashing this? Game is over, Hawkeyes lost. On to the Rose Bowl!