Two Deeps & Game Notes for Iowa vs. Minnesota
- Thread starter Blair Sanderson
- Start date
Padilla was not that good people. We scored 17. That's the lowest of all the teams they've played all year.
We scored 17 on freaking Northwestern. That is pathetic.
We scored 17 on freaking Northwestern. That is pathetic.
But Spencer ain't CJ. Spencer's hold on the starting position must have become much more tenuous before the purported injury.
And if Petras played the entire game, the Hawks don't sniff 17. They would have lost their third straight and the fanbase would be in full meltdown. I haven't seen anyone suggest AP for the Heisman or discuss his draft prospects. Most of us realize NW isn't good this year. He was decisive and delivered more on-time and on-target throws than Petras had his last three games combined. The offense showed sparks of life and that provided hope for future games. We will have a better feel for what AP can and can't do after Minny.
My only problem with this post is referencing the drops that cost Padilla. Every game this year Petras suffered from 4-6 drops. The Iowa Receiving corp has dropped a lot of passes this year, especially Tracy.
What happens if we give Padilla the three drives in which Petras couldn't perform?
What happens if we give Padilla more opportunity instead of KF turtling up when we got the lead?
It was the first time he has ever played in a game that’s not in the 4th quarter and where he is just handling the ball off.
Looked better - same results. Which points to... offensive scheme
Both actually. Maryland I thought was the first and really only game we truly saw the entire playbook. Petras mad several great throws, and the outcome was never really in doubt. Against penn state, I thought it was a smartly called game, taking chances against a really good defense when we needed to and again, Petras delivered some really good throws and outside of the one pick, avoided mistakes.
to some extent, but I also think that for a variety of reasons, including scheme at times, things just haven’t clicked this year. Line struggles have been well documented, and almost no scheme can overcome that consistently. Receivers have dropped passes and/or slipped at times that killed drives - Jones had a drop in I think the 3rd that did this, RBs - especially IKM have been uncharacteristically loose with the football, again killing drives. Petras has been inconsistent. And so on.
we’ve seen them put it together for a quarter or a half, Maryland was the only game I’d argue we came close to playing a complete game. But that’s why this season has been frustrating to me at least. We’ve seen them do it at times, so we know they CAN do it. But they just haven’t been able to sustain anything.
I agree with everything you said. At the end of the day, everyone and everything is contributing to such a stale offense and its both players and coaches. What I see more than anything at this point is how our offensive roster is so mis-matched. As much as I love Goodson, he is really a "lightning" type of back and we have no "thunder". To be able to have a good offense in the B1G with a pro-style scheme in the back half of the schedule, you really need that bell-cow kind of run-between-the-tackles kind of back and Goodson just isn't that guy. Then you look at his backup or was his backup, IKM, and he is really the same back, just not as talented. Past that with Williams, we don't know at this point what he is exactly, but he looks kind of the same as he has more shift than power. So its like we have 3 of the same kind of back and are missing an essential piece.
Now look at the receivers. Tracy, Ragaini, Bruce, and Jones are all pretty much the same player, again, with varying levels of talent. But all are smaller slot guys that are more effective in the short game of screens, slants, jet sweeps, etc. Of the 4 there are varying levels of speed, but, in the B1G and especially against the top teams there is a lot of speed at corner and none of these guys are going to get 50/50 balls. Johnson has shown to be better on the outside, but he is still like 6'1" 200 lbs or so, definitely not the 6'3" or 6'4" 220-230 kind of receiver that can win those 50/50 matchups. Our TE's are good, although I don't think Clark, Kittle, Hock kind of good, but because nobody respects the run it limits our effectiveness.
Our line has been highly criticized for poor technique and communication, but, when you look at the roster there are a lot of guards and very few tackles. And we really don't have anyone 300 lbs., which you can win games that way if your lighter lineman are lighter but more agile, but ours are not. Ours are lighter and still slow.
Then we get to the quarterback. I think Petras could be a very good college quarterback if he had time to throw, a competent running game and a receiver that could win on the outside. But he has had none of that. I agree that Padilla gives us a better chance to win at this point, but not because he is better so much as his talents line up better with what our roster makeup is because although he is not a running quarterback, he can run if he has to.
I think in the off-season the biggest thing the coaches need to do, collectively, is decide what exactly are we? If we want to have a skilled, agile, quick offensive line with quick, fast, shifty backs and a bunch of slot receivers, then you need to recruit a running quarterback that will run that spread system. If you want to play a pro-style offense with a tall quarterback that has a big arm and isn't going to run, then you better get that guy some 320 lb. lineman, a 220-240 lb. back, and some world-class speed and some size on the outside (sounds like Wisconsin doesn't it?). I think the makeup was much more balanced when we had 2019 Nate, Wirfs/Jackson, Young/IKM/Sargent, ISM and Smith on the edges with Tracy/Ragaini in the slot. But right now we have zero replacement for Wirfs, Jackson, Young, ISM and Smith, and we are paying for it dearly.
He may or may not be "that" good. But considering they scored 17 in one quarter's time given the three Petras possessions and Ferentz playing keep away the entire second half 17 points is pretty productive.
See my post above. To me, a lot of the second half stuff was more of the same issues where we just couldn't string good plays together.being fair to northwestern, I thought they also made some adjustments as well.
Yeah, run game wasn't there, dropped passes, OL giving up pressure.
It was overall a much better game by the offense in general, but I was hoping for more.
this just may not be that kind of year though. To be fair to Iowa, I’m not sure I’ve seen too many games overall that i would consider a “complete” game this year. One of those odd years where seemingly everyone has a wart or three.
Petras is good at one thing, throwing the deep ball when he has a lot of time and and a very open receiver and he has neither of those very often.
Think you're selling Spencer short. He's made many great throws, including squeezing the pig into some pretty tight windows.
But...the line cannot protect a completely immobile QB and that is a problem that can only be fixed by changing QBs at this point in the season.
Were 3/4s into the season, Spencer improved then collapsed. He's been beaten down like no QB I can recall since maybe the 99 or 2000 seasons. I think shell shocked best describes it. I'm sure his brain cannot stop thinking about the unseen pressure of defender bearing down on him from somewhere he probably cannot see, since that happens on almost every down. The other play is where Spencer gets to actually see the pressure running through the A gaps right into his face.
Stanley took a lot of sacks. I have flashbacks of 2019 in Ann Arbor. 8 freaking sacks.
The female Michigan fan in the row behind us stated “this game sucks” and left. I didn’t argue.
Nate was bigger, stronger and more athletic than Spencer, much harder to get down.
I realize that is not the highest of bars to clear.
I realize that is not the highest of bars to clear.
Yes, and it was coaching malpractice that day as the sacks were caused by endless stunts and blitzes by Michigan and the coaches never adjusted to that. I also remember any number of times where Stanley evaded pressure to make plays downfield. Obviously not a burner, but could move out of the pocket, and evade pressure as well. Fairly successful at qb draws when those were called as well.
Stanley was never one to evade pressure much, but was strong enough that once in a while he was able to shake off a tackle. He didn't move much better than Spencer, but always played behind a better O-line.
He moved well enough that the bootleg was always in play. Petras doesn’t seem to have that ability as we have only rarely run bootlegs with him. It’s another reason the stretch plays have struggled, the backside defender can crash the play much harder knowing there’s little risk of a play fake.
by no means am I saying Stanley was a major dual threat, but he was able to move in the pocket, and had better feel for pressure.
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