7 Thoughts on Iowa vs. Wisconsin

Spoiler alert: Iowa lost to Wisconsin. Just like always, they hung around for three quarters before clearly not having enough in the tank to compete in the fourth. Even though there were a lot of negatives, there were still some positives mixed in there.

1. The biggest thing that stood out from the first quarter was Kirk Ferentz's decisions on fourth down. He went for one but punted on two occasions where they definitely should have gone for it. It's frustrating, but it's Iowa, and it's always been Iowa. He has shown more willingness to go for it as time has gone on, but it's still frustrating how often he punts, especially, because Iowa's plodding offense puts them in 4th and 4 or less more than most teams.

2. Iowa trusted their secondary a lot more than they have in past games. This is an area where I wish I had the All-22 tape, because everything with receiving and secondary work is near impossible to judge from what you see on television. I haven't watched enough of Wisconsin to know how their passing game operates, but Iowa felt comfortable trusting their secondary and sending blitzes, and it really paid off. 

3. With that being said, Stave is not a real dangerous quarterback, and the Hawkeyes were also able to do that due to the great job they did on first and second downs by stopping the run and forcing them into 3rd and long situations.

4. Wisconsin's first touchdown was on Tanner Miller. It looked like Cover-3 (Corners take deep outside thirds, with a safety taking the deep middle third of the field), and Desmond King plays the outside third, so his job is to filter him to the middle and let his safety take care of things. Miller got fooled by Stave's eyes and committed to one side of the field, Stave looked back and put a nice throw out to Pederson for the touchdown. 

5. Impressive thing about CJ Beathard is that he has excellent pocket presence. He can wait until the very last second to throw the ball. Bad things about CJ Beathard is he throws the ball too low which caused some issues. The bigger problem that I see is that he seemed to stare down his receivers before throwing the ball. Some deceptive eye movement could treat him very well down the line.

6. The big run by James White near the end was caused by John Lowdermilk just being late to close up that hole. That's the problem with Iowa's roster, they have to be perfect on technique, because they are not the most athletic guys in the world. 

7. It's the same old story with Iowa. Although I feel the offense is leaps and bounds better than last year. There is still the gigantic issue of them not involving their most talented group of players which is tight end. Why not just keep three tight ends, put them in a trips formation and mess people's worlds up. Not only would it be a dominant run formation, but you can vary their routes enough to confuse coverage and get the ball out to your best receivers. 

Iowa needs to understand that they can recruit/develop tight ends. The only great athletes that they get are going to come from the island of misfit toys. Damond Powell is a great athlete, but they got him from a JUCO, and he can apparently only run two routes. They're not getting game breaking tight ends, so Greg Davis needs to adjust his scheme to fit his personnel, because the personnel is clearly not going to fit his scheme.

8 Hawkeyes Football Thoughts For Week 2

1. I'm a terrible football fan. I love it, so, so much, but sometimes my priorities get messed up, and I don't watch nearly as much as I should. Opening weekend, I missed my beloved Hawkeyes because of my bachelor party in Austin, Texas. The only bars that had the game were somehow unable to be competent enough to serve us beers, so we had to make due and watch normal football games.

This week, I had to do some wedding planning stuff in the morning, and then brought my fiancee some lunch. No big deal as I was smart enough to DVR the game. I left the TV on for the dog and carefully changed the channel without looking at the score. I then went to my DVR menu, and although it said that the game was recording on my cable box, it was nowhere to be found on the menu. Perfect. So, all I saw was the last minute of the first half, but I did get to see the second half.

2. Iowa got stopped at the 1.5 yard line after the crowd begged the coaching staff to go for it. They then started booing when they were stopped. THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORKS. If they do what you want and don't succeed, you shrug your shoulders. And don't give me any crap that you had a better play selected. Yes, maybe a pass would have worked, but if they would have thrown an incomplete, you would've been pissed that they didn't pound Weisman into the end zone.

3. I'm an old school football fan. When I play video games, I basically play like the Iowa Hawkeyes. I try to pound the ball with my running game and only pass when I have to. On defense, I run basic zone coverages with four man rushes. I do use 3 man fronts a little bit more, so I can surprise the offense with where I'm sending that fourth guy. This is a long way of saying that I loved the second drive where they just ran the ball down Missouri State's throat until they got in the end zone.

4. Greg Davis's offense is growing on me, as he starts to grow into it. The thing about his offense is not that he needs fast receivers, he needs quick receivers. Finding quick receivers is much easier than fast receivers, and those quick screens are really just designed to get 5-7 yards, which is definitely possible with some guys with a little bit of elusiveness.

5. I saw limited runs from Daniels. I like his vision as he seems to make good decisions and efficient cuts. I would say he finishes a little high at the end of his runs, but I really like what I see.

6. I also just like the different looks that they get from their four running backs. I would not feel bad about any four of them being the primary ball carrier, although I think Weisman is best suited for this offense. Also, Iowa was basically unstoppable running to the left. That side of the line was just clearing guys out.

7. So the back to back plays where Missouri State scored, I really do not have an issue with either one. The first one, a true Freshman, Desmond King, was trying to make a play. He bit on the pump fake, and they made him pay. That's obviously not good, but it's tough to get real upset about it.

The second one was kind of a fluke. Did Rudock get tricked? Yes, but it was mostly caused because the linebacker slipped right as the play started. When Rudock looked over and saw that, it should be pitch and catch at that point, but the guy recovered, dropped into coverage and made a play. This Iowa offense is built around quick reads, so plays like that are going to happen.

8. The Hawkeyes won. It wasn't pretty, but if Iowa can run effectively, continue to stop the run, and tighten up things in the secondary, they could actually be pretty decent. And by pretty decent, I mean 12-1 before facing Alabama in the National Title game. 

My Reaction to the Non-Firing of Greg Davis

Earlier this week, Kirk Ferentz said that Greg Davis would be back with Iowa next year as far as he knew. Although this does leave the door open for Davis to quit, it's probably not going to happen, since he is visiting a recruit this weekend. This basically eliminates all hope for the 2013 Iowa football season. Instead of being sad about this, it has just made me extremely cynical. A friend of mine who went to Iowa State immediately texted me to talk about the great news:

Iowa State Friend: Greg Davis needs this second year to get the horizontal offense completely built in.
Me: Watch out world. He is becoming a BETTER coach.
ISF: Imagine his skill level during the 2018 season. It's going to be poetry in motion.
Me: It will be so horizontal that there will be a replay of every dropped pass to see if it was incomplete or a fumble.
ISF: Greg Davis's crowning achievement will be the first time that his football team covers 400 actual yards with only gaining 10 offensive yards in a game. It will be glorious.
Me: He hasn't done that yet?
ISF: Got close at Texas, but one of his insane athletes screwed it up and actually busted a two yard hook for an actual gain.
Me: Idiot. Don't have to worry about that with Iowa players.
ISF: And that is why Iowa is perfect for him; it's not like Ferentz is ever going to fire anyone.
Me: We really need Greg Davis to get caught smoking weed. Kirk hates weed smokers.
ISF: Those damn weed heads ruin programs, not awful clock management.
Me: There is no such thing as clock management. There is a clock, but it's not like Kirk is some sort of god who can stop time.
ISF: Not a time stopping god? that is your opinion, but I doubt Kirk shares it. You'd be amazed what that wall of protection money can buy.
Me: Kirk spends all of his money on gum.
ISF: Explains the impressive jaw line.
Me: It's definitely money well spent.

So the two big takeaways here are that Kirk has a very good jaw line, and I am probably not going to be super pumped for this season unless Greg Davis starts hanging out with Afroman. Go Hawkeyes!

Who Has It Worse: Iowa or Michigan State Fans?

As I sat through another shockingly bad Iowa Hawkeye effort today against Michigan, I couldn't help but laugh. I'm past the depressing part of the season. I'm past being even bummed out about things. It's just comical at this point. Iowa is not good at football. They are not good on offense; they are not good on defense, and I guess they're kinda okay on special teams. Right now, I'm just hanging on to the fact that Greg Davis only got a one year deal, because of a technicality, so maybe Barta will put the pressure on Ferentz to give him the boot, because that offense is really depressing (Note: It did not seem as depressing today. I think that this is because it was fun to see Weisman back and I love seeing tight ends utilized. Still, the stats are proof that it was still quite awful).

But that's where I'm at now with the Hawkeyes: Indifference. I just don't care. Now if you want a really depressing situation, just look to another team in the Legends division in Michigan State. Now THAT is a depressing situation. They were one of the favorites to win the Legends division this year and instead have just one more win than Iowa. Outside of losing 20-3 to a Notre Dame team that is still undefeated, they have been right in every game. Look at these other losses:

Going into the game at 3-1, they lost to Ohio State by one point, 17-16. Ohio State, much like Notre Dame is still undefeated.

Two weeks later, they lose in double overtime, 19-16. They lost that game to IOWA. That loss is looking worse and worse as the season goes on. How did they lose that game? I watched it and still had trouble figuring it out. But, sure enough, they lost to Iowa. That alone is enough for fans to start cutting themselves just so they can feel again.

The next week, they played their in-state rival, Michigan, and lost 12-10. They were up 10-9 with two minutes to go before Michigan drove 41 yards before kicking a field goal with five seconds left. That's a pretty depressing way to lose a football game.

Two weeks later, after an inspiring win over Wisconsin in overtime, they lose to Nebraska 28-24, because Taylor Martinez who is as good at throwing footballs as I am at having babies, threw a touchdown pass with six seconds left in the fourth quarter to give them the lead.

And now today, they lose to Northwestern. As Michigan State was trying to get the ball back, they forced an incomplete pass from Northwestern on third down. Unfortunately, Johnny Adams, their best cornerback, committed a stupid pass interference penalty. They gained some more yards, and took some more time off the clock. MSU finally gets the ball back, gets to fourth down where Andrew Maxwell nails Sims down the middle before he loses the football. They ended up calling it an incomplete, but Northwestern recovered it even it was a fumble, so there was no point in challenging the call. They lost 23-20 either way.

Outside of Andrew Maxwell, Michigan State seems like a good team, yet they only have one more win than Iowa team that is most certainly not a good team. So, yeah, it's awful to be a Hawkeye fan, but it's far less heartbreaking than cheering for Michigan State.

In Defense of Ferentz

So, I wanted to give my two cents on the state of the Iowa Hawkeye football program (maybe only 1.5 cents, but it's something). It's that time of the year when everyone is calling for Kirk Ferentz to be fired. First off, it's not gonna happen, so you can give up on that notion, because Iowa is not going to pay him $20 million to sit on the couch at home.

Next, and more importantly, it shouldn't happen. Kirk Ferentz is a hell of a football coach. Is he the best coach in the country? Probably not. Is he overpaid? Probably, but I hope to God that I one day can get people complaining that I am overpaid. I can't blame a guy for being overpaid, that's a good job by him and his agent.

And, really, had Iowa recovered an onside kick, they would be 5-2 right now, and although we had dreams of 6-1 or 7-0, Iowa State is a pretty good football team, and most people thought Michigan State's offense would be good enough to win a home game against Iowa before the season started. We got a good win over Michigan State and took an absolute beating against Penn State. It's only the surprise of how those things turned out that anger Iowa fans. Oh, and back to that onside kick. Yeah, that was really bad. I'm trying to come up with a positive, but it was really awful and frustrating. Still, I'm not going to put a freak play (that admittedly has happened over and over) as enough to get a guy fired.

On top of that, this year was predestined to suck. Iowa's best years are when they have experienced offensive and defensive lines. They returned two starters between those two lines. They have had young guys step up and show they can play this year, which means the future is looking bright. I know everybody remembers the glory boy quarterbacks, Brad Banks, Drew Tate, and Ricky Stanzi, who I loved too, but they are not the same type of talent that has been on our offensive and defensive lines. Even a guy like Matt Roth, who never had a huge impact in the NFL, was an AWESOME college football player. Meanwhile, you have guys like Jonathan Babineaux who got overlooked a lot of times at Iowa, who has been a great defensive tackle in the NFL (feel free to substitute Robert Gallery and Marshall Yanda if you want an example of offensive linemen). That's what makes the Hawkeyes great.

Now onto that elephant in the room, Greg Davis. I'm as frustrated as everyone else with the offense. I have trouble giving Davis a whole lot of credit for the running game, since it is based on a zone blocking scheme that has been around as long as Ferentz. Maybe that's unfair. Maybe he should get credit, but we judge offensive coordinators on the passing game more than the running game, and the passing game has been hot garbage.

Is Greg Davis completely to blame? Not completely, but this horizontal offense is bad. People wanted to anoint Vandenberg as the greatest quarterback since Chuck Long, but there were warning signs going into this season. He struggled badly against good defenses. He has also been awful at handling pressure. And those problems have continued and possibly gotten worse. I think teams have game planned for him better this year. Still, all of you Ken O'Keefe haters are being awfully quiet right now, because he actually fit Kirk's offensive philosophies pretty damn well.

So, where are we? Well, the good news is that we lack experience and our offensive and defensive lines have played better than expected (we'll see how they deal with the injuries, but at least it gets more experience for guys). The other good news is that the defense has played pretty well for the most part. I know our worst games seem to stand out, but the front and back end (safeties) are inexperienced, so we're going to have those problems.

The bad news is that Greg Davis's offense has not shown us much. It's worrisome. They do have an easy out at the end of this season. But Kirk is a fiercely loyal guy who has never bent to criticism, and that's an admirable trait. Whether Davis's one year on staff has built up that loyalty remains to be seen. Kirk's not going to call out his offensive coordinator in the middle of the season. Actually, he's never going to call out any coach, ever.

There's worse things than going to bowl games every year and winning double-digit games every three or four years. There are worse things in the world than winning seven games. Just take a look at Auburn. Kirk's done more than enough to earn our trust, and I, personally, am happy that he is the Iowa Hawkeyes Head Football Coach.