Hank Brown played very well, 70% completion, no INTs. Buhr was great

[83Hawk]

I don’t know what to say other than this game literally never makes sense. I am mostly disappointed how listless out run blocking was. Utterly pathetic. Play calling didn’t help but it was pathetic how badly outplayed they were. Not a single run longer than 7 yards. 7 yards!!! Pathetic

Just shows how important it is to be able to throw the ball.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

I’m a Lester fan but tonight not one of his better games. Especially on 1st down. We played into ISU’s hand and to their credit their front 4 or 7 out played us. Combined with some bad penalties by us on 1st like first drive or dotzler hold.

Our run game was basically shut down.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

We suck at QB sneaks. We need to stop trying them and come up with something else.

 

[iahawkeyes17]

Our run game was basically shut down.

It was and felt like a BF era game I’m going to force square peg round hole with trying to force run on 1st against stacked boxes. Seemed like when we did throw or play action chunk yards were there as we saw on last 2 fg drives but kept going back to well too much on the run. Wish we would’ve looked for DJ more too on early downs.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

21 /30 for 190 yards. DJ dropped one that would have been a 1st down. Right in his hands.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

On one of those sweeps by Diaz that blew up it was because Vander Zee didn’t even get a hand on the guy he was supposed to block.

 

[DuddyB]

This all the way. As the announcers said we were outmanned in the run game. They had no respect for the passing game so were just playing downhill. We didn’t make them pay for it at all. How many catches for the tight ends? They were committed to stopping the run and they certainly did it. I thought Brown looked pretty solid.

We needed to put the ball in the air more from the jump to open up the run game. KF/Lestet were too worried about an early INT might be a back breaker. They may have been right but it also might’ve been enough to keep their LBs honest.

 

[Fight4Iowa]

Hank Brown is going to get absolutely lit up running how he runs. He's a weak runner too. We have major short yardage issues right now.

 

[DuddyB]

Hank Brown is going to get absolutely lit up running how he runs. He's a weak runner too. We have major short yardage issues right now.

I was astonished how poor we looked on short yardage last night. I wasn’t surprised that the overall run game wasn’t great last night but it was really bad. Didn’t hit even one long run to make them pay for being overly aggressive.

 

[MAKhawks]

21 /30 for 190 yards. DJ dropped one that would have been a 1st down. Right in his hands.

You mean this one where Brown hesitated and double clutched?


(14:18) Shotgun #9 H.Brown pass incomplete short right to #81 D.Vonnahme thrown to ISU35 broken up by #18 D.Coffey.

Right in his hands. The ball was batted away because the defender had time to catch up to the throw.

 

[uihawk82]

CJ was not a game manager. CJ was a playmaker. Gronowski turned out to be a playmaker. Stanley was probably a little mixture of both but more so a game manager.

I’m not sure going back 63 years to name Bob Griese was relevant. The game has changed quite a bit since Griese played.

A game manger will make low risk, generally low reward throws. A game manager won’t extend drives with their legs very often.

You’d be the first person Ive ever heard classify CJ Beathard as a game manager. To me, CJ was the exact opposite of a game manager.

CJ almost a gunslinger!!!

 

[Hawksfor3]

Just shows how important it is to be able to throw the ball.

That long throw to TD impressed the heck out of me.

 

[uihawk82]

We suck at QB sneaks. We need to stop trying them and come up with something else.

We were very good at QB sneaks with Grono, Sullivan, Stanley for sure, most times with tall Petras so yeah the 2 qb sneaks tonight sucked, the first one he sort of fumbled the snap so he had to stop to pull it back in.

But when you call qb sneak the the defense loads 5 guys into the A and B gaps with Lbkrs right behind them then your QB needs to check out of the play or slide down the line to find a soft spot

 

[Burghawk87]

What does everyone think about the bomb to Diaz in the second half of the game if my memory serves where the isu defender looked to have pulled Diaz away from the ball by his shoulder pad? Was that not a missed pass interference and should have been one more long completion. I think even the commentators mentioned the missed call after the replay.

Hopefully our qb uses this game to forge his character so to speak, along with Buhr. Should be a confidence boost for the rest of the season for both of them even if we were supposed to dominate on paper. Wish we did but this game is almost always a clusterfuck for some reason.

You mean the play that resulted in the DB tossing a piece of black tape off his glove that he ripped off of Diaz's pads? That hold? Yeah nothing to see here.

 

[uihawk82]

We needed to put the ball in the air more from the jump to open up the run game. KF/Lestet were too worried about an early INT might be a back breaker. They may have been right but it also might’ve been enough to keep their LBs honest.

haha, well I have been calling for this as long as KF has been here, hahahaha.

We can do it this year, spread 5 wide on 1st and 2nd down, count the defenders in the box and then run or pass, it is the whole RPO thing. We have TEnds that are great targets for 5 to 8 yards on 1st down most any time we want it

 

[uihawk82]

You mean the play that resulted in the DB tossing a piece of black tape off his glove that he ripped off of Diaz's pads? That hold? Yeah nothing to see here.

hard to imagine two deep refs didnt see that grab

 

[uihawk82]

You mean the play that resulted in the DB tossing a piece of black tape off his glove that he ripped off of Diaz's pads? That hold? Yeah nothing to see here.

Some coaches tell there guys to grab and hold a lot until the refs call it

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

It’s still way too early but he looks like another game manager in the Kirk Ferentz system. IMO, that’s not a good thing.

Yeah, I feel like the whole Tim saying one thing and the offense showing another (in a bad way) has to do with him (much like Brian actually which is kinda funny considering this all goes back to the f***ing head coach) not having the "right" QB to fit everything he wants to do offensively..................

This was a very Brian-esque game, and yet Brian is about 4 states away from Iowa City.

Kirk mentioned something about no self-imposed ceilings for his team......................he should take his own f***ing advice.

Hank may be the safer QB, but at what cost to the offense being effective?

 

[r_desihawk]

It was and felt like a BF era game I’m going to force square peg round hole with trying to force run on 1st against stacked boxes. Seemed like when we did throw or play action chunk yards were there as we saw on last 2 fg drives but kept going back to well too much on the run. Wish we would’ve looked for DJ more too on early downs.

i agree but it was so obvious we needed to open up the offense that i wonder if they were keeping things close saving up for conference play...the schedule gets brutal in a couple weeks
i honestly don't think kf cares as much about this (isu) game as people in the seats

 

[HMB Trumpet]

CJ was not a game manager. CJ was a playmaker. Gronowski turned out to be a playmaker. Stanley was probably a little mixture of both but more so a game manager.

I’m not sure going back 63 years to name Bob Griese was relevant. The game has changed quite a bit since Griese played.

A game manger will make low risk, generally low reward throws. A game manager won’t extend drives with their legs very often.

You’d be the first person Ive ever heard classify CJ Beathard as a game manager. To me, CJ was the exact opposite of a game manager.

He wasn't called that during his Hawk days, but perhaps that was because Rudock was termed a game manager and CJ threw a better long ball. When CJ was with the 49ers, however, he was frequently called a game manager.

 

[HMB Trumpet]

21 /30 for 190 yards. DJ dropped one that would have been a 1st down. Right in his hands.

And if James doesn't step out of bounds on his 4th quarter catch, Brown likely is over 200 yards and the Hawks perhaps score a TD on that possession rather than settling for the tying field goal.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

You mean this one where Brown hesitated and double clutched?


(14:18) Shotgun #9 H.Brown pass incomplete short right to #81 D.Vonnahme thrown to ISU35 broken up by #18 D.Coffey.

Right in his hands. The ball was batted away because the defender had time to catch up to the throw.

It was in his friggin hands dude before the defender touched it. That’s on the receiver.

 

[nu2u]

I felt like last week I was the only one that preferred Hecklinski. He seemed to go through his progressions much better and brown seems to lock in on his fist read and not come off it. Brown had the better running game and less drops. I guess Hecklinski must be really bad in practice as no way Brown won the entire game this week based on last Saturdays game.

I still prefer Hecklinski so I’m with you there. Brown holds the ball too long and rarely progresses to a 2nd target. I sincerely hope he improves quickly because that isn’t going to work vs. B10 teams…….and I also hope so because KF is unwaveringly committed to one QB no matter how poorly he plays

 

[MAKhawks]

It was in his friggin hands dude before the defender touched it. That’s on the receiver.

Good thing the stats disagree with you and ruled it a pass break up and not a drop because that was not on DJV.

 

[HMB Trumpet]

It was in his friggin hands dude before the defender touched it. That’s on the receiver.

IIRC, DJ bobbled the ball slightly when it arrived. The DB made a nice play to knock it away, but if DJ didn't bobble the ball initially it's probably a completion. (Also a completion despite the bobble if the DB weren't there.)

 

[DuddyB]

They just need to name Hank the starter. Clearly it’s who they want and he’s probably done enough to win it. They’re not going to learn anything new in the UNI game. They need Hank to get as many reps as possible before the B10 schedule starts.

 

[Rambler Hawk]

I understand the reference, but Gronowski did it twice last year: PSU and MSU. Was a miracle catch for Oregon away from doing a third time.

This

 

[Doctor Hawktagonapus]

They just need to name Hank the starter. Clearly it’s who they want and he’s probably done enough to win it. They’re not going to learn anything new in the UNI game. They need Hank to get as many reps as possible before the B10 schedule starts.

Hank is the starter. I don't expect Hecklinski will play against UNI until garbage time.

 

[Hawkeye1984]

Hank, Diaz, Buffington and Buhr were the only reasons we won tonight.

Well it usually comes down to a few plays by a couple of guys….

 

[huntinghawk]

He needs to fix his tendency to lock onto his primary WR and telegraph the throw. Deep out throws are dangerous as heII is he doesn’t fix that.

That said, he really had a nice game imo given the playcalling was very un-Lester-like bad tonight. Very little, if any play-action with the LBs and Safety’s playing downhill all night. Hank had nice looking deep balls (hey-O!) and ran damn hard as well. He also extended some plays and found Moulton as an outlet multiple times for positive gains that otherwise would have been wasted plays. And most importantly, no TOs in a game that would have been decided by one bad throw or lost ball.

I wish Lester would have exploited the middle of the field more with our TEs vs the LBs and S that were smashing the run.

True. We got lucky the clowns suck because they should've had at least two picks.

 

[IowaCityLit]

It was and felt like a BF era game I’m going to force square peg round hole with trying to force run on 1st against stacked boxes. Seemed like when we did throw or play action chunk yards were there as we saw on last 2 fg drives but kept going back to well too much on the run. Wish we would’ve looked for DJ more too on early downs.

If you don’t have a good QB this is what you do.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Evidently Hank leads a weekly Bible study and he has 20 teammates that show up for it.

 

[hawkeyemark18]

NA

 

[Rambler Hawk]

IMO I don't think this year it matters who you throw out there. Both are average QBs but they are an upgrade over what we have had. It's progress.

We need to continue to improve the run game to put less pressure on Hank or Heck. They just aren't the QBs you can consistently rely on to take over a game with their passing. I think Bessinger is that guy tho

I am seeing a few mentions of Bessinger now, is he raising eyebrows in practice and also, is there still hope for Sullivan? TIA

 

[2D]

This is a good example of Hank only looking at his first option. RVZ was open with no one within 5 yards of him, instead a dangerous pass to Diaz instead. Needs to go through his progressions and stops taring down his guy.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

IMO I don't think this year it matters who you throw out there. Both are average QBs but they are an upgrade over what we have had. It's progress.

Hawkeye fans have a very unique perspective - We are only 3 years removed from having arguably the worst QB and worst OC in college football history. The gradual improvement we've had since then seems logarithmic....

 

[TRHawkeye28]

Hawkeye fans have a very unique perspective - We are only 3 years removed from having arguably the worst QB and worst OC in college football history. The gradual improvement we've had since then seems logarithmic....

I think we will see even a bigger jump with Bessinger. Really high on him. Might be the QB we have all be hoping for

 

[Rambler Hawk]

I think we will see even a bigger jump with Bessinger. Really high on him. Might be the QB we have all be hoping for

Bessinger seems to have great size and also spurned home state BYU for Iowa, so tell more please... TIA

 

[Lionhawk85]

This is a good example of Hank only looking at his first option. RVZ was open with no one within 5 yards of him, instead a dangerous pass to Diaz instead. Needs to go through his progressions and stops taring down his guy.

Look how WIDE OPEN RVZ is over the middle here - but instead Hank locks into his first read that is double covers and forces a throw that could/should have been picked.

 

[TRHawkeye28]

I am seeing a few mentions of Bessinger now, is he raising eyebrows in practice and also, is there still hope for Sullivan? TIA

Good question - I'm no insider but have been hearing good things since he's been on campus. Plus it helps when he is one of top rated QB we have had in years. And his high school stats are insane