Kirk's Presser - 9/2/2025
- Thread starter WeBeHerkin
- Start date
Basically said MG was too jacked for the game. Pressing way too hard. Feels confident will be better.
So MG, should be much less anxious in front of the welcoming crowd in Ames. Sure, lovely. 
I dunno. Sometimes kids like playing better on the road. We will find out. I fully expect his first 5 passes or so to be shorter ones to get some completions rolling. He played against Iowa in Kinnick, so he knows what its like.So MG, should be much less anxious in front of the welcoming crowd in Ames. Sure, lovely.
It's true. Sometimes it's the expectations of your own fanbase that create the most pressure. He’s never had more than a few thousand people watching with anticipation every move he makes. Maybe a stadium full of haters booing him is exactly what he needs to settle down a bit.
This is where Hayden has Kirk beat. He could read players and give them what they needed psychologically, esp his QBs. The expectations of the home fans angle is laughable. If he's nervous in front of his home fans against a nobody low-pressure opponent, that ain't good.
Lou Holtz told the story of a kicker who would shank his practice kicks whenever Holtz came over to watch. The kicker told him, Coach I was hitting everything until you came over and I got nervous. Holtz said "That could be a problem, son. I plan on being at all the games".
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At first I was kinda thinking the explanation about MG being hyped up and nervous as heck was just a convenient - and highly unlikely - excuse. But after thinking about it, I have a hunch it was less nervous and overly jacked because of the environment and situation…he’s been a starter and in big-implication games for a long time. But it very likely could have been because this is actually his audition for the NFL and putting a ton of expectations on himself to play lights out. And of course then it completely backfired to start. Hell…I thought even his pitches to the running backs were WAY too amped. He needed to settle bigtime, and then afterwards did play more within himself. Hopefully the big plays will come more naturally this week.
Above all I think the RVZ deal blows the most. When is the last time we actually had our highest potential WR actually play the entire season? We can’t have nice things….
Q. I wanted to go back to the offense in general. Having relied so much on the fun game, is there any sort of advantage or silver lining knowing that Iowa State doesn’t have a lot of your passing game and what Mark can do as a quarterback through the air heading into this week at all?
KIRK FERENTZ: I mean, I would have been okay if we threw the ball better Saturday. I could say the same thing about the last two years, quite frankly. That’s going to come. It’s going to come.
The last two years???? I think he's off by a bit
KIRK FERENTZ: I mean, I would have been okay if we threw the ball better Saturday. I could say the same thing about the last two years, quite frankly. That’s going to come. It’s going to come.
The last two years???? I think he's off by a bit
Could he be worse? LOL
That's quite a thing when a million-dollar QB, a four-year starter with 2 national titles, lets nerves destroy him. It reminds me of the story Hayden Fry used to tell:
Hayden was watching his FG kicker at practice, and the kid was having a tough time. Some kicks were left, some were right, some were short. Hayden asked the kid why he was having such trouble. The kid says, "Coach, you make me nervous when you watch me."
Hayden said, "Well, son, you do know that I plan to be at all the games."
Brendan Sullivan should have been given the keys to this offense. When healthy, he was outstanding last season, and with additional time in the system, he would be light years ahead of the nervous Mr. G. right now, Iowa would have a legit passing game, a QB with great running skills, and an actual major college offense. Instead . . .
"Confident he'll be better." So it's OK to expect 60 or even 70 passing yards on Saturday?
"A few thousand people." OK. The FCS national title games in which MG played each drew around 25,000 and were nationally televised--and a national championship was on the line. You mean 70,000 friendly faces watching you play ALBANY, a team MG's South Dakota State team beat 59-0 in the national semifinals, was too much for the million-dollar man? LOL
Give me a break . . .
Nearly 3 times more in attendance. And home games in Brookings drew 18k (on good weather games). It's not out of the realm of possibility that he was in fact nervous for his first big time start in front of a large crowd. **** I get nervous for the dumbest things that I've also done a hundred times before. He's human.
By all means Brendan Sullivan earned the opportunity to become the starter. I wouldn't necessarily call his play last season outstanding because he did make mistakes and sometimes ran when he didn't need to. But he struck me as a very coachable guy who would have flourished given a spring working with Lester. Also liked his toughness.
It boggles my mind that Kirk felt we needed to start from square one after last season. It also boggles my mind that he brought in another injured QB after what he went through with Cade. My instincts tell me we have things moving in the wrong direction.
Honestly, you should spend more time reading articles on these boards in place of commenting. The staff went after both Jackson Arnold and Beau Pribula last year in the portal. They were also in on Isaih World until they were out spent. The only other QB that was reported to have been contact was Maalik Murphy the duke transfer. Getting a QB to come to this offense after the depths of the Brian Ferentz era is no small feat.
Kind of amazing that Lou Holtz and Hayden Fry both once had nearly identical conversations with their kicker.
what a joke
if playing Albany at home in perfect weather was too much then you are way too SOFT
bull ****. You think any of these players at that level aren't tough SOBs? Or you just attacking the kids mental state on one day for one game?
yeah everyone’s making it out like being too amped up or just nervousness is no biggie and the issue will get magically resolved in a hostile stadium. makes little sense to me. mental issues take a while to get sorted. i recall a wisky qb (forget his name) several years ago who suddenly went cuckoo for a season.
best case scenario is mark just didn’t calibrate his edibles properly ending up high as a kite during the game against albany. going forward he will adjust his dose correctly
if he was too "amped" to play then he should have sat and let Brown play
what a dumb excuse, just say "I had a bad day and I will learn from it"
Stay away from the Red Bull MG.Mark in the locker room at ISU before Saturday's game:
