Re-watched the game and here are some tidbits

[Hawksfor3]

I'm not sure Hank is entirely capable of these quick types of decisions

Then the defense has to allow more time so he can make those decisions!

 

[Hawksfor3]

A few things I noticed during my rewatch:

The Oline bent, but never broke. Got some push a few times and almost always gave Hank enough time to throw.

WRs were consistently burning ISU's secondary getting open and at times, wide open.

Brown still stares down his first option

We really controlled the fourth quarter, getting good push on the LOS and the clown's tackling was getting worse.

Despite the inexperience of this team, they showed maturity and poise when it mattered most. We stopped getting self inflicted penalties and toughed it out. The Clowns on the other hand started to break and lose control. This was likely a good game to have early, could pay dividends later on

Yikes.

 

[TrojanHawkeye]

Hate to see us play for field goals, a KF specialty. Need to put the foot down on inferior opponents and score touchdowns. That is all

 

[Jonesy5960]

A few things I noticed during my rewatch:

The Oline bent, but never broke. Got some push a few times and almost always gave Hank enough time to throw.

WRs were consistently burning ISU's secondary getting open and at times, wide open.

Brown still stares down his first option

We really controlled the fourth quarter, getting good push on the LOS and the clown's tackling was getting worse.

Despite the inexperience of this team, they showed maturity and poise when it mattered most. We stopped getting self inflicted penalties and toughed it out. The Clowns on the other hand started to break and lose control. This was likely a good game to have early, could pay dividends later on

I thought the oline has excelled at pass protection so far. They struggled mightily to get any push or open holes in the run game vs ISU.

 

[Lionhawk85]

I didn't see where the ball even passed the goal line.

I was too busy watching the egregious hold that should have been called! Ugh.

 

[Lionhawk85]

Would love to have seen more (any?) play action which would have put even more pressure on their LBs and let us target TEs more. Hopefully we’ll see that Michigan week!!

 

[93hawkeye]

Hate to see us play for field goals, a KF specialty. Need to put the foot down on inferior opponents and score touchdowns. That is all

We scored TDs against NIU, who proved to be an inferior opponent. ISU proved to be a very worthy opponent, so we are doing as you asked.

 

[Jonesy5960]

Our DL is weak and I'm definitely not sold on #5 (Hawkins?) being starter caliber.

If not for Buffington.....wow, our D would struggle.

And how TF do we not have someone other than a non-speedy 6'4" wide receiver to return punts?? So confusing.

The dline has held up fine so far. You could argue that it's the weakest unit on the team, but you can't call it weak based upon the results so far. The defense has allowed a total of 13 points over 2 games (5th nationally), and is 7th nationally in yards per game allowed. BCFTOYS.COM ranks it as the 3rd most efficient defense in the country. They're allowing around 72 yards per game rushing which is good for 18th nationally. A defense with a weak dline can't produce these kinds of numbers.

 

[Jonesy5960]

Just stop by his house. I am sure he will have you in.

 

[Hawksfor3]

I was too busy watching the egregious hold that should have been called! Ugh.

And, with just under 2 left, it looked #24 had a hold of the underside of KM's helmet when he put his weight on him. F*ers.

 

[Sett1997]

We just had friggin DeJean and Wetjen. What planet are you on????????????????????

"Had" is the key word here. I think he's trying to point out that there has to be a better option this year than Zee. Pretty sure I watched Zee not field a couple in his new role as well. Costing us several yards.
James has had 2 opportunities. First one 57yd td, second he backed away. Speed and shiftiness is light years above Zee. I'll take James at this point.

 

[UIAlumFireFighter]

The dline has held up fine so far. You could argue that it's the weakest unit on the team, but you can't call it weak based upon the results so far. The defense has allowed a total of 13 points over 2 games (5th nationally), and is 7th nationally in yards per game allowed. BCFTOYS.COM ranks it as the 3rd most efficient defense in the country. They're allowing around 72 yards per game rushing which is good for 18th nationally. A defense with a weak dline can't produce these kinds of numbers.

Southeast Missouri State held the Cyclones to fewer rushing yards than we did.

Imagine our DL against a good team..

 

[Jonesy5960]

Southeast Missouri State held the Cyclones to fewer rushing yards than we did.

Imagine our DL against a good team..

We won't have to imagine it. We'll see it first hand in a few weeks against Michigan. My guess is they'll hold up fine. Iowa might very well lose to Michigan, but it won't be because of the defense which won Saturday's game, allowing only 13 points.

 

[Wobmam Rulez!]

Hey call up Lester and tell him what he needs to do.

What's his number?

 

[Wobmam Rulez!]

Ewwww

Rewatching that is sick punishment

Watching a win is like bad sex. I still get off!

 

[Hawksfor3]

What's his number?

BR549.

 

[Herkylian]

If we're in shotgun for more than 8% of a game, that's 3% too much. We're simply not an offense that is comfortable executing at a high rate with the QB 5 yards even further back and a running back that never has a running start if they get the ball. It's always a slight step to the left or slight step to the right before they even gain forward momentum and by then zone blocking doesn't have any more effect than sunscreen in the Van Allen belt.

I pray to the all the old Football gods and I say this as a Roman Catholic, I mean this strictly from a football perspective, let's just work from under center, let our line work with that comfort and determination of either a handoff or play action, and my goodness Moulton, or any of our other running backs with at least three yards of forward momentum gives me hope that they'll get at least two yards and maybe find that beautiful tributary that might open up to the Skunk, Wapsi, Maquoketa or Turkey rivers leading them to end zone.

 

[trfhawk]

I still can't over how bush league thuggish ISU has become.

Agreed. I went to the game. My wife watched at home. She comes from an ISU family but is a big hawk fan now. However. she will never say anything negative about ISU, That is not true anymore, First thing she said when we got home was she couldn't believe how "dirty" ISU played. She used the word, "thugs", When my wife notices something like that, it must have been bad. I could not see what happened from my seats but watched again yesterday. Unbelieveable what was let go by the officials in that game.

 

[trfhawk]

A few things I noticed during my rewatch:

The Oline bent, but never broke. Got some push a few times and almost always gave Hank enough time to throw.

WRs were consistently burning ISU's secondary getting open and at times, wide open.

Brown still stares down his first option

We really controlled the fourth quarter, getting good push on the LOS and the clown's tackling was getting worse.

Despite the inexperience of this team, they showed maturity and poise when it mattered most. We stopped getting self inflicted penalties and toughed it out. The Clowns on the other hand started to break and lose control. This was likely a good game to have early, could pay dividends later on

Especially for our kicker. I have to admit that I was praying that this game did not come down to the kickers. It did, and he was lights out. ISU kicker has a monster leg and was a threat any time they got to midfield.

 

[trfhawk]

"Had" is the key word here. I think he's trying to point out that there has to be a better option this year than Zee. Pretty sure I watched Zee not field a couple in his new role as well. Costing us several yards.
James has had 2 opportunities. First one 57yd td, second he backed away. Speed and shiftiness is light years above Zee. I'll take James at this point.

Iowa made the right call on the punt returner for this game. James scared the **** out of me. Zee caught the football and advanced it. Of all the things to complain about from this game, his punt returning was not one of them.

 

[uihawk82]

Buffington really needs to work on his pass defense. There was a time or three when he had his back to the QB and the receiver made a catch. Other than that he will be a good one.

If we're in shotgun for more than 8% of a game, that's 3% too much. We're simply not an offense that is comfortable executing at a high rate with the QB 5 yards even further back and a running back that never has a running start if they get the ball. It's always a slight step to the left or slight step to the right before they even gain forward momentum and by then zone blocking doesn't have any more effect than sunscreen in the Van Allen belt.

I pray to the all the old Football gods and I say this as a Roman Catholic, I mean this strictly from a football perspective, let's just work from under center, let our line work with that comfort and determination of either a handoff or play action, and my goodness Moulton, or any of our other running backs with at least three yards of forward momentum gives me hope that they'll get at least two yards and maybe find that beautiful tributary that might open up to the Skunk, Wapsi, Maquoketa or Turkey rivers leading them to end zone.

Very good observation, when your QB is not a great runner maybe shotgun is not the best. But we dont know the whole plan like the timing of plays like the coaches do

 

[Rifler]

how TF do we not have someone other than a non-speedy 6'4" wide receiver to return punts?? So confusing.

Vander Zee is there because he has great hands,... You have to field the ball before worrying about speed.

 

[Burgers]

I’d like for someone smarter than me to assess how much of the running game struggles was on the offensive line vs. running backs.

Iowa State only had 1 TFL. The offensive line was not allowing penetration behind the LOS, but the running game hit a wall after 2 yards. Were there cutback lanes missed by RBs? Also seems like the RBs do not “fall forward” to turn a 2 yard gain into a 4 yard gain.

I think Moulton is a perfectly capable RB. Does not do anything poorly or exceptionally. Last year our QB was a difference maker in the run game. The year before we had a difference maker at RB. I think this year’s offensive line can be just as good as the last two years, but we have no difference makers running the ball.

 

[squeezebox_1]

I’d like for someone smarter than me to assess how much of the running game struggles was on the offensive line vs. running backs.

Iowa State only had 1 TFL. The offensive line was not allowing penetration behind the LOS, but the running game hit a wall after 2 yards. Were there cutback lanes missed by RBs? Also seems like the RBs do not “fall forward” to turn a 2 yard gain into a 4 yard gain.

I think Moulton is a perfectly capable RB. Does not do anything poorly or exceptionally. Last year our QB was a difference maker in the run game. The year before we had a difference maker at RB. I think this year’s offensive line can be just as good as the last two years, but we have no difference makers running the ball.

Probably multiple variables here, they have a more than solid LB core that was able to fill the cut back that Moulton had against NIU. Some of it is predictability of the run game so the safeties creep up. They were pretty much the opposite of what your standard Iowa defense is, they gave up chunk plays by selling out to stop the run. Iowa will need quick hitters or read options to stop the safeties and LB blitzes on a regular basis.

 

[TheGuy9]

I thought the oline has excelled at pass protection so far. They struggled mightily to get any push or open holes in the run game vs ISU.

Hmmm. ISU has two 300 lb. tackles and was in a six-man front most of the night. Their plan was to take away the run, believing that Iowa couldn't beat them through the air.

 

[uihawk82]

I’d like for someone smarter than me to assess how much of the running game struggles was on the offensive line vs. running backs.

Iowa State only had 1 TFL. The offensive line was not allowing penetration behind the LOS, but the running game hit a wall after 2 yards. Were there cutback lanes missed by RBs? Also seems like the RBs do not “fall forward” to turn a 2 yard gain into a 4 yard gain.

I think Moulton is a perfectly capable RB. Does not do anything poorly or exceptionally. Last year our QB was a difference maker in the run game. The year before we had a difference maker at RB. I think this year’s offensive line can be just as good as the last two years, but we have no difference makers running the ball.

My observation was that ISU, with 4 down defensive linemen, 3 Lbkrs, and often one safety in the box, were clogging, and filling most every gap. They were penetrating enough to make Iowa's pulling and trap blocking difficult to do. That can be hard to run against.

I also heard the description of their front 7 defense as "funky", different so it can be hard to block (refer to the run game issues the hawks had against the Wisky and past ISU 3-3-5 and 3-4-4 schemes where the OLine never knows which guys are rushing).

While watching the game, I was wanting more wide pitch and running plays mixed in with the straight ahead run blocking. We got several wide runs in those last two drives and they got better yardage per carry in the 4th qtr. Yes, I think ISU was getting tired in the 2nd and 4th qtrs because maybe they were not substituting very much throughout the game.

I am going to wait and see what our OLine can do against Mich, OSU, and Washington.

 

[Burgers]

Probably multiple variables here, they have a more than solid LB core that was able to fill the cut back that Moulton had against NIU. Some of it is predictability of the run game so the safeties creep up. They were pretty much the opposite of what your standard Iowa defense is, they gave up chunk plays by selling out to stop the run. Iowa will need quick hitters or read options to stop the safeties and LB blitzes on a regular basis.

There was a crazy stat 2 years ago where Kaleb Johnson was averaging something like 8 YPC against stacked boxes. That was midway through the season, not sure where it ended. There was a high degree of boom or bust in that. We lack a home run hitter.

Watching Kenneth Walker run behind a good offensive line is pretty illuminating for Chiefs fans that saw the Chiefs run game struggle for so long. The line created opportunities, but the Chiefs needed a RB to capitalize.

I think the offensive line often gets too much credit or blame for running game performance.

 

[UIAlumFireFighter]

Vander Zee is there because he has great hands,... You have to field the ball before worrying about speed.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

 

[Oldman74]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

This is certainly a take.

 

[Strength1]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

Iowa State has a solid punter who gets great height on his kicks. The coverage on most of his punts were downfield to make the tackle. He had one real short punt and one line drive returnable. I'll take solid hands to catch those high punts over a young speedster all game long. Field position and where those punts came from was more of a deciding factor on who was the returner. Flipping the field was huge as Iowa State started the game with the advantage. Good coaches don't take chances on the return game playing from behind.

 

[Rifler]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown.

Strangely enough, it's more difficult than you might suspect....

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

And the opposing teams won't have fast guys on punt coverage.

 

[squeezebox_1]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

Well the plan was to have Lutmer back there all spring/fall. He was dinged in fall play. I am assuming, that when he is back to 100% that will be the plan moving forward.

 

[eyesofhawk]

I’d like for someone smarter than me to assess how much of the running game struggles was on the offensive line vs. running backs.

Iowa State only had 1 TFL. The offensive line was not allowing penetration behind the LOS, but the running game hit a wall after 2 yards. Were there cutback lanes missed by RBs? Also seems like the RBs do not “fall forward” to turn a 2 yard gain into a 4 yard gain.

I think Moulton is a perfectly capable RB. Does not do anything poorly or exceptionally. Last year our QB was a difference maker in the run game. The year before we had a difference maker at RB. I think this year’s offensive line can be just as good as the last two years, but we have no difference makers running the ball.

It's very hard to get much traction in the run game without ever running it twice in a row. That was the main thing.

Other than an end-around to DJV, and a goal line qb sneak, Iowa did not call two runs in a row until the 4th Q

 

[iahawkeyes17]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

It shouldn't be difficult to find a guy capable of catching a punt and returning it for a touchdown. Reece is definitely not quick / fast enough to be a threat in this aspect of the game. Can he catch it? Sure. My point is: We're being conservative with our punt return game having RVZ back there, which IMO, is stupid and lame.

Rosters at this level should be full of tremendous athletes comfortable with the ball in their hands. It just seems silly to NOT have a speedster or three or four or five readily available for this.

Plan was to be Lutmer and one thing I’ll say about Kirk he does value ST and returners. But I remember watching a hard knocks episode years ago and they were talking punt return and fielding them and how it is not for the faint of heart or as easy as it seems. When to let it drop but then to call fair catch or not with guys running full speed at you. Isu rb was an all conf punt returner for them last year and he muffed one first week that they lost possession of.

honestly 2nd half I thought RVZ made 2 nice returns making guys miss that were our fg drives. With wetjen and coop we’ve been pretty spoiled the last couple of years.

lastly don’t know why still remember. But in 08’ game at Pitt, week after brodell returned a td, he kept letting ball bounce and took Pitt bounces and believe one inside the 5. After game friends and I ranting about the qb fiasco of playing Jake over Stanzi late. but one friend kept harping on and wouldn’t let it go the fact of hidden yards he cost us on letting punts drop that day. Which I guess gets back to point think go with RVZ with better chance of fielding after James let the one bounce when backed up and cost us a lot of field position.

 

[the24fan]

Ewwww

Rewatching that is sick punishment

 

[the24fan]

In defense to the official, he was too busy missing the egregious holding call…

 

[TrojanHawkeye]

We scored TDs against NIU, who proved to be an inferior opponent. ISU proved to be a very worthy opponent, so we are doing as you asked.

Incorrect assessment IMHO.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Incorrect assessment IMHO.

Reassess that assessment

 

[BigOHawk1]

I’d like for someone smarter than me to assess how much of the running game struggles was on the offensive line vs. running backs.

Iowa State only had 1 TFL. The offensive line was not allowing penetration behind the LOS, but the running game hit a wall after 2 yards. Were there cutback lanes missed by RBs? Also seems like the RBs do not “fall forward” to turn a 2 yard gain into a 4 yard gain.

I think Moulton is a perfectly capable RB. Does not do anything poorly or exceptionally. Last year our QB was a difference maker in the run game. The year before we had a difference maker at RB. I think this year’s offensive line can be just as good as the last two years, but we have no difference makers running the ball.

your answer lies in listening to today's ANF podcast....TONS of good insight there, give it a listen they breakdown this and much more. They feel Hank has an NFL arm and ability and Diaz will be 1,000 yard WR this year for Iowa. Teams have that on tape now and will have to respect Iowa's deep shot ability...when is the last time an Iowa QB threw and completed that long of a pass in the air w/out YAC? I honestly can't remember, probably Stanley or maybe Petras vs PSU 2022 or 2023 to Nico, but that pass wasn't all that long IIRC.

Get the running game going, keep advancing the pass game and the D continues to grow up and get comfortable. With Mich and especially Wash, Illinois and Minn seemingly down, it's all there for the taking...discuss...