We are 4-0 and what a thrill that is. I am in general a happy camper and do not want to come across as the entitled fan. I'll include some positive and constructive thoughts below for offense and defense.
Offense
Offense
- Carson and Abu were rolling yesterday and the ground game looks really good. O line blocking is opening holes and Carson Hansen is probably one of the better short yardage backs in the league / nationwide.
- On the heels of the above, I really did not like throwing at the two yard line, doing play action and then Rocco gets sacked at the 10. Against an inferior foe just hand it off to Hansen and let him plow into the endzone.
- Tyler Moore at TE had a great game and was strong after the catch
- Xavier Townsend seems to be waking up and getting more comfortable, he has serious speed and looked great on the 44 yard catch and pass.
- Both Keaton Roskop 85, and Cooper Alexander 87 were good at TE, they helped a ton in the running game with outside the lane blocking.
- Ben Brahmer looked a little off in the game. Jim Bonifas at center also looked off and got mixed around some. Chase Sowell dropped a big 3rd down completion and I think Campbell should think about utilizing guys ahead of him. Carson Brown catches everything and may take his snaps
- Eskildsen has a walk in touchdown if first pass of the game is accurate, I continue to like the separation Eskildsen creates.
- I'm starting to think that Ben Brahmer is a fantastic red zone threat for catching TDs, but Gabe Burkle is just as valuable to this team, need him back for the Big 12. Gabe does everything well.
- We clamped down inside the 35 yard line and did what Heacock does best. Give up yards but don't give up many td's. I didn't love giving up 385 yards to a Sunbelt team..
- Tre Bell at cornerback is staring to come out of his shell. He has good size, cover ability, and had a nice interception.
- Alijah Carnell at defensive tackle/DE looked pretty strong. He got off blocks, had a half a sack. Jace Gilbert at DE is getting better too.
- Ike Ezeguo concerns me. That was a game where a quality big 12 D lineman has 3 sacks. He had numerous sacks just slip out of his hands. One on play he attempted to tackle the QB (who he is 100 pounds heavier than) and the QB of theirs breaks a tackle, tough look
- The front 7 of the defense - I thought they made a pretty good Sunbelt QB look like RG III from Baylor. They have to tighten up and I think that starts with Willich getting healthy again, Kooper Ebel getting back to being dominant as he was against KSU and Iowa, and the whole LB core becoming more consistent again. I can believe they were gassed and the whole team was, difficult spot for this game.
- Through the 1st 3 games of the season our defense is 105th in sacks. Those can make the point that "that is not what our defense is designed to do". To that I would say - when we play against the best offenses we have seen in the last two years: Kansas, Tex Tech last year, Miami last year (41 pts) ASU (45 pts) in conf championship game what did all of those games have in common? We put very little pressure on the QB into making mistakes. If I were GM of the ISU football budget which I will never be, I would spend a ton of the budget in this upcoming off season to get 2 impact Defensive Ends, linebackers, etc. If we don't have them in the pipeline we need to go portaling for them. This team could use a Willie Harvey / Marcel Spears LB, and more than that, could use a strong sack guy capable of getting 7 plus sacks a year. Weakness in the front 7 and with pass rush is going to be this teams achilles heel.
- I do get concerned if we can't ratchet up the pressure against opposing QBs, that will just hurt us in a Big 12 championship game format (as it did against ASU). Again i'm thrilled about 4-0.
