- 5th year Seniors and Srs should be playing ahead of soph and Fr. That is fact. I stated there is a drop off from Smith to Klein but not much especially since there is 3 YEAR DIFFERNECE IN AGE AND EXPERIENCE. the production certainly hasn't dropped.
- We also lost haughton form last years line. One could argue that his replacement has been less effective than Stephen's replacement. Haughton was a chizdick guy
- The fact that you can name two outstanding Srs from last year and none fom this year is very telling. Very telling. You should be able to list more than two. GMac had 9 years to build depth and talent.
- chizdick and Rhoads have really had only 1 each. Not four. Both chizdick and Rhoads have had a half class that was thrown together. The lack of quality upper classmen is a result of coaching turnover.
- McDonough and Reump have 1.5 TFL less and more sacks in half a season against better competition than Frere and Alburtis got all of last year. Your "where tackles are made" isn't backed up by stats. Frere and Alburtis also had Lyle playing next to them who was the only DL that needed double teams last year. Right now Reump and McDonough are the ones getting double teamed. BTW- You are comparing a 5th year SR and a SR to a Jr and a RSo. Mcdonough is playing ahead of one of DMac's recruits. Reump was splitting snaps with DMac's recruits last year and was more productive. no matter how you spin it, DMac's last couple of years were not good.
- Even with coaching turnover, we will not have a very big recruitng class this year. Tells me we had a lot of guys not make it and attrition was high in DMac's last year. DMac always has big classes because attrition was very high. One of his biggest downfalls.
I'm sorry to say it, but there needs to be some questions on Herman as OC
- Thread starter sdcyfan
- Start date
They are both playing well.... neither playing at the level of Jesse Smith yet, but very happy with their play as true sophomores.
Smith was playing amazing last year, had a real nose for the football. He was 1st-team All Big 12 for a reason.
- Sorry I missed where you stated that
- When is the last time ISU had a WR drafted? JJ Moses and he was a return specialist. That is the concern people have with the spread. When has ISU ever been able to consistently recruit the talent to run that offense? Andnow that evryone is running it, the competition for recruits is higher.
I tend to agree with this. I don't think we have gotten discernably worse, it's just we are playing better competition overall. I argued that we would all be feeling a LOT better if we had the chance to beat Kent State instead of jailhouse abuse at the hands of Utah. OU is just that good - picked be most everyone to win the conference challenge for a National championship. OSU was an ugly game last year and I don't think they were as good as Utah or OU this year.
I think the lack of depth in a few key areas, particularly on defense, has really been exploited by these teams with tremendous speed and athleticism. OU was also very strong and could get a push up the middle on us at will, a bit beyond even what Utah was able to do I think. Chizik left us with some decent depth on the secondary, OL and at WR - there is variance in the quality of that depth, but there was depth there. The problem in my view has been the kiddie-pool depth in the front seven on defense, which is what is killing us right now.
I think we lack playmakers at the WR spot and a QB with inconsistent accuracy and touch. Our OL play has been pretty bad at times, which has resulted in way too many pass protection breakdowns. This is not conducive to high level play with Arnaud's tendencies to be impatient and not complete his reads. When given more time, Arnaud can make some plays (Texas Tech). I honestly don't know that we can execute very much with success against the likes of an OU. I am just trying to hold on and get to these last four games. I hoped we could get to 4-4 like we did last year through eight games and then see what we can do against this schedule down the stretch. I think we will end up regretting not buying out that Utah game and getting a cupcake on the schedule.
Cheers
Our lack of depth and quallity upperclassmen (especially defense) is a big, big issue. DMac's last couple of classes flamed or had huge attrition. chizdick plugged holes with JUCOs that are now gone and had no time to plug the JUCO hole. Rhoads just tried to keep everyone here and is now building by developing guys and is looking towards 3-4 years down the road. There is an obvious gap in philosophies and we are seeing it right now
Nebraska at JTS will provide "proof" for me either way. We played them to a physical standstill last year, and now have them at home. Texas exposed them. It will tell me if our program is making progress.
not to be argumentative, but, i have to vent a bit...Stephen F. Austin was a high scoring offense under McFarland - how would you rate his performance after being at ISU? I don't see the job offers pouring in for him.
I'm not saying anything either way about Herman - maybe too early....the one thing i will say is this "All this talk about getting his players in there for his system....yada yada yada" is a bunch of bs....
LOOK AROUND PEOPLE....there are several very successful programs with guys in their first or second year of the system.....Arnaud is a 5th year senior, he's been in the system for two years and should know it. For whatever reason take your pick (ability, play calling, Offensive Line, Wide Receivers, Running Backs) whatever the reason but this offensive is nearly the worst in all of college football for a reason and its Hermans responsibility to make it better.....
SO, my question is easy - is this offense, these players getting better each week? If you judge that they in fact are getting better thats all we can ask. Its not as if were playing College of Quebec here....these are big 12 teams and national leaders in College football.....
BUT - two weeks ago we gave up 68 points to utah, that same Utah team won this week 30-7 over WYOMING.....wyoming for gods sake can stop them, why cant we....
Do any of us think for a second about the amount of pressure thats on this offensive team? They know that over the past two games they've given up an average of 60 pts a game......they have to score every position and thats a lot of pressure. Our scoring defense is ranked 104th - last year it was in the 40's....considering there is not one defensive team in the SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, Big 12 below us, that says a lot about the defensive standing of this squad....
I dont know the answers here - neither does this coaching staff....if they knew or could pinpoint a problem - they would solve it, if they had the players to solve it....my guess is this thing is a multiheaded monster and that makes it very difficult to solve....especially when your playing the number 1 most difficult schedule in america....week in and week out we play one of the most talented football teams in the nation....and it gets no easier from here out....we have two games left on our schedule where we will be less then double digit underdogs in kansas and colorado...
ALL I WANT IS IMPROVEMENT.....wins will come, improvement is what will build the program. No improvement, means stagnation, look no further then Minnesota and you will see what that will do to a program. Stagnation breeds questioning, questioning breeds resentment, resentment breeds discontent, and discontent breeds transfers/lack of effort and loss of the very essence of what makes good teams good - The concept of team and giving everything you got on every play!!!!
We have had more than one common opponent from last year. Why is it you choose to ignore those games and want to only look at the fluke game as a comparison?
iowa- similar results
5.5 YPC each year
426 yards vs 479 yards( a result of starting field position)
More TFL and sacks this year than last
4.0 vs 6.8 yards/play
KSU- similar results
3.7 YPC vs 5.2
360 vs 366 total yards
same TFL and sacks each year
5.5 yards per play vs 5.9 yards per play
It is funny that you pick Nebraska and claim "We played them to a physical standstill last year." You must have watched a different game than me. Nebraska's offense moved the ball against us well. Four of their 8 turnovers were inside the red zone and three of those were inside the 5. Not to mention they have a guy named Martinez this year and lose a guy named Suh.
you sure like apples and oranges
Thank, just as I posted that, I realized he was.... But our coverages on special teams have been lacking this year, and we got exposed of that during the Utah game.
Punt return defense has been great except one game. Kick return defense has not been good.
Nebraska beat the hell out of us physically last year. Their RB's were getting ~5 yards per carry. They held us under 3 yards per carry, and had 2.5 times as many yards. That's not a standstill.
It's curious that you seem to discount such a great Cyclone victory. Why is that? Maybe to run away from any expectations for this year's game?
You make it sound like "turnovers" are like fairy dust sprinkling from the sky. They didn't just "happen" - all but one were forced. Jesse Smith caused one fumble, and also made the game-clinching inteception late in the game. Oh BTW, Smith was named national defensive player of the week.
Again, why would you minimize such a great win?
Oh, I don't know, I think when you fumble five times (like Nebraska did), it kinda means the opponent is rocking you pretty good.
Maybe it's just me....
I don't minimize that win one bit. It was a great effort day from an undermanned, sick, ISU team. I do realize that 8 turnovers will not happen every year and to expect it is ridiculous. I don't think I will ever see an ISU team get 8 turnovers. I know we have had better defense that have never gotten 5 turnovers in one game let alone 8.
I will actually include that game along with Iowa, KSU, KU and Mizzou when evaluating this year vs last year It is one of 5 common opponents. You on the other hand stated that that game and only that game will let you know where we stand. Do you expect us to get 8 turnovers? If we had the exact same defense, would you expect a repeat performance.
Why is it that is the only game that will count in your evaluation? iowa, KSU, CU, mizzou all have a very similar teams this year compared to last year. NU and KU not so much. They would be the least indicative of all the common opponents we play.
BTW- Jesse Smith is one of my all time favorite players. Too short, too slow, etc. Even DMac didn't give him a scholly. I love the guy. He is representative as to why DMac failed.
Now sinceI answered you question, why don't you answer mine? Why do you discount all other common opponents?
Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings but i have two questions. How many offensive skill starters do we have from the "football" states (FL, TX, CA)? How many defensive starters do we have from the "football" states? That's the major issue! And, that's what this staff is trying to change....as you can see from the last recruiting class (19 of 28 recruits) and with the start of next years class (7 of 13 recruits). The great Big 12 teams are loaded with players from Texas including Texas, OU, OSU, Nebraska, and Missouri.
If you want to compete in this league you have to have players that know how to compete at this level. That starts in high school! For example, AA was the #1 player in Iowa, Iowa Player of the Year, etc. He had fewer passing yards than Barnett his junior year and Barnett on played 7 games in his junior season! One player from Austen's senior class went D-1(1 from Ames total) 1 player from Capello's went D-1 (1 from Lebanon total) 1 from Tiller's class went D-1 (6 total from San Antonio), 5 from Barnett's team went D-1 (9 total from Garland). These stats are courtesy of Rivals.com.
It's obvious that the staff is headed in the right direction in their recruiting. At this time though, there are not enough skill (speed) on offense or heavy hitters on defense for us to compete against 6 top ten opponents. Give them time!!!
If you want to compete in this league you have to have players that know how to compete at this level. That starts in high school! For example, AA was the #1 player in Iowa, Iowa Player of the Year, etc. He had fewer passing yards than Barnett his junior year and Barnett on played 7 games in his junior season! One player from Austen's senior class went D-1(1 from Ames total) 1 player from Capello's went D-1 (1 from Lebanon total) 1 from Tiller's class went D-1 (6 total from San Antonio), 5 from Barnett's team went D-1 (9 total from Garland). These stats are courtesy of Rivals.com.
It's obvious that the staff is headed in the right direction in their recruiting. At this time though, there are not enough skill (speed) on offense or heavy hitters on defense for us to compete against 6 top ten opponents. Give them time!!!
The last recruiting class is pretty inidcative of every recruiting class ISU has ever had.
2009- 19 kids from those states and one from PA and one from WI
2008- 16 kids from those states
2007- 15
Recruiting Tx, FL and Kansas JUCOs is nothign differnt. The only thing CPR is doing differnt is hitting CA more
Yep, pretty much "cherry-picking":
Fumble 1 - 1st and 10 at NEB 36 Roy Helu Jr. rush over left tackle for 3 yards, fumbled, forced by Jesse Smith, recovered by IowSt Kennard Banks at the Neb 39.
First play from scrimmage (a "granted")
Fumble 2 - 3rd and 5 at NEB 27 Zac Lee pass complete to Niles Paul for 72 yards, fumbled, recovered by IowSt James Smith in the endzone.
The one and only turnover on the day that ISU can attribute to "luck"
Fumble 3 - 2nd and 6 at ISU 15 Roy Helu Jr. rush up the middle for 14 yards, fumbled, forced by David Sims, recovered by IowSt Michael O'Connell in the endzone.
A 7-play, 4:05 51-yard drive that Helu blew by fumbling on the 1 yard line
Fumble 4 - 2nd and 3 at ISU 18 Dontrayevous Robinson rush over left tackle for 13 yards, fumbled, forced by Nate Frere, recovered by IowSt James Smith at the IowSt 5.
A 5-play, 1:15 36-yard drive which Robinson blew by fumbling on the 5 yard line
Fumble 5 - 3rd and 15 at NEB 12 Zac Lee pass complete to Menelik Holt for 10 yards, fumbled, forced by Christopher Lyle, recovered by IowSt David Sims at the Neb 22.
A 3-play, 1:18 5-yard drive which Holt blew by fumbling on the 5-yard line
Truth of the matter, if it weren't for the turnovers (which ISU DID force), Nebraska was owning us on offense that day.
