UNI Game thoughts...

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ISUFan22

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Apr 11, 2006
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First half offense...

Again, we go down the field early and look like a team that can't be stopped. Both running and throwing the ball.

And again, we have an early turnover that seems to shell-shock our offense and in this case, the entire team.

Meyer had no time to throw most of the first half. Running game looked good when we did run the ball. But being behind early forced us to run very little. Hicks and Scales still averages over 4 yards a carry.

First half defense...

More missed tackles...wide gaping holes in the running game. Still troubles covering the short crossing routes. Little pressure on Sanders. And again, missed tackles. And where was Parker tonight?

Second half offense...

Finally, we wake up. Meyer looked really good the entire game (when he wasn't slipping on the grass), especially in the 2nd half. Finishes the game with a ridiculous 82% completion percentage and 324 yards. Tack on 24 yards on the ground and that's the Big 12 QB we know we've got. Davis had a great day, slicing up the single coverage while the Panthers put a blanket on Blythe. Tight ends get some love, but still not enough. Flynn, gotta hold onto that ball buddy. A nice catch by the freshman Hamilton. Offensive line makes good adjustments at halftime and protects Meyer much, much better. Offense scores 2 TD's in the 2nd half...finally. Still not enough, but, it's better.

A thought...maybe we should run the 2 minute offense the entire game. Well...the one minute offense...being we scored with a minute to play. :)

Second half defense...

It looked like they were not much better. However, they only gave up 6 points and a total of 20 in the game. Wow...amazing what our young defense can do in the 2nd half when the offense helps them out by keeping the ball longer than a minute and scoring points. Gotta do better against the run, something I thought was a strength that UNI exposed. On the game, UNI only had 5.3 yards per completion - that's pretty good.

Special teams...

Would have gotten an A if not for that muffed punt. Not sure if Baum was thinking "gotta score again" or what...but muffing two in a row...eeek! Helluva run back though...sent the fans of JTS into mayhem. First punt return for a TD since '02 when Miller ran one back vs. Troy State. Hopefully it won't be Baum's last!

Who else thought that last second field goal for UNI went through? I have a side angle only...being on that end of the field. At first I thought it was too short...then....I thought..."crap...he made it!" Thank God it was wide right...couldn't have been by much though.

Coaching tonight...

I thought we had a sound gameplan. Went down the field and struck "quick" while eating a lot of clock. UNI was just able to do the same and then got the turnover. ISU continued to run the ball until down 14 and quickly went to the air...in the past D-Mac may have remained stubborn with the ground game. Clearly good adjustments were made at the half on both sides of the ball. As noted, protection was better in the 2nd half and the defense did better as well. Can't blame the coaches for the muffed punt by Baum and then the fumble by Flynn in the end zone. Those don't happen and the game does not come down to the final kick. Overall, I was pleased with the play calling tonight. Probably the best of the season.


On the season...

We're 3-2...just where many expected. However, our wins over Toledo, UNLV and UNI have been far too close for comfort.

At times the offense has looked unstoppable and at other times...they seem all to eager to stop themselves. Running game is far better than last year and it's nice to have a solid back-up for Hicks. Passing game looks good too...we just have too many untimely turnovers, silly penalties, dropped passes and poor protection. Again, sometimes it looks great and others it looks like a very young offense.

Defensively I think we're getting what was expected. Aggressive play with mistakes as a result of inexperience. If the offense had helped the defense out in the 2nd half of the Toledo, UNLV and Iowa games, I think we'd be much happier with our defense. So...their less-than-good play at times isn't just their fault. However, they need to get back to the basics of run defense, tackling, tackling, tackling and improve on defending the short crossing routes. So far though (knock on wood), they have not been burnt by the big plays that some felt they would. Last year, we got torched on a pair of big plays in the first game with a defense that may be the best ever for ISU. The coaches have done well putting the young defense in position to be successful. They just need to continue boosting their confidence and tackle!

Now...we should have blown out the teams we've defeated so far. However, we have 3 close-game wins. How many did we have last year? 0. How many close games did we lose last year? 5.

So...while we're still unsure of where this team will end up in '06 and not exactly happy with the scoreboard on our wins - none of us can question this team's heart and never-say-die attitude.
 
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Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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Northern Iowa's Eric Sanders completed his first 12 passes and finished 23-of-29 for 158 yards and a touchdown. He gave Iowa State trouble with short passes underneath the coverage, but the Cyclones got more pressure on him in the second half and the Panthers' offense wasn't as effective.
 

Wesley

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The kick missed one to two yards to the right. Very close.
Won by a yard tonight. Won by a yard step out to UNLV. Won by a yard on ther Blythe catch. Football is a game of yards.
 
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kuney1

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Sometimes we are our own worse enemy, with the pick that went for a TD (give credit to UNI defender, Meyer was locked into the one receiver and UNI made a play), the dropped punt, and the Flynn fumble. The face mask penalty really helped us out in the last drive. This team has a lot of question marks after 4 games, we make every QB look like Joe Montana. A win is a win, but I'm not too excited.
 

Wesley

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BryceC - what is our passing defense stats to date: 65%, 70%, 75% completion rate?
 

ISUFan22

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BryceC - what is our passing defense stats to date: 65%, 70%, 75% completion rate?


Team Att. Comp. Comp. %

Toledo 39 49 79.59
UNLV 24 35 68.57
Iowa 26 38 68.42
Texas 19 24 79.17
UNI 19 26 73.08

Season 127 172 73.84


Ouch.
 
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Wesley

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Famous last words:
While the season so far hasn’t been stellar, ISU still sits in the best position to control its own destiny as it enters arguably one of the ‘easiest’ games this season. Entering a very winnable non-conference home game at 2-2 is about all that could be asked of the Clones at this point in the season, but much more needs to be expected of them for things to improve to where we all want to see it end in January.
 

Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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Ouch also. Every qb we have played has completed at least 19 passes. Ouch. Pray for rain or wind next week.

The good news is we only gave up one passing touchdown so we will not lead the nation.
 
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jdoggivjc

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Sep 27, 2006
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Ouch also. Every qb we have played has completed at least 19 passes. Ouch. Pray for rain or wind next week.

The good news is we only gave up one passing touchdown so we will not lead the nation.

it can rain all it wants in ames as long as it's sunny, calm, and dry in the quad cities. i don't want a crapola day on my wedding. erin will never let me hear the end of it...
 

jdoggivjc

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You know, there IS one thing we can take away from this game - we didn't blow the big lead tonite. we outscored our opponent 21-6 in the second half. we actually showed some testicular fortitude in gutting out that game. if we can combine the first halves from the first 4 games and the second half from this game things may turn out ok
 

darts180

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Team Att. Comp. Comp. %

Toledo 39 49 79.59
UNLV 24 35 68.57
Iowa 26 38 68.42
Texas 19 24 79.17
UNI 19 26 73.08

Season 127 172 73.84


Ouch.

Well thank God we are so well coached, because otherwise we'd be screwed with those percentages.
 

BryceC

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Hey darts, I've read like 8 threads now and you've said roughly the exact same thing in each one. Why not just copy and paste?
 

ekim121

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Apr 13, 2006
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I thought the offense played very well. Someone posted a driver chart in another thread, and we only punted twice, so I'd say we accomplished everything we wanted to on O. As far as D, they were awful yet again. This was UNI, and for a large portion of the game we were but a speed bump. There were gaping holes for their backs and the 5 yard pass was open each and every time. On the flip side there were also times when they made good stops. Before Baum muffed the punt(s) the D gave a big stop in UNI territory so we would have gotten the ball back with good field position, and even after we handed them the ball back they did an outstanding job in holding them to a FG. But then on the very next drive after the fumble UNI drives it down their throats again...I'm not sure what gives.

I think the bottom line is that if the teams plays like they do tonight with the turnovers we'll be lucky to win 1-2 more games. If they can play like this without the turnovers I think we can make maybe 6-7 wins total. I don't want to be pessimistic (sp?), but I'm just trying to be realistic based on what I've seen on the field.
 

cyclonedcm

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Apr 11, 2006
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It's a great weekend when Iowa State wins and Iowa loses:yes4lo:,.

There has to be someone who can kick the ball in the end zone, I know there are high school athletes out there with a stronger leg than him... Josh should lose his scholarship!

Walden played bend, but don't break defense too... with worse athletes... we have some quick linebackers-- use them! we put as much pressure on the quarterback with 3 down linemen...

I hope we play our best game of the year yet and kick Nebraska's butt, I think we are capable of doing that.:biggrin9gp:
 

mfelske

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Mar 20, 2006
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The fact that the Cyclones were -3 on turnovers and still won is huge. If they can correct those big mistakes I think this team will be OK.
 

price26

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Sep 1, 2006
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I think the key in the second half was there was more blitzing of Sanders on obvious pass downs. I've watched every game this year and I don't think we've ever blitzed that much in any game, I wish there was a stat for how many times we brought more than 4 guys.

I think that has been one of our biggest problems all year, we havn't pressured the oppossing quarterback enough. You saw what happened when we went after Sanders in the second half, he was forced to dumb it off and he either completed it or there was someone there to drop the reciever right away.

Our pass defense stinks because our secondary can't chase wide receivers around for 15 seconds while the quarterback sits back in the pocket. Parker isn't as good as you all think (he's a freshman who has been knocked cold by Yanda and gave the Longhorns a chance to put the Clones away) and with the extra lineman, every time just doubles Curvey because Moorehead and Frere are pretty much non-existant.

Another thing is the crowd impact, I have never felt so out of game before the game even started. Johnson is out there trying to lead cheers and the Panthers fans are DROWNING OUT THE CYCLONE FANS! I was disappointed with the alumni and adult fans of Cyclone country before the game and I'm still disappointed with them afterwards. For this team to become a top 25 contender the fans, not the team, have to get better. The football intelligence is low, by that I mean that YOU CANNOT BE CHANTING LET'S GO STATE! WHILE OUR TEAM IS IN THE HUDDLE! You are basically helping out the opposing defense.

That is my two cents.
 

Bob

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Apr 11, 2006
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You know what Mac can take from this game? He was a yard away from not having a job next year.