In 4 games this year ISU has scored exactly 0 points in the 1st quarter. How do we snap this 1st quarter skid and start getting better production early on in our remaining games?
1st Quarter Blues
- Thread starter Cyclonestate78
- Start date
Off the top of my head...should have had points against Iowa for sure...but then made unforced errors (bad snap)! Although with our kicking game...even 3 points wasn't a sure thing at that point!
Just need to quit turning the ball over...easier said than done though.
Just need to quit turning the ball over...easier said than done though.
I guess I got caught up in the overall results of the games but hadn't realized that we haven't scored yet this year in the first quarter. Pretty amazing stat considering we are sitting at 3-1. It just makes me wonder why the offense starts off so slow. We have had some good drives in the 1st quarter of games but the majority of our turnovers for some reason have come in the first half of games and mainly in the 1st quarter. I just don't get how the team can come out game after game after game so tight in the 1st quarter.
It is pretty amazing that we are 3-1 with 0 pts in the 1st qtr.
The simple answer (although I am beginning to question how "simple" it is) is to protect the ball early. We moved the ball against IA into the redzone twice early in the game. Once on our first drive and then again after we were down 10-0 only to fumble 2 times inside the 10. UCONN we were able to move the ball once Steele settled.
The UNI game was just awful to start because our Oline and QB were young and playing in their first real game action.
I am trying to forget the TX game for my own sanity but if I remember we had started to move the ball and had a couple of 1st downs until the fumbled exchange between QB/RB.
I honestly think we can score enough pts against Baylor to keep us in the game IF we dont make mistakes. Their D is less than average so I dont think moving the ball is the real problem it will be not hurting ourselves and making good decisions even if that means throwing the ball away or checking down to a RB or TE.
We spot BU 14 pts before our offense gets their heads in the game its highly unlikely we can dig out.
The simple answer (although I am beginning to question how "simple" it is) is to protect the ball early. We moved the ball against IA into the redzone twice early in the game. Once on our first drive and then again after we were down 10-0 only to fumble 2 times inside the 10. UCONN we were able to move the ball once Steele settled.
The UNI game was just awful to start because our Oline and QB were young and playing in their first real game action.
I am trying to forget the TX game for my own sanity but if I remember we had started to move the ball and had a couple of 1st downs until the fumbled exchange between QB/RB.
I honestly think we can score enough pts against Baylor to keep us in the game IF we dont make mistakes. Their D is less than average so I dont think moving the ball is the real problem it will be not hurting ourselves and making good decisions even if that means throwing the ball away or checking down to a RB or TE.
We spot BU 14 pts before our offense gets their heads in the game its highly unlikely we can dig out.
The question is how do you protect the ball. The coaches can emphasize protecting the ball all they want, but I don't think it would really change how the players perform.
I think we should play James White the first drive. Also, try to get Steele a couple of runs early to possibly settle down the nerves. The coaches act like he never gets too excited, but he is always overthrowing guys early. Throw a bubble screen early or a short swing pass to Jarvis or Lenz early. That's all I got.
Oh, and defer if we win the toss. Let the defense have at least one shot in the 1st half with some field position.
Last edited:
Don't bother. Work on the other side of the 0-33 (or is it 0-30).
Run the ball up the gut with Woody. Who cares if we go 3-and-out 5 times in the first quarter. We've got Kirby and we don't need to spot our opponent 7, 10, 14 points. Don't give up a short field and let the D get us through the 1st quarter.
Run the ball up the gut with Woody. Who cares if we go 3-and-out 5 times in the first quarter. We've got Kirby and we don't need to spot our opponent 7, 10, 14 points. Don't give up a short field and let the D get us through the 1st quarter.
Seems like a hard thing to turn around. I was just heading here to ask a similar question and weather or not anyone thinks we will improve on this based on last weeks performance. I'm hoping it was a bit of an eye opener to show that this team won't continue to win games if they play stupid. I guess all I can do is hope. The odds say we have a similar start to this game that we had in the first 4.
We haven't scored in the first quarter since the Texas game down in Austin last year. That's 8 straight games. We've also got the ball first in 2 games this year and 8 out of 12 games last year and scored exactly zero points off those 10 game opening drives. We are notoriously slow starters. We should always want to defer to the 2nd half. That bad thing is our two worst quarters scoring-wise are the 1st and the 3rd.
Last edited:
I'm thinking we should defer to the second half and let Steele in on kickoff team to open the game. I know it's a bit risky but so is what we're doing now.
Here's an idea to avoid the 1st quarter blues... just forfeit the first half and start with the 3rd quarter! 
wink:
wink:
