Notebook: 2nd early bye should help Cyclones heal

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megamanxzero35

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2011
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Glad to hear he had a thorough discussion with offense coaches. I hope it included no zone read against Tulsa and straight handoffs, draws, tosses, etc. No QB running while Sam is 100%.
 

F5cy

Well-Known Member
May 1, 2011
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Washington, D.C.
It's good that we have a bye week to help heal up a little, but we had 3 weeks to prepare for UNI and 2 weeks for Iowa, and it didn't seem as if we were ready to play in either of those games.
 

wesley_w

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2006
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I am no expert on knee injuries but I'd rather Tom Farniok sit out one more game OR split the playing time with Ben Loth for the Tulsa game. I guess what I am getting at is when you have an MCL injury is there possibility of really injuring it worse by playing on it before it's fully healed. I'm sure Tom will be wanting to be out there but I am just looking at his long term health.
 

CyCloned

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
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Robins, Iowa
when they looked at those plays I hope they saw not only the poor execution, but the fact that Iowa knew where the play was going better than ISU did.

If they start the Tulsa game by throwing WR screens 4 yard behind the LOS with the Tulsa DBs up in press coverage I will loose the tiny bit of faith that I have in the OC and the coaching staff in general.
 

belmond64

Member
Oct 5, 2008
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when they looked at those plays I hope they saw not only the poor execution, but the fact that Iowa knew where the play was going better than ISU did.

If they start the Tulsa game by throwing WR screens 4 yard behind the LOS with the Tulsa DBs up in press coverage I will loose the tiny bit of faith that I have in the OC and the coaching staff in general.

I would hope that when they looked at the game play by play they saw how bad Richardson throws balls to the flat side of the field. Maybe a revelation of not using Woody could have come about. I don't know but I am so frustrated with that whole offense.
 

westlbcyclone

Member
Jun 28, 2010
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I am no expert on knee injuries but I'd rather Tom Farniok sit out one more game OR split the playing time with Ben Loth for the Tulsa game. I guess what I am getting at is when you have an MCL injury is there possibility of really injuring it worse by playing on it before it's fully healed. I'm sure Tom will be wanting to be out there but I am just looking at his long term health.
I would be OK with Tom sitting out for Tulsa, but not with splitting snaps. A re-injury could happen on any play, so if he's not OK to go or the staff thinks Loth will be a better option, just go with Loth.
 

247cy

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2006
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Spring Hill, KS
Sounds like CPR is on top of things, as I expected he would be.

I thought Sam really struggled early throwing the ball - memory serves he missed a lot of first-half throws either high or long, and no matter what play was called the coaches can't do much about execution.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned much is this was Sam's first start against our biggest rival. I remember Arnaud not being real sharp against the Hawks - its a rivalry game and sometimes guys press. I'll give Sam the benefit of the doubt on the first half, he certainly seemed to settle down in the second and moved the ball well in that last 5 minutes. This was his 5th start ever, which is not an excuse but a fact. Iowa's QB was making his 3rd start?, but had the benefit of a very effective run game, so he didn't have to do too much.

The other thing I haven't seen mentioned in the myriad of threads... why haven't the coaches put in a "Cyclone" package (I refuse to acknowledge term coined for this formation by purple Kansas) - especially once they KNEW Sam's ankle wasn't going to allow him to be 100%? With the wealth of running back talent, surely Wimberly or White could take the snap and run the zone read more effectively than Sam on a bum ankle. Everyone has said Wimberly needs more touches, and if you're not going to pull the trigger on Rohach for a series or two, then why not try it? I find it hard to believe one of the RBs couldn't throw as effectively as Lenz did on occasion for us over the last two seasons.

Looking forward to seeing progress vs Tulsa. I just pray Farniok doesn't have a setback or worse.
 

clonedude

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
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Sounds like CPR is on top of things, as I expected he would be.

I thought Sam really struggled early throwing the ball - memory serves he missed a lot of first-half throws either high or long, and no matter what play was called the coaches can't do much about execution.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned much is this was Sam's first start against our biggest rival. I remember Arnaud not being real sharp against the Hawks - its a rivalry game and sometimes guys press. I'll give Sam the benefit of the doubt on the first half, he certainly seemed to settle down in the second and moved the ball well in that last 5 minutes. This was his 5th start ever, which is not an excuse but a fact. Iowa's QB was making his 3rd start?, but had the benefit of a very effective run game, so he didn't have to do too much.

The other thing I haven't seen mentioned in the myriad of threads... why haven't the coaches put in a "Cyclone" package (I refuse to acknowledge term coined for this formation by purple Kansas) - especially once they KNEW Sam's ankle wasn't going to allow him to be 100%? With the wealth of running back talent, surely Wimberly or White could take the snap and run the zone read more effectively than Sam on a bum ankle. Everyone has said Wimberly needs more touches, and if you're not going to pull the trigger on Rohach for a series or two, then why not try it? I find it hard to believe one of the RBs couldn't throw as effectively as Lenz did on occasion for us over the last two seasons.

Looking forward to seeing progress vs Tulsa. I just pray Farniok doesn't have a setback or worse.

Unfortunately he is getting on top of things about a month late. I expected him to have things ready to go week one against UNI, but that was far from the case.

Then I thought maybe he'd be on top of things after the 2 week layoff for the Iowa game, but I was wrong again.

Now we have another 2 weeks off, and now we're hoping our head coach is on top of things. Wow. I wish I got paid 2 million a year to not be on top of things that long.

Half kidding aside, it is a little late now to be getting your ducks in a row offensively. The goal of getting to a bowl game are basically over now. Probably should have thought about these things during the entire off season, not 2 games into the season.
 

Wesley

Well-Known Member
Apr 12, 2006
70,923
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Omaha
Sounds like CPR is on top of things, as I expected he would be.

I thought Sam really struggled early throwing the ball - memory serves he missed a lot of first-half throws either high or long, and no matter what play was called the coaches can't do much about execution.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned much is this was Sam's first start against our biggest rival. I remember Arnaud not being real sharp against the Hawks - its a rivalry game and sometimes guys press. I'll give Sam the benefit of the doubt on the first half, he certainly seemed to settle down in the second and moved the ball well in that last 5 minutes. This was his 5th start ever, which is not an excuse but a fact. Iowa's QB was making his 3rd start?, but had the benefit of a very effective run game, so he didn't have to do too much.

The other thing I haven't seen mentioned in the myriad of threads... why haven't the coaches put in a "Cyclone" package (I refuse to acknowledge term coined for this formation by purple Kansas) - especially once they KNEW Sam's ankle wasn't going to allow him to be 100%? With the wealth of running back talent, surely Wimberly or White could take the snap and run the zone read more effectively than Sam on a bum ankle. Everyone has said Wimberly needs more touches, and if you're not going to pull the trigger on Rohach for a series or two, then why not try it? I find it hard to believe one of the RBs couldn't throw as effectively as Lenz did on occasion for us over the last two seasons.

Looking forward to seeing progress vs Tulsa. I just pray Farniok doesn't have a setback or worse.
I get the feeling that they are adding new plays as fast as Bill Snyder.
 

Doc

This is it Morty
Aug 6, 2006
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Denver
People keep asking about the wildcat, but it's been popular about 4-5 years now and I don't think having it in your playbook is going to cause defenses to spend much time preparing for it because they're already pretty familiar with it. Plus I can almost guarantee the 2 RBs would fumble an exchange, screw up the snap, or make a few wrong reads and posters would ***** about that.
 

clonedude

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
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People keep asking about the wildcat, but it's been popular about 4-5 years now and I don't think having it in your playbook is going to cause defenses to spend much time preparing for it because they're already pretty familiar with it. Plus I can almost guarantee the 2 RBs would fumble an exchange, screw up the snap, or make a few wrong reads and posters would ***** about that.

Yeah, the Wildcat is stupid. And the zone read is nearly as dumb. So is passing the ball 3 yds behind the line of scrimmage and airmailing it into the stands.

A friend of mine, who is neither an ISU or Iowa fan, asked me on Monday if all we do is pass the ball horizontally all the time instead of vertically? He said it sure seemed that way. All I could do is tell him that he is basically correct.
 

Doc

This is it Morty
Aug 6, 2006
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Denver
Yeah, the Wildcat is stupid. And the zone read is nearly as dumb. So is passing the ball 3 yds behind the line of scrimmage and airmailing it into the stands.

A friend of mine, who is neither an ISU or Iowa fan, asked me on Monday if all we do is pass the ball horizontally all the time instead of vertically? He said it sure seemed that way. All I could do is tell him that he is basically correct.

Why is the zone read nearly as dumb as the wildcat?
 

khardbored

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2012
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Middle of the Midwest
"I commented on each play" said CPR.

I hope it was something like this after the first two plays:

"Iowa has 5 down linemen and 3 LB's playing up close, and we try to run the first two plays UP THE MIDDLE with our least powerful tailback??????"
 

jberryma

Member
Oct 5, 2006
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My main issue is how many more years do we say, ok, this is the year our offense finally takes flight. This is the year that the offense carries the defense for once. We said that last year and it didn't happen. This year I think most knew we would be "green" on defense but that the offense would finally be capable of putting up points. Well again it isn't happening. Who's fault is it? Rhoads said this is the most talented team we've had since he's been here. If you couple his talented comment with the fact that this is now the second year in a row that the offense was finally going to have weapons and finally produce points and we still aren't. There needs to be accountability. I don't know who ultimately needs to take the fall but I'm tired of the excuses for our offense not taking flight.