Have some thoughts about the Offensive Line.

[cyrocksmypants]

The line wasn’t great. There was a short stretch early in the game where they were re-establishing the line of scrimmage three yards downfield. But the rest of the game, they were getting stood up immediately and Breece had nowhere to run.

And for Pete’s sake, please stop bringing in extra offensive linemen for a “power” set. That was the least productive set the entire day, and guaranteed that we would get zero yardage on the play. When we had first and goal at the 8 (late in the game leading 13-10), we trotted those guys out there for second and third down from the four. Got absolutely manhandled. But why?? Anyone who was paying attention knew that was going to happen. Why did Manning not know that?

I did see some good inside run plays when we widened out our splits. Wish we would do that more often and just let our big five guys do some work there more often.

Seemed like every time they ran it after the first time where Breece picked up 7 yards, they ran it to the weak side and they ran it wide, which just makes absolutely no sense. Generally when you run a heavy set, you run straight into the strong side because you’re saying “my guys are just better than yours” but Manning decided to try to get cute with it instead.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

All I can say is the OL did Breece dirty for his Heisman campaign. Not saying it isn't possible still with some big performances, but averaging 3 ypc against fcs is gonna hurt a lot

 

[isucy86]

Agreed.

Early, we were taking what they were giving. But had some first game jitters to get through. Then we had our one good FU drive. After that too vanilla, too cute. I think there was an intentional lack of TE targets. And also a lack of creativity in the run game. Saving something for next week against Iowa?

3rd down was the biggest problem. 5-14 ain't good. The rest of the game was just meh/vanilla/etc.

The line was ok. Not great, but not as bad as what you'd think by reading comments here. Disappointing? Fair enough.

If we were vanilla it has nothing to do with saving something for Iowa, but ISU coaches approach to early games. Keep things simple.

We have the same coaches, same EXACT players on offense and same playbook as last season. Hawkeye coaches will watch very little of UNI game for tape, they will watch 2020 season to develop game plan.

 

[knowlesjam]

History under Campbell has show the first game to be the worst for the O-line. Whether that is vanilla play calling or simple execution, the O-line improves significantly as the season goes on, especially game two. No reason to think this year is going to be any different.

I thought Purdy was also very conservative here...he did have opportunities to run for a first down...linebackers had cleared out and the middle was open, but he choose to pass. Two or three drives could have been extended if he had done that. He also seemed to be keyed in on only one receiver most of the time, only checking down a few times. The receivers were open...and Purdy will certainly get sharper too, just like the O-line.

 

[cyclone87]

They were good in pass protection (not sure they got a sack on us and I don’t remember many hurries). But we didn’t open up much running room for Breece. Credit UNI defense there.

 

[cycloneML]

It was just really troubling that the coaches didn’t trust ourselves on a 4th and 1 at midfield, despite having the nation’s leading rusher. It felt like we were not able to make the plays that should have been easy against an FCS level school.

That’s an interesting thought and one that I had also. However I think it’s more of a reflection of the conservative nature of the staff vs not trusting the offense.

 

[WhoISthis]

He obviously was a bigger loss than many anticipated, including me.

we scored 13 in regulation his junior year against UNI. 14 against ULL.
He doesn’t change much in this game.

 

[Nelcyn]

If we can't beat a FSC team by playing vanilla then I am not sure what to say. We didn't even target tight ends much.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

we scored 13 in regulation his junior year against UNI. 14 against ULL.
He doesn’t change much in this game.

He didn’t play against ULL.

 

[isutrevman]

Run blocking wasn't great, but UNI had all 11 guys playing within 8-10 yards of the line of scrimmage every play. I thought the pass protections was really good. Purdy only had legitimate pressure 1-2 times the whole game.

 

[cyatheart]

I‘m already tired of these O-line takes. Tom Manning is the reason ISU didn’t put up more points if anyone is…

agree, I still think Tom really struggles at times, it’s like he lacks a personal identity…wants to play power football, but then wants to be really cute and stupid…. but 3 or 4 games a year he just really struggles for whatever reason

 

[WhoISthis]

He didn’t play against ULL.

Of course, but we’ve played the same with and without him.

He’s not changing yesterday. To say we missed him more than realized when the game went like nearly every other game has in that spot is highly flawed. A worse take than the overreaction We

 

[clonedude]

UNI stacked the box all day to stop Breece..... knowing that ISU wasn't going to be able to adjust to it.. or would refuse to.

So that's why the OL struggled so much against the run. I thought they were decent in pass pro, but once again (as always)... our WR's couldn't get open or get any separation.... and the routes we run are lame too (that's on Manning).

We never really made UNI pay too much for crowding the box.... so they never really got out of it.

What worries me is that if our WR's and TE's can't get separation and get open against UNI's DBs.... they surely won't be able to do it against Iowa's. So I look for Iowa to stack the box against us too and take Breece completely out of the game. And I'm not very confident at all that Purdy, our WRs, and Manning will be able to find a way to move the ball in the air.

So if Iowa takes away the run, and our passing game is ineffective.... 16 pts next week may not even be achievable. Iowa's defense completely shut down a pretty good Indiana offense and dangerous QB in Penix. That doesn't bode well for us at all.

 

[Beyerball]

havent read all comments...

I was at game and rewatched replay. Pass protection was fine. I didn't see Purdy scrambling much and when he did once up middle he made a really bad decision.

Run game was so odd. I never saw UNI just blow up part of OL on run plays..Never saw Breece get tackled for a loss. What i did see was some really bad play calling with short side of field sweeps and outside run plays which were terrible calls.

I also saw Breece stutter stepping waaaay too much instead of putting his head down in a hole.

UNI DL was very solid (they were last year) and UNI goal was to completely shut down Breece and commit to it.

We had some missed blocks by TE's in that game as well.

The bigger problem is we did not have a TE to throw to apparently and never did and the UNI safeties and LB's did not have to worry about that dynamic aspect of our game so they could concentrate on shutting down the run game..

 

[isucy86]

That’s an interesting thought and one that I had also. However I think it’s more of a reflection of the conservative nature of the staff vs not trusting the offense.

Punting the ball was the right decision and consistent with this coaching staffs approach.

It forced UNI to drive 90 yards in 60 seconds with no timeouts.

IMO the 4th down situation we could have gone on was the goal line situation when it was 13-10. But again, the staff probably felt our D could keep UNI out of the end zone, so a 6 point lead created a comfortable margin.

 

[Beyerball]

UNI stacked the box all day to stop Breece..... knowing that ISU wasn't going to be able to adjust to it.. or would refuse to.

So that's why the OL struggled so much against the run. I thought they were decent in pass pro, but once again (as always)... our WR's couldn't get open or get any separation.... and the routes we run are lame too (that's on Manning).

We never really made UNI pay too much for crowding the box.... so they never really got out of it.

What worries me is that if our WR's and TE's can't get separation and get open against UNI's DBs.... they surely won't be able to do it against Iowa's. So I look for Iowa to stack the box against us too and take Breece completely out of the game. And I'm not very confident at all that Purdy, our WRs, and Manning will be able to find a way to move the ball in the air.

So if Iowa takes away the run, and our passing game is ineffective.... 16 pts next week may not even be achievable. Iowa's defense completely shut down a pretty good Indiana offense and dangerous QB in Penix. That doesn't bode well for us at all.

I don't disagree wiht most of what you said but Penix was atrocious yesterday. Dude was 45% comp and 3INT in first half. He was horribly bad.

It is the same with every team that plays Iowa...don't get behind by more than 2 scores early or the game is over.

 

[Pope]

Go back and watch the replay and you'll see UNI's safeties we're within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage all day. Combine that with the fact that UNI's dline is their strength and there just wasn't much room to run.

I'm confident our running game will improve against Iowa, although we may have to throw more at the beginning to loosen up their D.

 

[Frak]

If we can't beat a FSC team by playing vanilla then I am not sure what to say. We didn't even target tight ends much.

Shows what they think of chase Allen as a primary receiver. If he was as good as people think he would have been targeted more.

 

[minnclone99]

Shows what they think of chase Allen as a primary receiver. If he was as good as people think he would have been targeted more.

On several plays they "covered up" Allen, taking him out of the pass consideration. Seems silly to not even let him be an eligible receiver. I kept waiting for the ineligible calls like last year, but they really just wanted him as an extra tackle, I guess.

Also, it seemed like Breece had instructions to only run between tackles and never bounce outside or get creative.

Better football minds in this thread will tell me what they think of these observations.

 

[OnlyCyclones]

All I can say is the OL did Breece dirty for his Heisman campaign. Not saying it isn't possible still with some big performances, but averaging 3 ypc against fcs is gonna hurt a lot

No one is going to care about this game when the Heisman voting is done. They wouldn’t have given him any credit for running all over this team either. He had his 13th consecutive touchdown game. Everything is still on the table for him as long as the offense hits its marks the rest of the year. If they don’t it was all moot anyway.

Bryce Young will win the Heisman though. “The Lead” on ESPN was “Alabama, Bryce Young roll past (13) Miami.” It’s already being rolled out, assuming Alabama meets expectations. I wonder with NIL going forward if players with million dollar endorsement deals will be receiving more than their fair share of media attention. More than they already do.