Have some thoughts about the Offensive Line.

[Trice]

Where is the guy on here that said "We are not the same team that struggles with UNI" we are light years ahead of where we were a few years ago. And we will destroy UNI. I would like to ask him what he thinks now.
We always start the season like this. We always struggle with UNI. We are still not elite like some want to believe, we need to take another step. We better hope we fix a lot before next week, because Iowa looked good against a B1G team, we looked bad against a FCS team.

Understand UNI always gets up for their in state rivals, but still with team we should have easily handled them.
These sideways plays need to stop.

Whoever said that was right. We are, in fact, light years ahead of where we were a few years ago. We know this because we won the Fiesta Bowl and returned almost the entire team in tact, We should not have struggled with UNI.

To put it in Campbell-speak, we weren't the best version of ourselves yesterday. I'm tempted to call it another slow start, but we weren't sloppy like we've typically been during other slow starts so maybe it was just a failure to adjust.

We'll obviously know a lot more a week from now.

 

[Cyched]

Dylan Soehner

Soehner and Akers were great go-tos when we needed chunks of yardage.

Need to adapt to life without them; having Kolar back will help.

 

[convoluteme]

The whole game felt a little like we were manufacturing adversity.

I'm really starting to think this is the case. Campbell want's to force the team to have to win in the margins against a relatively safe opponent.

It's either that or I just have to accept that it's unintentional and this coaching staff will always have sloppy outings at the beginning of the year.

 

[quasistellar]

I'm really starting to think this is the case. Campbell want's to force the team to have to win in the margins against a relatively safe opponent.

It's either that or I just have to accept that it's unintentional and this coaching staff will always have sloppy outings at the beginning of the year.

it’s definitely one or the other. Recent overall season results point towards the former, which is my hope.

 

[WhoISthis]

I'm really starting to think this is the case. Campbell want's to force the team to have to win in the margins against a relatively safe opponent.

It's either that or I just have to accept that it's unintentional and this coaching staff will always have sloppy outings at the beginning of the year.

We’ve seen it too often to not be part of it. Not outlandish to think that’s a lot of it Imo. A basic coaching technique too. Add in UNI doing a good job of avoiding mistakes and you have a closer game than anyone would like.

Given we can’t play that way against better teams, and we’ve had losses in similarly constrained game plans, I wonder if we’re adding to the season as much as intended. As in, would we benefit more from getting guys reps in how we’ll need to play against OU/UT/KSU etc

 

[2speedy1]

Whoever said that was right. We are, in fact, light years ahead of where we were a few years ago. We know this because we won the Fiesta Bowl and returned almost the entire team in tact, We should not have struggled with UNI.

To put it in Campbell-speak, we weren't the best version of ourselves yesterday. I'm tempted to call it another slow start, but we weren't sloppy like we've typically been during other slow starts so maybe it was just a failure to adjust.

We'll obviously know a lot more a week from now.

While this may be true that person was saying something like we were going to win by 40...etc and no one should be worrying about UNI etc.

Point being, this was just another early ISU game, just another game against UNI, and just another poorly called game by the OC. I mean when 90% of the plays go East and West instead of North and South its an issue.

And the North and South plays go for almost no yards..against an FCS opponent, things need to be adjusted, and quick. Halls average was pretty bad, and for that, I did not see any holes for him. For our best line ever, our best team ever, we looked weak, unprepared and unmotivated.

Our Defense was the only thing that showed some signs of life. Our special teams looked better, but the first kick off was horrible, and watching Milton let punts bounce in front of him was insane. I know Kolar was out but he is not the only TE, did we even throw it to the TE once? Which has been our bread and butter recently.

We may be light years ahead, but we performed just the same. This starting the season off slow crap is getting old.

 

[Cyforce]

Just watched the last FG drive, our OL in the backfield (heavy package) went C gap to find a body to block. Turned into a huge wall. In that situation you want to find a red jersey inside and push it through the endline.

 

[FeedBreece]

I still think Indiana is/was a fraud but they are better than UNI, my confidence for next Saturday has dropped some. Really surprised at how average our TE's looked without Kolar and ISU's wr's aren't going to scare anyone, at least not yet.

I mean the only proven TE after Kolar now is Allen.

I like Allen. He’s a key part of the offense, but is definitely meant to be more of a role guy rather than THE guy.

 

[FeedBreece]

I just don't think there was much, or any, urgency from the coaching staff with this game. They're perfectly happy and comfortable winning ugly. They're coaching for us to be our best at the end of the year, not worrying about running the score up in a game they have in the bag. That second half should have looked pretty familiar, it's how we always play in second halves when we have the lead. At times it almost felt like a scrimmage with orchestrated set pieces. I want to believe that's what the heavy package was about, trying something new out in a game situation to see if it works and possibly set something up for the future. The end of the first half almost seemed like they wanted to get Nevis an in game FG try.
The whole game felt a little like we were manufacturing adversity. I'm hoping that's all that was going on up front too.

What you say makes sense. But it feels unfathomable to let yourself play that close and uncomfortable with an FCS squad.

 

[ripvdub]

That one DT for UNI was a hoss. Id take him in a second. But i do think the OL was a little over rated last year.

 

[tomar1]

When we went with our heavy package we almost always ran to the weak side of the formation. I think we were expecting UNI to react to the formation differently.

It also seemed to me that the UNI line was often slanting right into our run play. I don’t know if that was luck or if they saw a tendency from us. We didn’t really run any counters that may have exposed that.

Finally, I would like to see Remsberg play. I think he is a big physical tackle that was really good last year.

I thought there were 10 or 11 OL that could play! I was expecting more substitutions so we could keep fresh and wear down their front 4 but that must not been in the game plan!

 

[allfourcy]

I do agree it wasn’t exactly pass protection. It was fine enough. Mainly run blocking.

Also I will say the WR’s outside of X did no favors. I’m a little disappointed no one else is really stepping up out of that group.

I think missing Charlie and even Shaw made a difference. Which is kinda scary. Xavier is definitely going to draw alot of attention as Purdy has the most confidence in him apparently.

 

[ZuriCyclone]

Going to put some money on this , this line is going to drop.

 

[mark82]

I just don't think there was much, or any, urgency from the coaching staff with this game. They're perfectly happy and comfortable winning ugly. They're coaching for us to be our best at the end of the year, not worrying about running the score up in a game they have in the bag. That second half should have looked pretty familiar, it's how we always play in second halves when we have the lead. At times it almost felt like a scrimmage with orchestrated set pieces. I want to believe that's what the heavy package was about, trying something new out in a game situation to see if it works and possibly set something up for the future. The end of the first half almost seemed like they wanted to get Nevis an in game FG try.
The whole game felt a little like we were manufacturing adversity. I'm hoping that's all that was going on up front too.

 

[allfourcy]

I was a little late to the game due to a prior commitment and never looked at a roster book all day. Who were our starting 5 OL, and did they play the large majority of the snaps? (I did see Downing come out for awhile, correct?)

 

[ZuriCyclone]

The game was in doubt until the last min of the game after the D got the ball back and Offense could not run out 2 a min clock. All UNI had to do was score a go ahead TD.

The defense had to get back on the field after the offense went three and out. UNI is very bad , they are a 4-6 win team this season.

 

[Statefan10]

The game was in doubt until the last min of the game after the D got the ball back and Offense could not run out 2 a min clock. All UNI had to do was score a go ahead TD.

The defense had to get back on the field after the offense went three and out. UNI is very bad , they are a 4-6 win team this season.

Not saying we didn’t play bad, but that defense is actually good, probably would be near the top half of the Big 12 in terms of just defense. And to the bolded statement, scoring a TD isn't exactly easy to do against our defense like you’re sort of trying to make it.

I believe we’ve given up like 10 total second half points in the last 5 games?

 

[FeedBreece]

View attachment 89136

Going to put some money on this , this line is going to drop.

I refuse to ever bet on ISU games. Just can’t do it when my rooting interest is involved.

 

[amishclone]

I still think Indiana is/was a fraud but they are better than UNI, my confidence for next Saturday has dropped some. Really surprised at how average our TE's looked without Kolar and ISU's wr's aren't going to scare anyone, at least not yet.

UNI would beat Indiana if they played like they did yesterday

 

[Cyismymonkey]

This right here. The OL is 5 guys. We are missing Soehner, who was like a bonus OL. Kolar was out today, and he is a pretty good blocker. Chase is a good receiving TE but isn't a super physical blocker. So we're really reliant on those 5 guys.

UNI was sending everything at Breece - DL, LB and S. That's more than 5 guys. You can only block 5 guys with our 5 OL. And while our 5 might be better than theirs across the board, that doesn't mean all 5 are going to win on every play.

We didn't do a great job putting those guys in position to win. We ran very little play action to slow down the back of the defense. That's my concern - not that the OL isn't capable, but that the coaches are content to run our 5+RB against their 7 to 8 defenders for most of the game.

Soehner was sorely missed.