listened to the Iowa Everywhere podcast with Ben Bruns. He pointed out a couple of weeks ago the offensive line is getting to the second level to fast, they need to make sure they take care of the d-line first. They were doing it again against OU. This seems something easily coachable/fixable but apparently didn't get done. That kind of stuff is so frustrating.
Another Manning S^*T sandwich
- Thread starter Kdog68
- Start date
Steve Prohm was a total fraud. Campbell is just going through a rough stretch. I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt.
Is it possible the OL is incapable of handing the dline and that when they find themselves in the open field (after getting blown by) they automatically go to second level just in case a reception is made (or in the case of a run the RB somehow avoids 2 or 3 guys to break something? Considering we have not see good OL play during the last seven yrs I am not going to give the benefit of the doubt this OL is capable of blocking the DL and they are just choosing not to do so.....
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I like this take, which is maybe a first for me with your posts.
CSP was completely out of his league and had no business being a head coach anywhere.
CMC is having some serious adversity with the offensive side of his program. Will he figure it out, grow, and fix it? Or will he continue to beat his head against the wall? I sure hope he gets it right, because I think he has a LOT of things right overall, and has been our best coach in a generation.
Did some research, and if these numbers hold up for the rest of the season we're on pace for some horrid stats. Through 8 games we're at:
370.1 YPG (would be the worst in the Campbell era)
21.6 PPG (would be worst in Campbell era)
17.2 yards per point scored (would be worst in Campbell era)
6.7 yds per passing attempt (would be worst in Campbell era)
131.8 QBR (would be the worst for a starting QB in Campbell era)
If it wasn't for a generational defense, I don't think it is far fetched to say this team would be getting blown out almost every single game. Also worth noting, starting QB QBR has decreased every single season since 2018. Additionally, the worst recruiting class in the Campbell era was the 2021 class. Are we now seeing the impact of that?
370.1 YPG (would be the worst in the Campbell era)
21.6 PPG (would be worst in Campbell era)
17.2 yards per point scored (would be worst in Campbell era)
6.7 yds per passing attempt (would be worst in Campbell era)
131.8 QBR (would be the worst for a starting QB in Campbell era)
If it wasn't for a generational defense, I don't think it is far fetched to say this team would be getting blown out almost every single game. Also worth noting, starting QB QBR has decreased every single season since 2018. Additionally, the worst recruiting class in the Campbell era was the 2021 class. Are we now seeing the impact of that?
That's impossible. Iowa State fans are smarter than Iowa fans. It one of Newton's laws. It just doesn't get discussed much
Richardson...thanks! I was trying to think of a good comp for who Hunter Dekkers remind me of.
I dunno...even Rhoads made some tough decisions with staff, albeit maybe too late, and it didn't end up making a difference.
The blame is on the HC - the Offensive coordinator does not run the football program. He works for the HC not the other way around. I know people love crapping on Manning but 100%, Manning is not doing anything that CMC has signed off on or has approved.
That's just how college football and even NFL works. The head coach has final say. This idea that somehow Tom Manning has put in a play book and system that is operating outside of CMC is just crazy to me.
Tom Manning is a crap play caller - that is on him.
The overall scheme and system of the offense though CMC. I'm sure he has input but the idea that he is the head of the snake when it comes to the offense is absurd. CMC is a former offensive line coach and offensive coordinator so his finger prints all over. Because the offense looked essentially the same scheme wise while Manning was in Indianapolis.
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Which is why ultimately the fate is up to Campbell. Will he allow someone from outside to come in and run their own offense? We saw how that played out at Nebraska where Frost clashed with Whipple from day one almost after the loss to Northwestern.
Or does he bring back a guy like Golesh who has had experiencee outside of Iowa State but knows the scheme and philosophy and thinks window dressing by changing the play caller is the answer?
Or does he trust so much in his staff and system that he changes nothing. That's the most fascinating part of the rest of the season and off-season.
But while Tom Manning deserves a fair bit of blame and criticism for the overall play calling - he's not the head of the totem pole. Some, and I'm not close to know what percentage goes where. but in no system is a coordinator 100% to blame for something.
They can be 100% for being crap - but if the HC didn't approve, he'd change it. Its just that simple. The fact that we continue to beat our head against a brick wall by running over and over again into the teeth of the defense despite the numerous examples that it won't work - that is not a Tom Manning alone decision. That's a offensive staff - including CMC - thing where that's what they decided to put into the game plan when they had meetings and during the week leading up to the game.
That's what disappoints me more than play calling. They had two weeks and thought that running inside zone after not working for the majority of the season that a bye week was magically going to allow us to do something we've rarely done all year with great success and that because we were playing a bad rush defense it was somehow going to work? That's not how football or life works
This is exactly what I am doing trying to warn people.
I loved the Campbell hire and his work up through the 2019 season.
He lost me in 2020, especially when he let Rattler and OU beat us in the CCG because he tried the whole sandbag until the 2nd half approach.
I have seen no evidence that he will do what needs to be done to change things so we can compete again in the Big12. Other teams have adjusted to CampbellBall, as is evidenced by his recent record in close spread games.
I do not see any reason to be hopeful that CMC will turn things around.
It is a travesty that elite level defensive play is being wasted because of the stubbornness of the head coach.
The coach lost you during the best season in the history of Iowa State football?
There's mounting evidence now that season was an outlier due to Covid. We are a 7-5, 8-4 ceiling with Campbell under normal circumstances. I think we just manage Covid very well and took advantage of some empty stadiums. Breece running wild didn't hurt anything either.
One thing ive noticed also is Campbell has become alot more conservative and seems scared. I miss the 2019 Campbell going for two at Oklahoma coach.
Yes. Similar to Prohm and his coaching in the NCAA tourney against Virginia and Purdue.
Once you see a huge fault, you can't lose sight of it. And when you notice that it isn't being corrected, it becomes a great concern.
CampbellBall is a ball control offense that requires even talent or better to succeed. High risk/ high reward plays are thus taboo. Rely on NFL caliber RBs to eventually break own, and overcome bad blocking and schemes with sheer talent. Keep the game close until half, and never show your best stuff in the first half. Lean on an amazing defensive coordinator.
We know that is what ISU does, so guess what experts see? They've figured out you just mostly mirror that, but throw in some deep shots and innovative play calls, especially in the first half, to build a lead. Then, ride it out. Grab that win. Works about 80% of the time now against ISU if you have similar or better talent.
CMC is a Mount Union guy where the key was to play D3 football with D1 talent. I mean, congrats on dominating the dojo........
We don't even take deep shots that are effectively punts if they intercept, but would do wonders in pushing the safeties deeper out of the box.
I'd like to agree, however there seems to be some intransigence on display through several games. Hopefully, that desire to adapt with a hungry attitude that was so obvious in 2017-2018 surfaces.
For me it was the Virginia and Purdue, with the Purdue loss being the worst coaching effort I can recall out of an Iowa State staff, basketball or football. Even worse than the losses as a 2 or 3 seed. A team of seniors with Monte, Iceman, Naz, and (what would/should have been the PLAYER of the tournament) Burton - that team cannot lose to Purdue. That was a travesty and one of the bigger wasted opportunities I can recall as a Cyclone fan. God that sucked, Prohm and staff REALLY sucked that game.
I agree on Covid season - it is sadly clear now "why" Iowa State was good that year. And we still lost an opener (due to coaching), and lost our 2 toughest games that season. So while a really good season and fun to win 9 games, it just feels quite obvious that it was an outlier season.
The first part makes no sense. 2020 was great, was it a covid outlier? Probably - hard to dispute that at the moment but it still happened and still counts and we navigated covid better than most teams and CMC and the coaching staff deserve credit for that. So I really don't understand that part.
The second part is somewhat valid. We are wasting a great defensive team this year. There is no doubt about that and it is in some part because of CMC's being stubborn.
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to some up the other long post regarding Manning and CMC and blame -
if you have high blood pressure for X reason or reasons... do you treat only the high blood pressure and continue on doing what caused the high blood pressure? Or do you try to treat the cause of the high blood pressure?
Taking medicine for high blood pressure but doing everything else the same = sacrificing Tom Manning at the alter of blame.
Taking medicine for high blood pressure + realizing that on the whole some generational talent masked defencies in our offensive approach = understanding the problems go beyond Manning. We're not healthy offensively and while the offensive coordinator is certainly the most obvious symptom of that, he's not the cause.
We did get arrogant and we got complacent. And now we are at a fork in the road. Do we continue or do we adapt and change? I'm thinking it'll be the later given how we morphed in the defensive structure we currently have as we adopted to what we needed to do. So I'm hopeful that CMC will adapt on offense as well.
I want to draw attention to especially the bolded here. Prior to the season, a publication or website put out their Big 12 QB rankings, and Dekkers was 10, or maybe even lower behind several teams backups. This got mocked and scorned on here, and I probably even was guilty of some of that. 8 games in, however, and whoever put out these ranking must've done their homework, or otherwise just guessed and got it right. I do think Hunter could be effective in the right system, but I'm not sure we're ever gonna see that at Iowa State. Full scale changes to the offensive scheme will have to take place this offseason, and whatever the new scheme is will have to either cater to Hunter's strengths and weaknesses, or to a new QB's (JJ Kohl).
Everyone knows that Dekkers has areas in his game to improve upon just like any other player. The locking onto one target, staying in the pocket too long, the high INT rate etc.. That being said, the rest of the offense doesn't help him out too often and either does the play caller for the most part.
When the QB throws 57 times in a game in this offense, it is not going to be all roses and good outcomes. People calling for Rocco are also ridiculous. What is a 3rd string freshman going to do with the way the offense is right now? A spark? I'm not sure that a change at QB does anything this year. In his limited time on the field, I think the Cook kid looked better overall anyway for now.
Why Shaw plays the amount of snaps that he does is puzzling to me. Unless someone needs a break the only 3 receivers that should see the field are X, Stanley, and Noel.
That freaking Purdue game where someone could not figure out that NO ONE could stop Burton with the ball.
It is funny how everyone overlooks that Rajin Cajun loss in 2020. Danny Mac went 9-3 too and won the first bowl game in Iowa State history. Nevertheless, the season is tempered by the fact that we lost a few blow outs and just won the games we were supposed to including beating CPR as DC with Pitt in said bowl game.
I remember thinking how similar that loss in 2020 was to the 2014 humiliation against NDSU. I remember thinking it was a COVID season so some unexpected things should be expected.
The 2019 and 2021 seasons are where the program failed to show consistency through the years. Achieve 8 wins or more in either the 19 or 21 seasons and suddenly there is some consistency. The 2020 season was the most successful Iowa State season ever according to many. Yet the coach seems to claim it was also a rebuilding season or caused a rebuilding season? How can it be both, it sounds like one is just spin doctoring events to support a narrative of success through adversity.
The reason I claim Earle Bruce is the best coach ever at Iowa State is simple. He had three 8-win seasons in a row. No other coach has ever achieved that kind of consistency across multiple seasons. Campbell had that chance in 2019 to be the first coach since Bruce to do that.
Let's reflect on that 2019 season where we could have had 8 wins for three seasons in a row:
That season starts with mistake ridden conservative game plans against UNI and Iowa. We managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against UNI courtesy of Purdy and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Iowa yet again. The real damning stretch of the 2019 season after that shaky start was the final six games. Iowa State goes 2-4. It starts with a head scratching loss at home to the Cowboys where a bizarre pass play is intercepted when Iowa State is driving for the lead. Purdy was strangely confined to the pocket for that game and the same defense he torched in 2018 got the best of the Cyclones with a pick six that decides the game. This follows with a respectable defeat at Oklahoma where we all agreed with Campbell going for the win. The Cyclones beat Texas at home on a walk off field goal win, the first anyone can remember and we are all riding high. Then Iowa State struggles a lot at home against a perennial hapless Jayhawk team. They manage to scratch out the win in the end against a Jayhawk team that won ONE conference game that season and finished 3-9 overall. Finally, the regular season ends with a total no-show performance against Kansas State. We all remember that disaster of a bowl game against Norte Dame. Keep in mind this is the Cyclone team with the best defense and offense we have ever seen in terms of talent. It finished 7-6 and was a Purdy fumble recovery away from 5-7 and no bowl game.
Yes, some games do not go according to plan, misfortune happens and bad calls happen. Earle Bruce experienced this too and still managed to win 8 games three seasons in a row. We toast Danny Mac here despite building a football program from total oblivion because we say he had it easy in the Big 12 North. He should have won the Big 12 in 2005 but never could go above the 7-game win plateau after 2000.
CMC achieved the most in 17-18. I do not write off the 2020 season but there is no consistency with it with the same players. It would be interesting to see how 2020 would have played out especially if you throw in the Iowa game and others. You play the season with the conditions you are given. 2020 is much like 2000 with the exact same record.
