New Offense Looks

[Frak]

Part of the issue with the offense and the line is that these are very young units overall and the conditions on the field on Saturday were not great so I think those are important factors one has to take into consideration when evluating offensive performance from Saturday.

Going into the game on Saturday, I really expected it to be a 21-17, 17-14 kind of game and I did not expect the offense to click as well as it did when it did so given that we scored 30 and held them to 9, I have to say that I'm legitemately thrilled with how we did overall, especially with how phenomenal the special teams and defense were on Saturday.

Yes, the tepid pace of the offense in the 2nd half is a concern, but I think that's mainly due to lack of experience of a young unit, conditions on the field, and probably also Campbell rotating guys in and out so I don't think it's actually all that good of an idicator of a bad offense.

I think that they were just playing it safe with a young QB and a lead. Makes sense to not put too much pressure on them when the game was already out of reach. It was definitely frustrating seeing so many 3 and outs, but they got the win and didn't have to risk anything to do it. That early pick 6 from Cooper was huge and took all the pressure off the offense.

 

[Selmak The Tok'Ra]

I think that they were just playing it safe with a young QB and a lead. Makes sense to not put too much pressure on them when the game was already out of reach. It was definitely frustrating seeing so many 3 and outs, but they got the win and didn't have to risk anything to do it. That early pick 6 from Cooper was huge and took all the pressure off the offense.

Yes, Cooper's pick 6 was awesome to see and hopefully a sign of more good things to come in that manner on the defensive end.

 

[isutrevman]

Yes, Rocco missed a couple deep balls, but he missed them both by overthrowing it. I’d much rather see that than missing them short and getting it intercepted.

Just put a tiny bit more air under it and we’ll be golden!

I disagree, if it's single coverage, take your chances with a slight underthrow and jump ball. The odds of that being picked off are really small. You can also draw a PI, especially when the defender is beat and trying to catch up. Even if the ball is intercepted, odds are the defender will fall to the ground essentially resulting in a 40+ yard punt with no return. Long interceptions with no return don't really hurt you.

 

[flycy]

And after watching the game again, there were a few extra holes there for the running backs. If they didn't run right into a pile that is. One play I remember, Sanders up the middle would have had a really good hole and run, if he would have just paused, made a quick cut slightly to the left, the hole was there, and it was big. Instead, he ran right into a pile. It was still a 4 yard gain or so, but could have been much more.

Now that I think about it, I'd love to see Sanders in the secondary! Maybe we will one of these times.

Hall was so good at setting up blocks like that, Montgomery, not so much. He just ran over people.

 

[SolarGarlic]

Hall was so good at setting up blocks like that, Montgomery, not so much. He just ran over people.

You might need to rewatch some Montgomery highlights. He was extremely shifty in addition to his power.

 

[Malty Flannel]

If you take away all the good plays, ISU's rushing game was terrible!

I went back and rewatched this morning and was more impressed with the Oline. They opened up some holes and got to the second level, but the RBs missed it. Especially sanders. Just runs into bodies when there’s a hole opened if he’d just take one simple cut

 

[AllInForISU]

I’m not sure what you were looking at. They were having him make short “safe” passes out onto the flat just to have him get some completions in game time under his belt—and UNI knew full well what they were doing, and were all over the wideouts.

That’s hardly JJ’s fault.

And he looked surprisingly good for his size running the ball.

Those runs were deer in the headlight panic runs. The game is way too fast for him right now. He needs to sit and watch for the time being, no reason for him to play, especially if Rocco keeps it up. I would have no faith JJ could move the offense right now. He will get better, but he’s not even close to being ready to play right now.

 

[HouClone]

On JJ"s first run, he stepped up in the pocket, had time if he wanted to use it, but he took off. 2 LBs were 10 yards away staring at him and he ran anyways.

 

[clonedude]

I disagree, if it's single coverage, take your chances with a slight underthrow and jump ball. The odds of that being picked off are really small. You can also draw a PI, especially when the defender is beat and trying to catch up. Even if the ball is intercepted, odds are the defender will fall to the ground essentially resulting in a 40+ yard punt with no return. Long interceptions with no return don't really hurt you.

I totally agree with your reasoning when it comes to the decision to throw deep... there are hardly any real negatives to it IMO. An incomplete pass is probably the highest probability of happening... or your guy catches it... or it's a PI penalty on the defense... and even if it does get intercepted, they are rarely ever returned at all, so it becomes the equivalent of a punt.

A team should throw deep 2-3 times per half IMO... or 4-6 times a game.

However... I don't have a problem with Rocco throwing it a touch too far at all. That's a simple fix... just put a tad bit more air under it and let the receiver run it down. That eliminates the INT completely as an option, and it also greatly increases your chances, if the receiver does catch it, that he will go all the way for the TD.

If Rocco was throwing these all a tad short... I'd be concerned about his arm strength as well. Glad that doesn't seem to be an issue.