Who the F cares where we rank in sacks. We won 10 games and made the Big 12 Championship. I'd say we had a pretty good season.
Raises hand.
Just because we won games, does not mean we don't have areas to improve in. This idea that a lack of a pass rush or bad tackling or the fact we sucked a** against the run - people literally said heading into the game they didn't care about yards cause we were the best scoring defense -
makes no sense to me.
You know what helps defenses get off the field? Sacks.
Makes 3rd down percentage go down for offense? Negative plays and tackles for loss, including, you guessed it, sacks.
Quarterbacks are even more likely to have more turnovers and lower % when facing pressure.
I get so tired of the idea that we accomplished something and should just be happy. Or can't criticize obvious holes in a team simply because it won X amount of games. I will never understand that mindset. We won games, so it doesn't matter if that area wasn't good enough or that area wasn't good enough.
Its one thing to appreciate a 10 win season, Big 12 title game appearance , another bowl game, but acknowledge the flaws that kinda got exposed for the nation to see on Saturday. Rather than to simply say essentially, this is as good as it's ever going to be, so shut up. That's just a mindset I'll never understand.
Might it be the best its ever going to be? Sure. Very plausible. 10 wins is one helluva an accomplishment. Something I certainly never thought would be done at Iowa State and the team deserves all the plaudits and everything else for accomplishing that feat.
But that said, that also does not mean that it was perfect and that there were some pretty huge areas of discrepancy. Pass rush being one of them. Tackling at the second level / run fits being another one.
That'd be like me saying "oh, I've got a house and a job and car, who cares if I don't have a family." Maybe I never will. Maybe I won't. IDK. My point is, in my own opinion anyways, its both possible to be grateful for what you have, appreciate it, but also be aware of areas you'd like to change in the future. Like, it'd be great if I had a family one day. If not, then its not the cards and I can accept that. Likewise, I think it'd be pretty great if Iowa State could have a better pass rush. But that's just me.
Iowa State's never going to be an elite football program like the likes of Ohio State, or Michigan or bama. And we're unlikely to win 10 games on the regular and that makes this season incredibly special and this team will always have an incredibly fond place in the memory banks.
But for me at least, that does not mean the season or team is above reproach when it comes to areas it can improve in or attempt to. Cause ain't that what life's about? No matter how good or how bad, trying to improve it or ourselves? Least that's how I see it. Then again, I've never liked treading water.