2 huge complaints that boggle my mind

[cyclonedrew]

I know I am preaching to the quire (SP) but Why is Todd Blyth not getting thrown the ball 10-15 times a game. Even when he is covered he makes the catch. Just throw it to him. It's really not a hard concept.

The next is when we get a lead is it not to hard to ask that we keep passing the ball. The whole running the clock thing always allows the other team to catch up to us. It's still the mentality of playing to not lose instead of playing to win big.

I would say the defense has talent. Just young and need to gel.

Offensive line is very Mike leach like. Good on passing but can't run block that well.

A win is a win and I am happy. It's just that a lot of the stuff we did last night gave me flashbacks to the last 3 years. Things that could have been changed.

Also Pull the schollarship to the long snapper guy if he can't snap the ball 8 yards to the holder.

 

[amyk33]

Mac is conservative and didn't want to show Iowa any of the playbook.

At 9:38 to go in the 4th quarter I looked at the guy next to me and said the running up the middle when you're up by only 8 would come back to bite us in the butt...it did.

I'm just thankful for a W.

 

[crash_zone]

eh. don't worry. it was a fun game to watch - and I'm sure they'll make improvements.

GO CYCLONES!!!!!

 

[St8Grad]

I know I am preaching to the quire (SP) but Why is Todd Blyth not getting thrown the ball 10-15 times a game. Even when he is covered he makes the catch. Just throw it to him. It's really not a hard concept.

The next is when we get a lead is it not to hard to ask that we keep passing the ball. The whole running the clock thing always allows the other team to catch up to us. It's still the mentality of playing to not lose instead of playing to win big.

I would say the defense has talent. Just young and need to gel.

Offensive line is very Mike leach like. Good on passing but can't run block that well.

A win is a win and I am happy. It's just that a lot of the stuff we did last night gave me flashbacks to the last 3 years. Things that could have been changed.

Also Pull the schollarship to the long snapper guy if he can't snap the ball 8 yards to the holder.

Great points! I was thinking the same thing.

Contrary to what DMAC thinks, we need to pass to set up the run, not vice versa. And YES, that includes throwing to #1 ALL THE TIME! He's proven he can make the play, why not utilize him?!

I understand running the ball is important to keep the defense honest & not key on the pass, but we seriously need to re-evaluate our play-calling. We have the passing game to be like a Tx Tech. Let's go with what we got, & that's a great QB & WR's. I'd throw the ball ALL THE TIME & throw in the occasional timely QB & RB draw. I know it sounds easy, but that's what worked last night.

 

[jay moe]

There is a fine line between being cautious and being aggressive. It is a topic that has been hashed over for years. Keep throwing the ball and risk an interception and a sack, or run the ball and keep the clock moving. Personally, if we had stuck to what was working, I don't think the game would have ever gone into OT. You could argue for both. On a more positive note, I thought Hicks looked the best he has looked running the ball since he has been here.

 

[CLONE2THEBONE]

Risk a loss to not show Iowa the playbook? You were right when you said that Mac is conservative, should've stopped there.

Nothing we haven't seen before. Milk a lead until it disappears.

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

I think the reason Todd Blythe didn't get passed to much in the game was because McCarney wanted to establish the running game which we are going to need in a big way. There were quite a few times when Blythe was open and a good pass would have resulted in a touchdown in my opinion but he made up for it in overtime. Not many players can say they caught 2 touchdown passes in two consecutive plays where they both counted for 6 pts.

I don't like the whole "play not to lose" gameplan either.

I think the team has a lot of talent and they say you make the most improvement from game 1 to game 2 and thankfully we have 9 days to make those improvements now.

Lot of mental mistakes.....BUT Toledo was in no stretch of the imagination a slouch team either. My voice is shot today, but I am happy with the win.

 

[jtdoyle1]

You're right we should be going to Blythe more, and McCarney has been conservative in late close games and OT in the past, but I think McCarney had an awakening on both counts.

In the second OT he threw caution to the wind literally and got the ball to Blythe for a TD. Then in the 3rd OT they could have been conservative again, but no, they go right back to Blythe. I think finally they are going to start fully using all their weapons.

Also, it wasn't the long snappers fault. Sure the snap was a little high but Flynn should have caught it.

Let's get past this and move on to UNLV.

 

[ISUFan22]

We came out firing...I think that early fumble threw some caution to the wind on the ISU sidelines. We don't fumble there...it's clear we were headed to the endzone on that drive...I think things would have finished differenly.

'Bout TB...yeah...I think there would never be a game that we threw too many balls his way. As a coach and QB though...you gotta spread the ball around. Todd is not the only guy that can make big plays. Flynn had at least one big-play catch and both of Sumrall's receptions were down the field. I would just like to see us run that "Hey Todd, run deep and I'll toss it up for ya" play a few more times.

And notice...when Todd had that ridiculous single coverage on those back-to-back plays...that's exactly what ISU did.

 

[cyclonedrew]

The more you throw to Blyth. The more the field will open up for everything else.

We need to establish the pass to open up the run.

 

[C.John]

I wasn't at the game, I had to listen to it, so I'm not aware of Toledo's coverage on Blythe through out the game. Did Toledo have him in double coverage? Or was it more one on one? If it was 'only' single coverage vs Blythe...then yea, we should have attacked down field to Blythe all night, but if he was covered, then I will agree with Meyer not forcing the ball to him. Regardless, we won, should it have been so close? Who knows. I just hope that Toledo runs the table the rest ofthe season, then our victory will look a heck of alot better. Oh well, up next UNLV. Go Clones!

 

[CYdTracked]

There were numerous times that Blythe had 1-on-1 coverage in the game and I'm not sure we even threw to him once in the 2nd half. I know we don't want to rely solely on him that would cause defense to zero in on him but Mac and Meyer need to read the coverages better and throw it to him whenever he's got man coverage because if you throw it up there for him to go get, he's probably going to be able to reach it over the shorter defender.

The defense has got to gel and learn how to stop guys on 3rd and 4th down situations. I liked what I saw from Parker and the linebackers but that QB had all the time in the world to throw and just picked us apart. We did a good job stopping the run (like 36 yards I think?) but the pass defense was horrible. We go up against another good TE next week too I think. The short 5 yard passes that turn into another 10+ yards after the catch is what gets us every time. The safeties may need to cheat up some or something to cover those routes better.

Also, the special teams needs some work. Terrible how 4 guys stood there and watched that block kick instead of falling onto the ball. Also the blocked punt was a bad read. One of the guys came over onto the line and no one recognized to pick him up. That was mostly Hicks fault though, he had the outside guy and instead of switching and hoping someone got his guy he stayed the course and the guy that came over got around the corner untouched.