3 games in; how good is the offense?

[CyHans]

I am really not sure what the complaint is when you basically manhandle a team from the MAC. Dekkers just throws darts out there and can also run the ball. I suspect the absence of a long ball is either we're not showing the whole playbook or we don't have the burners to do it. We did attempt one long one that was overthrown by a few yards and the receiver, Noel I think, had a step on his guy. I'm not going to complain about long sustained drives.

They are fine till we are down 7 with 1:10 left on the clock and we have to go 90 yds

You may be right in that scenario but I'll still take it the majority of the time.

 

[flycy]

This will be blasphemy to some of the Monday morning quarterbacks on this board, but I think Manning deserves a lot of credit for play calling so far this season.

He's done an excellent job of taking what the defense is giving and playing to our strengths, especially early in the game. While we've surprisingly thrown 50% and run 50% so far for this season, we've been pretty pass heavy early in the games to build our leads and run heavy later in the games to protect our leads.

There is always an internet elected scapegoat and Manning has been it. Now time to go after the new special teams' coordinator instead. He's had three whole games, why don't we have the best special teams in the country yet?

 

[aeroclone]

I find it interesting that so many people are convinced that we are opening up the playback more due to an upgrade in qb talent. Like the thing holding us back was the 3+ year starter who holds a pile of records, lead us through the winningest period in school history, and is now on an NFL roster. If that assessment is indeed true, then we have some very bright days ahead.

 

[Aclone]

I find it interesting that so many people are convinced that we are opening up the playback more due to an upgrade in qb talent. Like the thing holding us back was the 3+ year starter who holds a pile of records, lead us through the winningest period in school history, and is now on an NFL roster. If that assessment is indeed true, then we have some very bright days ahead.

We do.

 

[davegilbertson]

I've heard the depth being propped up quite a bit, and maybe playing time, reps, experience even more so. But this has happened in previous years as well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We saw a mini-exodus on that side of the ball this past offseason, guys that had been getting 2nd team reps the previous couple seasons. Don't get me wrong, I like to see guys get a shot more than anyone, I just am playing devils advocate a bit.

Devil don't need no advocates.

 

[madguy30]

I find it interesting that so many people are convinced that we are opening up the playback more due to an upgrade in qb talent. Like the thing holding us back was the 3+ year starter who holds a pile of records, lead us through the winningest period in school history, and is now on an NFL roster. If that assessment is indeed true, then we have some very bright days ahead.

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that 1) WR got behind the secondary and 2) they were under thrown throughout those 3+ years.

Yes, records were broken by a QB that was a warrior for the program.

All of that happened.

 

[Kinch]

Much more comfortable with our qb situation. Dekkers is ready to play.

 

[twincyties]

Was looking at some team stats and was surprised to see us 88th in yards per play. Figured we would be higher. In 2021, we were ranked 12. Presently 1.3 yards per play less than last year.

We are top 30 in 3rd and 4th down conversion which probably explains why we’re disproportionately ranked on total yards (71st) and scoring offense (74th).

All tough to say right now given we’ve feasted on two bad teams and then played a top defense in a dog fight on the road. Next couple of weeks will be a better litmus test.

I’ve not been surprised by Dekkers given rumors in the program last year about him being better than Purdy. I do worry about two things. One is that he’s thrown some passes against and teams that will almost surely be picked off in the Big 12. The other is depth at WR (RB we are obviously deep).

 

[Jeff_92]

I find it interesting that so many people are convinced that we are opening up the playback more due to an upgrade in qb talent. Like the thing holding us back was the 3+ year starter who holds a pile of records, lead us through the winningest period in school history, and is now on an NFL roster. If that assessment is indeed true, then we have some very bright days ahead.

And we frickin' led the conference in passing last year.

 

[cyfanatic13]

Noel is disappointing? What are you watching?

I think it's a pretty fair statement. Noel got a lot of hype as a true FR and had fine stats last year. I'd love for him to turn into a guy that is a threat to score any time he touches the ball but he doesn't really have burner speed and goes down on first contact a ton. He's also yet to find the endzone through 1.25 seasons so I don't think he's this big threat a lot of fans make him out to be. He's still young and has a ton of time but I think it's fair to say we'll need someone to step up as teams key in more and more on X.

 

[hoosman]

X has more receiving yards than next 5 Cyclones combined.

 

[burn587]

Much more comfortable with our qb situation. Dekkers is ready to play.

He’s absolutely the most talented QB we’ve had, and if he stays healthy he’ll be the best QB in school history and it won’t even be close.

Here’s the one big “but” in here: he’s getting by on his talent right now and not always making the best decisions. A lot of forced throws (mainly to X) and not great decisions in the run game. So it’s even more amazing what he’s doing, but it’s going to burn us at some point this year when there’s a more complete team that can capitalize on them.

Once he fully starts make the best decisions, he’s Heisman level good.

 

[stewart092284]

Agree with the OP that the O-line looks pretty decent. I hope they stay healthy and keep getting better. Although I think Treiber has done pretty well from what I can tell.

I think those looking for deeper throws, what you really want is the "explosiveness" piece, where you can score quickly if needed. That can come from run game (Breece, man) or even slants against the wrong defensive alignment, not just deep patterns. They haven't really attacked that part of the field yet. Is that because they can't? Or haven't needed to? Guess we will find out.

Anyone know about Remsberg & Norton? Like actual info? I am sure CMC has them on day-to-day whether they have the sniffles or have had a limb amputated.

The OL has looked alright though I am very curious how they hold up versus Baylor, whose front is pretty decent to good.

I'd actually like a little more balance - I know short passes are an extension of the run game in many ways but when you can go 3-4 deep at RB like we can, I wouldn't hate seeing a few more runs mixed in.

But overall, very, very happy with the offense as a whole.

 

[madguy30]

The OL has looked alright though I am very curious how they hold up versus Baylor, whose front is pretty decent to good.

I'd actually like a little more balance - I know short passes are an extension of the run game in many ways but when you can go 3-4 deep at RB like we can, I wouldn't hate seeing a few more runs mixed in.

But overall, very, very happy with the offense as a whole.

So far for team totals it's 111 passes to 109 runs on the season.

Passing is a huge strength and I like to see ISU sticking with it while the run game is pretty reliable.

 

[exCYtable]

Greatest Show on Grass

 

[Frak]

Pretty good I'd say. The O-Line is shaping up to be the best we've seen in the Campbell era, sans the 2020 season, and they get some good push in the run game which is something we've maybe never seen. The RB room very good, and very deep, though I think would have some concern is J. Brock went down. Sanders and Silas are clearly more complementary type backs and I'd be concerned if one of them had to carry a full load or if it were down to just the two of them in a committee.

One thing that has frustrated me so far is the passing game, with the amount of throws to the flats, 4-5 yard outs, 8-10 yard crossing patterns and slants etc. When the blocking is there, these plays can appear 'explosive', but what I'd like to see if more downfield stuff. We know Dekkers has the arm. Is the issue in offensive scheme or in WR talent? X and Noel are really good in space, but not sure either of them are burners. Is the missing piece someone that can take the top off of a defense, or is it just not schemed to move the ball like that? I am fine with getting 7-8 yards per play, and the offense has a nice flow to it so far, but I'd like to see us tee up a few more home run opportunities. Final scores of 42-10 vs SEMO and 43-10 vs Ohio are great, but look around the conference a little bit:

Kansas beat Tennessee Tech 56-10
WVU beat Towson 65-7
Texas Tech beat Murray St 63-10
Oklahoma State has put up 58 and 63 in games this year

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but it'd be nice to see a result like one of the above at some point, and I'm trying to figure out why we don't ever see it. 70-21 v.s Louisiana Monroe a few years back is the closest I've seen a Campbell-led ISU team get.

First off, I love how versatile they are. They are perfectly happy throwing the ball around, but if the defense is dropping a bunch of guys, they can grind it out with the run game. Dekkers has lived up to the hype. He's super calm back there, unlike Purdy, who sometimes tried to do too much and turned into Jojo the circus clown when the pocket collapsed. I think that the OL is serviceable at the very least and the TEs are coming around to where they are at least an option in the passing game. Getting Remsburg back at some point will be huge.

On the down side, I do question their ability to run on good DLs. I also thought that Noel would be more productive so far. I thought that Stanley would be the deep threat that we've been missing and he's dropped more passes than he's caught. Shaw had a nice game on Saturday, and he can be a decent weapon, but he's not someone who will force Safeties to stay back. Also, Dekkers will throw some bad picks from time to time just because he has so much confidence in his arm. That will come back to bite us eventually.

My biggest concern is what happens when teams stack the box, bracket Hutchinson and play everyone else man to man. That's how I would defend them. Can Noel beat single coverage? Can Stanley? Can Hanika beat a LB or Safety? Can Brock beat a LB? That's the question to me and I think that we're going to find out really soon.

 

[Frak]

So far for team totals it's 111 passes to 109 runs on the season.

Passing is a huge strength and I like to see ISU sticking with it while the run game is pretty reliable.

I honestly think those stats are skewed some. Two teams that we were up big on and one we were in a rock fight with. Two of those games, we ran most of the second half while the passing game was the reason we were up big.

 

[loyalsons4evertrue]

I really like our offense, though it'll be interesting to see how we do against Baylor. I've stated it before, Iowa is by far the best defense we'll play all year so I'm glad that's out of the way, and woo we finally won.

I am cautiously optimistic. Even if we happen to lose on Saturday, I feel confident we'll win at least 4 to 5 conference games this year. But imagine winning Baylor and at Kansas...we start 5-0, then we're having a way different conversation regarding the race to Arlington.

 

[ironsam]

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that 1) WR got behind the secondary and 2) they were under thrown throughout those 3+ years.

Yes, records were broken by a QB that was a warrior for the program.

All of that

In 2018, Purdy and ISU attacked deep pretty often. Likely in large part because of Hakeem Butler (he had over 1,300 yards averaging 22 yards per catch that year). And when Butler wasn't open Deshante Jones and a better Tarique Milton were zipping around. Anything from line of scrimmage to 40+ yards was a threat that defenses had to cover.

Other than losing Bulter, which was huge, I’m not sure what diminished the deep ball attack for us after 2018. Was pass protection worse? Wideouts not getting open? Purdy taking step backwards? Play calling more conservative? Tight ends developing and taking targets away from deep threats?

Whatever the reasons, we are still not attacking downfield very often. A new quarterback, different receivers and offensive line, but mostly same coaches…maybe 2018 was just a perfect combination of all those factors.

If Xavier wasn’t so great at getting open from around 5-12 yards out, we’d be forced to look elsewhere, but not smart to swing for the fences every at bat when you know you can get on base with a grounder.

 

[cyclones500]

I don't want to draw too many conclusions considering we've had probably the two worst opponents on the schedule, and although Iowa is known for defense, The offense had to work HARD in that one.. I like the proficient aspects of the offense so far, and has done fairly well at mixing run and pass, and doing pass first then run ... recent program trends show our running backs will be productive, passing gets Dekkers as the train-driver.

Need to clean up the penalties for sure, especially delay/false start type of crap. Line play I'm no expert, but I've seen worse.