Ben Bruns KU Game Recap on Iowa Everywhere

[AuH2O]

I hope all the “football experts” listen to bruns podcast, and really pay attention and humble yourself.

Bruns is great. But he is generally positive and optimistic.

Technically it is true the offense "did enough to win." But you could say the exact same thing about Iowa's offense in the CyHawk game. But no one would spin their offensive performance as anything but a complete failure.

You have to look at the opponent when you evaluate how each unit did. Special Teams was an F, and no one is going to really argue that.

But this was a KU team was winning by shootouts. They were putting up yards and points, and their defense had been a sieve and had been lit up. ISUs defense gave up 213 yards and generated 2 TOs. They gave up 14 points, 7 of which after a short field off the pick.

You are playing a team that wins by outscoring people, can't stop them, and your defense does that the game has no business being close.

Just because the Special teams were a clown show doesn't mean you can't evaluate the offense and see that they clearly failed.

 

[Malty Flannel]

Have we had great kickers? Iowa has had great kickers. I don't think we have, certainly not "a bunch of great kickers".

2016: Netten 16/17 (16/16 inside 50 yards) - great kicker
2017: Garrett Owens 17/22 (13/15 inside 40 yards)
2018: Connor Assailey 16/23 (13/16 inside 40 yards)
2019: Assailey 15/19 (12/14 inside 40 yards)
2020: Assailey 13/19 (11/13 inside 40 yards)
2021: Andrew Mevis 20/23 (10/10 inside 40 yards, 2/2 50+) - great kicker

Tl;DR: Mevis was the first "great" kicker we've had since Netten graduated, but the 4 years between them at least saw consistency from inside 40 yards. Also interesting to note that Assailey never really improved over his 3 years as the primary kicker.

 

[quasistellar]

I'm not sure any of this makes me feel better. One of the Big 12's worst defenses sat in shell all game but we still couldn't run or break open a short pass play. They were in Cover 4 and we couldn't find a way to run the ball or protect the QB.

That is a very, very bad sign.

I just re-watched some "highlights". Our o-line is getting ******* annihilated on several plays--even run plays. It looked worse in replays than it did in real time.

Maybe 1-2 sacks could have been avoided by Dekkers himself with a little better movement in the pocket.

The running game wasn't garbage because we lost Brock. It was garbage due to the plays called and the blocking.

 

[CyGuy5]

If you’re a power 5 OC and can’t figure out a cover 4 to put your guys in favorable positions then there’s a problem. We outscored Tennessee Tech vs Kansas by 2 freaking points. If that doesn’t show there are glaring issues with the offense I don’t know what does.

Also, after having so much success with e transfer portal kicker, why did we not look there again? It was extremely obvious special teams, and primarily the kicking game, were a major question mark going into this year and once again they’ve let us down

 

[quasistellar]

Also, after having so much success with e transfer portal kicker, why did we not look there again? It was extremely obvious special teams, and primarily the kicking game, were a major question mark going into this year and once again they’ve let us down

We got hosed by our original kicker recruit backing out last minute. I refuse to be mad at this freshman kicker for yesterday. I'm more bothered by the kicking *game* than the kicks themselves. Giving up big returns, muffing punts, not fair catching, etc. This stuff has been a problem for a LONG time.

 

[MeowingCows]

2016: Netten 16/17 (16/16 inside 50 yards) - great kicker
2017: Garrett Owens 17/22 (13/15 inside 40 yards)
2018: Connor Assailey 16/23 (13/16 inside 40 yards)
2019: Assailey 15/19 (12/14 inside 40 yards)
2020: Assailey 13/19 (11/13 inside 40 yards)
2021: Andrew Mevis 20/23 (10/10 inside 40 yards, 2/2 50+) - great kicker

Tl;DR: Mevis was the first "great" kicker we've had since Netten graduated, but the 4 years between them at least saw consistency from inside 40 yards. Also interesting to note that Assailey never really improved over his 3 years as the primary kicker.

Mevis gets a sidenote for taking over and carrying our punting last year as well, he may have been the best punter we've had in recent time (and we didn't even discover that until a few games in).

 

[CoKane]

Jihrel Brock had one carry…

and half of our rushing yards on the day.

Yikes

 

[aeroclone]

2016: Netten 16/17 (16/16 inside 50 yards) - great kicker
2017: Garrett Owens 17/22 (13/15 inside 40 yards)
2018: Connor Assailey 16/23 (13/16 inside 40 yards)
2019: Assailey 15/19 (12/14 inside 40 yards)
2020: Assailey 13/19 (11/13 inside 40 yards)
2021: Andrew Mevis 20/23 (10/10 inside 40 yards, 2/2 50+) - great kicker

Tl;DR: Mevis was the first "great" kicker we've had since Netten graduated, but the 4 years between them at least saw consistency from inside 40 yards. Also interesting to note that Assailey never really improved over his 3 years as the primary kicker.

So over the last 6 seasons we missed a combined 9 fieldgoals inside 40 yards. Then we miss 3 in a single game. Ouch.

 

[Gunnerclone]

So over the last 6 seasons we missed a combined 9 fieldgoals inside 40 yards. Then we miss 3 in a single game. Ouch.

bUt tHaT’s nOT wHy wE loST tEh GAme.

 

[joefrog]

I want to agree with you but this is year 7. If its an obvious issue to the coaches why didnt anything change in like year 4 or 5?

Coaches are typically very egotistical and stubborn. These problems are not going away, it is who they are and have chosen to be at this point.

Fans are trapped in our horrible past and using that to attack anyone that expects better. We're paying enough that these problems shouldn't linger.

Nobody wants to admit CMC is a more likeable version of KF, except he doesn't focus on the O line like KF does.

ISU football is so risk-averse now that watching it has become repetitive and tiresome. It is DMac with more talent. Do we run jet sweeps at all? Or utilize motion? Any bunch formations with Rus, Dean, and another TE or big receiver?

When has our offense shown any sort of innovation comparable to our defense?

 

[joefrog]

bUt tHaT’s nOT wHy wE loST tEh GAme.

Sending a freshman kicker out there to miss a third one instead of going for it is one of the cruelest and cowardly things I have ever seen a coach do.

 

[theshadow]

Jihrel Brock had one carry…

and half of our rushing yards on the day.

Math is hard for some people.

 

[quasistellar]

Sending a freshman kicker out there to miss a third one instead of going for it is one of the cruelest and cowardly things I have ever seen a coach do.

Aside from starting Petras, yes.

 

[Aduhbolu15]

I learned a lot of lessons on how to deflect and dishonestly cover a football program

Listen to the last ten minutes or so. I’ll trust a guy who has played major college football over CoKane.

 

[IASTATE07]

Jihrel Brock had one carry…

and half of our rushing yards on the day.

Rushing attack wasn't good, but this is definitely misleading.

 

[isucy86]

so was he basically saying that since they were in a cover 4, we couldn't do anything about it? Can't roll the QB out with some run pass options? No bootlegs? Our run game struggled, but we run basically one play that is slow developing. No option, no mis direction, no quick hitters, no stretch play to take advantage of cutback lanes.

Agree, our running attack originates almost 100% of the time at the mesh point. Nothing to mess with opponents eyes. Would love to see some jet sweeps, reverses to get a speedy WR the ball in misdirection.

After watching Dekkers for 5 games, really starting to wonder if he is athletic enough to be an RPO QB. Question his speed and decision making at the mesh point. Seems like he decides to run ahead of time.

With our OL, they just look slow and not great feet. But it always seems like they struggle the first part of the season. Better get things figures out the next couple weeks.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

ISU Offensive Stats though 5 games.

• Rush Offense: #111
• Pass Offense: #43
• Sacks Allowed: #89
• Turnovers Lost: #107

Back to the Rhoads era offenses.

 

[CydeofFries]

Rushing attack wasn't good, but this is definitely misleading.

Sacks counting against rushing yards leads to these takes. Not that Silas and Sanders covered themselves in glory, but they had 50 yards combined, not single digits. Its more that Dekkers had -21 with sacks that makes us look terrible.

 

[Jer]

I've been talking all year about how bad our receivers (absent X) have been at getting any separation at all. I keep getting "Dumbed" on those posts.

When you have an O-line that can't protect a young QB and you rarely have open receivers, you're left with very few options. Unfortunately, when you then settle for 3-4 yard crossing routes, you're asking for trouble with 8-10 guys within 5 yards of scrimmage. That then allows them to crowd the line of scrimmage and our run game is ****.

Our offense isn't executing AND the coaches aren't trying new things to give them a chance to succeed. Failures on multiple levels.

• Rush Offense: #111
• Pass Offense: #43
• Sacks Allowed: #89
• Turnovers Lost: #107

Any offense should be able to score 35+ on KU's very bad defense. It never should have come down to a freshman kicker having to kick 3 times to win a game.

 

[Gary_ISU]

If you look back at the Baylor game, our offense in the 2nd half was very bad as well. First 4 drives of the 2nd half resulted in 21 plays 52 yards and 2 interceptions.

We did get 2 TDs in the last 9:30 with 17 plays and 146 yards but the game was basically over at that time. The reality is that we are likely going to need to win games scoring 20 or less points a game.