Concerns heading into Iowa Game

[Jambalaya]

After watching the Tulsa game a few times, two areas for concern are:

1. Special Teams play - Both returning and defending.
   1. Most if not all returns were fair catches = zero return yards.
   2. Defending returns had two or three runs that were almost touchdown returns for Tulsa.
   3. Messingham was Special Teams coach last year. Whoever it is this year has a long ways to go.
2. Offensive Line Play
   1. Left Tackle on pass plays was lit up by Tulsa's DE all night long. Many sacks, QB hurries from this side alone. On the long bomb TD to Lenz, Brun was pushed right into Jantz' grill as he released the ball and not sure if the LT also got blown up.
   2. On the safety, the left side Tackle/Guard let the defensive player right through without a block and RG Lichtenberg didn't have a chance of getting there before Woody was sacked in the end zone.

To me, the biggest area of concern of these is special teams KO and punt coverage. Iowa historically is very sound on special teams and those almost TD's by Tulsa will be TD's by Iowa if the same mistakes are made.

i'm concerned too. Greg Davis is the greatest coordinator in college football

 

[swarthmoreCY]

On 2. 2., the left guard/tackle is supposed to let him free so that he can go up field and block...the right pulling lineman needs to get there faster to blow up the guy left untouched

Usian Bolt would have not got there in time. It was a bad play call.

 

[4Cyclones]

[/B]Really? In multiple pre and post game interviews the coaching staff (Mess in particular) talked about taking what the defense gives you. That is what they did and why the bubble screen was run multiple times. As for padding Steele's stats.........come on......the guy only won the starting job last week. Its not like the coaching staff is trying to push him for the Davey Obrien award. Padding stats.......ridiculous.

This!. C'mon guys. How long did you watch us get burned on this same play until we defended it. Take what the defense gives you, until they can stop it. IMO, we can march down the field all day with 7 yd gains. Also, it was an awesome way to be succesful and keep our cards close to our chest. I'm looking at you Kirk.

Kick coverage was an issue, but on returns, I almost feel that the coaching staff didn't feel like the risk was worth the reward, and again not showing all of our cards untill need be. I think there were a couple punts that could have been returned, but accepting it at the 35 or so was adequate with no risk. This weekend, I bet we see a little more agrressiveness, both play calling and returns.

 

[cyman1189]

Simple solution...kick it in the end zone and let our defense do their job.

WHen wind was on our side Ed seemed to be shucking it through the endzone... on neutral wind days im not worried about him being able to kick it in the paydirt

 

[rholtgraves]

I am concerned about the defensive line. The didnt show me anything in the Tulsa game. Who cares if they played 4 guys or 20 guys. They are playing that many guys because none of them are good enough to play a majority of downs. Teams can still run on ISU and the only sacks ISU got were when all they had to do was pin their ears back and go after the quarterback because they were up two scores with under two minutes left. Tulsa also passed the ball nearly 50 times and the only sacks that happened were on the last few plays.

Also concerned about Jantz playing in that kind of atmosphere. He hasn't played in that kind of hostile atmosphere before. Playing at Missouri, Baylor,or UCONN is not even close to playing at Kinnick.

 

[Doc]

I don't think it was a bad play call. I think it was a risky play call. Some old-school guys may say that risky at the 2 yard line is a bad play call, but the game has changed. I don't think we had much reason to believe their end would wander up the field like that.

My main concern Saturday is whether we can get the ball in the Endzone when we get close. Big plays and touchdowns never come easy against Iowa.

 

[pyrocyz]

On your punt return point, there punter had some great hang time. He didn't really have a bad kick and Horne never really had a chance to return one. That will change with each team. Their punter was just on his game.

Completely disagree that he didn't have a chance to return one. There was one in the second half where Horne could've caught it in stride and had the entire right side of the field open for the taking. Instead he let the ball hit the ground and bounce away. That one frustrated me.

 

[cyclonepower]

My concerns:

1) Steele unproven in a hostile environment

2) JVB playing @ home

 

[isufbcurt]

to sorta add to your pont about playcalling, i felt like we got overly conservative in the 3rd quarter cuz we were up 15. not that thats exactly a flaw in playcalling i'd just rather not see us let teams crawl back in on us the way tulsa did. i hope that mess is just getting his feet wet though, i trust him and think hes gonna put together a great game plan for saturday. just in the future dont wanna see us take our foot off the gas so early.

It wasn't getting overly conservative, they came out in the 3rd quarter with a mission to get the running game going (only had 60 yards rushing at halftime).

 

[Naughtius]

Also concerned about Jantz playing in that kind of atmosphere. He hasn't played in that kind of hostile atmosphere before. Playing at Missouri, Baylor,or UCONN is not even close to playing at Kinnick.

Maybe not, but he has beaten Iowa before. That's a huge plus. I like our guy.

 

[isufbcurt]

I am concerned about the defensive line. The didnt show me anything in the Tulsa game. Who cares if they played 4 guys or 20 guys. They are playing that many guys because none of them are good enough to play a majority of downs. Teams can still run on ISU and the only sacks ISU got were when all they had to do was pin their ears back and go after the quarterback because they were up two scores with under two minutes left. Tulsa also passed the ball nearly 50 times and the only sacks that happened were on the last few plays.

Also concerned about Jantz playing in that kind of atmosphere. He hasn't played in that kind of hostile atmosphere before. Playing at Missouri, Baylor,or UCONN is not even close to playing at Kinnick.

Disagree with this, the Dline actually played pretty well. And the reason we play so many guys is to keep them fresh an we saw what fresh Dlinemen can do in the 4th quarter!!!!!!

 

[jburke]

My concerns:

1) Steele unproven in a hostile environment

2) JVB playing @ home

U-Conn was not a slouch place to play.....

 

[cyhiphopp]

U-Conn was not a slouch place to play.....

They were hostile to our mascot but once they got the wind taken out of their sails they shut up pretty quick. That wont happen at Kinnick.

Now, if we are killing the Hawks in the 4th quarter, then you will see the mass exodus of Black and Gold and possibly them booing their own QB. HA!

 

[jburke]

They were hostile to our mascot but once they got the wind taken out of their sails they shut up pretty quick. That wont happen at Kinnick.

Now, if we are killing the Hawks in the 4th quarter, then you will see the mass exodus of Black and Gold and possibly them booing their own QB. HA!

One can only hope!!! I want a payback game for Rhoads first 2 years!!!!

 

[cyclonepower]

U-Conn was not a slouch place to play.....

two answers to that...

Yes, it is and Steele didnt play well at UCONN.

 

[ruxCYtable]

Kick coverage scares the crap out of me. I had the replay on while I was working and when they almost broke one for the second or third time I was like **** did I bump something and move backwards in the game? Nope. It was happening again. And again.

 

[huntt26]

My concerns:

Stopping Iowa's running game (I know they don't have much for running back depth, but their line will be good as always)
Tackling - we missed a lot of tackles against Tulsa
Special Teams - kick coverage needs to be better and Iowa blocks a lot of field goals over the years

Keys to ISU victory
Win turnover battle
Establish the run

 

[jburke]

I am concerned about the defensive line. The didnt show me anything in the Tulsa game. Who cares if they played 4 guys or 20 guys. They are playing that many guys because none of them are good enough to play a majority of downs. Teams can still run on ISU and the only sacks ISU got were when all they had to do was pin their ears back and go after the quarterback because they were up two scores with under two minutes left. Tulsa also passed the ball nearly 50 times and the only sacks that happened were on the last few plays.

Also concerned about Jantz playing in that kind of atmosphere. He hasn't played in that kind of hostile atmosphere before. Playing at Missouri, Baylor,or UCONN is not even close to playing at Kinnick.

Disagree a lot with this, I think we have way more skill and depth at these positions, I believe we got 2 sacks, and we stilled had a lot of pressure through out, I think we were playing the run primarily anyway.

 

[VeloClone]

Disagree a lot with this, I think we have way more skill and depth at these positions, I believe we got 2 sacks, and we stilled had a lot of pressure through out, I think we were playing the run primarily anyway.

Yes, they weren't all world, but they are making quality depth work.

Cody was willing on several occasions to throw it up for grabs rather than take a sack. If ISU's D could have done a better job of hanging on to some of those it could have gotten pretty ugly for Tulsa.

 

[cyhiphopp]

From what the coaches have said, their general strategy is to only rush 4 and try to maintain good coverage behind that. That's how they were able to drastically improve our defensive 3rd down percentages last year. I believe it was Shane Burnham that said they could sell out and get sacks but that would risk getting burned in coverage. ATM led the country in sacks last year but they also blew a lot of leads in the second half.