Concerns heading into Iowa Game

[WalkingCY]

I would just like a performance out of our Cyclones much like the 2005 game. Just take care of the ball and dominate from the get-go. The D getting to the QB and putting him on the ground. But this one's on the road, I want the O to keep their composure. The W will just take care of itself.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I would just like a performance out of our Cyclones much like the 2005 game. Just take care of the ball and dominate from the get-go. The D getting to the QB and putting him on the ground. But this one's on the road, I want the O to keep their composure. The W will just take care of itself.

Yep just run the offense and get points when you can. Just like they did when they got down 16-7 against Tulsa.
The D should take care of itself.

 

[jburke]

My biggest concern is offense being consistent, no turnovers. Defense needs to hold UI from running wild and not let them start fast at home.

 

[ISUav8r]

My only concern is after we win 7-8 games not getting a good bowl game because we schedule such easy nonconference games.

 

[Palmer]

Main concern is the fact Iowa plays very tough at home..

 

[CykoAGR]

Im no more concerned about any one unit or position than I was going into last weekends game, I'm no less concerned either.

Look, we played a pretty good Tulsa team and there were times that each team looked much better than the other. I know I was uneasy after the safety and the 2 TD's that put Tulsa up 16-7. Until Knott made the hit to force the fumble it looked like our D was having a hard time stopping Tulsa because they were put in bad positions from poor KO covereage, the safety and the INT.

The second quarter both the offense and defense seemed to settle down and get in a groove scoring on offense and forcing Tulsa to punt allowing ISU to get back in the lead. I felt pretty good about the rest of the game other than the poor stretch that I mentioned above.

There are still question marks in my mind on how we will perform, one game, especially the opener is not the greatest indicator of how the team will perform the next game much less the rest of the year.

I feel better about our OL and QB positions than I did last year at this time. I feel better about the Offense as a whole, things just looked less chaotic in game one this yr vs last.

I feel a little better about the Defense because IMO we are performing similar to the end of last year (except for missed tackles, this should get better though) where we "bend but dont break". Our D is not going to completely shut down teams week in and week out, the other team will get yards. However if we can continue to force them to sustain 8-10< play drives I like our ability to eventually stop them or hold them to FG attempts.

The offense needs to continue to put together drives, look back at the stats, we only had 6 drives that were 3 plays or less. 1 of those was the safety, 1 was the INT, 1 was and ISU TD and the last was the end of the game. The safety and the INT are not good but 4 (not counting TD and end of game) all game I think that is really, really good IMO. If our offense can continue to move the ball even if the drive ends in a punt, we have a more rested D and we all know that based on the end of last year the D can perform well enough for us to win if we can keep them from playing a ton of snaps.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Wow some of the worries in this thread are way off base.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

Kinnick is a very tough place to play. Ask Arnaud.

Ask Arnaud why JTS was harder than Kinnick?

I
My issue was apparently the OC thought our line could do so and not have the defender look like a track star. Basically, that sums up what I saw from the line - they were getting burned by what appeared to be faster and stronger Tulsa defenders.

Pull it together man, Usian Bolt would have not been able to make that block if the Dlineman decided to go straight for Woody. The concern should be that the OC called a play that left the outcome to chance.

 

[hawkadoodledoo]

Did we watch the same football game last Saturday? The D-line played quite well. How many times did Tulsa have 3rd and 1 and got stuffed? Until Tulsa's late 77 yard run they had racked up exactly 83 rushing yards on 33 carries. As a matter of fact... Tulsa has a higher caliber group of running backs then that of Iowa. You also must have missed #95 (Simon) caving in the center of the Tulsa O-line on multiple occassions. Tulsa couldn't convert on short yardage situations because the ISU D-line was getting penetration. The ISU D-line will be just fine.

Twice is your answer to the 3rd and 1 question, but on one of those drives, they rushed for the TD on the next play. ISU's Dline didn't look very good, and I'm not sure why the 77 yard run doesn't matter to you. If you think Tulsa's run game is better than Iowa's, I think you need to watch some more football.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Im no more concerned about any one unit or position than I was going into last weekends game, I'm no less concerned either.

Look, we played a pretty good Tulsa team and there were times that each team looked much better than the other. I know I was uneasy after the safety and the 2 TD's that put Tulsa up 16-7. Until Knott made the hit to force the fumble it looked like our D was having a hard time stopping Tulsa because they were put in bad positions from poor KO covereage, the safety and the INT.

The second quarter both the offense and defense seemed to settle down and get in a groove scoring on offense and forcing Tulsa to punt allowing ISU to get back in the lead. I felt pretty good about the rest of the game other than the poor stretch that I mentioned above.

There are still question marks in my mind on how we will perform, one game, especially the opener is not the greatest indicator of how the team will perform the next game much less the rest of the year.

I feel better about our OL and QB positions than I did last year at this time. I feel better about the Offense as a whole, things just looked less chaotic in game one this yr vs last.

I feel a little better about the Defense because IMO we are performing similar to the end of last year (except for missed tackles, this should get better though) where we "bend but dont break". Our D is not going to completely shut down teams week in and week out, the other team will get yards. However if we can continue to force them to sustain 8-10< play drives I like our ability to eventually stop them or hold them to FG attempts.

The offense needs to continue to put together drives, look back at the stats, we only had 6 drives that were 3 plays or less. 1 of those was the safety, 1 was the INT, 1 was and ISU TD and the last was the end of the game. The safety and the INT are not good but 4 (not counting TD and end of game) all game I think that is really, really good IMO. If our offense can continue to move the ball even if the drive ends in a punt, we have a more rested D and we all know that based on the end of last year the D can perform well enough for us to win if we can keep them from playing a ton of snaps.

I never once was real worried about that game. It wasn't like we were being dominated physically. We missed tackles early and that killed us along with some shoddy receiving and basically offensive rust. I never thought Tulsa looked like a better all around football team. If you look at offensive lines across the nation and I don't care if it's Alabama or ISU, there are some things early on that aren't quite where they need to be. It takes just a little while to get those things oiled up.

We need to tackle better. I fully expect us to do that. We need to cover kicks as a more disciplined team. Those are the two main things I saw as potential problems. Steele made exactly zero bad decisions, even when pressed last week. Our Dline looked like they could do some things and I think McDonough will be huge in this game. Tulsa wanted no part of him by the end of that game. He was blowing the middle of the line up and I expect him to do the same, perhaps to a lesser degree. I thought Maggitt played very solid along with Scott and the guys like Morrissey, Irving and Nelson did some very nice things. Morrissey, IMO, could be starting by the end of the year. Nelson is a pass rusher and a pretty darn good one according to last weeks game. The secondary is what it is. We will get beat once or twice due to size but they won't be able to consistently take advantage of our secondary. I worry that this is the ISU/Iowa game at Kinnick. We have been on the other side for years and we have always comforted ourselves by saying "Yeah, but it's a rivalry." It's weird being sort of on the other side of that now and having to ground myself by saying that but I think we have to. Last year I thought we should have won by 20 and in the end, we should have. This year I think as far as players and coaches, we should win by 20 but we won't.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Twice is your answer to the 3rd and 1 question, but on one of those drives, they rushed for the TD on the next play. ISU's Dline didn't look very good, and I'm not sure why the 77 yard run doesn't matter to you. If you think Tulsa's run game is better than Iowa's, I think you need to watch some more football.

We'll see what you think after Saturday. That Dline is much better than they were last year. That's not saying they are good, that's saying that they are better.....significantly better.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Guys, by now you should know rholt is a fringe "fan".

The Tulsa game showed nothing either way about the Dline. We play 12 guys because we have a bunch of of average Big 12 Dlinemen, not because "none of them are any good".
As for playing in Kinnick, please. I am concerned because it is a road game, not because it is at Kinnick.

Kinnick is a 6 point stadium. At least give credit where it's due. We play 12 guys because we have that many capable and we stay ultra fresh. Most are average, McDonough is not and if you have a guy that can blow up the middle, you have a distinct advantage over not having that.

 

[hawkadoodledoo]

What makes you think the Dline is better than last year? Ruemp, Lattimer, and Neal were pretty good for you guys.

 

[VeloClone]

What makes you think the Dline is better than last year? Ruemp, Lattimer, and Neal were pretty good for you guys.

I would say marginally not as good at the start of the game, but by the second half probably better due to more quality depth so everyone has fresher legs. Gassed D linemen are ineffective D linemen, regardless of how good they are when they start out.

 

[CloneJob]

I just hope we can play extremely well the 1st Q and take the Hawk fans out of the game. It will be a harsh environment to win in. If we establish a run game early we can pull this thing off.

 

[GMackey32]

I'm concerned that some of my fellow Cyclones brethren that are making the trip to Iowa City will return with various forms of V.D.

 

[CTTB78]

I have no concerns based on what I saw out of both teams week one.

We have the better team and coaching staff, and we'll show that on Saturday.

Iowa State 31
Iowa 20

 

[Doc]

What makes you think the Dline is better than last year? Ruemp, Lattimer, and Neal were pretty good for you guys.

When we played Iowa last year, we had just lost our best DE IMO to a season-ending knee injury, Henry Simon wasn't playing because he just showed up on campus, and the coaches hadn't developed confidence in Jensen and Woods yet. Now Maggitt is back and doesn't seem to have lost much, Simon was disruptive against Tulsa, and Jensen and Woods are 10+ lbs heavier and playing well.

We don't have great talent, but are definitely improved from a year ago.

 

[VeloClone]

I'm concerned that some of my fellow Cyclones brethren that are making the trip to Iowa City will return with various forms of V.D.

I'm pretty sure that is why CW finished his Rag chat with: "if you are traveling east this weekend...be safe"

 

[MNCyGuy]

What makes you think the Dline is better than last year? Ruemp, Lattimer, and Neal were pretty good for you guys.

I think it's less that the talent ceiling on the D-line is better, and more that we can rotate a lot more guys in and out that are all roughly at the same talent level and end the game with a D-line that is fresher than your O-line.