Defense was not the problem, it was the offense again

[Gary_ISU]

I am surprised at the number of people pointing their fingers at the defense. I will acknowledge that the defense did not play great. There were several missed tackles. At times, Bowen and McKenize seem to try to tackle by going for the shoulders and head. But, we need to keep things in perspective. This defense is basically starting 8 new players. We lost 4 starters in the offseason that was not expected. Berryman, Robertson, Smith and Taylor. That is a lot of talent to replace. Meanwhile, the offense returns basically everybody. Meyer is pre-season all Big 12, Blythe is the best receiver in the Big 12, etc. More should be expected of the offense. The only thing we heard in the off season was the explosiveness of this offense. They looked good in the first half and then fell apart again.

All you have to do is look at the 4th quarter to see who to blame. The offense went 5 plays punt, 5 plays punt, 4 plays turnover on downs. The defense gave up 3 plays punt, interception and then 9 plays for only 22 yards and a field goal. Twice the defense gave the offense the ball back with a chance to tie and they did nothing. I think the defense played well enough to force a tie in this game. Not well enough necessarily to win but at least to tie. The offense did not score the last 27 minutes of the game. That is why we lost.

Past history also shows this to be true. Think about the last few years, how many times has the offense continued to let this team down? Remember Cotton apologizing about how bad the offense was after a game? Remember the MU and KU games the last couple years? The defense has consistently gotten better under Skladany. The offense was good with Loney and Seneca but has been consistently bad since then.

 

[Kyle]

Agreed 100%.

 

[JokersWild]

Yep, I put this somewhere else, but I'll post it again. This offense needs to score 35pts per game IN REGULATION and then we would start to beat people we want to beat.

 

[ISUFan22]

I understand the offense needs to score more than 3 points in the 2nd half...but why does the defense get a pass on all the missed tackles?

The offense is going to have times where they put up less points than expected. So far...that's happened every game unfortunately. (hmmm)

But the defense must execute fundimental football - one of which is tackling.

 

[JokersWild]

True, they shouldn't get a "pass". I just think more pressure should be put on the offense to score/execute this year because of the less experienced defense.

 

[cstrunk]

True, they shouldn't get a "pass". I just think more pressure should be put on the offense to score/execute this year because of the less experienced defense.

Exactly. No one is saying the defense was fantastic, because quite frankly they still have much to work on. The point about our offense is simply we have the talent and potential to make up for what our defense can't hold on to and thus far it seems we have been disappointed. Our offense was supposed to be the strength of this team that carried them through adversity. We have 10/11 starters returning on offense. Our average points per game needs to be around 30 because what we have now (less than 20 ppg) shows how our offense has had trouble with execution for a complete game.

 

[JokersWild]

Plus, if a defense knows it's offense can get them back in the game, they play more relaxed, have more fun. I'm not saying we can put up 35 everygame, but I don't see anything wrong with Mac telling his offense that we need to put up 35.

 

[ISUFan22]

The style of offense we have been playing (ball control) in order to compensate for the defense is not one that puts up 35 points a game.

We have the players on offense to create big plays each time we hit the field...yet our defense could not handle that. We'd end up losing 45-42.

 

[JokersWild]

Yeah, that's true, there is some degree of truth to that. But, we could still eat up clock AND score 28-35. Shoot, we just need to replicate the 1st half today and we would have been golden.

 

[UncleLou]

I am shocked on the play calling. With that much talent on the offense. why the play calling was so bad. On any teams pro, college etc. if you dont have good play calling you will always lose. The cyclones need to play to win and not be so predictable on offense.

 

[MrApathy]

the best offense is a good defense

Defense is lousy Offense could use some work. neither can play the whole game which is what we need.

I think it would do the offense and defense wonders if they practiced a full hour of no huddle. a team that can score on offense and defense is a team that can win. just look at the Missouri game last year and the other OT losses. Defense keeps the opponet from scoring and gives the offense momentum specially with turnovers.

 

[darts180]

I understand the offense needs to score more than 3 points in the 2nd half...but why does the defense get a pass on all the missed tackles?

The offense is going to have times where they put up less points than expected. So far...that's happened every game unfortunately. (hmmm)

But the defense must execute fundimental football - one of which is tackling.

Yes, but don't you think that maybe if we moved the football, and run more than 16 or whatever plays in the second half, that we could take some of the pressure off of this defense, and not leave them on the field for 18 minutes?????
You want to look everywhere to try to defend Mac, well it's the coordinators fault for not teaching them to tackle, or block, or it's the players fault for not making the tackle or block. But the simple fact is Mac is responsible for all of the people wearing an Iowa State uniform.
If you owned a business, and had a hiring manager, and a person who trains new employees, but you went bankrupt, you can try to shift all the blame you want, but the FINAL responsibilty is still yours.
I am not trying to pick a fight with you Mr/Mrs MacCarney, so I will politely agree to disagree with you.

 

[afbowman]

If we are going to rely on the offense scoring 35per we are in for a long year. "defense wins championships" is an old adage. That said, we got absolutely no pass rush from our front 4. I did not see anyone in the secondary making plays on the ball while in the air. Their receivers had a nice day. The problem is their receivers are not that good. We got out hit. By that I mean while Iowa was delivering blows we were dragging people to the turf.
A total of 6 points in the last half of the last two games??? I went into yesterdays game assuming that if we could rush for over 150 yards we would win by 10 points...playcalling, execution, a combination of both...I don't know what the answer is. I do know this team has issues on both sides of the ball. Let's hope they fix them in a hurry.

 

[HandSanitizer]

There is no reason our offense is not producing more. Bad play calling. Iowa does not have a good secondary at all and we can't get the ball to a receiver? I really like my chances when Flynn, Sumrall, Davis and Blyth line up as receivers epecially when hicks was running so well. Are we just running dumb routes? Whatever happened to play actions, misdirections, short slant passes, etc... Does everthing have to be a fade or jump ball toss up? I really think we are at our best when meyer just scrambles and blythe just gets loose.
Our defense will fine but we need to hold teams to 10-20 points. Offense could help out once in awhile by not going 3 and out in the 2nd half everytime. IMO>

 

[ISUFan22]

Yes, but don't you think that maybe if we moved the football, and run more than 16 or whatever plays in the second half, that we could take some of the pressure off of this defense, and not leave them on the field for 18 minutes?????
You want to look everywhere to try to defend Mac, well it's the coordinators fault for not teaching them to tackle, or block, or it's the players fault for not making the tackle or block. But the simple fact is Mac is responsible for all of the people wearing an Iowa State uniform.
If you owned a business, and had a hiring manager, and a person who trains new employees, but you went bankrupt, you can try to shift all the blame you want, but the FINAL responsibilty is still yours.
I am not trying to pick a fight with you Mr/Mrs MacCarney, so I will politely agree to disagree with you.

My issue with you and the rest of the habitual coach haters is the very second something goes wrong...you jump all over the coaches with no mention of the players failing to execute what they were taught and practiced all week.

That would be tackling. And some blocks on offense. Plus, the 2nd half decision Meyer made to throw a 10 yard pass to Blythe when Barkema was WIDE open down the middle for a long TD.

Could we have used the just shy of 90 second at the end of the first half? Maybe...yet you watch college football much...many coaches in Mac's situation would sit on it. I loved the 4th down call late in the game...even though we couldn't get it. Keep in mind...with the new crappy rules...coaches must make adjustments. We're seeing this league wide.

Ya wanna use that company "rationale"...that's fine. If Mac runs a company and I am an employee. I've been trained very well...yet I continue screwing up...costing the company money. Who do you think is taking the fall?

Yeah...I'm getting fired.

If Mac could...I'm sure he'd make a few personnel changes on defense. Unfortunately he was forced to make 2 changes just before the season with the loss of two projected starters...one we should have back soon...hopefully. And I think that will help us immensely.

 

[Gary_ISU]

The style of offense we have been playing (ball control) in order to compensate for the defense is not one that puts up 35 points a game.

We have the players on offense to create big plays each time we hit the field...yet our defense could not handle that. We'd end up losing 45-42.

Wrong. The style of offense we play is not to compensate for the defense. The style of the offense is the only thing Mac knows how to do and the only thing it seems that he will ever consider doing.

I am not saying the defense played great. They have a long ways to go but in the 4th quarter they made some plays to give the offense a chance to tie the game up. The offense did nothing with it. Where were the offensive players making big plays in the 4th quarter? We are averaging less than 20 points a game. If we cannot have a high scoring offense this year, when will we ever?

 

[chuckd4735]

Lets not take any credit away from Iowa defense. They made their adjustments at halftime and did a great job. My biggest complaint about our team is the ammount of presure we are putting on opposing QB's. I dont think we blitzed Tate more then once or twice if even that. Overall, this is the best game we have played all year, which is good casue it shows we are improving. I'm glad we got to play a quality team like Iowa, and we need to correct our mistakes and make our adjustments and get ready to go cause some hell down in Austin next week, game 1 of 8 in our quest for the Big 12 north!

 

[cstrunk]

Keep in mind...with the new crappy rules...coaches must make adjustments. We're seeing this league wide.

In my opinion, with the game being shorter, why wouldn't a coach want to try to take advantage of every single play that they have, knowing they won't have as many shots per game? A minute with three timeouts is enough time to try and do something to get some points on the board and get some momentum back before halftime. Sure, something could go wrong, but you'll never know until you do it. Sitting on it just doesn't seem like a very good way to keep your team motivated going into the locker room when the momentum has clearly shifted the other way. You've got to take advantage of any opportunities you get! Had we been able to drive down the field and get a field goal or TD right before the half, I would pretty much bet that we wouldn't have had to worry about going for a 4th and 10 with 5 minutes to go on our own side of the field in the 4th quarter to try to stay alive. The whole atmosphere inside of the stadium would have been different from the fans, and especially from the team.

 

[Cloned4Life]

My issue with you and the rest of the habitual coach haters is the very second something goes wrong...you jump all over the coaches with no mention of the players failing to execute what they were taught and practiced all week..

Maybe they weren't taught well all week. Maybe our coaches don't teach fundamental football all that great. Maybe our coaches arn't very good. What do you see that others don't see that proves these coaches are doing awesome and we don't have any right or reason to "jump all over them" and be "habitual coach haters" and should look at player execution first and foremost?

People can use whatever reference they want, but the fact is... players screw up execution all the time, every player on every team does. Good coaches put their players in the right positions and call the right plays to limit bad execution as much as possible.

The defense DID play well enough for us to win yesterday. Unfortunately, we tore out the vertical passing game section of our playbook along witht the creative and aggresive sections that were torn out before the season started. Why? I haven't a clue. I want an answer. Will I get one? Probably not. Maybe the coaches don't even know.

 

[Wesley]

The coaches need to be jumped on. The second half has been a disaster three straight weeks. Are we the worst in the league at making adjustments at halftime. One point offensive average per game in second half should lose about every game. The defense is doing what is expected.

Defense Tackling - B
Kickoffs - C-
Punting - D+
Rushing C+
Passing D-
Scoring Offense - F
Scoring Defense - C
Playcalling - D+
Winning - C+
Potential - B+
Actual - C-