Football One Third Mark - Team Grade
- Thread starter Jer
- Start date
Overall: B
This is probably the hardest an ISU team (and Big 12 conference) has been to judge this far into the season in a long while. The league doesn’t have a killer at the top or a pushover at the bottom. The matchups haven’t told us much about anybody yet with the ways the wins and losses have gone. Iowa State is no exception. I don’t take much away from the Baylor game due to the first half “issues” setting the tone.
Offense: B
I think the big unknown is how good our offense can be reliably. SEMO was a traditional cupcake. We looked bad against a strong Iowa D. Ohio gave up 50+ to Fordham this weekend so that doesn’t tell us anything. Baylor was stiff and slowed us down. The two cupcakes we looked good against. The two good defenses slowed us down considerably and youth showed.
I like our RB room, of course, but they aren’t getting any help with penetration up front, especially in the middle. Dekkers is getting some time but looks flustered after his first read – inexperience likely. His hesitation to take off running, and his lack of speed on the first step or two has hurt. Our WRs aren’t getting much separation, apart from X. Stanley had a good play and Noel has shown some flashes, but we need consistency and haven’t had it.
Our play calling between the 20s on 1st and 2nd down have been really good this year. Our 3rd down play calling and redzone offense has been suspect again. The designed QB runs have been at bad times and have shown as much. Dekkers has completed a high percentage of his passes, but the average yards per completion hasn’t been stellar.
Defense: B
We have a good rush defense – no concerns for the most part. Our pass defense still plays off too much on 3rd downs and we’ve had a number of blown coverages on the backside. The lack of speed might be forcing us to play softer coverage. As we face more potent offenses, my concern is we’ll give up more big plays. We don’t yet know if we can overcome with our offense.
Special Teams: C
The unit played their best game of the season by far against Baylor. Yes, the bar was basically laying on the floor, but they had good punt protection, coverage, and kicking.
This is probably the hardest an ISU team (and Big 12 conference) has been to judge this far into the season in a long while. The league doesn’t have a killer at the top or a pushover at the bottom. The matchups haven’t told us much about anybody yet with the ways the wins and losses have gone. Iowa State is no exception. I don’t take much away from the Baylor game due to the first half “issues” setting the tone.
Offense: B
I think the big unknown is how good our offense can be reliably. SEMO was a traditional cupcake. We looked bad against a strong Iowa D. Ohio gave up 50+ to Fordham this weekend so that doesn’t tell us anything. Baylor was stiff and slowed us down. The two cupcakes we looked good against. The two good defenses slowed us down considerably and youth showed.
I like our RB room, of course, but they aren’t getting any help with penetration up front, especially in the middle. Dekkers is getting some time but looks flustered after his first read – inexperience likely. His hesitation to take off running, and his lack of speed on the first step or two has hurt. Our WRs aren’t getting much separation, apart from X. Stanley had a good play and Noel has shown some flashes, but we need consistency and haven’t had it.
Our play calling between the 20s on 1st and 2nd down have been really good this year. Our 3rd down play calling and redzone offense has been suspect again. The designed QB runs have been at bad times and have shown as much. Dekkers has completed a high percentage of his passes, but the average yards per completion hasn’t been stellar.
Defense: B
We have a good rush defense – no concerns for the most part. Our pass defense still plays off too much on 3rd downs and we’ve had a number of blown coverages on the backside. The lack of speed might be forcing us to play softer coverage. As we face more potent offenses, my concern is we’ll give up more big plays. We don’t yet know if we can overcome with our offense.
Special Teams: C
The unit played their best game of the season by far against Baylor. Yes, the bar was basically laying on the floor, but they had good punt protection, coverage, and kicking.
I'll give it a B.
Recency un-bias had me leaning closer to a C, then I remembered in preseason I expected ISU to be 2-2 at this point.
Addition of plus/minus grading for the poll would be intriguing comparison.
Recency un-bias had me leaning closer to a C, then I remembered in preseason I expected ISU to be 2-2 at this point.
Addition of plus/minus grading for the poll would be intriguing comparison.
Might have even gone B+ if it were available vs. where ISU is starting from.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
B+. Young team, lot of gaping holes left by departing stars, and 3-1 with their only loss to the defending Big 12 champs by a touchdown. There are tons of things to shore up, of course, but this team has a higher potential than many probably thought coming in.
This is what I was talking about in the previous thread. 3-1 with a loss against a ranked team is not C worthy. At all. Especially with a young team.
Will be a lot more interesting to look at a poll like this in two weeks at the halfway point. We will have learned a lot more about this team.
B+ for me. Although given the toughness of this conference it may take a few games with some A type performances is get some W's
A lot of players/units are kind of better than I expected, because so many unknowns. But also a lot more errors than I expected. Turnovers, punt blocks, lack of touchbacks, penalties, etc.
Just get killed in the margins and make winning harder on themselves.
Just get killed in the margins and make winning harder on themselves.
I'm fine with how the team has played so far. They took care of the cupcakes and showed a lot of perseverance against Iowa and Baylor. There's definitely some stuff to be cleaned up, but they've overall played better than I could have expected considering the roster turnover from last year.
I think we're on track to 7 or 8 games this year.
I think we're on track to 7 or 8 games this year.
If people are giving less than a B this year, you had to have an F at this point last year. The team had significant turnover and lost a ton of all-timers and loads of experience. The team has played much better than last year at this point in the season despite that turnover at key positions.
I think B is fair at this point. Baylor is a pretty solid, experienced team, and they exposed a lot of the weaknesses that ISU has. Not going to say too many bad things about the team that broke the Iowa curse.
There are certainly several things to clean up, but the reality is that this team has some talent and some determination.
There are certainly several things to clean up, but the reality is that this team has some talent and some determination.
I say a B, but very concerned about the conference games ahead.
I hate to say that KU is already a must win……….. but it’s a must win. They are good, but still probably our easiest game left on our schedule. If we can’t win this, then I’m not sure how many other wins I see on the schedule for this young team.
I hate to say that KU is already a must win……….. but it’s a must win. They are good, but still probably our easiest game left on our schedule. If we can’t win this, then I’m not sure how many other wins I see on the schedule for this young team.
Record-wise, a B. Would need 4-0 for an A.
Shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly to almost lose to Idwa and the disappointing Baylor L knocked them down to a C+ or B- for me. I'm an overly critical grader though. October will define this team. Should be an interesting time to see if they can clean up all or most of the mistakes.
Shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly to almost lose to Idwa and the disappointing Baylor L knocked them down to a C+ or B- for me. I'm an overly critical grader though. October will define this team. Should be an interesting time to see if they can clean up all or most of the mistakes.
I voted B, but I talked myself up from a C. So if I could have voted B-, I would have gone with that.
I like the team and our top 22 is as talented as any Campbell team. But just not seeing enough consistency out of our running game. And not enough big plays from our offense or defense (TO's).
I don't know if this teams going 6-3 or 3-6 in Big12 play. The next couple weeks are must win to achieve the former.
I like the team and our top 22 is as talented as any Campbell team. But just not seeing enough consistency out of our running game. And not enough big plays from our offense or defense (TO's).
I don't know if this teams going 6-3 or 3-6 in Big12 play. The next couple weeks are must win to achieve the former.
I think the C for special teams is a little harsh. I didn't see anything that they did that I thought was bad other than maybe trying to return a kickoff that probably should have been fair caught.
It feels like Dekkers is only going to get better as the season goes on and he gets more trust in his receivers not called Hutchinson.
