Game Thoughts: UNI

[demoncore1031]

Did Jefferson Adam not play today?

 

[demoncore1031]

Samuel Same is another guy that stood out in the 2nd half. He looked really good. I think he is gonna have a great career.

 

[ClonerJams]

I liked what I saw from Rocco. Made smart plays, didn't force anything.
Sama will be RB1 by the end of the year, with a healthy dose of Norton to compliment him.
Offensive line was on the field today.
Special teams were fan-*******-tastic.
Defense continues to be amazing under Heacock.
Rasheed is the best D-line coach in the country in terms of what he gets out of his players.
Rocco Becht and Cade McNamara are the best QB's in the state.
How about the walkons? Nikkel (don't think he's one anymore, but point remains), Bacon, Jones.
Might have the best DB group in the conference.

 

[NWICY]

I know it was just UNI but did anybody else think ISU was hitting people really hard today? There were so many big hits and it seemed like guys were playing angry.

Stevo Klotz had a huge block on the edge near the goal line that demolished the poor kid trying to come in and make a tackle. Ellis had a huge hit that shouldn’t have been called roughing the passer. Onyedim had a couple along with Caleb Bacon. These are all 2nd string guys laying the wood too!

I really noticed it in the 1st half. There were some solid hits then.

 

[NorthCyd]

My bars pretty low this year, so I'm just ecstatic with a pretty comfortable game against UNI. The team was far from perfect but it was dominant in some areas and most importantly didn't constantly shoot itself in the foot like last years team.

 

[ClonesTwenty1]

Defense looked fantastic! I think Rocco should obviously be QB1 and play the whole game against Iowa and moving forward. I think Campbell would be insane to run a QB by committee after today. Kohl just is not even close to ready and that's okay.

 

[HouClone]

Was nice to see 4 DL rushing the QB.

 

[cayin]

Overall pleased with the performance today. Becht clearly has it in the poise department where dekkers did not. Much more touch than dekkers had on the short throws as well.

Only “downside” is that the oline was merely acceptable against UNI. Which is an improvement from how our oline typically is.

Felt so nice to have special teams go our way an entire game. Not sure if there’s been a special teams game that good in the entire Campbell era.

They could not throw against us. As long as #11 (onyedi? Onyedim?) is back on the d line next week I feel good about our chances to hold EIU under 20 next week.

Optimistic for our chances against iowa, Cade has definitely improved their offense by a bit but overall it’s still the same ******* Brian Ferentz system

I felt the offensive line pass blocked okay, but there really wasn't any room for our running backs, most of what the backs did, they did it on their own. If we can't have any success running the ball and Iowa makes us one dimensional, it is going to be a tough day for the offense. Of course that doesn't mean we lose the game, our defense could do the same to them.

 

[Stormin]

Came away thinking if Dekkers was QB instead of Rocco that we might not have won.

 

[Cloneon]

What I liked overall today - -
Offense

• Ben Brahmer sure looks like our next TE draft pick doesn't he? His first catch is a 35 yard+ TD. Man he looks natural as a route runner.
• Abu Sama to me had a great run of 25 when our offense was a little stale. He has more wiggle and "make you miss" ability than Sanders. I think Williams was right on the postgame that the RB tempo for carries should be 1) Norton as the big heavy back, 2) sprinkle in carries for Abu Sama, he's a heck of a freshman
• Aidan Bitter caught a really nice 15 yarder and I think he can be more productive
• Rocco: he isn't particularly big or have a huge arm, but he is really accurate folks. The throws to both Moore and Brahmer were just in stride and help people get yards after the catch. He's my QB the whole Iowa game if i'm the staff but we will see
• TE room, positives: Tyler Moore is a great blocker and had a great TD. Brahmer will be a threat in the pass game. Burkle can hammer people blocking. This room doesn't miss Hannika whatsoever. If we can get Brahmer on the edge with an Iowa LB covering him..... that's going to be popcorn time.
• Nate Scheelhaase: the play action throw to Brahmer to me was defining for why he got the job. Up with a big lead, on their side of the 50.... . instead of a run up the gut he goes play action and goes for the jugular, gotta love that mentality.
• Negatives: OL could have been a tad better in run game but i'm nit picking.
• Negatives: Jaylin Noel, he had 4 receptions for 6 yards. (i realize he was overthrown on one play at least) But man I'd love to see more yards if he's getting 6 touches in a game. Now he's a terrific punt returner.

Defense

- Defensive Line: Tyler Onyedim could be an NFL guy, Dom Orange absolutely abused the center for UNI. I hope these guys are really active next week and beyond.
- Situational blitzing. Myles Purchase with a sack, Caleb Bacon with 2 sacks (by the way I had no idea who this guy was before this game). If we are to beat Iowa, I do think taking a couple chances on blitzes is key.
- Will Mclaughlin to me earned a starting spot back over Willich with how he played. Mclaughlin to me physically is our best linebacker right now. He covers a ton of grass.
- D player development: Trent Jones DT / Caleb Bacon LB. These are legitmately guys I had no idea they were even pushing the two deep. Here they are in 2023 producing sacks, that speaks to our recruiting/player development/strength team.
- Jacob Ellis 44 had a couple huge hits out there. I like the way he plays.
- D was opportunistic all day long. Cooper getting 2 picks was huge. If there was one gripe about the defense last season it is that they did not produce much in the turnover department. Good start to reversing that trend with today's events.

ST:
- We have a kicker who can kick long field goals. That's kind of awesome isnt' it?
- Punt coverage and kickoff coverage were good.
- Jaylin Noel had a really strong punt return, he's great in that role

I'm not sure everyone can appreciate just how awesome the punting was. It's one thing to kick it 50+ yards, It's a completely other to cover it as well as we did. I was in awe with every punt except for one. And that one was still better than most last year.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Oline still needs improvement. Need to spread the ball around better to receivers. Otherwise they looked good.

Things of note. We were rotating 7 guys on dline, 6 or 7 safeties, 6 or 7 lbs. That defense is legit.

 

[Big_Sill]

Wish Rocco would have gotten ALL the snaps. Nothing against JJ, i think we just need our best young QB to get as much experience as possible early in the season.

I get the idea of giving the backup some game reps, but I’d rather give Rocco a chance to really get rolling.

 

[demoncore1031]

Wish Rocco would have gotten ALL the snaps. Nothing against JJ, i think we just need our best young QB to get as much experience as possible early in the season.

I get the idea of giving the backup some game reps, but I’d rather give Rocco a chance to really get rolling.

JJ probably looked much better in practice so the coaches wanted to see what he could do in a game. Didn't really work out too well, though.

 

[CY88CE11]

If you're looking at offensive stats from yesterday, you're going to be disappointed. As CW said in his reaction podcast, the game script that unfolded let Matt and Nate keep the offense vanilla in the second half and avoid showing too much. The playbook will open next week. Also, a huge punt return and a pick 6 will always make your total yardage look weak. That's another 125+ yards we didn't have to gain to get to where we wanted to be.

 

[bosco]

Here's my take away:
Great defense, great special teams, and adequate offense will win a lot of games, including today's game.

If we do the above then teams will have to beat us instead of us beating ourselves.

 

[inCyteful]

Came away thinking if Dekkers was QB instead of Rocco that we might not have won.

Maybe. If Dekkers was QB and same score I would have more concerned.

I think it is lost on many that just about everything that matters with this offense was new. QB (essentially), OC, OL or back from injuries, Dean and Norton. We have seen similar situations for ISU where the offensive looked much worse than today. On top of that, the play calling could not have been more basic than what they ran today.

I thought Scheelhaase managed the offensive game very well for his first game as OC.

 

[IcSyU]

As CW said in his reaction podcast, the game script that unfolded let Matt and Nate keep the offense vanilla in the second half and avoid showing too much. The playbook will open next week.

I always hate this for a couple different reasons.

#1 they're going to see plenty on film about tendencies. Does the LG struggle to block to his right? Does the RT have poor footwork that can be exploited? Can the OL handle twists and stunts or get into the right protections? Where do they most consistently get push? Is a certain receiver hesitant over the middle? Coaches are looking for matchups to schematically take advantage of. 3, 41, 3, 17, 17, 10. Even with a 41 point game we have averaged 15 points in Campbell's tenure against Iowa. Parker owns Campbell's offenses. Change the play caller but the principals are still the exact same. We're still a power running spread offense that will have all the same wrinkles basically any other power running spread offense has because almost everyone copies someone else.

#2 Both sides coaches for the most part have seen about everything. There isn't going to be some mystery wrinkle that comes out from either team they haven't seen before. It isn't like Campbell hired a new OC running the air raid. Even if he did they would just go back to the previous film of that coach's offense.

#3 Does the same principle apply for Iowa then? The outcome of their game was never in doubt. McNamara HAS to be more skilled than Petras. Was Ferentz just holding him back? Just having someone with any skill taking the snaps would automatically make their offense significantly different.

 

[bosco]

To my uneducated eye the offense didn't look any different under NS then under TM. To those that have more knowledge did the play calling, play structure seem any different?

 

[Pope]

Here's my take away:
Great defense, great special teams, and adequate offense will win a lot of games, including today's game.

I hate to admit it, but this has been Kirk Ferentz's philosophy for many years, except he has struggled with the adequate offense part.

 

[cycloneworld]

To my uneducated eye the offense didn't look any different under NS then under TM. To those that have more knowledge did the play calling, play structure seem any different?

When you are up 30-0, I was hoping we would open things up a bit more to get more real game practice for next week. But instead we went into a shell. Coaches are way smarter than me and that might be the “right” thing to do but it was boring AF for a fan.

Not really a complaint because anytime a Matt Campbell team can win by 3 scores, I’m happy.

I’m not as concerned about the OL as others - no sacks and 5.0 YPC is just fine for game 1. The 8 punts on the other hand…