Margins?

I don't know. I am pretty patient, Matt will figure it out, it took Dabo Swinney awhile to really get it rolling...but the constant special teams errors, the constant poor line play, the constant self inflicted issues, over and over again. It's getting old.

I guess the false starts were down on Saturday. Really I am pretty down on this because we just looked slow at every position on offense. Hopefully it's just rust.

You should take a better look at Dabo's coaching records.
 
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the probability of a kick off return for a TD is pretty low. how many kickoff have we had under Campbell? How many KR TD's have we given up?

Blum probably knows both of these answers.

Probability is low but the result is always high impact. We blow up very few rocket ships, but when we do everyone dies.
 
And high? With hang-time so we can get downfield?
I'm not a special teams expert by any sense. But Sean Snyder, who I recommended to you guys last fall, certainly is one. And he consistently kicked short to the corners. Most often that caused the other team to start inside their 25. Some were high, some were fairly flat kicks. Too often they went out of bounds for a penalty. His guys got down the field to defend very quickly. And they wanted to play on special teams.
 
I'm not a special teams expert by any sense. But Sean Snyder, who I recommended to you guys last fall, certainly is one. And he consistently kicked short to the corners. Most often that caused the other team to start inside their 25. Some were high, some were fairly flat kicks. Too often they went out of bounds for a penalty. His guys got down the field to defend very quickly. And they wanted to play on special teams.

But he actually coached the special teams, as opposed to whatever we do.
And yes, you were probably right.
 
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Using "inside the 25" as a blanket comparison doesn't tell the whole story though. Again, the difference in yardage is probably pretty damn minimal in the grand scheme of things. All I know is that kickoff coverage was horrendous on Saturday and we would be better off kicking the ball deep and taking the return out of the equation.

I agree. I think that it's a crap strategy. The upside is you possibly pick up a couple of yards, the downside is you could get housed. IMO you find a kid with a huge leg that puts almost every single kick through the endzone. And I don't give a damn if he can kick a FG. Get someone else to do that.
 
Good catch. Very ominous. Now this guy is saying this job is harder than others. Let’s hope he doesn’t believe it.
Yeah, I don't like the phrasing either. Hopefully he was simply pissed off and trying to give answers to get out of there and get back to work.
You can read between the lines and see it as an excuse that Iowa State is regularly going to be at a disadvantage every time we step on the field. If that is our coach's true thought and answer after getting pushed around by a non-P5 opponent then this season just got way less fun.
 
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You guys are reading too much into the statement. You have to remember that he's got to stay consistent with what he's communicating to the players. It wouldn't matter if he had top 10 talent, the message to the team is always going to be that they have to win with details and preparation.

Besides, he has and will continue to improve the talent at ISU, but his goals are always going to be well above that talent level, so that message is never changing. It doesn't mean he thinks he can never get enough talent here to win consistently or win conference titles.

In some ways it's like basketball coaches always harping on defense, yet everybody knows that a great scorer's going to play.

I'd classify the Campbell era as winning DESPITE sucking pretty hard on the margins. Winning on the margins is getting outgained by 100 yards but winning because you win special teams, turnovers, and penalty battles. That hasn't been this team.

I'm annoyed as anyone with the sloppy play followed by coachspeak. But watching Campbell's teams line up and belong on the field against Oklahoma and Texas, and not need some ******** miracle day like being on the receiving end of 8 TOs to beat a mediocre Nebraska team is pretty stark. Not to say Rhoads didn't have some legit good games - Okie St., at TTU, at TCU, but for the most part they needed to play really clean games to win. The McCarney era was similar - some good games and good teams, but mostly had to be really on the right side of the TO and penalty battle to have a chance against ranked teams.

The past 5-6 games have been frustrating and alarming. But improving a program doesn't happen linearly.
 
The team is ALWAYS young and inexperienced.

Every year. Here is why.

We don't develop talent, so the Juniors and Seniors (mostly from Iowa) don't play.

The new recruits (and the JUCOs) play. Besides, the reason they came to Ames from Texas is because the coaching staff promised then they would start.

A similar situation in basketball each year. Bring in 6, 2 play, 4 transfer.

A coach's dream. Every year.

"We are young and inexperienced".
 
You guys are reading too much into the statement. You have to remember that he's got to stay consistent with what he's communicating to the players. It wouldn't matter if he had top 10 talent, the message to the team is always going to be that they have to win with details and preparation.

Besides, he has and will continue to improve the talent at ISU, but his goals are always going to be well above that talent level, so that message is never changing. It doesn't mean he thinks he can never get enough talent here to win consistently or win conference titles.

In some ways it's like basketball coaches always harping on defense, yet everybody knows that a great scorer's going to play.

I'd classify the Campbell era as winning DESPITE sucking pretty hard on the margins. Winning on the margins is getting outgained by 100 yards but winning because you win special teams, turnovers, and penalty battles. That hasn't been this team.

I'm annoyed as anyone with the sloppy play followed by coachspeak. But watching Campbell's teams line up and belong on the field against Oklahoma and Texas, and not need some ******** miracle day like being on the receiving end of 8 TOs to beat a mediocre Nebraska team is pretty stark. Not to say Rhoads didn't have some legit good games - Okie St., at TTU, at TCU, but for the most part they needed to play really clean games to win. The McCarney era was similar - some good games and good teams, but mostly had to be really on the right side of the TO and penalty battle to have a chance against ranked teams.

The past 5-6 games have been frustrating and alarming. But improving a program doesn't happen linearly.

Consistent sure, but that is an awfully quick way to lose a team. They know what the problems are and they aren't the only ones who have to prepare and execute. It gets really frustrating executing a plan that's never going to do much. Kick coverage is not much strategy and just players who have to make the play so I'm not as worried on that front. In fact not covering kicks as well lately kinda hints to me that he is already starting to lose some cache on the team.
 
Should have beaten Okie St.
Should have beaten K-State.
Should have beaten Louisiana.
Didn't show up against Notre Dame (or Louisiana).

You hang in there 07, I see a concerning trend and a coach that talks a great game.

Since we're bumping old threads. This had some good laughs.