Ohio: Game Thoughts

[clonedude]

Special Teams is the biggest concern right now. We really don't do any of it very well. Kick offs are okay, but still too many are returnable. Kick off coverage is average at best, had one returned to the 50 yesterday. Punting is a nightmare- this will cost us a game or two if not corrected. Punt return is basically non-existent as usual for us.

 

[Jerms]

The great, the good, and the just so-so.

I. Defense

• Their best total game I thought. B/C SEMO is more limited and Iowa on offense is just plain pathetic. We made a good offense look poor today.
• Orien Vance's best game this year: 1 sack, a qb hurry, and a tackle for loss. Great to also see Will McDonald get a sack.
• Young pups: #6 Myles Mendezoon is going to be a good one. Had the great sack forced fumble play. He is also an absolute terror ons special teams and has 3+ tackles I can think of on the coverage units. Mendezoon I cannot wait to see next year more. Joey Peterson #52 had a sack. It was also great to see #23 Will McLaughlin get tackle for loss (he has serious talent), and Jayden Gray freshman DE get a tackle for loss. We have a bunch of dudes in the two deep who would be starters at other schools folks. We've done a great job replenishing talent at LB and the D Line I feel.
• Speaking of young pups. #95 Dominique Orange could be the best noseguard we have recruited since Atyba Rubin. He is playing well as an 18 year old on the d line, amazing.
• Anthony Johnson solidifying his spot as a NFL draft pick with a total beauty of an interception
• Myles Purchase to me is Brian Peavy. He is not flashy. He does not get beat. And some games they are just going to avoid his side. He's been a dawg so far.
• Malik Verdon was solid I was very worries about his neck/concussion but he returned later in the game, which is positive. We would also benefit from Beau Freyler being back next week.
• Is this the best defense under Campbell? It is early but it's easily the best D we have seen in the non conference in his tenure

Offense

• Hunter continues to impress me. The bad snap I thought was a rocket by Downing so don't put that all on him. He throws in such tight windows. The one to Shaw for a TD, the one to Deshawn Hanika for a TD, just beautiful throws. He's a top tier Big 12 QB already.
• WR: Hutchinson makes corners defend the whole field laterally, we really really really need an extra guy to be a deep threat.
• Noel had some nice catches. Still waiting for a big breakout game. He's averaging about 29 yards a game so far.
• TEs: Tyler Moore had a beautiful catch in mop up duty. Deshawn Hanika I did not know was this quality, he now has two td's on the season and appears to be a quality receiving TE for us. someone absolutely lit up Easton Dean on a cheap shot and I hated to see that.
• RB: Jirehl Brock is just consistent and steady, love his game. I think Deon Silas is really starting to take over the #2 RB spot. He makes more miss than Sanders and shockingly has the ability to move a pile with his stout frame. If it's in the red zone and Brock is out, I just trust Silas more than Sanders to get 3-5 yards.
• OL: I think they had an off game. Penalties, missed blocks in certain parts of pass protection. Campbell seemed very pissed with them all game. But hey, we had 160 yards rushing and won by 33 pts.
• Manning - I know this is not a loved take on this board, but his offense at the moment is balanced, unpredictable, and plays to our strengths. He is leveraging Hunter's arm to open up the run game, that needs to be our go to all season long.

Special Teams

- The punting was better the first two games where we averaged about 45 a punt (on the non blocked ones). This unit still terrifies me gong into conference play.
- The kicker Gilbert is perfect on the year. But good grief get the punt unit under control. After a few games this should not be so shaky.

Thought the Td catch by Hanika was incredible. That ball was tipped and maybe should have been picked. He adjusted on the fly to catch what ended up being a wobbly ball behind him.

 

[cygrads]

We did not get a sniff at THEIR punts, yet ours is always hold your breath time. Extra points have been sometimes low at the cross bar? Blocked today? Without the wind at our back, kicks are vanilla. Kick straight to the guy at the 5 yard line, with an open field in front of him. Simply not enuf coaching focus on ST's.

Agree, ST overall is still a big concern. After the first game I knew we were going to get a punt blocked now I have a feeling we are going to give up a long kickoff return - hope I'm wrong.

 

[bosco]

Special Teams is the biggest concern right now. We really don't do any of it very well. Kick offs are okay, but still too many are returnable. Kick off coverage is average at best, had one returned to the 50 yesterday. Punting is a nightmare- this will cost us a game or two if not corrected. Punt return is basically non-existent as usual for us.

KO coverage was not good. Blocked PAT. Special Teams is going to lose us game this year. Don't know why ST continue to be the failing grade for this program.

 

[dafarmer]

Injury status? Which player came out in the 1st half holding his helmet with both hands? Any other dings?

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

After three games we are 3-0, defense has been salty all year, and the offense is doing its share. Not sure anyone could ask for more than where we stand right now, considering what we lost to graduation last year.

The season gets real starting Saturday with a tough opponent, but at least we get them at home. After that the two Kansas schools, so we are not going to get a break playing a weak KU team on the road in two weeks.
The schedule is setting up to be a meat grinder, but doable. Just need to keep playing one game out at time and doing the little things, while fixing the special teams.

 

[hershy]

Love that we seem to be getting more take-aways this year on defense already. Wish we would have seen them turn into more TD's than just fieldgoals. Especially with the short fields the D has given.

I can't be alone in thinking that Reed had himself a pic-6 on that INT...

 

[AuH2O]

Seeing how teams across the power conferences are struggling against G5 and FCS teams, getting to 3-0 without stress vs SEMO and Ohio is impressive.

Special teams are bad right now, and I’m sure like Baylor last year and the last few Iowa games this will either cost ISU a game or at least make it close when we have a huge yardage advantage.

But in each of the last three years our ST started off very poorly and got better as the season went on. Let’s hope that happens quickly this year and doesn’t cost us Ws.

 

[clonedude]

After three games we are 3-0, defense has been salty all year, and the offense is doing its share. Not sure anyone could ask for more than where we stand right now, considering what we lost to graduation last year.

The season gets real starting Saturday with a tough opponent, but at least we get them at home. After that the two Kansas schools, so we are not going to get a break playing a weak KU team on the road in two weeks.
The schedule is setting up to be a meat grinder, but doable. Just need to keep playing one game out at time and doing the little things, while fixing the special teams.

Generally agree with this, we should all be very happy with where we are at right now.

However, I’m also in the Matt Campbell camp that believes instead of this just being a good football team…. believes it could be a special team, a great team…. if it can just correct some things.

And that’s why at halftime yesterday, up 30-3, he was not a happy camper at all. As he said…. it was WAY too sloppy, and if we play like that in the Big 12 we’ll get beat. And he’s dead on about that.

I don’t think it’s going to be a very enjoyable film session this week at all for this team…. or practice. A lot to correct.

CMC knows we have the potential to be so much better, but not if we play like yesterday.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Generally agree with this, we should all be very happy with where we are at right now.

However, I’m also in the Matt Campbell camp that believes instead of this just being a good football team…. believes it could be a special team, a great team…. if it can just correct some things.

And that’s why at halftime yesterday, up 30-3, he was not a happy camper at all. As he said…. it was WAY too sloppy, and if we play like that in the Big 12 we’ll get beat. And he’s dead on about that.

I don’t think it’s going to be a very enjoyable film session this week at all for this team…. or practice. A lot to correct.

CMC knows we have the potential to be so much better, but not if we play like yesterday.

The difference between good and great usually isn't much. And right now it seems special teams and penalties are once again standing in the way.

Don't want to complain much at 3-0 in September but it looks as if the difference in many of these conference games will not be much.

Clean those up, get a little luck and who knows......might be as good of year as any lately. Which would be impressive considering the talent that was here the last few seasons.

 

[cyatheart]

No. Perkins is taking too long to get the punt off. We will see more punts blocked during conference play, I guarantee it

Would not shock me to see an xtra point or field goal blocked. Just the trajectory is really low .

 

[Aclone]

We did not get a sniff at THEIR punts…

Okay, so I must be hazy. Was it a field goal that Darien Porter almost got then, instead of a punt?

 

[Aclone]

According to Wikipedia, Rubin was recruited as an O-lineman and switched to D-line the following year

This would be why Wikipedia is not a valid source for kids’ research papers.

IIRC, Tuba played both ways at JC (maybe one year on defense, one on offense?), but was listed as an OG by the recruiting sites of the time. I even wanted him to be an OG, because I thought he could be awesome there. And we had a need.

But McCarney had a jones for Tuba playing defense, he qualified late and reported after the semester started—and the rest is history. Mac was right.

On defense the whole time at ISU.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

I was surprised that was Johnson’s first career pick. Like, he’s a multiple time all conference player, isn’t he? I guess that shows how much I undervalued him (already thought he was great) that apparently teams just never tried to throw at him.

Also really wish we could have Reeder for more than one year. Kid is special.

 

[khardbored]

This would be why Wikipedia is not a valid source for kids’ research papers.

IIRC, Tuba played both ways at JC (maybe one year on defense, one on offense?), but was listed as an OG by the recruiting sites of the time. I even wanted him to be an OG, because I thought he could be awesome there. And we had a need.

But McCarney had a jones for Tuba playing defense, he qualified late and reported after the semester started—and the rest is history. Mac was right.

On defense the whole time at ISU.

Agree, wikipedia can be suspect. Thanks for info.

(You can edit the Wiki page!)

 

[clonedude]

Would not shock me to see an xtra point or field goal blocked. Just the trajectory is really low .

Speaking of FGs.... what is the longest FG attempt we've even attempted this season? Seems like we haven't even attempted very many, but the ones we have have all basically been chip shots, right? I'd be scared to attempt anything over 40 at this point.

 

[Aclone]

Agree, wikipedia can be suspect. Thanks for info.

(You can edit the Wiki page!)

I used to do such a thing.

Until I realized someone would just edit it back to the incorrect info almost immediately, pretty much every time.

 

[khardbored]

I can't be alone in thinking that Reed had himself a pic-6 on that INT...

I thought that too.

Looked like if he had just paused a half-step for whoever was (sort of) blocking for him to get out ahead, he would have beat that last guy and taken it to the house.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

Speaking of FGs.... what is the longest FG attempt we've even attempted this season? Seems like we haven't even attempted very many, but the ones we have have all basically been chip shots, right? I'd be scared to attempt anything over 40 at this point.

Yesterdays 39 yarder I think has been the longest though it looked like he probably would have made it from 45 at least.

Part of that, too, I think, is that there really haven’t been many places to try a long field goal this season.

The opportunity never really came up against SEMO, and then wet fields against iowa and Ohio probably from a mentality standpoint, isn’t the best place to trot out your freshman kicker for a 50 yarder (unless it’s a must make like iowa had at the end of the game against us).

 

[FallOf81]

Special Teams is the biggest concern right now. We really don't do any of it very well. Kick offs are okay, but still too many are returnable. Kick off coverage is average at best, had one returned to the 50 yesterday. Punting is a nightmare- this will cost us a game or two if not corrected. Punt return is basically non-existent as usual for us.

Couldn't agree more esp regarding punting. When we are up 3 with 2 mins. To go and get stuffed and opponent takes the the W from us .... then it will be a priority. Unfortunately appears that's what it's going to take.