Iowa scored 10 points in the 3rd quarter on 8 yards of offense.
Sadly, that was classic iowa football. Do not make mistakes and do not beat yourself. Their special teams and our offensive ineptness determined the game.
Punt Return
- Thread starter KCyclone2010
- Start date
Sadly, that was classic iowa football. Do not make mistakes and do not beat yourself. Their special teams and our offensive ineptness determined the game.
That is "playing not to lose". That isn't how he got ISU to this point......I hope he doesn't continue.
Campbell wants to be like Iowa/Ferentz in this phase but we absolutely suck at it. Iowa OWNED us in the punting phase yesterday like I’ve never seen before. In almost every punt exchange, they gained and we lost. It was a clinic.
Im more concerned about Dunn’s punting. I hold my breath every time he’s on the field.
I’ve been saying it every year. Special teams is the 3rd phase of the game and we need to put more focus on it. Our offense was terrible today but our ST were worse. Imagine if we really were the 9th best team. Our ST were embarrassing for a team at that level. There are HS teams more prepared to punt the ball and return punts than our guys.
Iowa’s punt/punt return game is terrific and Iowa State’s is awful. This accounted for at least 14 points due to field position.
It was where the wheels came off in my opinion. Defense had a huge series to force that punt deep in Iowa end zone. We finally did something to somewhat flip the field, and it got messed up. After that it was punt, fumble, interception, interception.
We put 3 returners deep when Iowa was punting from their own 4. None of them proceeded to catch the ball and they ended up netting 69 yards. Losing in the margins.
The punt return strategy each week is forfeiting about 30-75 yards of possible field position. Iowa always tries to return punts - most teams do - we think we are above that, too risk adverse, whatever the reason it’s outrageous. Do the max block scheme to never try to block one and get returns. We need it. Milton must hate going out there for that, also his judgment SUCKS in letting it go or catching it.
OK, I personally do not get the clamoring for a "special teams coordinator". That's a freaking title. We have guys that coach special teams. Personally, I want the 10 "on field" assistants to be guys that can coach positions AND recruit. I'm not going to complain about how the staff is structured. What I WILL complain about is our PR philosophy. If you don't trust Milton to make the right decisions back there, find someone else who will. If you are going to fair catch everything and not block anyone, go for the punt block. I have no idea what they're trying to do there.
I had a lot of frustration from the game yesterday but this was the easily the worst offense. The ONE time you need to fair catch it you let it go past for what ended up as a 30ish yard loss. Simply inexcusable.
That play and in the 3rd quarter I believe where Purdy rolled right, had green in front of him on a 3rd and 5, and tried to throw a pass down field as our WR was almost out of bounce. Just get the 5 yards running the ball and keep the drive going.
I was trying to watch the EIU punter yesterday, he would catch the ball on the snap, and then just wait a second before he kicked it, allowing his teammates to get down the field to cover the kick. Instead of trying to put a rush on him to speed him up, we played for the fake punt, token pressure at best and then tried nothing for a return.
What ever happened to the idea that a punt returner sets his feet on the 10 yard line and NEVER goes back, if its kicked over his head, he lets it go. Yesterday we must have fair caught at least 3 kicks inside our 10 yard line. And as others have said, the kick that needed fielded, at the 50, instead of coming up to catch the ball, he let it hit and bounced for 25 yards and start the drive at the 25.
Its just crazy.
Bottom line. We have to get the punt game figured out and fast. With our defense we are going to see a lot of punts. Does anybody know what our average starting field position has been the last two games?
Starts with replacing the returner. Move on from Milton. Maybe Eli or one of the other young skill guys can fair catch, know where the 10 yard line is, or gasp, even return one.
I get that people are upset with the offense, but I don’t see it as playcalling issue. The punt returns are what is infuriating to me. Leaving so much on the table because we’re afraid of a really low percentage chance of a fake or a fumble. I don’t see a single team in America fielding punts the way we do. If 1A high school teams can field a punt, why can’t we?
Agree. And it's the coaches determine who's on the field based on athletic ability and decision making skills. The latter has to improve.
Give somebody else a shot.
That’s personnel, I think. Dunn is average at best, Tory Taylor is probably the best punter in the country. The punter we’re bringing in on scholarship next year has nice leg though.
