We WERE ahead of schedule at the beginning of last season. Lots of veterans. Came out and pounded a good tulsa team. Jantz played very well. Our defense dominated after a sloppy 1st quarter.
Quiet Confidence with this team...
- Thread starter jburke
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We WERE ahead of schedule at the beginning of last season. Lots of veterans. Came out and pounded a good tulsa team. Jantz played very well. Our defense dominated after a sloppy 1st quarter.
I'm cautiously optimistic. I still wouldn't be shocked if this year's team only notches three or four wins just because of the overall lack of experience and tough schedule. However, based on quotes from the coaching staff I believe that this is the most talented and athletic team in the Rhoads era. If the young players grow up in a hurry and they get out of the non con at 3-0, then six or seven wins and a bowl trip is absolutely within reach.
QB - better
RBs - better
OL - better
TEs - better
WRs - no different (tough one)
K - no different
P - no different to better (no different is still great)
DTs - Anywhere from worse to better (Coe and company realistically could determine season)
DEs - See DTs, better there means better here with the reverse being equal
LBs - worse (by default)
Corners - no different to better
Safeties - better
KR - no different to better
PR - no different to better
Coe, Irving and company is going to be interesting. A more productive offense will help. I'm excited for the season. Rhoads says this is the most talented group, fastest most athletic group - fun stuff. Just get through the first 3 unbeaten somehow.
RBs - better
OL - better
TEs - better
WRs - no different (tough one)
K - no different
P - no different to better (no different is still great)
DTs - Anywhere from worse to better (Coe and company realistically could determine season)
DEs - See DTs, better there means better here with the reverse being equal
LBs - worse (by default)
Corners - no different to better
Safeties - better
KR - no different to better
PR - no different to better
Coe, Irving and company is going to be interesting. A more productive offense will help. I'm excited for the season. Rhoads says this is the most talented group, fastest most athletic group - fun stuff. Just get through the first 3 unbeaten somehow.
The thing is I could see Them being pretty good by the end of the season but at the beginning I'm expecting a lot of inconsistency. I don't like the fact they have a bye after the first game. The inexperienced players need more game reps.
this is the way I read it: the coaches are seeing a lot of good play mixed with a lot of bad play. IE, someone like Coe will make an amazing play that no one on last year's team could have, and then the next play gets beat badly. In other words there may be a lot of wow plays, both good and bad at the beginning of the year.
I see it the other way. As a fan, I hate their early season schedule. But I think it might be beneficial for the less experienced players - make your rookie mistakes early, correct the problems with the extra practice time during the bye weeks, and then the learning curve isn't quite as steep once conference season hits. Live game reps are the best way to learn, but the coaches having a controlled time and place to help coach up a young player during the season isn't such a bad option either.
With a young team I think just the opposite. Get a game under their belts so the staff can evaluate how these young guys did in game conditions, see how they react, strengths, etc... and then they have a solid week to work on these targeted areas before having another week to prep for the next game. Then get a second game under their belts and have the benefit of another full week to work on and fix mistakes before having another full week to prep for the next game. Having this schedule could prove extremely beneficial by giving these guys an extra couple of weeks to target specific areas for improvement that were identified under game conditions. They wouldn't necessarily have the time to work on these areas once they get into the weekly grind when they have no bye weeks.
This boils it down perfectly. When you go out there and constantly find yourself in 2nd and 8 or 2nd and 9 against UNI, how do you expect your offense to go out there and put up 35 points per game against Big 12 competition. If we can't impose our will physically on UNI we will find ourselves behind the chains a lot the rest of the seasons, we will have trouble converting in 3rd and short type situations, and that will kill drives and keep us from putting up points. We've watched it for years, we all know how that goes.
Yes UNI is a good FCS team, and yes there is a rivalry factor that gets them amped up for this game. But given all that, they are the softest team on our schedule and if we can't push them around and impose our will, then dig in for a long season. I'm not saying the sky is falling if we don't win this thing along the lines of 45-3, but we better see a lot of long drives, and we better finish a lot of them in the endzone. If this is a 24-17 hard fought win, that spells danger to me.
Last year we had swagger...now it's quiet confidence.
http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/154610-swagger.html
Aclone last year :smile::
http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/154610-swagger.html
Aclone last year :smile::
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Except that the opponents are going to have more game reps under the belts at the time ISU plays them. That's a huge disadvantage and will be true for games 2 - 5 at least.
Yeah, but that team had very limited growth potential. I mean, how much better were the QBs going to be and how much better could our defense get to be over the course of the year. This year, if just a few guys "get it" they could improve a huge amount from beginning to end.
What does it matter? Most of the opposing players already will have more game experience playing college football then what these young ISU players have anyway. It's about teaching moments and opportunities to correct mistakes early in the season so these young guys can learn rather then continue to make the same mistakes over and over.
Early bye weeks let these guys get their feet wet rather then say not having a bye week until week 8 or 9 and just throwing them in the deep end before you know how good of a swimmer they are. At that point a bye week that late with a young team creates a sink or swim situation for the first 7 or 8 games.
If only we could schedule teams like Missouri State and Directional Michigan, maybe we could get some good warm up games for the young guys before conference games start.
I see what you did there... but hey... we scheduled Iowa and they are pretty much like a Directional Michigan school so the team has that going for them. :yes:
I agree with you but have a little more optimism that they will do great things on the field. I watched a replay of CPR's comments regarding the 2009 Nebby Game. The announcer was trying to ask him how he planned to win win without his starting QB & RB and before he even got the words out CPR passionately said "AS A TEAM". These kids were brought here by Rhoads and I firmly believe that by now they share his passion plus their increased athletic ability, strength and speed. I stopped drinking the Kool aid and am now on an I.V. Kool Aid drip
