Iowa 27, Missouri 24: Did That Really Just Happen?

Fuck you we’re Iowa.

but I really enjoy winning close games in the fourth quarter than losing them. And having an OC who calls plays that not everyone in the viewing audience knows are coming. So, what I’m trying to say is GO HAWKS!!!! IOWA AWESOME!!!!

when the fuck is Micah Hyde going to start returning kicks?!?!

The Hyde pick tonight was just about the replica replay of the Sash pick-pitch to Hyde against MSU. In that game he also made a Sayers like terraced weaving and dodging run to the left side of the field;
That guy just knows what to do with an interception, now if he would just make some more of them.

Stanzi is now tied with Chuck Long for most passing td’s in a season (I believe). He would have broken the record on the Reisner conversion, but I think that 27tds to 6ints is something we would have taken without a question in August if you offered it.

Coker was a beast. Even better for an Iowa fan’s perspective, he will only get better as he has more time in the system (assuming, of course, that immediately after the game he was flown out to an undisclosed location in a secret location to keep him from the clutches of AIRBHG). As I believe SMA mentioned, Coker’s running form needs adjustment, he tends to run bent over and leaning forward, not straight-up and down from the waist.

One complaint, then rare praise (from me) about KOK. First, WHY do we insist on having the wrong personnel packages in the game? The non-fumble return off a Chaney drop (right call by the refs, BTW) is made all the more inexcusable for the fact that Keenan Davis WAS NOT in the game at the time. In fact, Davis was barely present at all, despite probably being our most talented WR from a pure physical standpoint. Instead we have Chaney trying and Nordmann actually (amazing catch and run) making catches in the game, all the while DJK is spending time preparing his defense and our next best WR only taking kicks. There are many, many problems with KOK. The most pressing seems to be our complete mis-management of personnel. We burn offensive redshirts, only to never have them contribute meaningfully (Davis, Polish Hat), then stick with players who have shown they don’t have what it takes to play their position (Chaney – great on kicks/punts/end-arounds, miserable hands). This has to stop.

That said, all criticism of KOK has to take a back-seat to the praise he deserves for having the HUGE cajones to call that 3rd-down play-action pass to Reisner. I remember saying, right before the play, that if we had a daring offensive coordinator, we’d call a quick handoff to Morse; if our OC had balls of steel, he’d bootleg with an option pass. The stated assumption being that we’d never, in a million years, do either with KOK. I was wrong. So very, very wrong. And KOK deserves a metric shit-ton of credit for having the balls to call that play.

I gave up after Mizzou went ahead. Had a great jam session, but… I WAS SO WRONG ABOUT THIS GAME.

Also, the line judge biffs it as Coker strolls into the endzone.

so making my way through part II. Am at a comment that seems particularly apt, given how this game turned out. At 12:18 EST, the Bird Cult wrote the following:

We are going to lose this by at least 14

Maybe a good old fashioned thumping will FINALLY wake Ferentz up. And maybe some reporters will have the stones to finally ask the tough question at the presser.The ironic part is, he was absolutely right. Iowa won, but we won by some fluke plays. And while those fluke plays may slightly balance the season’s karmic scales, the simple fact remains that Iowa probably should have lost this game. And lost this game in the same way as we lost the other 5 (or 6) games this season: a failure to get points when we could and an inability to stop an opposing offense in the 4th quarter.

Tonight was a great win, one we desperately needed. And there were some truly great individual performances (Coke, Hyde) that will get all the praise (and probably more) than they deserve. And I won’t take a single thing away from either. But the fact remains that the coaching staff was incredibly slow to make OBVIOUS changes, and to squander amazing peformances by some of their players. I fear that tonight’s win only allows the coaching staff to avoid the hard questions.

Lets see how long the bandwith lasts…

Cant wait till we (Nebraska) play you guys next year!

But I do play one on message boards. My thoughts:

Everyone calling for a change in coordinaters – be careful what you ask for. Our base schemes are very solid. When working well the systems work. Sometimes looking like the best program in the country. Problem is our predictability. Even a fuckstick like Millen knows what we are going to do and when we are going to do it.

I think the pass/run ratio needs to be tilted a little more towards passing. Especially early in the games. We wouldn’t be the first program to use the pass to set up the run. Imagine what Coker and what projects to be an outstanding line could do if safeties and LBs had to worry about our recievers doing crossing routes.

On defense. Bring the corners up just a couple of yards, please! And sprinkle in some blitzs more than we have in the past.

Lastly, I wouldn’t underestimate the effect that smoking a little blaze had on this team. I smoked a barn full of the stuff when I was young. So far be it from me to cast stones. But I have a hazy memory of not being real focused in those years. Misplaced priorities are one of the first casualties of someone who smokes the stuff at that age. As people get older they either stop smoking or learn how to become functional users. How many kids on this team were (are) using? Going out to blow a fatty before film sessions and then mindlessly chillin’ through the entire film break down, perhaps.

So I guess we either make them stop getting high or get a team of small town radio DJs in to camp to teach these kids how and when to smoke.

i got to beleive one of the few pices of karma
we got this year
was the third down call last night
if we cover the wiscy punt
and don’t let the trinket dealer pryor pick up that 4th,,,
then we are all shitting in tall Xl64
doesnt excuse KOK ,,, with Tom Wolfe apologies

I know most of the commenters here hate my buckeyes, but I found myself not only pulling for Iowa but openly cheering for them last night. Coker is a beast and I don’t look forward to seeing him for 3 more years. Iowa always seems to be the team that has the gritty good wins for the Big Ten to hold up as an example that a running game and tough defense can win. Great win last night.

momentum-wise was our third play from scrimmage where he converted third and (more than?) ten to McNuutt to keep the eventual TD drive alive. I just feel like it was hugely critical to start the game off right, or we were risking another egg-laying.

Iowa’s defensive philosophy cannot handle the hurry-up spread on a consistent basis unless your team has other-worldly cover linebackers.

Ferentz has stated, I believe, that his philosophy is to play conservative, let the opposing team have little chunks but no big plays, and wait for the opposing team to make a mistake. That finally happened last night and against Indiana, on Gabbert’s pass and Belcher’s drop. Belcher’s drop is a physical mistake and Iowa was lucky for it, but those things happen. Gabbert’s mistake was 100% mental, and if he just throws the ball away, it’s game-over, 4th-quarter loss yet again for Iowa.

The spread as being run in college football basically replies to Iowa’s defense as “okay, we’ll just try for five yard outs and ins over and over and over again. Since you’ll give them to us, great. Plus, they’ll be mostly easy passes so we’ll minimize our chances of making mistakes.”

This could, of course, be an aberration of a year. Gabbert’s a legit NFL prospect. Nick Foles, too. I don’t think the Spread will catch on everywhere, and I think when you’re dealing with 17—24 year olds, counting on the other team to make mistakes is a decent strategy, but I, like others, would like to see some sort of acknowledgment (doesn’t have to be explicit, maybe change in recruiting, change in actual on-field play) that shows that the coaches recognize this and will do something about it.

This is how Oregon/Malzahn obliterate people: no-huddle, 85 plays, no time to substitute for down and distance, or rest.

I think this fast-break tempo is what DC’s have to figure out this year.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH! GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!

and there’s a long, tenuous history that might keep it from being said. I’ll fall on the sword…

O’Keefe called a hell of a game last night. The offensive mistakes were not on him in the slightest. Sure, the foot came slightly off the gas pedal like always later in the game, but the mistakes fell wholly on Stanzi on those interceptions. When the offensive line is playing like they were last night, and when this offense has a workhorse like Coker who refuses to go down on first contact, KO’K has all the pieces together to put together a killer game… and he did last night.

Yes, I am a hater, generally speaking. But I have to give credit when it’s due. Ken showed signs of pulling his head out of his ass last night, and made calls that make our offense tick.

…but I’m surprised at how sad I am that last night was his last game. I really wish he would have broken Chuck Long’s record.

Also, is there any place to get DVDs of past seasons, because I really want to rewatch last year.

That second thread was gignormous. I tried opening it up this morning and it made my computer do bad things.

A collection of photos from Sash’s INT from the DMR. Scroll really fast and it’s like a flipbook. WHEEEEE.

Was sitting in his jail cell watching Coker steal his starting spot next year. Drugs are bad, mmmkay.

Hell of a game, gentlemen (and/or gentleladies). I’m personally sad that my night ended with sad-type drinking instead of celebratory, but one fan-base had to do it I guess. And booze is booze, of course! You’ve got a hell of a back in Coker and good lord did your O-line manhandle our VERY capable D-line. Stanzi didn’t have an incredible game but damn is he handsome with those luxurious locks, am I right or am I right?

Have a happy new year!

There was no ‘next man in’ for DJK. I think Stanzi really suffered not having him in the game, and there was a period of about two hours when NONE of our receivers got separation. I think we need to credit DJK’s impact, as if we have to be reminded given that he is #1 all-time, because without him Missouri really had nothing to fear in respect of our passing game. I concluded that DJK truly distorted teams’ pass coverage schemes all year. A disrupter like DJK makes it easier for everyone else. And Stanzi looked positively uncomfortable without DJK.

Now, next year, we will still be running the same simple scheme, and every team will know exactly what we run and usually when we run it, and there is no evidence yet that Keenan is a difference-maker who can impose his own disruption and distortions on defenses.

Other random notes as the transition begins:

Our defense can survive without All Big Ten position players. Except at linebacker. We put a lot of pressure on our linebackers. The fast-break offenses increase that pressure each year.

I thought Tanner Miller looked big and fast and in the flow, which is good because it sure sounds like Sash is gone if he gets a good rating from the NFL guys.

In the first part of this decade, pre-Tate, the coaches always worked the number 2 QB in for a series or two, even in the first half. Tate and Stanzi didn’t share. I wonder if this is going to be costly next year with VDB.

Don’t look now, but if Rogers has a congenital heart problem, we don’t have a fullback who has played a snap. Not one snap. Our offense doesn’t work without a fullback who knows where he is and what he is doing. This is one position where I don’t groan listening to the coaches talking about ‘trust’, because if the fullback is not on the right page, VDB is going to get killed.

Going into next season, we will be celebrated as having the best O-line in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. I hope it goes better than what we saw, post-hype machine, with this D-line.

Coker, who outran the secondary of Mizzou after piledriving one of them onto his butt, will be praised as a tough but somewhat slow big guy. This is the same BS that attended Shonn Greene, costing him $10 million, until he outran the San Diego secondary last year. Even now, watching Greene beating linebackers to the edge, I hear startled surprise in the announcers, to the effect of, “Gee, for a big guy he’s kinda fast.” I think, right now, Greene is quicker to the edge than LT. This is annoying.

I enjoy, unlike a lot of people hear, listening to Millen. I think he ‘gets’ Iowa and correctly comments on what Iowa is trying to do, respects it, and doesn’t do what most announcers do, which is compare Iowa to the flavor-of-the-month clubs.

Jerry Kill is going to be a handful, no matter that he looks like Mr. Peoples, or whatever the old Charmin ad actor was called. Minnesota is already our match from a talent standpoint, I think, and they’ll be a real football team next year.

Incidentally, thanks to everyone for contributing to the mayhem that is BHGP that I enjoyed most every day, no matter the frustrating season. And to think, it’s a lasting distraction that’s they don’t make us purchase, except with lost productivity. I just wish I could delete my posts, from time to time, but thanks for not holding them against me too much.

I didn’t even know he went to Mizzou. So gracious. Again, good game Mizzou!

OK, it’s clear to many of us that we need more DB’s than LB’s against spread-passing teams. Comments:

1. These teams do not usually have a dominant run-game, but as our line gets gassed with time and effort, and as our defense is back on its heels worrying about pass defense, even these teams can run the ball well later in the game. Purdue has hurt us this way in the past, for example.

2. It’s a helluva lot easier to find a big quick cover safety than a small quick cover LBer. How hard can it be to have 5-6 DB’s ready to play each spread-opponent game? Not as hard as keeping ALL of your freakishly-quick LBers healthy, as we found this year when Tarp and Nielson both went down. One upside: playing all of those DB’s gives them game-experience, so when you need a dime back, it’s someone whose number you actually recognize.

3. We ask our DB’s to tackle people in space all the time, and they’re good at it, so the idea that we need an LB crew for run support all the time is a bit fallacious, unless you’re playing a power-I team. But playing NW (with Trumpy as RB), or Mizzou (with nobody as RB) or IU (ditto)—I’m not convinced that a DB can’t be good in run stopping.

4. We are not good at rushing 3 and putting 8 into coverage against experienced accurate QB’s. We need to stop doing that, unless we decide to blitz a 4th rusher.

5. Norm is a smart guy, I think he knows the above. But as Stoops said, we can either be ahead of the curve or be crushed under it! With the pace of the game speeding up, we can’t afford to let the opponent run 80 plays anymore in a game. Either take a few risks and make a stop, or give up a TD even, but get them off the field every so often. Or shorten the plays themselves with blitz-pressure, so the QB can’t park himself back there while our d-line futilely exhausts itself. I, too, will be pissed if we come out against NW in our base 4-3 defense with 3 LBs and no blitzes. That ain’t the future of defending against that type of team—that’s the past.