Iowa Game Thoughts and UNLV look ahead

[JD4560]

I would like to see the Mevis kid get a try at punting Saturday if the opportunity arises. I thing Dunn should be done if he can't preform at a consistent level. Does he have to be Iowa's punter all the time no. But its always when and not if he shanks a punt.

 

[ZRF]

What I am saying is if you move on field resources to more focus in one area by definition you have to move them from other areas. Btw last year is the most recent Special Teams data available and if you take out our lack of ability last year to kick off and create touchbacks, our Special Teams overall were far from the cluster you claim. In Kick off we were 114, but Kick Return was 15th.

I get that and never disagreed with it. What I don't get from you is how can you not say (both) A) special teams are a problem and have been a consistent issue over Campbell's tenure and B) the solution to the problem isn't on the staff as if it was it wouldn't continue to be an issue.

We had Kene returning kicks, one of the most underrated players on the team last year. But the rest? We had major coverage issues and special teams single handedly cost us the game against Louisiana. There isn't a rational Cyclone fan I know that doesn't think special teams have been a point of weakness for several years. Campbell has done a fantastic job but he's failed to fix special teams and/or acknowledge how much it's hurt this team. At some point he will have to reassign someone (or people) and or get rid of someone to make it work. It wouldn't be the first, nor would it be the last time a coach made such a move to the benefit of the team.

 

[superiorcyclone]

I'll start with the good and end with the bad (that would be the O and then Special Teams)

Defense

• Zach Peterson looked all big 12 yesterday. Tackles for loss (2), qb hits, and just everywhere owning people. I loved to see it.
• Will McDonald is averaging a sack per game in the last two seasons all most, unbelievable. He has to be on first round draft boards coming up.
• Our starting LBers are studs but the backups are proving they are very good too. Daeshawn Davis, Aric Horne, and Gerry Vaughn are all very quality.
• CB play as good minus the Iowa throw in Q2, that was a dime by Petras (his only good throw of the day really)
• Kymmani King (19) is my surprise impact guy on defense thus far. He hits people like Isheem and is probably faster. Great player.

Offense

• Hutchinson - don't want to pick on him too much but that was a poor effort outing by him. The two dropped crossing short passes were killer and the tipped one led to a gift INT for Iowa.
• As Williams and Blum alluded to, against a team like Iowa - playing slow is doing exactly what they would want. I'm upset we didn't adjust more to an uptempo strategy. Hindsight is 20/20 but you do have to know when it's not working. An uptempo worked with Dekkers obviously.
• Milton - great to see him finally get a TD on a good play. We constantly move him around and need to work on getting him the ball more. He is just a lot better than Scates and is our best hope for a threat outside of Hutchinson.
• 3rd receiver - what do we do here? This so far has been a real disappointment. Scates hasn't done much at all, Wilson showed a flash with his 40 yard catch and run but we obviously need more from the whole room. Daniel Jackson had a catch for 20 yards, does he need to play more? Ezeriah Anderson got some snaps. The entire WR room needs to be challenged, they've been a dud so far.
• TE - I would sit Charlie this week to get him healthy, we do not need him to beat UNLV.
• Rus has been a bright spot, he blows people up in blocking and is actually pretty talented at the quick slip screen I love that play.
• O line - in run blocking they finally got something in the 3rd quarter going but by that time the game had slipped away already. Simmons, Remsberg, Downing, and Newell all need to get more room for our rb's. I expect Breece to go wild next weekend.
• It's very easy to see why Dekkers was the Iowa gatorade player of the year. 6"4, can move, and has a bazooka. Future is bright.
• Eli Sanders, let's see some more of him, ditto with Jaylin Noel.

Special Teams

• Kicking has been fine, the kick return and punt coverage units have also been fine
• Punt return - I saw multiple punt returns in the nfl today, many punt returns on highlights yesterday. I don't know if we operate under different rules here at Iowa State but this is kinda embarrassing to me.
• The punt return is an easy way to get a cheap 5-10 yards and we seem to forfeit that all the time. For Tarique Milton - his likely only shot in the nfl is to play as a punt returner or slot guy, and we don't even give him a chance. It's a blatant disrespect to his skillset. I think at this point the strategy of fair catch, or let it fall an extra 20 yards sucks and i'm now done ranting about it

Time to put a beat down on UNLV. They're 0-2 and have to be mentally beat some. Need a total attitude shift on offense and I hope we can do that Saturday. Still a lot to play for this season. I look at the tier of the big 12 outside of OU and hardly anyone scares me. Brock has been great for 3 years in a row in October and I hope that continues.

I thought the ball just bounced EIU's way. Those tipped balls are somewhat bad luck. Also, you throw to your wide receivers in single coverage. Hutch got beat badly on that int. Not Purdy's fault at all.

 

[NoCreativity]

I thought the ball just bounced EIU's way. Those tipped balls are somewhat bad luck. Also, you throw to your wide receivers in single coverage. Hutch got beat badly on that int. Not Purdy's fault at all.

Enough of this " ball just bounced the other way". Losing to them 6 times in a row isn't just bad breaks. I love Campbell but for all the "winning in the margins, and doing the little things to win the game" we aren't even close against Iowa. Instead we got guys taking out the punt returner, our All American running back gift wrapping am easy TD, Purdy continuing to make horrible throws, and guys on the offensive line just getting outplayed.

I dont agree that that was X's fault either. That was an absolute wounded duck, Purdy underthew him by 5 yards.

Go sprint 50 yards at full speed and try to reverse course to catch an undertthrown ball with a defender behind you and let me know how that turns out for you.

 

[cyclonehomer]

I thought the ball just bounced EIU's way. Those tipped balls are somewhat bad luck. Also, you throw to your wide receivers in single coverage. Hutch got beat badly on that int. Not Purdy's fault at all.

I genuinely don't understand how you could think this. Just because Lazard and Butler won just about every contested catch doesn't mean those are always good throws. If X gets led down the field with a good pass, it's a TD. He badly beat Hankins on the route.

 

[JM4CY]

 

[cyclonehomer]

I never saw the hit before, but I remember the call over the radio. My lord, what a dirty hit.

 

[JM4CY]

I never saw the hit before, but I remember the call over the radio. My lord, what a dirty hit.

I remember hearing it on the radio too but totally forgot about it till I saw that hit. He got ejected didnt he? Who was that?

 

[CloneGuy8]

I remember hearing it on the radio too but totally forgot about it till I saw that hit. He got ejected didnt he? Who was that?

Leonard Johnson. I believe that was his freshman year

 

[cyclone1209]

I remember hearing it on the radio too but totally forgot about it till I saw that hit. He got ejected didnt he? Who was that?

Leonard Johnson, man could really bring the wood. Nice pro career too.

We had better be ready for these guys they will come out inspired.

Our offense really needs to get more imaginative. IF the double TE set sucks we need to trash it, it was totally worthless against Iowa. Meyer and Blythe really hammered that on their pod and I agree completely. We can't stretch the field with it at all. I know it worked last year some and in our big games, but I'm starting to think that worked b/c of Soehner mostly.

 

[khardbored]

Was UNLV the team that came to Ames many years ago, and after a close loss, the head coach of UNLV was angry, walking around saying "it's not over!" assuming the refs would somehow review something after they had left the field? And he tripped while a camera was following him?

I know that happened, just not sure if it was UNLV.

 

[JM4CY]

Was UNLV the team that came to Ames many years ago, and after a close loss, the head coach of UNLV was angry, walking around saying "it's not over!" assuming the refs would somehow review something after they had left the field? And he tripped while a camera was following him?

I know that happened, just not sure if it was UNLV.