Line coach

[ISUCubswin]

I’ve been fairly impressed with the pass block scheme. Think we do a really nice job, more than typical ISU, of giving our QB time to throw.

Unfortunately, we have no run block.

Now, if you start passing the ball to open up the run game, which I know goes against CMC and JPs philosophy, maybe you can put a little less pressure on the run block

 

[khardbored]

Yeah, it's bad. But have to give him some time.
Blame here goes on bad O-line recruiting of the past.

 

[simply1]

Clanton didn't show notable improvement in Cedar Falls until year 3 which also happened to be the year he had two NFL tackles plus two other guys that have bounced in and out of the league.

You've got to let him get his guys in. This wasn't going to be a flip of a switch plus this line is way smaller than the line he wants. He wants monsters. There aren't monsters on this roster.

Smaller in what way? They’re all over 300 pounds.

 

[everyyard]

Clanton didn't show notable improvement in Cedar Falls until year 3 which also happened to be the year he had two NFL tackles plus two other guys that have bounced in and out of the league.

You've got to let him get his guys in. This wasn't going to be a flip of a switch plus this line is way smaller than the line he wants. He wants monsters. There aren't monsters on this roster.

Isn’t it one of the biggest o-lines in the country?

 

[hiltonisheaven]

Isn’t it one of the biggest o-lines in the country?

And slowest. Neal can hardly move

 

[everyyard]

And slowest. Neal can hardly move

That wasn’t what was said, but yes

 

[larrysarmy]

Clanton didn't show notable improvement in Cedar Falls until year 3 which also happened to be the year he had two NFL tackles plus two other guys that have bounced in and out of the league.

You've got to let him get his guys in. This wasn't going to be a flip of a switch plus this line is way smaller than the line he wants. He wants monsters. There aren't monsters on this roster.

I agree with you on the 3 years. The unfortunate reality is that he won’t have 3 years to get it done.

I think JP knows the gambling issue made everything worse, considering CMC got a new OC and Line coach prior to losing 4 offensive starters and best (likely) returning playmakers and had no chance at going portalling to replace for 2023. That sucks.

CMC deserves the attempt to dig out, but he’s gotta show something to end this year with momentum, if not, blood is in the portal water and hopeful, youthful talent will 1. Need to be retained and 2. develop to make the jump next year to stabilize and right size the current projectory of the fball program. You can’t count on 3 years to develop anything, hope Clanton can make difference sooner rather than later.

 

[AuH2O]

No one is expecting Clanton to be a miracle worker in year one. And no one reasonable was expecting them to be great.

But in the run game the weren’t good, mediocre, below average or even bad. They were horrible. Completely ineffective and dominated by a MAC team. This is not a line full of guys that have never played.

As for Bruns, he got critical of the OL after it was obvious they were bad. But going into Big 12 play he was all about these guys being absolute studs.

I don’t look to the meteorologist to tell me it’s raining after it’s been doing so all day.

 

[hiltonisheaven]

Bruns is the biggest sunshine pumper in the CyMediaVerse.

Doesn’t mean he won’t be right, but it’s hard to trust it right now

Bruns didn't yell or use swear words like the rest of us, but what he said on the podcast was not sunshine.
My understanding of Bruns' analysis:
1) The plan was to bring in a heavy package with (3) TE's which was successful 3 years ago, except the TE's on this team can't block anyone. Klotz is effective but he's not playing due to injury. The effect of the heavy package is it sucked extra players in the box and the players couldn't block them.
2) The QB has not shown, or has not been allowed to be a running threat, therefore the back side LB's are not respecting it at all and crashing the back side.
3) Simmons and Neal on the left side of the line are not working well together on the combo blocks.
What to change?
The defense is very aggressive in the box but ISU still needs a run game. If TE's (and Oline) can't block, should let the QB run on the zone read, if not could try split running backs (wing T), move the pocket with boot leg, or run a QB draw.
My Thoughts:
Players, Formations, Plays. CMC should understand their personnel is not capable of executing the same packages that worked in the past. Soener, Seonbuckner, Chase Allen, Charlie Kolar, and Purdy's running ability made that offense work.

 

[madguy30]

No one is expecting Clanton to be a miracle worker in year one. And no one reasonable was expecting them to be great.

But in the run game the weren’t good, mediocre, below average or even bad. They were horrible. Completely ineffective and dominated by a MAC team. This is not a line full of guys that have never played.

As for Bruns, he got critical of the OL after it was obvious they were bad. But going into Big 12 play he was all about these guys being absolute studs.

I don’t look to the meteorologist to tell me it’s raining after it’s been doing so all day.

To be fair ISU ran the ball a bit last year before the conference season.

 

[deadeyededric]

Never buy into the offseason hype or reviews, only thing you can trust is the product on the field.

If a team goes 4-8 and loses 8 contributors without replacing them in the transfer portal one can assume a team isn't going to be very good.

 

[besserheimerphat]

While watching games live, I’m just a fan. But having gone back and watched clips from Iowa and Ohio, we have guys that either just flat out miss their guy or there is major miscommunication/misunderstanding about assignments. I see two guys engage a DL, then BOTH of them leave for a LB. One of them needs to stay engaged on the DL. Or they both stay on the DL, and the LB fills the gap and makes the tackle. That stuff is fixable, but looks terrible until everyone gets it figured out because you have a bunch of defenders running free.

I have noticed a lot of plays the DL is slanting hard, which makes blocking angles really tough. They never seem to slant the wrong way, which makes me think we are too predictable based on our formation/alignment. Need some kind of counter to force them to play more straight ahead, which makes blocking easier. It’s damn hard to reach block a guy who is to your play side and moving away from you. The example I’ve seen a lot is a TE trying to get his head across a DT who is lined up outside shade on the Tackle and at the snap is trying to collapse inside hard. Meanwhile that Tackle is trying to work upfield to a LB. The DT ends up knifing directly into the RB who is looking for a crease. Or the DT disrupts the Tackle, so the LB is able to fill the gap and make the stop.

There are times when our young backs just don’t see what’s there. That will develop and help too.

 

[Nococy]

While watching games live, I’m just a fan. But having gone back and watched clips from Iowa and Ohio, we have guys that either just flat out miss their guy or there is major miscommunication/misunderstanding about assignments. I see two guys engage a DL, then BOTH of them leave for a LB. One of them needs to stay engaged on the DL. Or they both stay on the DL, and the LB fills the gap and makes the tackle. That stuff is fixable, but looks terrible until everyone gets it figured out because you have a bunch of defenders running free.

I have noticed a lot of plays the DL is slanting hard, which makes blocking angles really tough. They never seem to slant the wrong way, which makes me think we are too predictable based on our formation/alignment. Need some kind of counter to force them to play more straight ahead, which makes blocking easier. It’s damn hard to reach block a guy who is to your play side and moving away from you. The example I’ve seen a lot is a TE trying to get his head across a DT who is lined up outside shade on the Tackle and at the snap is trying to collapse inside hard. Meanwhile that Tackle is trying to work upfield to a LB. The DT ends up knifing directly into the RB who is looking for a crease. Or the DT disrupts the Tackle, so the LB is able to fill the gap and make the stop.

There are times when our young backs just don’t see what’s there. That will develop and help too.

maybe someone is tipping plays off but I think technically the last 3 years fundamentals where not a top priority with old line coach. hard to break old habits in a year

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

While watching games live, I’m just a fan. But having gone back and watched clips from Iowa and Ohio, we have guys that either just flat out miss their guy or there is major miscommunication/misunderstanding about assignments. I see two guys engage a DL, then BOTH of them leave for a LB. One of them needs to stay engaged on the DL. Or they both stay on the DL, and the LB fills the gap and makes the tackle. That stuff is fixable, but looks terrible until everyone gets it figured out because you have a bunch of defenders running free.

I have noticed a lot of plays the DL is slanting hard, which makes blocking angles really tough. They never seem to slant the wrong way, which makes me think we are too predictable based on our formation/alignment. Need some kind of counter to force them to play more straight ahead, which makes blocking easier. It’s damn hard to reach block a guy who is to your play side and moving away from you. The example I’ve seen a lot is a TE trying to get his head across a DT who is lined up outside shade on the Tackle and at the snap is trying to collapse inside hard. Meanwhile that Tackle is trying to work upfield to a LB. The DT ends up knifing directly into the RB who is looking for a crease. Or the DT disrupts the Tackle, so the LB is able to fill the gap and make the stop.

There are times when our young backs just don’t see what’s there. That will develop and help too.

I posted yesterday after the game that we either are giving away when we run the ball, or the schemes and formation are so simple that teams know when we are going to run and put 7 or 8 guys in the box to stuff it.

The new line coach is going to take more than a few months to get his players in here and build them up. We are blocking great on pass plays, but the run game is a problem. So is it the scheme or the technic that they are being taught or maybe our linemen are just not real good? When I think back to past teams, few if any of those linemen are playing at the next level, so that tells me, we have to start bringing in better players, and coaching them up, which is going to take a year if not two.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Traditionally in a shotgun zone run scheme the RB will be lined up opposite the strength. So for example if the formation is strong right, the RB will be to the QBs left.

On a strong zone run, the RB will take the handoff in front of the QB while crossing left-to-right. The entire offense moves to the right and the RB looks for creases to develop. To counter, the defense fights to stay in their gaps and keep any creases from opening up - or at least to allow LBs to get to the RB while he's still trying to make a read.

A zone read takes advantage of this aggression and goes the other way. By forcing the backside end to consider the QB, it delays the pursuit and gives the RB another half-second to find an opening.

I've said before we appear to be trying to block that DE, rather than reading him, so the zone read isn't going to be our constraint play. Maybe eventually it will be a QB run. Maybe it will just be a counter from the same formation/initial motion. Maybe some kind of TE leak play action thing. But we need SOME kind of constraint play to keep the defense from playing SO fast downhill on our base run game. If we've been running something, it hasn't been often or effective enough to force the defense to change.

 

[madguy30]

Bruns didn't yell or use swear words, like the rest of us but what he said on the podcast was not sunshine.
My understanding of Bruns' analysis:
1) The plan was to bring in a heavy package with (3) TE's which was successful 3 years ago, except the TE's on this team can't block anyone. Klotz is effective but he's not playing due to injury. The effect of the heavy package is it sucked extra players in the box and the players couldn't block them.
2) The QB has not shown, or has not been allowed to be a running threat, therefore the back side LB's are not respecting it at all and crashing the back side.
3) Simmons and Neal on the left side of the line are not working well together on the combo blocks.
What to change?
The defense is very aggressive in the box but ISU still needs a run game. If TE's (and Oline) can't block, should let the QB run on the zone read, if not could try split running backs (wing T), move the pocket with boot leg, or run a QB draw.
My Thoughts:
Players, Formations, Plays. CMC should understand their personnel is not capable of executing the same packages that worked in the past. Soener, Seonbuckner, Chase Allen, Charlie Kolar, and Purdy's running ability made that offense work.

Yeah his analysis sounded like this rundown pretty much and added that it's very well that ISU just doesn't have the guys to do the job. That's obvious but better than 'no, they're good I swear!'.

It's kind of odd that so many are blowing up the Oline for how bad they are but then expect ISU to start running counters, traps, and screens or think the receivers are good enough to do much more.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Clanton didn't show notable improvement in Cedar Falls until year 3 which also happened to be the year he had two NFL tackles plus two other guys that have bounced in and out of the league.

You've got to let him get his guys in. This wasn't going to be a flip of a switch plus this line is way smaller than the line he wants. He wants monsters. There aren't monsters on this roster.

Iowa State does not have a small offensive line. It is something like a top 10 heaviest OL in all of FBS. So unless they are lying about these guys listed weights, size isn't the problem

 

[ScottyP]

When I watched the replay of the UNI game, it looked like our left tackle was wearing cement shoes and missed at least half his blocks. I understand that UNI was probably quicker due to size but the left tackle looked like he had no business playing D-1 football let alone starting for a power 5 program.

 

[werdnamanhill]

Jesus you guys complain about CF staff more than you complain about the team

 

[singsing]

I'm not knocking Clanton at this point. He doesn't have much to work with. I was a receiver and dback way back so never played in the trenches so not going to say I'm any type of expert on line play, but I also wrestled. Learned a lot on gaining leverage, balance, and footwork. Our oline is terrible at all three. Top heavy, don't get under the dines pads, TERRIBLE footwork! I even stopped watching the side of the ball Miller's on. Unwatchable. Leans forward and down on his rush blocking and ends up on his face every time.