I am not taking things too seriously. I am a passionate Cyclone fan just like you. I can't wait for the football season to get here. I don't know what the end result will be, but I am excited to see. I did dumb your post, mostly because you are so positive when talking about CBF and the WBB program, but yet rarely show the same optimism with CMC and the football program. Both programs are in a great place right now, why be so negative when we haven't even started the football season yet.
2024-25 ISU FB Early Predictions and Offseason Discussion
- Thread starter Jer
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I think OL is probably the position group on most football teams that is most criticized by fan bases across the country. Fans don't really understand the details of the play on the line and can only make gross observations. As a result, if a play doesn't work often the OL is blamed. CMC made a great hire in Clanton and I think we saw improvement last year. I expect we will see more improvement this year. We all know that better OL play is needed to finish where this teams wants to go, but expectations must be realistic. It is very rare to have a physically dominate OL and the guys needed to do that against Big 12 competition are likely attending Ohio St., UM, Texas, OU, Bama and such. This group just needs to be solid. It doesn't need to be dominate. I think we have the personnel to do that, but they need to do it on Saturdays. And they need to be more consistent. Even Iowa, with the great OL history they have had in the past, has struggled recently with offensive line play. OL is a thankless group.
Tom Manning wanted nothing more than to score on a 15-play drive, which is hilarious given that our whole defensive strategy is based on the idea that teams can't do that without making a mistake. We saw the same strategy early last season when they had zero trust in Rocco. As the season went on, and Rocco got to throw more, we started being more aggressive. Hopefully that's where we start the season this year.
A couple points: it wasn’t just Abu. Noel and Higgins had big plays. And KSU is getting all the hype this year but nobody bats an eye at that game for them. Our skill guys blew past them multiple times. Our OL mauled them for the most part. Both teams had to deal with the conditions. As for the bowl game, Memphis was a good team playing hyped up at home, and caught us in a bad spot early with a depleted secondary. No excuses, we sucked. Couldn’t run. Thats an issue that has to get fixed this year or we’ll be another 7-6 team with a bunch of what-ifs.
Time to move on to the new season!
When he signed, I thought that Detlin Hasert had a ceiling very much along the lines of guys like Keith Sims and KO—albeit in different dimensions.
After last year’s injury, it’s kinda sounding like he’s finally getting a chance to realize that potential.
Starter at LG?
After last year’s injury, it’s kinda sounding like he’s finally getting a chance to realize that potential.
Starter at LG?
I hope this is me just being a Debbie downer, but I’m somewhat concerned about the offense going into this year. Another first time playcaller, with an offense that really struggled to run the ball at times thanks to poor o-line play. I hope I’m wrong and it ends up being nothing, but it also feels like this is being glanced over by a lot of people.
Domonique Orange made Bruce Feldman's "Freaks" (in a good way) list.
Matt Campbell has developed a bunch of NFL talent in Ames. The 6-4, 325-pound Orange passed on FSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas to join the Cyclones. The massive D-lineman is living up to that hype. He started five games last year and had 16 tackles, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention honors in his second season in the program. He benched 450, squatted 650 and cleaned 365 this offseason, but the most impressive thing is his vertical jump of 34 inches at his size. That goes alongside his modified reactive strength index on the force plates (.86 m/s, which is considered elite).
If you have an Athletic Membership here is the full article:
15. Domonique Orange, Iowa State, defensive tackle
Matt Campbell has developed a bunch of NFL talent in Ames. The 6-4, 325-pound Orange passed on FSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas to join the Cyclones. The massive D-lineman is living up to that hype. He started five games last year and had 16 tackles, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention honors in his second season in the program. He benched 450, squatted 650 and cleaned 365 this offseason, but the most impressive thing is his vertical jump of 34 inches at his size. That goes alongside his modified reactive strength index on the force plates (.86 m/s, which is considered elite).
If you have an Athletic Membership here is the full article:
If we are a run first team again, we will struggle. If we pass to open up the run like we did the last half of last year, I think we will be just fine
Right and I've already pointed out that I'm not discounting that game. And I used Sama's runs as one example.
It was merely the point that it wasn't the norm for ISU to rip off 70 yard scoring plays, and asking if that game affected that explosive plays ranking. It's interesting because they were fairly explosive but not like that night.
Do you have an answer to that? What is your argument against asking it?
'KSU played in the same conditions' isn't the discussion.
