Close Calls i still believe in this team for next year

madguy30

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There is one HUGE elephant in the room that no one addresses when they point to the offense and say they completely failed our defense. If you do that, you have a very shallow understanding of the game.

Our defense was actually aided to an extreme amount by our offense. I felt our offense extremely underachieved in scoring points but they did the one thing that aids the defense tremendously, they moved and held the ball. If your offense has the ball and wins the TOP, then the defense does not have as many possessions that it has to defend and will look even better by having less points scored against it and less yards given up.

Our main offensive problem is not moving the ball, it’s converting in the red zone. Campbell has the offensive style he wants, it slows down the game and makes closer games which makes the defense fresher and look better stats wise. Why I don’t see any major change in the OC and offensive philosophy.

And while the defense was good, there were times like the Tech game where when Tech pressed the next possession after giving up the lead, they put ISU on skates.

ISU football history is full of weird seasons and this was one of them.
 

Turn2

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We have a former player who runs one of the nation's premier kicking camps. If we had one decent place kicker we go 7-5. We didn't.
 

jbhtexas

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Our main offensive problem is not moving the ball, it’s converting in the red zone. Campbell has the offensive style he wants, it slows down the game and makes closer games which makes the defense fresher and look better stats wise. Why I don’t see any major change in the OC and offensive philosophy.
An offense that wants to live off of time-consuming drives with a relatively high number of plays requires a couple of things:
1) Mistake-free football. No penalties, drops, missed blocks, etc. Mistakes kill drives
2) Impeccable red-zone play calling, because those drives are likely going to end up in the red-zone, as opposed to a big-play type offense that can score from further out.

ISU does not really seem to be good at either of those.
 
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dafarmer

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It was definitely a 4-8 that should have been way better rather than a 4-8 that we were fortunate to have. There's a whole world of difference between those two, so I'm excited to see what growth, experience and adjustments we have made. We're certainly not far off.
I always was taught you make your own breaks
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
An offense that wants to live off of time-consuming drives with a relatively high number of plays requires a couple of things:
1) Mistake-free football. No penalties, drops, missed blocks, etc. Mistakes kill drives
2) Impeccable red-zone play calling, because those drives are likely going to end up in the red-zone, as opposed to a big-play type offense that can score from further out.

ISU does not really seem to be good at either of those.
If you do the first, the second is taken care of by the first.
 

chetsger

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Kicking is all mental. Every kicker that is on a D1 roster probaly has the leg. I think Gilbert will be fine after this year... I hope.
 

isufanz1

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If Ifs and buts, we’re candy and nuts…. We would all have had a merry Xmas. Unfortunately all we have is ifs and buts.
 

GetAwesome

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Yes, a single (season) data point is not a cause for panic, but multiple (seasons) data points form a trend. And that trend is declining special teams and offensive efficiency (o-line, playcalling, YPP, etc...).

In lighter news, this trend line also shows by end of the 2023 season our QB starting spot will increase to 10 yds behind the LOS with 4 & inches to go, and we'll have invented the 15-step QB dropback to lead the nation in negative-yard crossing routes.
 

CapnCy

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people need to take a chill pill yes the season did not go how we wanted it to go . we were playing very young in very important positions qb rb wr (except x) tight end db (except anthony johnson). and except for tcu we were in every single game.

baylor - if beau doesnt get eject on 1st drive different ballgame
kansas-- freshman kicker had a couple misses other wise win
k state- we have the ball for the final driver to set up win just missed on couple passes
texas -- normal surehanded x drops the go ahead touch down pass another probable win
okalahoma-- ehh
ok state - noel drops another sure fire go ahead td pass int the 4 qrt
texas tech - 2 missed fg again chip shots other wise win

i remember before matt became the head coach we were getting smoked by pretty much every team on the schedule besides kansas.

we have a very strong core comnig back if you look at the d line line backers and with tampa and purchase on the corners and beau at safety our db field will probably be rated top 3 in big twelve . dekkers got a lot of experience this year (he got no help from the running game at all ). i really like norton and sanders (plus we have abu sama coming in).

oline i personal think moving downing to center was the worst move we made but that is a debatable subject. yes we need some new leader ship in the oline area but you have tyler miller so tyler maro fr remsburg coming back along with simmons.

our recored could have been 9-3 instead of 4-8 if we just got some breaks that didnt go our way. i still believe in matt campbell he will get things figured out . we had 5 years of success we can again

I'm with you....that's what made this year even more weird....last place didn't feel like last place (ok, TCU did) as we *cliche* lost the games, other teams didn't beat us (i know, i know, one play impacts the next play, blah blah blah).
Even two of these and it is a "let down" season more than a train wreck.

The one that really sticks for me was the K-State start of the game. Reeder over ran a sack that would have had them punting from the endzone...instead they had a deep TD (was that the first drive, even?). I feel that would have changed that game dramatically.
 

jbhtexas

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If you do the first, the second is taken care of by the first.
I disagree completely. If an offense chooses to run right at the best defensive lineman in the country, and they can't block him well enough to make the run successful, that doesn't necessarily mean that the blockers made a mistake. It could mean that they didn't have the skill and athleticism to carry out what they were asked to do. Perhaps a play with a better likelihood of success should have been called.
 
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ZuriCyclone

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LOLLL, these close loses have been happening for the last 6 years, because of the offense/special teams.

CMC has refused to change , but next year will be different. The insane world folks live in.

This is the most successful era of Iowa state football because of the defense staff of john Heacock.
 
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jbhtexas

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And best in yards per game and yards per play by a good bit.
And in order to compensate for the subpar offense, that defense would have needed to hold the opponents to an average of around 15 ppg, which is a rather unrealistic expectation for a modern P5 defense, particularly in a conference where the opponents are not terrible at playing offense.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
I disagree completely. If an offense chooses to run right at the best defensive lineman in the country, and they can't block him well enough to make the run successful, that doesn't necessarily mean that the blockers made a mistake. It could mean that they didn't have the skill and athleticism to carry out what they were asked to do. Perhaps a play with a better likelihood of success should have been called.
I seen too many teams change their offenses in the red zone and not score. If you are doing what you exampled and it turns out that way, you aren’t making the red zone anyhow.
 

jbhtexas

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I seen too many teams change their offenses in the red zone and not score. If you are doing what you exampled and it turns out that way, you aren’t making the red zone anyhow.
So you are suggesting that the reason ISU can't score well from the red zone is because of players making mistakes?