Cy-Hawk Game Discussion

stewart092284

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They had decent stats in sacks and TFL's but that was padded when they played weak teams. They were 105th of 131 in scoring defense and basically gave up 200+ in both rushing and passing.

Which makes Iowa struggling all the stranger. They were actually bullish on their DL coming into the season but no disrespect, its still a MW team that is more offensively oriented than defensively.


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Which makes Iowa struggling up front all the more intriguing for Saturday. If our own offense, and Rocco or Rocco+JJ, whatever, can score 2-3 times, touchdowns that is - or we get a non-offensive TD...

I don't know that Iowa can score. Yes, Utah State had new faces and looked much better than a year ago defensively. BUT - it was still Utah State.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
They had decent stats in sacks and TFL's but that was padded when they played weak teams. They were 105th of 131 in scoring defense and basically gave up 200+ in both rushing and passing.

Which makes Iowa struggling all the stranger. They were actually bullish on their DL coming into the season but no disrespect, its still a MW team that is more offensively oriented than defensively.


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Which makes Iowa struggling up front all the more intriguing for Saturday. If our own offense, and Rocco or Rocco+JJ, whatever, can score 2-3 times, touchdowns that is - or we get a non-offensive TD...

I don't know that Iowa can score. Yes, Utah State had new faces and looked much better than a year ago defensively. BUT - it was still Utah State.
But does the MW have better overall offenses than the offense optional big ten?
 

stewart092284

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But does the MW have better overall offenses than the offense optional big ten?
Yes and no - at least the part of the Big 10 Iowa plays the majority of its opposition from.

Although there are some duds - Wyoming is essentially Minnesota. Colorado State was awful, Hawaii was bad, UNLV is OK, New Mexico is bad, San Diego State is good but better defensively so they're kinda like a Iowa - Illinois - Minnesota

So its not a explosive conference. I would say actually as I go through the list - its probably comparable. Boise State isn't what it used to be.

There's Fresno State - and then a lot of meh in terms of true scoring power. Air Force can score on you but that offense generally means its not scoring 40 (averaged 27 last year in a 10 win season)


Its still a fun, competitive conference. But with Boise State not being as good, Hawaii not being at peak effciency and missing the TCU / Utah's of the world, its not a wide open conference offensively anymore.
 

JM4CY

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Iowa fans when the Hawkeyes win despite being outgained: “Scoreboard! Punting is winning! Elite defense!”

Iowa fans when the Cyclones win despite being outgained: “You guys suck, lol”
What's hilarious is that these are the same fans that say they can't wait till the Ferentz' are gone and yet they have an orgasm over beating mostly horrible teams with 1970's football.
 

stewart092284

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But does the MW have better overall offenses than the offense optional big ten?
Northwestern averaged more yards per game last year than San Diego State, Wyoming, and only 7 off of Hawaii. Iowa would have finished ahead of both Colorado State and New Mexico.


So, last years Utah State defense as BAD.

Which is why some people thought Iowa could score 40 or 35+ because it was so bad. I might eat my words and have them look like freaking Kansas City in their prime on Saturday but I'm not overly concerned with Iowa's offense. If we had a high functioning offense I think we race track them off the field Saturday.

As it is its a rock fight and unfortunately, there are very few times that in the history of man kind that are better at rock fighting in a football game than Iowa. Not exactly a compliment but true.
 
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Nor'MidWester

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I wouldn't doubt it. If he's forced to run a couple of times and gets hit, it could be over for the day. What I'm actually worried about, and hope our guys are locked-in on, is that he's not going to take a hit. He's going to try and slide/dive so we can't come flying in and try and lay the wood because an ejection would certainly be called. I watched a scramble play where he got like 3 yards and then the sack he took where he took a dive before the contact. Certainly smart on his end, I'm just saying our guys gotta be smart.
You're right. We are due for a targeting ejection aren't we... most likey on Iowa's first or second drive just to make it even better. Seems like we had one every other game the last couple years.
 
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Statefan10

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All very true - that said, the FCS as a whole got completely demolished opening weekend so I do KINDA get the point that offensively, I'm not expecting much this season from us. and will hope to be pleasantly surprised but I expect to look a lot like Iowa when it comes to winning games. Which is 100% fine because at the end of the day the goal is to win games but I expect this season to go bowling games will look a lot like Kansas last year and just hope Contreras can keep hitting FG's. I hope I'm wrong but we're relying on a freshman or redshirt freshman QB, incredibly young RB's and a OL that has underwhelmed at times.

I have sky high expectations for the defense
As of now, I even have higher expectations for ST

My darkest fantasy is a 27-0 win over Iowa and I could almost die happy.


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ESPN+ is also good for watching now relegated Leceister City in the championship lol
FCS top to bottom is bad lol. The bad teams in the FCS are horrible. UNI is not a bad FCS team though. At least they aren't projected to be. Who knows, they could end up being bad.
 
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PizzaTheHutt

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The energy I get in these threads sometimes. It’ll be okay guys, take a lap.

Very positive week 1. Week 2 at home is setting up nicely. I think this will be two in a row for the good guys. Have some faith. If you’re still nervous and negative at game time, drink until you don’t know where you are. It’ll be fine.
 

stewart092284

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FCS top to bottom is bad lol. The bad teams in the FCS are horrible. UNI is not a bad FCS team though. At least they aren't projected to be. Who knows, they could end up being bad.
Very true. And while I personally can't stand Farley - I don't see UNI being bad;. He's too good of a coach for that.

I also don't know if they are FCS playoff worthy but I don't think they will be bad.


The biggest thing that surprised me about Iowa was how very "meh" their offensive line looked. Now, I know they could make a bunch of improvement since that is the saying from week 1 to week 2 BUT - for that program, it was very very meh up front.


They're never to very rarely going to have a ton of perimeter talent. But they generally good at OL. Right now, I'm not sure they are



If we were more experienced I'd say spreading them out, Iowa can be had a little defensively early in the season. By condensing the field though I think kinda plays into where they are stronger at the moment
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Kirk must have a job lined up for BF next year. There is no way that he would do the stupid 25 pts per game and not have a backup plan. The publicity that it is getting is very high (because of the low amount and including all points) so if BF doesn't get it, he has basically tanked his career. All I can think is he fires the OL coach and puts him there. Some have mentioned going back to NE but even old Bill is getting a warm seat.
 
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Statefan10

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Very true. And while I personally can't stand Farley - I don't see UNI being bad;. He's too good of a coach for that.

I also don't know if they are FCS playoff worthy but I don't think they will be bad.


The biggest thing that surprised me about Iowa was how very "meh" their offensive line looked. Now, I know they could make a bunch of improvement since that is the saying from week 1 to week 2 BUT - for that program, it was very very meh up front.


They're never to very rarely going to have a ton of perimeter talent. But they generally good at OL. Right now, I'm not sure they are



If we were more experienced I'd say spreading them out, Iowa can be had a little defensively early in the season. By condensing the field though I think kinda plays into where they are stronger at the moment
They did fine in the passing game. I'm not worried about their passing game though with our DBs. I'm also not worried about their running game either, as it was atrocious against Utah State. I'm more worried about our offense, and like you said, are we going to try and beat them at their own game or are we going to spread it out a bit? If we're going to try and stuff it down their throat, it's going to look a lot like 2021.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
They did fine in the passing game. I'm not worried about their passing game though with our DBs. I'm also not worried about their running game either, as it was atrocious against Utah State. I'm more worried about our offense, and like you said, are we going to try and beat them at their own game or are we going to spread it out a bit? If we're going to try and stuff it down their throat, it's going to look a lot like 2021.
I think Campbell has learned that you have to bring a couple guys at their punter to not let him stand there for 4 second and then kick it. Make him catch and kick and he doesn't bury you as well. He's a good punter, but a lot of their punting success was not putting any pressure on him and the gunners are 15-20 yards downfield before the kick is off and the returner just abandons it then.
 

Statefan10

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I think Campbell has learned that you have to bring a couple guys at their punter to not let him stand there for 4 second and then kick it. Make him catch and kick and he doesn't bury you as well. He's a good punter, but a lot of their punting success was not putting any pressure on him and the gunners are 15-20 yards downfield before the kick is off and the returner just abandons it then.
Yeah it'll be interesting to see how our special teams does on PR because it's obviously been atrocious in this game (crying while typing). I think we're going to be more aggressive like you said, and send more pressure while at the same time setting up a return scheme. As we said in the preseason, just catch the damn ball. That's all you gotta do. If Taylor hits some good ones, which he will, you just gotta tip your cap to the man, but you can't allow a bad play on punt return determine the outcome.
 
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JP4CY

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The energy I get in these threads sometimes. It’ll be okay guys, take a lap.

Very positive week 1. Week 2 at home is setting up nicely. I think this will be two in a row for the good guys. Have some faith. If you’re still nervous and negative at game time, drink until you don’t know where you are. It’ll be fine.
Those that are rational can say its probably a coin flip game and they won't bet on it.
I can see either team winning TBH.
 

CyPack

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Anything could happen Saturday and I won’t be shocked…. But I love how confident some of you are after being out gained by an average FCS school. I took Iowa and the under, the only guarantee I have for Saturday is, the defensive line for both teams will wreck havoc.
ISU was outgained by 29 yards yet ran only 45 plays compared to 72 for UNI. They got 2 interceptions, one of which was a pick 6 that eliminated a possession and dominated the special teams. They didn't need to gain many yards to score. They played with short fields. When you actually look at the numbers, it was a pretty dominat performance. Usually not something that happens against UNI so why not be confident.