Here's an amazing article from 538!
The Cyclones are in the Big 12 championship game for the first time.
fivethirtyeight.com
That's a good article, however I disagree with one thing he has in there.
"Balance extends not only to play type but also to who receives targets in the pass game. In Charlie Kolar, a
surefire NFL draft pick, Iowa State has the school’s
all-time single-season record holder for receiving yards by a tight end. But the team also has
nine other players with at least five receptions this season. This represents quite the departure for a team that grew accustomed to keying in on a single, standout wide receiver when players like Hakeem Butler or Allen Lazard competed."
So 10 players have caught 5 or more passes in 10 games this season. In 2019 12 players caught 5 or more passes in 13 games and in 2018 10 players caught 5 or more passes in 13 games with Butler on the roster. His contention may have held more true in earlier years. I don't think that it is a coincidence that this habit of spreading the ball around in that last several years coincides both with the emergence of the best QB ISU has had in a long time (if ever) and ISU having the best tight end room they have ever had.
They may be spreading it around a little bit more, but that change happened about the time Lazard left, not just this year.
Also, he talks about ISU bringing 5 or more rushers on 10.9% of snaps. That is about 1 out of every 9 defensive plays. Is that correct or does ISU blitz one or more on 1 out of every 9 plays? It seems that ISU rushes only 3 or 4 even more than his numbers indicate. Is he being fooled by ISU's 3 man front and putting every blitz in the 5 man bucket?
www.yahoo.com
