It could be worse...
- Thread starter exCYtable
- Start date
It is almost as though we took a hard u-turn from the approach of 2017-18 that started in 2019. 2020 was a one-time bizarre season. The results of 2019 and 2021 reflect what the approach currently is within the program. Every single play is called with no risk, never throw the football down field, never attempt a trick play. Grind out the same 4-5 plays looking for the other team to make a mistake on defense.
The ultimate example of playing not to lose is the 2015 Kansas State game. You get away from setting the initiative of the game when you play not to lose. Iowa State led that game 35-14 at the half. They started the game with a balanced run/pass attack. In the second half it was all running with a 3-4 yard pass mixed in the series (sound familiar?). You can go back and look at the plays from this game in 2015 and compare to last night. This vanilla offense led to a turnover on downs, a punt and finally the entire Kansas State defense knew either Warren or Lanning will get the ball to run every single play and pinned their ears. This led to multiple fumbles and a 38-34 defeat.
Beyond play calling it is the mentality that drives us all crazy. We've seen it before especially watching Iowa State football for longer than 10 years. That's why I refer to this mythical chart because these plays are strangely similar through multiple different coaching staffs. The real reason they are similar is because when you are playing not to lose you find a way to lose.
We all know it and we all see it. It doesn't matter whether this is the first season with the team or the tenth after multiple bowl wins. The moment you stop playing to win is the moment you are promised not to win.
I'm not saying we know more about football than Campbell, but I guarantee you many of us have watched more FB games over our lifetime than Campbell has. One thing us arm chair QBs know well is an offense that is able to execute well in the 2 minute offense. I see the same mistakes over and over with ISU's offense. Poor play calls or decisions on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1, unnecessary or unwise use of timeouts and the lack of risk taking many on here have talked about. A constant willingness to settle for FGs is one example that applies to the entire game.
With as many games as ISU has had to come from behind in the 4th quarter, you would think we'd start to see some improvement. Our whole approach on offense doesn't make much sense. We often eat up tons of clock in the 4th quarter with our style of play which always leaves very little room for error. The teams at the top all have that ability to score quickly in the 4th quarter. So even if you fail on one drive, you have the ability to get it on the next.
With as many games as ISU has had to come from behind in the 4th quarter, you would think we'd start to see some improvement. Our whole approach on offense doesn't make much sense. We often eat up tons of clock in the 4th quarter with our style of play which always leaves very little room for error. The teams at the top all have that ability to score quickly in the 4th quarter. So even if you fail on one drive, you have the ability to get it on the next.
I think that's probably the biggest reason the temperature level has raised so quickly this year. A single rebuilding year is one thing, but this ends up feeling like the second underperformance in a row.
Also I think most people expected a rebuild but not this bad of a rebuild. 5-7 wins seemed reasonable. And honestly I think most people were including a loss to Iowa in those projections (before we realized just how bad Iowa is- we certainly did everything we could to lose that one) I'm not sure we'll win another one if our offense doesn't show significant growth.
