Monday Musings: Oct. 15, 2012

[FootballinTexas]

Footballin, I think you have some valid points. The offense didn't do what it needed to do to win this game and those things are pretty obvious. However when KSU needed to shift momentum back to their side they were able to do it quickly and with big plays. The defense was not slowing them down at all. It was discouraging to see them march right down the field before halftime and grab the lead back. That really hurt. That said I am amazed at how far this team has come under CPR.

Absolutely. The expectations are higher than they've ever been under CPR. And I'm not taking anything away from the defense. Our defense is AWESOME! They put up a valiant effort, AGAIN, for this team. Apparently though, I was the only fan watching the game and hoping our senior-led defense would make a huge stop when needed and not rely on our young, untalented, and incompetent offense to win the game. I don't know why that can't be an expectation also.

 

[FootballinTexas]

Ya'll are giving footballin a hard time, he is not saying our D is bad. I agree with him, our defense is AWESOME. They did not get themselves off the field on 3rd down nearly as much as they needed. They converted 3? 3rd downs in a row late in the game. The defense has to help itself a little and get off the field, but with that said they kicked butt and should not feel bad about how well they played.

I'm use to it. I try to post things that are totally incomprehensible just to get the board all ****** off.

 

[Bader]

Absolutely. The expectations are higher than they've ever been under CPR. And I'm not taking anything away from the defense. Our defense is AWESOME! They put up a valiant effort, AGAIN, for this team. Apparently though, I was the only fan watching the game and hoping our senior-led defense would make a huge stop when needed and not rely on our young, untalented, and incompetent offense to win the game. I don't know why that can't be an expectation also.

I'll take that and I imagine Jake Jake and AJ would put that at their own feet as well. I agree that the offense has looked (FRUSTRATINGLY) incompetent, but there are only 7 FR/SO listed on the offensive 2-deeps, they aren't young.

 

[CyValley]

Footballin, I think you have some valid points. The offense didn't do what it needed to do to win this game and those things are pretty obvious. However when KSU needed to shift momentum back to their side they were able to do it quickly and with big plays. The defense was not slowing them down at all. It was discouraging to see them march right down the field before halftime and grab the lead back. That really hurt. That said I am amazed at how far this team has come under CPR.

Geez, I could have written this (but that would be plagiarism!)

FootballinTexas, always enjoy your perspective. My thoughts were, after the game (I work Saturdays so don't have first-hand observations) that wow, this team is something, since it is so close to being 6-0 with what is, really, inferior QB play. (I'm talking the position, not the players involved. We have great guys, not great QBing.)

If we had a QB with all-Big 12 level abilities, we'd really be on a high. My eldest son (26) is a longtime, careful observer/student of football. In spite of Saturday's outcome (and he was upset, as were we all), he's certain we will be 6-2 heading into the OU game at home. I'm a casual football observer, so I listen closely to him.

FootballinTexas, what's your outlook for the next two games?

CyRodestr, I'm with you, if you don't mind, CPR and this staff have done a sensational job with this program in just four years. They are top tier. Fabulous work.

OK. Couple more questions if anyone cares to comment:

1 - Will next year be a transition year? That is, we lose 14 senior starters after this season. And linebacker depth for 2013, as of this moment, looks scary to the casual fan.

2 - What are the odds Sam Richardson (or GR) will develop sufficiently over the next 10 months to win the quarterback job? JB has a ton of experience (and he's a great young man, just not a great quarterback), but we must do better than a 48.5 percent completion average (JB's stat for the 2012 season) to be competitive in 2013. Correct?

3 - Is quarterback our weakest position on offense?

4 - If we got beat on all three areas of the game, is it because we are not yet a national top 10 team? A rhetorical question. We played a whale of a game, given our weaknesses. Again, our coaches are somethin' else.

 

[isufan]

Geez, I could have written this (but that would be plagiarism!)

FootballinTexas, always enjoy your perspective. My thoughts were, after the game (I work Saturdays so don't have first-hand observations) that wow, this team is something, since it is so close to being 6-0 with what is, really, inferior QB play. (I'm talking the position, not the players involved. We have great guys, not great QBing.)

If we had a QB with all-Big 12 level abilities, we'd really be on a high. My eldest son (26) is a longtime, careful observer/student of football. In spite of Saturday's outcome (and he was upset, as were we all), he's certain we will be 6-2 heading into the OU game at home. I'm a casual football observer, so I listen closely to him.

FootballinTexas, what's your outlook for the next two games?

CyRodestr, I'm with you, if you don't mind, CPR and this staff have done a sensational job with this program in just four years. They are top tier. Fabulous work.

OK. Couple more questions if anyone cares to comment:

1 - Will next year be a transition year? That is, we lose 14 senior starters after this season. And linebacker depth for 2013, as of this moment, looks scary to the casual fan.

Probably. We lose a lot of starters. Unless the young guys on offense improve immensely, I'll be pretty nervous going into next year. I don't feel too bad about linebackers. Jeremiah George has played well and we know how good Wally is at teaching that position.

2 - What are the odds Sam Richardson (or GR) will develop sufficiently over the next 10 months to win the quarterback job? JB has a ton of experience (and he's a great young man, just not a great quarterback), but we must do better than a 48.5 percent completion average (JB's stat for the 2012 season) to be competitive in 2013. Correct?

We must get better and more consistent play out of the QB position. For Rhoads to win more than 6 games at ISU, he will have to get more production from the QB position. That has been a problem in each of his first four seasons.

3 - Is quarterback play our weakest position on offense?

Yes. I don't think there is a doubt. Every position could be better but QB is our biggest offensive deficiency.

 

[ChrisMWilliams]

Chris,
I look forward to your Monday Musings. Good stuff.

I'm wondering if the timeframe in your Iowa State history ( 'Dan McCarney starting it all, possibly the best defense', etc.) is only the last 20 years? If it is, OK, I could agree with that. But for us readers who have been around awhile, the mid to late 70's coach and team might argue with those comparisons.

Solid point on the 70's but I'd counter it with the fact that while no, even though I wasn't alive at that time, I highly doubt those defenses went head-to-head with the kind of offenses that are in the current Big 12. I might be completely wrong.

And yes, I'm 28 so the McCarney era was really the start for me.

 

[FootballinTexas]

I'll take that and I imagine Jake Jake and AJ would put that at their own feet as well. I agree that the offense has looked (FRUSTRATINGLY) incompetent, but there are only 7 FR/SO listed on the offensive 2-deeps, they aren't young.

What I mean by young is playing time. If you go to cyclones.com and look at the game notes, we only have 2 skill guys on the offense with more than 10 career starts and neither played on Saturday (Steele and James White each have 12). On the defensive side we have 5 guys with 19 or more. If you look at career games played, only 2 offensive guys out of 10 have 30 or more:

A.J. Klein (LB)...............................44
Jake Knott (LB).............................44
Josh Lenz (WR).............................43
Jeremy Reeves (CB).......................43
Carter Bykowski (OL)..................... 39
Matt Morton (LB)...........................39
Brayden Burris (OT)........................37
Roosevelt Maggitt (DL)................... 31
Jeff Woody (FB)..............................31
Jacques Washington (FS)............... 31

So yes, this offense is "young" plus they have a "young" coordinator. That's was my point when I said young.

 

[FootballinTexas]

Geez, I could have written this (but that would be plagiarism!)

FootballinTexas, always enjoy your perspective. My thoughts were, after the game (I work Saturdays so don't have first-hand observations) that wow, this team is something, since it is so close to being 6-0 with what is, really, inferior QB play. (I'm talking the position, not the players involved. We have great guys, not great QBing.)

If we had a QB with all-Big 12 level abilities, we'd really be on a high. My eldest son (26) is a longtime, careful observer/student of football. In spite of Saturday's outcome (and he was upset, as were we all), he's certain we will be 6-2 heading into the OU game at home. I'm a casual football observer, so I listen closely to him.

FootballinTexas, what's your outlook for the next two games?

CyRodestr, I'm with you, if you don't mind, CPR and this staff have done a sensational job with this program in just four years. They are top tier. Fabulous work.

OK. Couple more questions if anyone cares to comment:

1 - Will next year be a transition year? That is, we lose 14 senior starters after this season. And linebacker depth for 2013, as of this moment, looks scary to the casual fan.

2 - What are the odds Sam Richardson (or GR) will develop sufficiently over the next 10 months to win the quarterback job? JB has a ton of experience (and he's a great young man, just not a great quarterback), but we must do better than a 48.5 percent completion average (JB's stat for the 2012 season) to be competitive in 2013. Correct?

3 - Is quarterback our weakest position on offense?

4 - If we got beat on all three areas of the game, is it because we are not yet a national top 10 team? A rhetorical question. We played a whale of a game, given our weaknesses. Again, our coaches are somethin' else.

I think we go 2-0 over the next two weeks. Especially, if without James White, we put Shontrelle in the pistol. That will take some pressure off the OL to block run game.

Yes, we will have a huge transition, especially defensively. How do we replace Jake and AJ? Offense just needs to get it together, IMO.

QB's will battle in the off-season. The same with every position.

 

[Go2Guy]

"This is an elite defense, maybe the best one we’ve ever seen at Iowa State."

I wish everyone of you could have been around to see the 1977 & '78 D, which was the best D in the last 37-years. And the 1976 O was the best over the same time period.

 

[Cyclophile1]

If you don't score 30 points in the big 12, you won't win many games. The defense could have done a better job getting off the field, but poor play on offense is the #1 reason we lost the game.

The defense did very well considering they had to play for 41 minutes - that's not many points per minute of possession. They were clearly pretty worn down on the last KSU drive and really - the terrible one right before halftime. Both coming at the ends of the respective halves, so it's understandable to have the breakdowns where they happened? Would have preferred that the offense do a little better job holding up their end of the bargain and making the time of possession closer.

Did the defense perform awesomely? No, but KSU's execution had something to do with that. I think the D played well enough for us to win and the offense and special teams did not, particularly the offense. That level of offensive play was not enough to win the majority of the time in this conference - again, KSU had something to do with that, but our failures of execution had MORE to do with it.

There were key breakdowns at critical moments for the Defense that I think we, in part, caused by the lopsided time of possession as well as Klein's efficiency in their execution of their offense. People forget that he completed 75% of his passes as well as all the great running efforts he made. He's a helluva QB, despite not being the sexy, strong-armed gunslinger that the national media adores. Our pass game goes 3 of 15 down the stretch. They didn't make many mistakes on offense and we had one where we would/should have had points. That difference and the breakdowns late in each half were enough to be the difference.

We're a good team, trying to knock down the door to be a really good team. Those above us have a say in trying to keep us down. I like the inertia of the program overall, and we are making progress under CPR. The margin is razor thin in the Big12 and the foes are unforgiving. I'm fighting to desire to look at "could be" under some hypotheticals, but it's chasing the wind. Here and now, things are good and on their way to very good. We all wish they were awesome (6-0) now, but it's going to happen, we'll just need to be patient.

Cheers

 

[CyValley]

I think we go 2-0 over the next two weeks. Especially, if without James White, we put Shontrelle in the pistol. That will take some pressure off the OL to block run game. . . .

Just googled pistol offense to understand what it is. Have we been running a pistol at times this fall? (This is what I get for working Saturdays. . . .)

Wikipedia: Using the Pistol Offense, during the 2009 season, Nevada led the nation in rushing at 345 yards a game and were second in total offense at 506 yards. The Wolf Pack also became the first team in college football history with three 1,000-yard rushers in the same season: quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running backs Luke Lippincott and Vaj Taua.

 

[ChrisMWilliams]

"This is an elite defense, maybe the best one we’ve ever seen at Iowa State."

I wish everyone of you could have been around to see the 1977 & '78 D, which was the best D in the last 37-years. And the 1976 O was the best over the same time period.

It's really hard to compare. No. I never saw those defenses play but I have a hard time believing that they went toe-to-toe with the offenses that you see in the Big 12's present day either.

A fun conversation to have nonetheless.

 

[CyValley]

I wish everyone of you could have been around to see the 1977 & '78 D, which was the best D in the last 37-years. And the 1976 O was the best over the same time period.

In days gone by, I was an ugheye fan. Grew up in the '60s as one, so I wasn't piling on a winner's wagon. Saw those ISU teams perform in iowa city (1977 and 1978). What I remember most is the stellar play of DL Chris Boskey. (He was the younger brother, right?) What a sensational player he was, particularly as a first-year freshman (before a knee injury, correct?)

 

[FootballinTexas]

Just googled pistol offense to understand what it is. Have we been running a pistol at times this fall? (This is what I get for working Saturdays. . . .)

Wikipedia: Using the Pistol Offense, during the 2009 season, Nevada led the nation in rushing at 345 yards a game and were second in total offense at 506 yards. The Wolf Pack also became the first team in college football history with three 1,000-yard rushers in the same season: quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running backs Luke Lippincott and Vaj Taua.

Not much. But the benefit you get is the play can go either direction so the defense has to guess on stunts. With the off-set back, he can only go one way and teams are slanting play-side to stop the back and stunting on the back-side to stop the QB pull. So, everything gets flush inside where there is no room to run. That's why it seems like SJ is always trying to bounce outside. This keeps everything balanced and the OL can handle gaps better. The option play for TD exposed that slant/stunt on Saturday. Unfortunately, we only ran it one time. The 2-back set gives you the same balanced look because either back can get ball so teams have to play you straight up. That's why it's been effective. But you can run so much more from the pistol without playing 2 backs and keep your 4-wide look.

 

[scyclonekid]

I am just glad we made our PAT's. Anyway our defense is definitely one of the best that I have seen and I have been a Cyclone for 25 yrs. There is one thing that every team has to realize when facing KSU, you will not have an answer for Klein, why? Its because his line gives him time to be patient and wait for holes to open and pass plays to develop. You have to beat KSU in the trenches if not you will not win.

We had our shot, but when plays had to be made Klein had time to make them because their line stepped up and delivered. Iowa State will keep on keeping on and win some ball games yet this season.

 

[Clones21]

Our defense just is not built to stop an option offense. I'm afraid if we played Georgia Tech they would rack up 300 yards rushing. This defense is built on stopping a spread offense. K-State's offense is very unique in the Big 12.

 

[scyclonekid]

Our offensive line has gotten better with each game which is encouraging. The run game is still on pause mode, but will pick up in games to come. KSU had that big dude #78 if i am thinking right, wow just wow.

 

[CyValley]

I get it. A balanced Spread formation, then. Balanced meaning greater "secrecy," if you will.

My two sons and I have season mini-paks. Really looking forward to the next three home games and seeing for myself. <g>

 

[pulse]

It's really hard to compare. No. I never saw those defenses play but I have a hard time believing that they went toe-to-toe with the offenses that you see in the Big 12's present day either.

A fun conversation to have nonetheless.

You can't compare eras, everyone knows that. You have to take it in context. Keeping in the context of your era, I don't even think this year's defense is better than the 2005 defense. Going by what I'm witnessing and have witnessed, the 2005 was more opportunistic and better overall, especially on the defensive line which of course is the most important on the field. That isn't to say this year's defense isn't good, I think think it is right up there with 2005 team. But if I had to pick a fanatasy D to play with, it would be 2005.

 

[ChrisMWilliams]

You can't compare eras, everyone knows that. You have to take it in context. Keeping in the context of your era, I don't even think this year's defense is better than the 2005 defense. Going by what I'm witnessing and have witnessed, the 2005 was more opportunistic and better overall, especially on the defensive line which of course is the most important on the field. That isn't to say this year's defense isn't good, I think think it is right up there with 2005 team. But if I had to pick a fanatasy D to play with, it would be 2005.

Solid points. I'm a huge fan of that 05 defense. But again, competition comes into play. That 2005 team didn't see the offenses that 2012 will see. That's just a fact. I believe that 05 team missed out on Texas and Oklahoma off the top of my head. Saw some good ones but nothing like this.