My only real complaint: the line play HAS to be better against Iowa.
*** Official UNI vs #7 IOWA STATE Game(Day) THREAD ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm usually down on the team after a final score like this but I'm actually up beat and encouraged for next week's game.
It IS on us the fans that think we are going to ever demolish UNI. At what point are you/we the fool for thinking that it will happen? That spread was crazy, and I hope everyone who gambles enjoys the easiest cover ever.
The team has to do better to start seasons, and that is a concern. But that's the point. This has been what they are for 5+ seasons now in Game 1. Why in the hell is anyone surprised when it's vanilla offense and ugly football at this point in Game 1?
Purdy and Hutch seemed like the only ones on offense that wanted to be there today. Thankfully, that was just enough to get what we needed.
O-line play and Manning play calling needs to return to Oregon game level.
Didn't see them open up many holes for Breece all game.
DL did well getting pressure on McElvain the first couple possessions, but then they seemed to pare it back.
It is however common for UNI to give FBS teams fits.
That said don’t don’t expect a blowout in Vegas.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that any fan upset for the game today is right. It's on the coaches for **** like this happening every year. Campbell is still the best coach we've ever had, and I hope he gets it rolling again as the season goes on.
But we shouldn't have to/shouldn't at all change our expectations because of their shortcomings early in the year. Most P5 teams handle FCS teams easily, and can get their backups in for most of the second half. For whatever reason ISU is stuck fighting for their life against a team with maybe 1 or 2 players who would make the depth chart every time we play.
I went to the game and I have a couple of main takeaways:
1) The defense came in clutch and the offense scored the requisite amount of points required to win in the same game. This is something that would rarely happen under Rhoads
2) A Rhoads team would have easily lost this game by 10+ points
3) A win is a win
4) Tmobile's 5G reception in JTS is ...garbage. I had to disable 5G connectivity on my phone just to connect to the internet during halftime.
1) The defense came in clutch and the offense scored the requisite amount of points required to win in the same game. This is something that would rarely happen under Rhoads
2) A Rhoads team would have easily lost this game by 10+ points
3) A win is a win
4) Tmobile's 5G reception in JTS is ...garbage. I had to disable 5G connectivity on my phone just to connect to the internet during halftime.
Just so disappointing play by the OL. They just couldn't get any push at all for most of the game. Not sure what the issue is, but need to get it fixed.
Defensive line was very concerning to me.
There were times Peterson and especially Singleton got a push, but...when UNI had short yardage situations we were typically blown back. We also didn't get to their QB nearly enough.
At some point we have got to find a way to generate penetration in order to consistently contend with upper echelon teams. If we can't do that against UNI we will have a hard time doing it against elite FBS competition. That's a problem.
Everything you're saying I agree with. We need to be putting these games away against any FCS earlier. But my point is, against UNI especially, it isn't going to happen. I went into this game thinking it would be just like every other UNI game/Game 1 under Campbell. It was still ugly and frustrating as hell at times, but I feel much better because it's exactly how I pictured it would probably go because that's what years and years of data says it's going to be.
This ALL get's remedied if the coaches and team come out next week and finally take care of Iowa. Nobody will even care because Campbell HAS shown his teams get exponentially better as the season goes on. It is what it is, and I certainly hope it gets figured out at some point, but at least it's a W unlike last year's debacle.
Offensive line, defensive line, and Manning/Purdy were the most disappointing things to me today. LBs were fine (aside from Rose's missed tackle). Receivers were kind of NA (as I think the play calling was trash). Secondary was okay though our corners were beat a couple of times. But the offensive and defensive line performances were trash.
If we can't push UNI at the line, how are we going to push Iowa? I just hope JR Singleton gets a lot more playing time as he was (easily) the best lineman I saw on either side of the ball.
But hey, our STs weren't a dumpster fire.
You're spot on. I would just love to see Iowa State take advantage of bad teams (yes I said bad, they're gonna be mediocre again in FCS) like UNI that they play to run up the numbers for guys like Breece and Brock. This should be a showcase for their talent, but in "not opening the playbook" they're in a dogfight that we're lucky to escape from.
Really hoping we see a completely different team next week, but will not be shocked if the overly and unbelievably conservative gameplan costs us another September game against Iowa.
I said this on the premium board. I really hated not going for it on 4th and inches in the 3rd quarter. I know it was our end of the field and not getting it could have been disastrous but if we pick up that 1st down, we might have won going away.
Settling for the FG instead of going for it on 4th and goal just seemed dumb. Yeah, getting that FG meant UNI couldn’t kick a FG to tie it, but a touchdown would have put the game away. Even if we didn’t get the touchdown, UNI would have been backed up against their goal line needing around 70 yards for a FG try to tie the game. There was potential for a safety too. Instead, we kicked the FG and gave them the ball 75 yards away from an outright win.
When UNI went for it on 4th down in their own territory on their next drive and converted, I told myself that if UNI wins the game it will be because Farley was courageous enough to go for it on 4th down and Campbell wasn’t. Thankfully we won anyway.
Settling for the FG instead of going for it on 4th and goal just seemed dumb. Yeah, getting that FG meant UNI couldn’t kick a FG to tie it, but a touchdown would have put the game away. Even if we didn’t get the touchdown, UNI would have been backed up against their goal line needing around 70 yards for a FG try to tie the game. There was potential for a safety too. Instead, we kicked the FG and gave them the ball 75 yards away from an outright win.
When UNI went for it on 4th down in their own territory on their next drive and converted, I told myself that if UNI wins the game it will be because Farley was courageous enough to go for it on 4th down and Campbell wasn’t. Thankfully we won anyway.
Against Iowa though it's actually not really been the play-calling too much. It's been really, and I mean really, stupid mistakes and weird bounces against them that have decided the last few games with them. At some point we have to force a Hawkeye turnover. They literally haven't turned the ball over against us since Obama was in the White House (may not have been that long ago, but it's been quite some time).
Need the defense to force Iowa into mistakes.
It will be much easier, though, if Iowa State can get out to an early advantage. McElwain probably would have thrown 4 picks if Iowa State went up 2 or 3 scores early. So I do believe that offensive playcalling/aggression can and would help the defense if the Cyclones could make the other team one dimensional.
