Don't mean to be a Debbie Downer that was the win of the season and the team as a whole played great. I think next season looks promising as well.
Post Farmageddon: Sunday Thoughts of Game
- Thread starter cyclone1209
- Start date
Strong safety missed the tackle but WTF was the FS thinking? He overran the hole to be blocked.
McLaughlin is my favorite I think he'll keep getting better as time goes on. Hopefully Willich or some of the other recruits can step it up too
He's played heavily for two years. The biggest jumps come from your first main year of playing to your second. He can get better but it won't be big leaps from here forward.
ESPN+ "Heisman winner this week"
"2. Abu Sama III, Iowa State (16 carries for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 11 receiving yards against Kansas State. Farmageddon was indeed one of the most aesthetically pleasing games of the season, and Sama, who scored on the first play of the game and exploded for rushes of 71, 77, 31 and 60 yards, was the No. 1 reason.
(Well, the snow was the No. 1 reason. But he was No. 2.)"
"2. Abu Sama III, Iowa State (16 carries for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 11 receiving yards against Kansas State. Farmageddon was indeed one of the most aesthetically pleasing games of the season, and Sama, who scored on the first play of the game and exploded for rushes of 71, 77, 31 and 60 yards, was the No. 1 reason.
(Well, the snow was the No. 1 reason. But he was No. 2.)"
I’m way too reactive in the moment, so as it was happening I got really frustrated (there’s evidence in this thread). After the fact, I’m almost certain we didn’t want to leave a ton of guys in 1 on 1, which is how we hit the long pass plays. It’s way too easy for someone to slip or whatever in the snow so my guess is we played a lot of base defense
That's what I think too, although I know I don't understand defense at the level of the players and coaches.
The reason KSU didn't get some of those same giant plays is we were living with giving them the 5-20 yard stuff and hoping they slipped up. They slipped up just barely enough times to overcome our own turnovers and mistakes and then our guys at WR/QB/RB made them pay for not playing an equally conservative defense.
I think it makes total sense to just give them a 5-10 yard out pattern when there's basically no way to cover it tight anyway.
Our guys 100% played it safe and were fine giving up 8-12 yard chunks to make sure that we didn't give up 70. We were taking safer angles and being much more careful of our footing.
I agree about Surges, It seemed like he was in the picture at the end of every play that ended in the secondary. PI call was total BS.
I think he had 10 tackles, which jumped right off the stat sheet when I looked at it. Pretty impressive
I was very critical of Noel going into the year and after the first few games. He dropped too many balls and played soft. But something changed with his play. He's not dropping nearly as many and he's not avoiding contact like he was. Props to him.
I wouldn't mind a portal LB, but I'll disagree on the 2024 LB commits. Those 3 guys were our Plan A top level choices. We pursued them and got commitments early. This staff has a good eye for LB talent...one of their strongest eval positions. I have zero doubt that those three kids can play.
That last gasp play by the Purple Kitties reminded me soooo much of the game in 2017. KSU's QB was scrambling to extend the play and our best DB on the team that year (forgot his name, sorry) had a total brain fart allowing the WR to get open to catch the winning TD. This year - Purchase was completely locked onto the target & the kitties had NO chance on that last play. It was a thing of beauty (as was Howard's temper tantrum on the sidelines after that incomplete pass)!
Looks at all those Big 10 West teams with easy schedules. All those teams suck except Iowa, and they are not that great. Just good enough to beat the bad teams they play.
I realize that in the 2017 game the Kitties should never have gotten the ball back for a final game-winning drive. The refs handed the game to KSU (SNYDER) that year - worst officiated FB game I have ever witnessed in my 50 years of Cyclone fandom. I was just comparing the QB scrambling sequences of both years and the fact that Purchase was completely locked in to make sure the kitties were not gifted another potential victory (they got the benefit of 3 Bogus PI calls - including that 4th & Long dog**** call that extended that last drive).
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, he ran right into a pile of blockers running right past the huge hole Sama ran through.
I know, I just had to add that. The refs made sure the vampire was handed that game.
We changed the way we are blocking since the start of the year. The first three games we rarely pulled and trapped if at all, since the OU game at least, we have been doing it regularly, which has opened holes in the defense every game but UT. That has taken the pressure off Rocco, allowing him to just do his job.
That very well could be what happened. I think this also backs up what I am saying.....we weren't ready in the first 2-3 games and have improved. Was that coaching, youth, not matching strategy with talent, etc? I guess my point is a lot of people wanted what we had in the last half of the season in the first 3 games. I wish it was that black and white to pass judgment; it isn't, imo,cwith the youth movement that became evident by games 3-4.
