A busy life of work and school including a complete change in my work schedule has made writing anything other than my homework basically impossible. I have a few minutes on this beautiful Sunday morning after suffering through another lackluster performance by the Hawkeyes yesterday and I thought I would take this opportunity to say thank you to the Golden Gophers for being worse than the Hawks yesterday, I truly appreciate it.
Oh what a difference a year makes. Last year was all about New Kirk, he was nothing like New Coke, everybody loved New Kirk, New Kirk got a 10 year contract extension that guarantees he’ll coach at Iowa as long as he likes. Well apparently Old Kirk escaped the dungeon he was locked in and has taken back over and New Kirk is nowhere to found. And why is Greg Davis calling plays again? Where’s the guy that was calling plays last year? Don’t tell me that Jordan Canzeri and Tevaun Smith made that big of a difference in Iowa’s offense. LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley are the most talented RB duo Iowa has had in about a decade (Shonn Greene was a one-man show). The loss of Matt Vandeberg is huge, I know, I get it but who the hell decided that Riley McCarron was all of the sudden the go-to guy? I get that the entire WR corps is struggling to get separation but why are you running plays like bubble screens, that are designed to get guys open quickly, to Riley McCarron? Where is he going with it? Why are not running those plays to Jerminic Smith or Jay Scheel? God forbid you try it to a kid like Devonte Young, you already burned his redshirt you might as well try to use him. I get that Ronald Nash is older and may know what he’s supposed to do but if he can’t get open or catch the ball when he is what good is he. That makes him a wide receiver in name only.
Kirk Ferentz is supposed to be an offensive line guru but it took him five weeks to realize his line was playing poorly and that Cole Croston is not a left tackle. Croston had one of the worst offensive line performances possible against Northwestern and he played better at RT against Minnesota but that’s probably as much a product of a team not having a great pass rusher on his side than him actually getting better. His footwork is abysmal for a tackle and switching sides doesn’t help that it just lessens the impact because of an inferior opponent. I understand that Brett Waechter, Iowa’s third OT going into the year, is banged up and hasn’t suited up lately but having no depth at OT is on Ferentz and the coaching staff and their recruiting. Boone Myers was better at LT against Minnesota than Croston was the first five weeks but that’s setting the bar pretty low. If Waechter gets healthy I think he’s worth a look.
The defense finally got their s#it together and it couldn’t have come at a better time. No matter how bad Minnesota is they almost always have a good running game and they have two talented RBs in Smith and Brooks. Luckily Mitch Leidner is still a terrible passer (and any idiot draft guru that thinks Leidner is even draftable should give up his job and give it to me, I’m looking at you Todd McShay). Jaleel Johnson and Nathan Bazata finally decided to show up and not get rolled this week, that was very thoughtful of them. Bazata was blowing people up and Johnson was anchoring very well. The Hawkeye defense starts up front and I’m not sure what DC Phil Parker or DL coach Reese Morgan said to those two this week but it worked.
FS Brandon Snyder and LB Bo Bower has been the whipping boys the past few weeks and rightfully so, they have been downright awful at times. This week they both played much better, Bower still struggles in coverage and so does Snyder for that matter but they both made plays this week. It’s a step in the right direction but they still need work. The one guy that hasn’t taken as much heat but should is SS Miles Taylor. Last year he was a tackling machine at times and played well but this year he has regressed badly. His tackling technique is pitiful and he’s getting routinely trucked by opposing RBs. I’m starting to wonder if the Hawkeyes should move Snyder to SS where his coverage issues would be lessened and try someone like Jake Gervase or Amani Hooker at FS. Taylor has taken a noticeable step back and Ferentz may need to consider senior backup Anthony Gair even if it’s just for a series or two to wake Taylor up.
I’m no kicking expert but bringing a kid that has no game experience on a road trip to be your “long” field goal kicker and then asking him to kick a 50-yarder in a hostile environment is probably a bad idea. Actually I know it’s a bad idea because that’s what Ferentz did yesterday to Miguel Recinos. The kid lost the place kicking job to true freshman Keith Duncan (sorry Beth Mowins it’s not Keith Urban) and his kickoff job to Ron Coluzzi and then you make him come up to Minnesota and his first attempt is from 50 yards away. Not a great plan considering his kick came up about 8 yards short, how is he your “long” kicker? Just let Duncan take the shot at it, he’s your kicker let him kick.
This team has plenty of problems and quite frankly I can’t wait to see next year’s recruiting class with WRs like Brandon Smith, Gavin Holmes, Beau Corrales and hopefully Oliver Martin, hopefully the coaching staff will give them a chance. Along with playmakers like RBs Eno Benjamin and Ivory Kelly-Martin the Hawkeyes will potentially have some real playmakers, assuming Riley McCarron doesn’t get a 6th year of eligibility and these guys sit on the bench.
END RANT…for now.
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