It’s been awhile since I’ve posted because school is busy and the Iowa athletic department schedules crap everyday of November so I have to work at Parking a lot. Yesterday was the now annual Black Friday football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers and it was the most satisfying and frustrating thing to watch. Stick with me for a minute. There are few Hawkeye victories as satisfying as beating the holy crap out of a ranked Nebraska team while simultaneously denying them a chance to win the Big Ten West and head to Indianapolis. Yet watching Iowa absolutely roll the Huskers defense made me ask WHERE IN THE HELL HAS THIS OFFENSE BEEN ALL YEAR?
I said in my previous rant that LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley are the most talented running back duo Iowa has had in a decade and yesterday Daniels passed the 1000 yard mark on the season and Wadley needs about one good run in a bowl game to join him (he’s 34 yards shy at the moment). Thanks for proving me right boys. The Hawkeyes finally found an offensive line combination that works, especially in the run game, and yes it includes leaving Cole Croston on the bench. LT Boone Myers, LG Keegan Render, C James Daniels, RG Sean Welsh and RT Ike Boettger finally have found a groove and they dominated all day long. I couldn’t be happier for a Daniels as he’s a senior that stuck it out through a number of injuries that slowed him down year after year and it paid off with a heck of a final season. Wadley looks like a star and he should be the focal point of the Hawkeye offense next year. The Iowa offense had 3 plays of over 50 yards against Nebraska after only having 5 the entire rest of the year. Wadley broke a 75 yard run for a TD, Daniels broke a long one and was tackled inside the ten but he came back two plays later to punch it in for a TD and Riley McCarron caught a 77-yarder for a TD. Yep, my personal whipping boy McCarron made a huge play. Do you want to know why? Because for what seemed like the first time all season instead of handing the ball off on first down Iowa ran a play action pass and Beathard hit McCarron as he crossed over the middle. Hey, what do you know, if you do something the other team isn’t expecting you might just make a play. It also put McCarron in a position to do something he’s more comfortable with which is going over the middle. McCarron isn’t a outside WR and his quickness is better utilized in the way this play is designed. It helped a whole lot that Beathard put the ball right on the money and McCarron didn’t have to break stride to catch it and he outran the defense.
Iowa’s offensive line took over once the Hawkeyes had built a big lead with their big plays and Nebraska couldn’t seem to slow the Iowa run game. Again I ask, Where was this offense before? How did Kirk Ferentz, the offensive line guru, not see the offensive line combination early in the year wasn’t working? I hear all the time that he’s the college football coach and he’s been doing it for years. He’s the guy that watches practice everyday so he knows best. Have you ever heard the phrase “he can’t see the forest through the trees”? Maybe he’s been too close to it and has preconceived notions when he’s watching practice or game film instead of seeing it for what it was. Stability in a coaching staff is nice but complacency is not. I’ve been calling for Greg Davis’ dismissal for a while now and I’m going to double down and say WR coach Bobby Kennedy can take a hike with him. Iowa’s WR corps has been terrible all year and whether that’s on the actual coaching or the recruiting at the position Kennedy should take the fall for both. Let’s take a look at the WRs brought in since Kennedy took over the position.
Matt VandeBerg (once you see the rest of list you’ll see his progress as a WR is in spite of Kennedy not because of him).
Jay Scheel (injuries have hampered his development but I’m not sure that’s all that has hampered it)
Jerminic Smith (still young and progressing but he’s the 3rd and final guy to contribute at all)
Adrian Falconer (played a little in the last few games as a RS freshman, I still have hope)
Emmanuel Ogwo (left the team to run track full-time)
Jonathan Parker (moved from RB, really fast, hurt this year, apparently only knows one play in the playbook, has shown nothing as a WR)
Devonte Young (true freshman burned his redshirt year to play a few plays early)
AJ Jones, Andre Harris and Derrick Willies (were part of a 5 man WR class with Derrick Mitchell and Matt VandeBerg. Jones left after year one, Harris didn’t contribute before leaving after year 3 and Willies had a falling out with the coaching staff after not playing, he had quite a bit of promise and could have really helped this team)
Derrick Mitchell (moved to RB and became a 3rd down specialist last year, hurt much of this year but he’s probably the second best WR on this team and he plays RB)
Ronald Nash (JUCO transfer that just isn’t quite good enough to compete in the Big Ten)
Damond Powell (JUCO transfer that supposedly couldn’t learn the playbook in two years on campus, I’m not sure how that’s possible, trust me it isn’t that complicated)
Ryan Boyle (switched over from QB at the end of spring practice and made a couple of plays in the spring game, because of those plays he looked like a star in comparison to the rest of the guys at WR, he never played a meaningful snap at WR this season)
Oh, what about Riley McCarron you ask (he is actually a fifth-year senior walk-on who pre-dates Kennedy and he’s the best we have right now with Vandeberg out so our best WR isn’t a Kennedy guy)
Just recently Iowa lost two of their three verbal commitments at WR for 2017 Gavin Holmes and Beau Corralles and Kennedy hasn’t been able to close the deal with hometown product Oliver Martin (he’s from Iowa City West). It looks like there is going to be some big jobs changing over this year in college football and I can only hope some other coach comes calling for Kennedy, it won’t be based on his track record at Iowa but he’s been a WR coach a very long time. I would really like Davis to retire and Kennedy gone and then promote Brian Ferentz to Offensive Coordinator, let him remain the offensive line coach, and hire a new QB coach (Davis doubles as OC and QB coach now) and find a new WR coach. Sorry for that tangent but I just had to get that Kennedy rant off my chest.
We know Ferentz isn’t going anywhere since Gary Barta gave him his 10 year extension so my only hope is for some change in he staff to move things along. I’m in on Brian Ferentz taking over as the OC because I’m not sure Kirk will listen to anyone else about being less predictable and Brian once coached under Bill Belichick so perhaps he picked up something. There should be plenty of job openings in the state of Texas as Texas, Houston and Baylor are all looking at new staffs coming in with their new coaches, please let Kennedy return to the state and Davis too if he doesn’t want to retire. Perhaps a new WR coach can get something out of Smith, Scheel, Young, Falconer, Parker, maybe Boyle and incoming freshman (fingers crossed he doesn’t de-commit) Brandon Smith. Oh and maybe a new WR coach lands Oliver Martin.
8-4 isn’t a bad record and ending it by beating Michigan and Nebraska two of the last three weeks takes some of the sting out of it but it’s a bit of a letdown. Coming off a Rose Bowl season with a senior QB and a two-headed RB monster in place should have gone better. Iowa never seems to do well when it has expectations so next year should be a good one but if Davis and Kennedy are still around my expectations won’t be much at all. We are one game away from the end of the CJ Beathard Era and moving on to the Nathan Stanley era presumably, let’s give the kid the best chance at success.
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