The Hawkeyes loss to Michigan St. and more

The Hawkeyes offense certainly took a step back after looking good against Western Michigan and Minnesota but when you are missing your best WR and your top RB gets hurt that’s understandable against one of the best defenses in the nation.  I will say I wasn’t overly impressed by Michigan St’s offense but then again pure thuggery rarely impresses me.  The Spartans offense was often aided by illegal blocks that the referees never called and Iowa’s defense was put in bad spots because of it.  I have rarely seen so many blatant holding and blocks in the back that went uncalled in my life.  The Hawkeyes didn’t help themselves by failing in areas that they normally fail in.  They were burned by big plays by the Spartans and for the seventh time in a row the Hawkeyes failed to stop a fake punt.  The fake punt thing has become completely ridiculous at this point and Kirk Ferentz’s half joking comment about not returning punts anymore and just guarding against the fake punt is not a half bad idea.  I mentioned in a previous post that since the Hawkeyes rarely return punts and usually just fair catch the football there is no reason they can’t stop a fake punt, apparently Ferentz is considering going the next step.

A few notes about the game

–          I hope during this bye week that while reviewing tape it becomes clear that the offense moved the ball through the air far more efficiently when the three WR set was Damond Powell, Matt Vandeberg and Tevaun Smith and not Don Shumpert, Riley McCarron and Jordan Cotton.  When Kevonte Martin-Manley is available the top five WRs should be KMM, Damond Powell, Tevaun Smith, Matt Vandeberg and Jacob Hillyer; they are the best and most reliable playmakers at the position.

–          I think Damon Bullock is still best used as an offensive weapon and he proved it with the big play of the game.  Bullock tried his best running against a tough Sparty defense but he is better in space.  When Weisman isn’t available or simply tired the Hawkeyes should look to use LeShun Daniels at tailback more.  I know Jordan Canzeri has his fans out there too but Daniels is similar to Weisman in style and that style seems to work best.  Ferentz and coaching staff need to get over whatever it is that is keeping them from playing Daniels more and use his talent.

–          The Hawkeye defense still hasn’t given up a rushing TD this season and that is an amazing stat.  The problem is that the pass defense has given up far too many big plays.  The Hawkeye’s front seven stops the run as well as anyone but it still doesn’t get the pass rush it needs to help out the secondary.  It isn’t just one defensive back blowing it either, King has made some freshman mistakes, Lowery has been beaten, Miller has been out of position a few times and Lowdermilk isn’t as good in coverage as he is coming up in the box.

–          The LB group is really good and once again James Morris made a great play on his interception.  Unfortunately the Hawkeye offense wasn’t able to do anything with it.

–          Jake Rudock threw another terrible interception and this one came because he locked onto Damond Powell and then his throw came up short.  He’s still developing his game but I’m sure this one will be looked at over and over by Rudock and coaching staff, this is what is known as a teaching moment.

The Hawkeyes have a bye week this weekend before they travel to Ohio St to take on the unbeaten Buckeyes.  Urban Meyer has yet to lose a game as head coach of the Buckeyes and they currently have the nation’s longest winning streak.  I would love to see the Hawkeyes be the ones that knock off the Buckeyes but even my rose-colored Hawkeye glasses aren’t that foggy.  Maybe the Hawks will get lucky and Urban Meyer doesn’t have a fake punt in his playbook.

 

Other football thoughts…

–          One man’s trash is another man’s treasure or in this case one team’s first round bust is another team’s reclamation project.  QB Josh Freeman was mercifully cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he landed a cushy $3 million job as the new QB hope for the Vikings.  Coach Leslie Frazier had said that Christian Ponder was his starting QB even after Matt Cassel led the Vikings to their first win but then somehow Ponder’s bruised ribs became a major concern and Frazier backed off that stance.  Then GM Rick Spielman threw gasoline on the fire and signed Freeman.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that Ponder’s days in Minnesota are numbered.  Cassel will likely be the starter and he has until Freeman is up to speed to show the Vikings that he can be the guy.  If he falters then Freeman will get a shot and if he fails the Vikings could clean house at the end of the season and take advantage of the deep QB class in the 2014 Draft.

–          This first round reclamation project thing didn’t start with Freeman it actually started with the Colts trading a first round pick to the Browns for former #3 pick Trent Richardson.  Richardson could hardly be labeled a bust just yet since he was drafted last year but he certainly hadn’t lived up to the hype in Cleveland.  New Cleveland GM Mike Lombardi and head coach Rod Chudzinski realized Richardson wasn’t the type of back they wanted and got great value getting first round pick out of an injury prone RB.  This trade could benefit both teams considering the Colts love Richardson’s skillset and they are devoid of anything resembling a workhorse.  Since the days of Edgerrin James the Colts have had one good season out of a RB and that was the one year Joseph Addai was good.  Richardson brings a lot of talent to the table it is only a question of actually translating that to the field…oh and staying on the field would help.

–          The NFL world has apparently gone mad as there have been three other trades of former first round picks in the last week or so.  The Arizona Cardinals finally gave up on the charade that was Levi Brown as their starting LT and they shipped him off to the Pittsburgh Steelers because Mike Adams impression of an offensive tackle was just…offensive.  The Carolina Panthers must have gotten tired of paying OLB Jon Beason’s medical expenses so they sent him to the Giants who don’t employ anyone that resembles and NFL LB.  Beason can play like an NFL OLB but he spends more time with doctors than he does coaches.  Then there is the trade of Jacksonville Jaguars LT Eugene Monroe to the Baltimore Ravens…hold on a second…this deserves its own dash.

–          The Jaguars traded former 1^st round pick Eugene Monroe to the Baltimore Ravens for a couple of late round picks, yep the Jaguars are going all in on their way to 0-16.  Now the Jaguars will tell you that they traded Monroe because he will be a free agent at the end of the year and they already planned to put 2013 1^st round pick Luke Joeckel at LT next year so they traded Monroe now in order to get value for him.  Okay I can buy that except they didn’t shop him around; there were other teams willing to part with more than a couple of late round picks for him.  The karmic part of this story is the fact that in his first start at LT Luke Joeckel broke his ankle and is out for the year.  This isn’t karma for Joeckel, he seems like a stand up kind of guy, this is karma for the Jags.  The Ravens make out like bandits because while no one is going to confuse Monroe for Jonathan Ogden he is a gigantic upgrade over Bryant McKinnie’s corpse.

–          I have to keep going on the Jaguars.  They enter this week as 28 point underdogs to the Peyton Manning and the undefeated Denver Broncos.  This ties the record for largest point spread in NFL history and there isn’t a number big enough to get me to bet on the Jags.  Manning tied the NFL record with 7 TD passes in the first game of the year and the only thing stopping him from breaking that this weekend is if he throws 7 TDs in the first half and John Fox sits him the second half.  The Jaguars pass defense is actually ranked 11^th in the NFL but that is probably because they have the worst rush defense in the league.  I’m fairly certain Manning will still make them look terrible.  Oh and if you need more proof that the Jaguars need a new QB how about the fact that they are 28 point underdogs with their backup QB Chad Henne slated to start and if their starter Blaine Gabbert was healthy they would probably be getting 30 points.  Bring on Teddy Bridgewater.

A quick look at some of my Preseason Predictions (the good and the bad)

Good: Peyton Manning for MVP.  No one has ever locked up the MVP trophy by week 5 but unless Manning gets hit by a bus this one is over.

Bad: Aldon Smith for Defensive Player of the Year.  How was I supposed to know he’d end up in rehab? In my defense he was playing pretty well the first few weeks of the year.

Good: WR Mike Wallace would be a bust.  This is a bit like predicting the sun will rise in the east and Wallace still has time to turn it around but I’m feeling pretty confident on this one.

Bad: Atlanta and Houston in the Super Bowl.  The Falcons started off a little shaky and now Julio Jones, Steven Jackson and Roddy White are all injured, it doesn’t look promising.  Matt Schaub has turned into a turnover machine and Houston is struggling.  I predicted the Texans over the Broncos in the AFC championship game and I can admit when I’m wrong.  No one is beating Denver at this point.

Good:  Kansas City benefits from a steady QB and new coaching staff.  The Chiefs are 5-0 because Alex Smith has been steady and Andy Reid and his staff are excellent.

Bad:  The New York Jets will be terrible.  The Jets are 3-2 and they still probably won’t be fantastic but they may be good enough to allow Rex Ryan to keep his job through the season.  I still don’t think Ryan will be coaching them next year but with 3 wins the Jets have already surpassed my expectations.

Good: Ahmad Bradshaw would only last until week 5.  We just had week 5 and Bradshaw just went on IR.

Bad:  Andrew Luck would have to throw it all over because the Colts wouldn’t have a RB.  How was I supposed to know the Browns would give up on Trent Richardson and the Colts would part with a 1^st round pick to get him?  Luck will still have a ton of passing yards.

Good:  The Vikings wouldn’t repeat last year’s surprising record because of Christian Ponder.  They Vikings didn’t sign Josh Freeman because of their overwhelming support of Ponder.  Ponder will be looking for a new home as someone’s back up next year.

Bad:  San Diego and Oakland will be terrible.  Neither team is great but they are certainly more competitive than I thought.  Terrelle Pryor is actually starting to progress into a solid starting QB and their offensive staff is learning to use his talents.  If the Raiders could get him some actual talent he may become something.  Phillip Rivers is playing much better this year under Mike McCoy and he too would benefit from some more talent around him.

Good and Bad:  8-8 might win the NFC East and everyone in the NFC East might go 8-8.  This was good because 8-8 really might win the division but it was bad because it will take a miracle for the 0-5 Giants to get to 8-8.  The Giants are inexplicably horrible especially given the talent on offense.

The Hawkeyes keep Floyd at home.

The 23-7 final score doesn’t truly reflect the way the Hawkeyes dominated the Gophers in all phases of the game.  The vaunted Minnesota rushing attack was no match for Iowa’s run defense and for once it wasn’t Iowa’s passing attack that was plagued by poor throws and dropped passes.  Jake Rudock is growing up before our eyes and he is a far better fit for Greg Davis’s scheme than James Vandenberg was and it shows.  The past two games have shown the potential that Rudock and the Hawkeyes offense has to go along with a devastating run defense.  The offense wasn’t perfect against the Gophers and this team still stops itself a little more often than I would like to see but the progress compared to the end of last year’s team is incredible.  This obviously occurred a week after the Hawkeyes thoroughly dominated Western Michigan and it certainly has breathed life back into the program.  A four game winning streak seemed like a far-fetched dream after the season opening loss to Northern Illinois but here the Hawkeyes sit and two of those wins came in rivalry games on the road.  I would like to congratulate Jake Rudock for winning his first two road games and tying James Vandenberg’s career total for road victories.  If you think I’m kidding; Purdue in 2011 and Michigan St. in 2012, look it up.  This team still has some issues; outside pass rush, blocking on the interior of the offensive line and not getting the TE’s involved enough.  However, they look a lot better overall and are starting to resemble previous Kirk Ferentz teams that started off the season shaky but figured it out and played their best football as the season wore on.  I’ve been pretty skeptical that Kirk Ferentz had another program turnaround in him but I would be plenty happy if I’m wrong.  I’m not convinced just yet but the odds have certainly started to shift.  Michigan St.’s defense is going to be the first huge test for this Jake Rudock led offense and the Hawkeyes will undoubtedly lean on Mark Weisman like they did last year against the Spartans.  The problem with that strategy is that Pat Narduzzi’s defense is one of the best in the country and they will be prepared to stop Weisman.  The Hawkeye’s success in this game will be tied to the play of Jake Rudock and a passing attack that is starting to figure out who to count on and who to ignore.  Michigan St.’s offense isn’t exactly having a banner year and Iowa’s defense isn’t going to make it easy on them so I’m expecting an ugly offensive game.  It looked like Mark Dantonio had finally figured out that Andrew Maxwell was not the guy at QB and Connor Cook had taken over and played well.  However, Dantonio inexplicably took out Cook (who wasn’t having a great day) for the last drive against Notre Dame and replaced him with Maxwell and he predictably went 0 for 3 passing and couldn’t make a first down.  Apparently whatever disease afflicted Kirk Ferentz that made him loyal to James Vandenberg last year has travel up to East Lansing and Dantonio has caught a mild case of it when it comes to Maxwell.  Sorry Spartan fans but the only known cure is graduation.

College Football thoughts

Most of you know that while I am a college football fan and an NFL fan my favorite thing is where the two come together…the NFL Draft.  I thought I would take a look at some of the early season play and how it will affect the draft.

–          The first major thing to know about the 2014 Draft is that it has massive potential at the QB position.  The 2013 Draft was one of the worst at the position but next year’s draft could restock a third of the league with QBs.  There are five underclassmen that could turn the 2014 class into something special.  Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville), Marcus Mariota (Oregon), Brett Hundley (UCLA), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M) and Braxton Miller (Ohio St.); they aren’t all likely to come out but I would say a minimum of 3 will.  The senior class has loads of talent regardless of what the underclassmen do.  Tajh Boyd (Clemson), Aaron Murray (Georgia), Zach Mettenberger (LSU), David Fales (San Jose St.), Derek Carr (Fresno St.) and AJ McCarron (Alabama) are all potential early round draft picks.  Bryn Renner (North Carolina), Stephen Morris (Miami) and Logan Thomas (Virginia Tech) are all flawed prospects with potential.  Yep, I just listed 14 QB’s that I believe have starting potential in the NFL, it’s mind-blowing how the draft changes from year to year.

–          Here’s how I see it for the underclassmen.  Bridgewater would be a fool not to come out early since he is the likely first overall pick (the Jaguars can’t be dumb enough to pass on him). Mariota has been compared to Colin Kaepernick and he may need an adjustment year like Kaepernick had when he entered the league but the payoff will be huge.  Hundley may end up being the best of the bunch but if he returns to UCLA he is likely the odds on favorite to go #1 in 2015.  Manziel is the enigma as his playmaking ability may be offset by his complete meltdown potential off the field (he might just be a kid that needs to grow up or he might be Ryan Leaf 2.0).  Miller has star potential but he may need even more time to adjust to the pros and he would probably be better suited to return to Ohio St. and avoid this draft class all together.

–          Here’s how I see it for the top seniors.  Tajh Boyd will be entering the league with the type of athletic skillset NFL teams are dying for; he’s a good player and safe choice.  Aaron Murray reminds me of Drew Brees, he isn’t the biggest or the strongest or the fastest player but he’s highly accurate and has a great arm.  Murray is my favorite QB in this class after Bridgewater.  Mettenberger has every physical tool you could ask for from a QB and the coaching by offensive coordinator Cam Cameron has raised Mettenberg’s game immensely.  I haven’t seen much of David Fales or Derek Carr but they both fit the mold of NFL QB’s and they raise the game of the players around them.  Carr has Fresno St. looking like a possible BCS buster early in the season.  AJ McCarron doesn’t wow anyone with his physical gifts and he is overshadowed by the sheer number of pro prospects on Alabama’s team but the kid is a winner.  I know so was Ken Dorsey but McCarron has the skills to be a solid NFL starter at some point.  McCarron knows how to get it done and if my starting QB was Christian Ponder or Blaine Gabbert right now and you offered me AJ McCarron I’d switch in a heartbeat.  Bryn Renner, Stephen Morris and Logan Thomas are all players that need good coaching to bring their game up a level but they all have shown flashes of serious talent.

–          Jake Matthews (Texas A&M) and Taylor Lewan (Michigan) have separated themselves at Offensive Tackle from Cyrus Kouandjio, James Hurst and Antonio Richardson.  Alabama’s line hasn’t been nearly as dominate this season as it was last season and Kouandjio has struggled at times.  Hurst (North Carolina) and Richardson (Tennessee) are good prospects and they could both be first round players but they aren’t in the same league as Matthews and Lewan.  Iowa’s LT Brandon Scherff isn’t getting a lot of national attention when it comes to the draft but rest assured if he wants to leave early he’ll be in the conversation after Matthews and Lewan.  Scherff is a dominate run blocker and he’ll get better at pass blocking.  He is comparable to former Hawkeyes Bryan Bulaga and Riley Reiff and if he returns for his senior season he could go much higher in the 2015 Draft.

–          Two redshirt sophomores that have emerged early in this season and could really impact the draft at their positions are Texas A&M WR Mike Evans and Wisconsin RB Melvin Gordon.  Evans is a 6’5 215 lb. athletic freak with the size and speed combination every NFL team wants.  USC WR Marquise Lee and Clemson WR Sammy Watkins were regarded as the best draft eligible WR’s but Lee is injured and his production was down before his injury and Watkins isn’t the physical specimen Evans is.  The RB position isn’t exactly overflowing with top prospects which is why Gordon’s rise up the boards has come so quickly.  Gordon is a game breaking RB with good size (6’1 207 lb.) and blinding speed.  A guy like Oregon’s De’Anthony Thomas brings the same type of speed and playmaking ability but he is seriously undersized and won’t likely be used as a traditional tailback in the NFL.  Gordon comes from Wisconsin so being used like a traditional tailback is in his blood.

–          Jadaveon Clowney hasn’t been nearly as good this year as he was last year and I suspect it is a combination of two factors.  The first one being the fact that every team is scheming their offense to negate the Clowney factor and South Carolina doesn’t seem to possess anyone else on defense that can make opponents regret that decision.  The second factor is that Clowney is likely playing a bit conservatively in order to keep himself healthy.  I don’t think he is doing it on purpose but when you’re facing constant double and triple teams that you are unlikely to beat there is little incentive to take any risks.  NFL scouts know this and they know he won’t face this problem in the NFL so it is unlikely to impact his draft status.  The one thing that will impact his draft status is the fact that QB trumps all else and most bad teams are bad because they need a QB.  Bridgewater is almost assuredly going to go first overall but Mariota and Hundley have the potential to jump Clowney if they come out simply because teams prioritize QB over DE almost every time.

–          UCLA LB Anthony Barr is going to go quite a bit higher than people anticipate right now and he could be a revelation in the NFL.  Barr only moved to LB before last year and he is still learning the position, when he figures it out, look out.  BYU LB Kyle Van Noy and Alabama LB CJ Mosley are two other top LB prospects that will be early starters in the NFL.

–          Ohio St. CB Bradley Roby is seen as potentially the top prospect at his position in the 2014 Draft and if he wants to hold on to that spot he better hope that all evidence of the Buckeyes game against Wisconsin disappears from the planet.  Wisconsin WR Jared Abbrederis is a fantastic WR that just knows how to play the position and he owned Roby all day last Saturday.  The competition to overtake Roby as the #1 CB in the draft is flawed but Roby left the door wide open this weekend and it will be interesting to see if he can atone or if someone can blow past him… you know like Abbrederis did all day long.

Other Football thoughts

–          USC’s four year descent into a nightmare finally ended after their embarrassing loss at Arizona St. last weekend.  USC AD Pat Haden mercifully ended the Lane Kiffin era…aka debacle…after the flight back to LA.  No one has ever stumbled his way up the coaching ladder as successfully as Lane Kiffin.  Hired at 32 to be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders (yep, Al Davis was that senile by then) but dismissed because he and Al didn’t get along.  Then he lucks into the Tennessee job for a year before Pete Carroll bolts for the Seahawks and former AD Mike Garrett panics and hires the only former Carroll assistant he can find.  Lane Kiffin is not his father but he may be better off being a coordinator for someone else instead of being a head coach, he just isn’t cut out for it.

–          UConn fired Paul Pasqualoni as football coach after starting his third year 0-4, yeah I don’t care either I just thought I’d mention it.

–          Texas AD Deloss Dodds is retiring next year which means the temperature on Mack Brown’s hot seat just moved to boiling.  If the Longhorns lose to Iowa St. tonight in their Thursday night matchup Brown will go from boiling to fired in record time.

–          I’m not sure which college job Greg Schiano will be at next season but he isn’t a sustainable NFL coach and the sooner the Buccaneers realize that the better.  This isn’t about Josh Freeman anymore, Schiano does not have the players trust because they see him stabbing Freeman in the back and now he’s resorted to bringing in his former Rutgers players.  When hiring your “friends” is the only way to win over the locker room, you’ve already failed.  Schiano never learned that in the NFL respect is a two way street with your players, in college you can get kids to respect you through fear, in the NFL players just hate you especially when you’re losing.

I’ll start with the Hawkeyes.  This is much more what I was expecting out of the Hawkeyes.  They played pretty well but they shot themselves in the foot from time to time and killed drives.  Weisman is being leaned on a little too much and it’s going to cost them down the line when he breaks down.  No one can average 30 carries a game and last all season.  The defense played well with a few big plays they gave up being the exception.  For once the Hawkeyes took some chances on defense with blitzing, unfortunately it backfired.  Let’s get something straight, they did not get beat because they were playing prevent they got roasted a few times when the blitz didn’t get to the QB.  If you think I can’t blame the coaching staff for the failure of the players not executing just give me a second.  We have blitzed so little in the past that the players aren’t used to it and that’s why they aren’t very good at it.  They should get better in time if the coaching staff keeps working at it, please Coach Ferentz don’t give up on it because of a few big plays, you still won the game.

Just a few of notes

–          BJ Lowery did not blow the coverage on the first big TD they gave up, he blew the tackle.  He was right where he needed to be (maybe slightly out of position) but he had the guy and he missed the tackle, that’s not normal for him.  He is forgiven after making one of the best catches I’ve seen on his interception.  ESPN is not forgiven for not making Lowery’s pick a top play.

–          We have 4 tailbacks the coaches supposedly like but Weisman gets 30 carries?  I understand that Weisman’s style was working against the Cyclones but LeShun Daniels is fairly similar and when you have a 20 point lead it’s okay to give Weisman a break.

–          This team has to find an edge pass rush.  If playing Quinton Alston at DE or bringing Nate Meier in more is how you do it fine but someone has to get pressure off the edge.  Drew Ott played his best game as a Hawkeye but he still wasn’t getting to the QB.  Kudos to Darian Cooper for finally getting a sack for the defensive lineman, it still counts even if it was against the Cyclones third string center.  I’m just glad Cooper realized the mismatch and took advantage.

–          I would like to say the Hawkeyes finally got a win against a quality opponent but the Cyclones are not very good.  I’m glad the Hawkeyes finally didn’t make the Cyclone QB look like a Heisman trophy front runner early in the year, that’s a nice change from recent history.

–          Jake Rudock went on the road to a very hostile environment where the Hawkeyes have struggled and he played a pretty good game.  However, he needs to start keeping the ball on the read option because everyone is selling out on the RB because they don’t believe he’ll keep it.  Keep the ball Jake and make everyone pay.

–          The two deeps were released for the Western Michigan game this week and the one notable change is that WR Tevaun Smith is now listed as a starter and Don Shumpert is listed as his backup.  Yay! And so begins Shumpert’s descent down the depth chart, this is about the time it started last year and by my count he ended up about seventh on the depth chart.  That would be about right.

College football thoughts (mostly Big Ten related)

–          Oh those mighty Cornhuskers of Nebraska, thank you for the most entertaining weekend and beginning of the week I could ask for.  The meltdown of the Nebraska faithful is hilarious after the complete meltdown of their team against UCLA (sorry guys but you lost to a better team, UCLA is pretty good).  And thank you Coach Pelini for throwing gasoline on the fire, getting into a pissing match with Tommy Frazier coupled with the timely release of the two year old audio tape of Pelini  isn’t helping matters.  Obviously someone was sitting on this tape waiting to use it when it would make splash and it has.  Nebraska is “reviewing” Pelini’s job status and my guess is he keeps his job until he loses 3 or 4 Big Ten games and then he’s toast at the end of the year.  The Nebraska faithful has never been completely behind Pelini and while he does win about 9 games a year that isn’t enough given his personality.  You can only come off as a jerk if you win at least 12 games a year and win national championships, you know like Nick Saban does.

–          Obviously as an Iowa fan I don’t particularly like Wisconsin but what I hate more is when a Big Ten team gets screwed by Pac 12 officials against a Pac 12 team in a Pac 12 stadium.  If you didn’t see what happened Wisconsin ran a play and knelt down in the middle of the field to set up a shot at a game winning field goal with 15 seconds to play.  QB Joel Stave knelt down, giving himself up, and set the ball down but apparently Pac 12 officials are unaware of this “knee down means your down” thing in college football and they let an Arizona St. player lay on the ball for about ten seconds.  Then if that weren’t bad enough when the umpire finally set the ball for play with about 4 seconds to go he stood there stopping the Wisconsin center from snapping the ball until time ran out.  This was not poor clock management by Wisconsin, they had plenty of time to run these plays and kick a game winning field goal if the refs had done their job correctly.  Oh don’t worry the refs have been “reprimanded” by the Pac 12, lot of good that does when they just handed Wisconsin a loss.

–          QB controversy at Ohio St.?  Okay probably not but back up QB Kenny Guiton is playing lights out in place of Braxton Miller.  Maybe if we talk about it enough we can start a controversy.  By the way Guiton is a better passer right now than Miller.

–          Mack Brown is living on borrowed time at Texas, Lane Kiffin is a dead man walking at USC and Nebraska’s Bo Pelini should start polishing his resume.  Texas, USC and Nebraska are three big jobs that look like they will be open by the end of the year and we are only 3 weeks in.

NFL Thoughts

–          Rob Gronkowski needs to get back on the field for the Patriots because they can’t keep winning this ugly all year.

–          Two weeks into his second season and the Greg Schiano experiment looks like it’s blowing up in Tampa Bay.  Schiano may win the battle against Josh Freeman but if the Glazer family is smart they will keep Mark Dominick the GM and send Schiano back to college.  Dominick has done a good job stockpiling talent in Tampa.  There are some cushy landing spots (cough…Nebraska…cough) that Schiano might fit into.

–          I didn’t think it was possible but the Jacksonville Jaguars are worse than I thought they would be.  There are at least a dozen Jags fans that want the team to sign Tim Tebow, that might not sound like a lot but it’s about half of their fan base at this point.

–          The Philadelphia Eagles offense is everything it was advertised to be but I seriously underestimated how bad their defense was going to be.  I said their run defense was going to be bad but I didn’t think the pass defense would be just as horrible.  Chip Kelly is an offensive genius too bad this isn’t the Pac 12 where you can beat people by running up the score every week.  The truth is Kelly would kill to have a defense in Philly as good as his defenses at Oregon and that’s a very sad truth.

–          EJ Manuel is way better than I thought he would be this quickly.  He was my favorite QB in the draft class in terms of potential but I didn’t think he would be ready but he’s playing pretty solid football.  Of course it helps if the defense doesn’t cover your best WR when you need to make a play to win the game.

–          Congrats to Andy Reid and Alex Smith in Kansas City they are playing well to start the year and they are two deserving guys.  Reid took a lot of flak in Philly and Smith was a whipping boy in San Francisco but they are good men doing their jobs well and Kansas City finally has guys they can cheer for.

–          Kansas City looks like they might actually be a team and San Diego doesn’t look nearly as bad as I thought they would so far, those are the good surprises.  Tampa Bay looks like a sinking ship and Pittsburgh looks like a mess.  The Steelers could always turn it around, a solid coach and QB are a good starting point, but the Buccaneers are the Titanic and Greg Schiano isn’t the captain he’s the iceberg.

The Hawkeyes finally broke the seven game losing streak by beating the mighty Missouri St. something-or-others.  Bears? Maybe?  Whatever, it counts as a win so let’s just take what we can get.  It is nice to know that the coaching staff must have read my last blog post because they cleaned up some of the coaching errors I pointed out last time (if you believe the coaching staff reads my blog please stop reading and go hit yourself in the head with something hard).

A few changes I noticed; the WR bubble screen was largely absent from the playbook (my prayers were answered), they actually stuck with the RB that was on a roll, we didn’t give up a fake punt for a first down and while LB’s were still covering WR’s at times that isn’t as big of a mismatch against an FCS opponent.  A few notes about the game.

– The one time I actually recall them throwing the WR screen they attempted it to Damond Powell, unfortunately Powell dropped the pass and of course he didn’t see another pass all day long, wish it worked that way for Don Shumpert.

-While I am in favor of letting a RB get into a rhythm with the offense and Mark Weisman certainly did that, giving him 30 carries in a game against a FCS team is a bit of an overcorrection.  Now that the Hawkeyes actually got LeShun Daniels into the game they now have 4 RB’s that should get carries so no one should shoulder the load of 30 carries in a game.  When I said they shouldn’t rotate RB’s I meant within a series not within the game.  Taking a RB out when he’s on a roll within a series can kill a drive, rotating in multiple RB’s that give you different skills keeps the defense off balance and keeps the RB’s fresh.

-Better job on special teams although the first game didn’t set the bar very high.

-Jake Rudock played well overall with a few notable exceptions.  I have to say when Jake makes a bad pass for an interception he makes it a really horrific pass.  These are expected growing pains for a QB that hasn’t played in a live game since high school.  I like Rudock’s skillset and he has far better wheels than I expected.  After the first game one complaint I read over and over was that he never keeps it on the read-option play and he didn’t but he did a better job in the second game and I believe when he gets more comfortable in the offense he will use he’s running skills more.

Here’s my rant.

The Hawkeyes burned the redshirts on two more true freshmen that didn’t see action in the first game.  LeShun Daniels was supposed to play in the first game but Ferentz “never found the opportunity” to put him in so against Missouri St. he used him early and Daniels looks the part.  Daniels is as big and physical as Weisman but he has more speed, he is the one to watch as the season progresses.  The other newcomer in the game was a surprise, WR Matt Vandeberg got in on the action early and made a couple of nice catches on some short gains.  I am both excited and mistified by this development.  I am all in favor of anything that means Shumpert sees less playing time at WR but I can’t figure out how Vandeberg is the newcomer that made the grade.  I don’t mean to disparage Matt Vandeberg in any way, this is kid that has obviously worked hard and proved to the coaches that he is ready to contribute and I love to see that, my issue is with the coaching staff (as it seems to be far too often lately).  For those of you that don’t know who Vandeberg is he is a kid out of South Dakota that the Hawkeyes originally offered a grayshirt scholarship to (Point of clarification: a “grayshirt” offer means the kid delays his college enrollment until the second semester and get put on scholarship then which delays his eligibility clock by one year).  Vandeberg wasn’t supposed to be on the team this semester and only is because the Hawkeyes had some scholarships open up just before camp so the coaches called Vandeberg and told him he could start in the fall instead of in January.  The reason this bothers me is that Vandeberg only joined the team at the beginning of August just like Damond Powell and yet I clearly saw Vandeberg run more than one route in the game.  Why is it a high school kid learned the offense faster than an older JUCO transfer kid?  That’s a rhetorical question.  What I’m saying is Ferentz’s stance that Powell isn’t playing as much because he came in so late is complete BS?  Vandeberg came it at the same time as Powell and apparently he’s up to speed enough to play.  Maybe Ferentz is covering for Powell, maybe Powell is a slow learner and Ferentz doesn’t want to tell people that but something tells me that’s not the case.  I questioned the coaching staff’s ability to assess players last year when they obviously missed that Weisman was a pretty good RB and because they insisted on playing Shumpert, now I question it even more.  People say “trust the coaches they see practice every day”, sorry but you want me to trust the coaches that played James Vandenberg every snap last season?  No thanks, I think I’ll trust my eyes.  I may only get to see an open practice here and there and watch the games they play but my eyes don’t lie.  The coaches obviously initially missed on Vandeberg because they brought in 4 other freshmen WR’s and only brought in Vandeberg because they had a scholarship to fill.  They don’t get credit for lucking into a kid that is obviously working hard and earning time ahead of the other freshmen.  Maybe the coaching staff did read my blog last week and my compliment of Don Shumpert’s blocking convinced them he should still be playing.  Let me be clear, unless you plan on making Don Shumpert a very undersized guard he shouldn’t see the field.  He is incapable of the skill that literally defines he position, receiving.  If the coaches are reading this please play Tevaun Smith, Kevonte Martin-Manley, Damond Powell, Jacob Hillyer, Jordan Cotton, Matt Vandeberg, Riley McCarron, Damon Bullock, Jordan Canzeri, Derrick Willies, Derrick Mitchell, Andre Harris or Blake Haluska at WR before Don Shumpert.  Yes I know two of the those guys are RB’s but if we use them at WR then even in a three receiver set that would make Shumpert 5th team.   I used to be on the side of “trust the coaches” but I’ve seen far too many things overlooked to still feel that way.

Rant over, now go beat the damn Clowns.  Go Hawks.

I watched the game on Big Ten Network and then I watched it again a second time later because I just couldn’t help myself and I came to the same conclusion both times, this loss is on the coaching staff.  Jake Rudock played pretty well considering it was his first action in a college football game (another thing we can blame the coaches for).  Yes his pass that was picked off in the end that led to the game winning field goal for NIU was a bad read and an even worse throw but it should never have been that close in the first place.  Play calling and poor personnel decisions throughout the game turned what should have been a solid win by the Hawkeyes into loss to good opponent.  Apparently the near complete overhaul of the assistant coaching staff over the past two years hasn’t changed Kirk Ferentz as the Hawkeyes continue to make the same mistakes they have in the past.  Here are some general and some specific examples of what I’m talking about.

–          Throwing the bubble screen to your WRs can work if you throw it to your playmaking WRs and Iowa is in short supply of those so using this play over and over again is pointless.  Iowa ran this play to Kevonte Martin-Manley, Riley McCarron, Jordan Cotton and Jacob Hillyer (TWICE).  KMM is a possession receiver with little chance to break this play for a big gain.  Riley McCarron is a small slot receiver who is unlikely to break this for a big gain.  Jacob Hillyer is a big-bodied receiver whose strength is his size not his speed and he is unlikely to break this for big gain and the Hawks through it to him twice.  Sensing a theme here?  Jordan Cotton is the only one of these guys that has the slightest chance to make a play with this and he is hindered by the fact that NIU knew it was coming because Iowa ran it so much.  Two things, first stop telegraphing this play, if I know when it’s coming the opponent knows when it’s coming too.  Second Damond Powell needs to be the guy you throw this to.  Ferentz keeps saying that Powell is still getting up to speed but apparently in the month he has been practicing with the team he has only learned the deep post route, seems like it’s about time you teach him a second play.

–          When you get a lead on a smaller opponent and your RB starts off a drive ripping off a couple of 7-8 yard runs and your offensive line is starting to lean on that smaller opponent don’t get cute with the play calling and don’t take out the RB that is on a roll.  In the third quarter with a seven point lead Iowa finally got the ball and Damon Bullock took over at RB and gained about 15 yards on two plays, he was jumping up, flexing and screaming for the ball, so what did the Hawkeyes do?  Took him out and put in Jordan Canzeri who hadn’t taken a handoff all day.  Momentum killed, drive stalled and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.  When you have an opponent down and you have a chance for a long demoralizing drive running the football down their throat you do not let up, you do not get cute, you let your offensive line dominate and you let the RB that is in a rhythm keep going.  I’m all for rotating players in to keep guys fresh but Bullock didn’t need a breather and he was ready to go so let him play.

–          The play (or plays) that everyone is still talking about.  Iowa has a 3^rd and 1 and Rudock goes play action fake and throws a bomb down the middle of the field to Damond Powell but the pass is over Powell’s head and then Iowa punts.  WHAT?  For half a second Kirk Ferentz and Greg Davis morphed into Chip Kelly and went for a big play when no one was expecting it and it was a fantastic call.  Breaking out of the comfort zone, going to the kill shot and throwing it to your big playmaker Damond Powell after he had caught a deep pass over the middle in the first half.  Crowd was excited the team had to love it and then…Iowa punted.  Suddenly this brilliant play call just became the stupidest thing you could possibly do.  The Hawkeye offense needed to stay on the field because the defense had been on the field for most of third quarter and going for the big play on 3^rd and 1 is only a good idea if you have already decided to go for it on 4^th down.   When you don’t go for it you put your tired defense back out on the field and you tell your offense you don’t believe they can get 1 yard against an undersized opponent.  Inexcusable decision by Ferentz, it is one thing to be conservative it is another to be scared.  Oh and you can’t play the “field position” excuse when your punter is as inconsistent as Kornbrath has been.

–          The fake punt for about a forty yard gain is ridiculous.  I’m sure someone blew their assignment and I appreciate that Ferentz won’t throw that player under the bus but it isn’t the first time or the second time that the Hawks have been beaten with a fake punt play and that is on the preparation.  Ferentz has always been conservative with his punt return teams and if you’re not going to go for the block and your returner isn’t likely to return it anyway why isn’t your entire punt return unit ready for the fake?

–          Jordan Cotton is completely to blame for the ridiculous decisions he was making returning kickoffs from five yards deep in the end zone (you get the ball at the 25 yard line if you take a knee) and that isn’t on the coaches.  However, Ferentz said that Cotton has instructions on when to come out and when not to so if his instructions are come out from five yards deep that needs to change (you aren’t pulling off a 30 yard return very often).  If Cotton wasn’t following his instructions (I’m pretty sure Ferentz’s nature would preclude him from saying go for it from 5 yards deep) than take him out.  Jordan Canzeri can return kickoffs, so could Powell or Martin-Manley or a host of other guys.  Cotton was an excellent return man last season but he has to understand and the needs of the offense and if he doesn’t then find someone that does.

–          Linebackers covering wide receivers.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.  The Iowa Hawkeye defense is apparently crazy because I’m not sure how many times you have to let a WR beat a LB before you make an adjustment but the Hawkeyes passed that number a long time ago.  You can’t blame the players for repeatedly being put in a position to be beaten and then getting beat, it is a predictable outcome.  The Hawkeyes have three NFL caliber LBs but no one in the NFL is going to ask them to cover WRs.  This might be the most talented group of LBs Iowa has had under Ferentz but it is ludicrous to use them this way.

Those examples are just the ones I can remember a few days after watching the game twice.  My other problem with the coaching staff and Kirk Ferentz in particular stems from his press conference on Tuesday.  Coach Ferentz was asked a question about getting the TE’s more involved in the offense and he said “where the ball goes is dictated by the defense”, that is directly from Ferentz’s mouth.  What?  I cannot begin to explain the problem I have with a coach that has that mentality.  There are times in a game where you take what the defense gives you.  It’s 3^rd down and 4 and the CB is playing 10 yards off the WR, your WR’s read should be run 5 yards just past the 1^st down marker, stop and the QB will hit you right there for the 1^st down.  Move the chains, new set of downs, next play.  To allow an opponent like Northern Illinois to dictate that you don’t use your very talented group of TE’s let alone your 6’7 265 pound matchup nightmare CJ Fiedorowicz means you are failing as a coach.  If a team like NIU can take away what should be a huge part of your offense what chance do you stand against Ohio St. or Wisconsin.  The successful coaches in college football today scheme ways to create mismatches for their playmakers and then they exploit those mismatches.  Football is an evolving sport and I’m not seeing an evolution from the Iowa Hawkeye staff and that starts and stops at Kirk Ferentz.  I will forever be a fan of Kirk Ferentz the man and the University of Iowa will someday recognize the contributions he has made to the school and the football program but it is becoming increasingly hard to be a fan of Kirk Ferentz the coach.  Maddeningly frustrating is the only way I can describe the Hawkeye program at this moment and while I would love to see them turn it around it is hard to believe it’s possible.  The players didn’t play a flawless game against NIU but they played well enough to win (despite the turnovers) if the coaching hadn’t gotten in the way.  Missouri St. is unlikely to put up much of a fight this weekend (and this game better not be close) but it is the next week against in-state rival Iowa St. that Ferentz has to pull off a win.  The Cyclones lost to UNI opening weekend 28-20 and it really wasn’t as close as the score indicated.  The Panthers ran all over the Cyclones and if Iowa can’t beat the Cyclones it is going to be a long year and basketball season won’t be able to get here soon enough.

A couple of good notes since it seems like I’m pretty down on the Hawkeyes.

–          Jake Rudock played pretty well, not great but pretty well.  He wasn’t perfect and unfortunately he threw a game changing pick but the kid is a player.  Wonder what last year’s team would have done with him at QB? (Sorry I couldn’t help myself)

–          Weisman is fine at RB and I know I said Bullock is an offensive weapon but Bullock has added a lot of muscle to his frame and he looks like he could carry the load.  Weisman at fullback, Bullock at RB, should look at that more. (I can’t believe Bullock dropped that one screen pass; that was an aberration he has way better hands than that.)

–          Don Shumpert is an excellent blocker at WR (there I said something nice about him).  Now if he could just catch…sorry (don’t bring up the one he caught late against the prevent defense, I never said he drops everything just the ones that count).

–          Damond Powell can beat anyone deep.   On his long catch in the first half he beat a safety that had deep coverage and he had more than a step on him, the kid can fly.

–          Iowa’s one trick play in the game was a flea flicker that ended with a long completion to Jordan Cotton.  Good call, well executed, maybe the Hawks should try more than one trick play a game, not more than one flea flicker but more than one trick play.

–          Jake Rudock knows what every Iowa Hawkeye fan and every NFL scout knows and that is that CJ Fiedorowicz is never covered in the red zone.  Rudock put the ball up and granted the wish of every Hawkeye fan by letting Fiedorowicz just go up and get it and he did.  Touchdown Iowa.  Perhaps he’s open on other areas of the field too…hmmm.

–          Mike Meyer has been working out.  I don’t think NIU got to return a kickoff as Meyer put almost all them about 5 yards deep and NIU’s kick returner was smart enough to take the ball at the 25.

–          Brandon Scherff is a monster.  There were times when he was pushing his man five yards down the field using one arm.  I think he was trying to give the guy a fighting chance…it didn’t help.

Better luck against Missouri St.  Go Hawks!