So far I have rewatched the first half of the game and I will finish it up tomorrow. Here are some of the thoughts that I have and some of the things I noticed.
1st Quarter
Trace had a nice pocket and time to throw, Saeed had a step or 2 on the db and Trace just airmailed it past him. That needs to be a completion for a touchdown.
Not a fan of the play calling at the end of the field goal drive. Andre Robinson got us down to the 2 yard line on a nice run on 1st and goal. Next play, Iowa brings 6 people up on the line, has the db's covering the receivers in man coverage, and they have a safety and lb about 2 yards deep in the endzone.
All 6 guys along the line slant opposite of Barkley and get some penetration, forcing trace to keep the ball. The 2 circled in white stay and key on Trace and end up dropping him for a yard loss. It was actually was designed and executed by Iowa. The next play Trace keeps it and heads for the pylon but is stopped at the 1 because of a nice play by the Iowa backers. How Barkley doesn't get the ball on either of those plays is beyond be. He is the best player in CFB and you don't give it to him either time?! I know you need to use him as a decoy sometimes, but you need to know when to give it to him. Sometimes you need to say, "give it to 26 and let him do his thing". Personally, I think you give the ball to him on both plays on designed runs. No read option or anything. I find it hard to believe that Saquon Barkley wouldn't punch it in if given the ball on those two plays. I guess you can say I wasn't a fan of the play calling there.
Those were my main gripes about the first quarter.
2nd Quarter
First offensive play of 2nd quarter trace missed a wide open blacknall on an easy pitch and catch out route. Trace just wasn't very consistent.
Vasey needs to work on his snaps. On the missed one his snap was basically right on the turf, the holder did a nice job to get it but Davis kicked it while the holder was turning the ball, which probably caused him to miss it.
Did anyone else notice Kevin Givens line up at d end on a few plays? I saw it at least a few times. He actually dropped back into coverage once.
Iowa’s D ends were very aggressive and didn’t let us option off of them. They were flying up and taking away either Trace or Barkley and forcing the ball to the opposite player.
Polk needs to catch that 4th down pass in the 2nd quarter. Iowa brought a corner blitz and Trace couldn’t set his feet but it was a catchable ball.
Nelson looked terrible in the first half and the interception was the worst play of them all. If Nelson could have done anything on that play, they had Mike G WIDE open downfield for what would have been a big gain.
And what could have been points for us to end the half and potentially go into the locker room 8-0 or 12-0, turns into 7 points for them on the next play as Apke got turned around trying to locate the ball and we go into the locker room down. Iowa literally had one play with any significant yardage in the first half and of course it was for a touchdown.
Iowa's defensive front was doing some slanting and stunts in certain situations. Their defense is well coached. They obviously saw some tendencies that we had on offense and they through in some stunts and slants to stop it. I know people were saying the offensive line was bad, but in the first half aside from Nelson, I thought they were okay, certainly not great but not abysmal. Like I said, Iowa through in some wrinkles defensively and its hard to block that kind of stuff when / if you don't see it / prepare for it in practice.
I kept a tally of bad O-Line plays in the first half by player. I played WR and DB my entire life so I don't have a ton of knowledge in the line stuff, maybe one of the coaches can chime in with thoughts, but this is what I have through the first half:
- Bates: 1?
- Gonzo: 3
- McGovern: 2
- Mahon: 2
- Nelson: 5
Pretty much just a bunch of random stuff I noticed from rewatching the first half. I'm sure there will be some people that disagree with me, but chime in and let me know what else you guys saw. I'll watch the second half tomorrow and post what I see.
1st Quarter
Trace had a nice pocket and time to throw, Saeed had a step or 2 on the db and Trace just airmailed it past him. That needs to be a completion for a touchdown.
Not a fan of the play calling at the end of the field goal drive. Andre Robinson got us down to the 2 yard line on a nice run on 1st and goal. Next play, Iowa brings 6 people up on the line, has the db's covering the receivers in man coverage, and they have a safety and lb about 2 yards deep in the endzone.
All 6 guys along the line slant opposite of Barkley and get some penetration, forcing trace to keep the ball. The 2 circled in white stay and key on Trace and end up dropping him for a yard loss. It was actually was designed and executed by Iowa. The next play Trace keeps it and heads for the pylon but is stopped at the 1 because of a nice play by the Iowa backers. How Barkley doesn't get the ball on either of those plays is beyond be. He is the best player in CFB and you don't give it to him either time?! I know you need to use him as a decoy sometimes, but you need to know when to give it to him. Sometimes you need to say, "give it to 26 and let him do his thing". Personally, I think you give the ball to him on both plays on designed runs. No read option or anything. I find it hard to believe that Saquon Barkley wouldn't punch it in if given the ball on those two plays. I guess you can say I wasn't a fan of the play calling there.
Those were my main gripes about the first quarter.
2nd Quarter
First offensive play of 2nd quarter trace missed a wide open blacknall on an easy pitch and catch out route. Trace just wasn't very consistent.
Vasey needs to work on his snaps. On the missed one his snap was basically right on the turf, the holder did a nice job to get it but Davis kicked it while the holder was turning the ball, which probably caused him to miss it.
Did anyone else notice Kevin Givens line up at d end on a few plays? I saw it at least a few times. He actually dropped back into coverage once.
Iowa’s D ends were very aggressive and didn’t let us option off of them. They were flying up and taking away either Trace or Barkley and forcing the ball to the opposite player.
Polk needs to catch that 4th down pass in the 2nd quarter. Iowa brought a corner blitz and Trace couldn’t set his feet but it was a catchable ball.
Nelson looked terrible in the first half and the interception was the worst play of them all. If Nelson could have done anything on that play, they had Mike G WIDE open downfield for what would have been a big gain.
And what could have been points for us to end the half and potentially go into the locker room 8-0 or 12-0, turns into 7 points for them on the next play as Apke got turned around trying to locate the ball and we go into the locker room down. Iowa literally had one play with any significant yardage in the first half and of course it was for a touchdown.
Iowa's defensive front was doing some slanting and stunts in certain situations. Their defense is well coached. They obviously saw some tendencies that we had on offense and they through in some stunts and slants to stop it. I know people were saying the offensive line was bad, but in the first half aside from Nelson, I thought they were okay, certainly not great but not abysmal. Like I said, Iowa through in some wrinkles defensively and its hard to block that kind of stuff when / if you don't see it / prepare for it in practice.
I kept a tally of bad O-Line plays in the first half by player. I played WR and DB my entire life so I don't have a ton of knowledge in the line stuff, maybe one of the coaches can chime in with thoughts, but this is what I have through the first half:
- Bates: 1?
- Gonzo: 3
- McGovern: 2
- Mahon: 2
- Nelson: 5
Pretty much just a bunch of random stuff I noticed from rewatching the first half. I'm sure there will be some people that disagree with me, but chime in and let me know what else you guys saw. I'll watch the second half tomorrow and post what I see.
