I didn't expect...

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Ogie Ogilthorpe

Ogie Ogilthorpe

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...???

Everybody has their own theories as to why the season has gone the way it has so far. That's been beat to death.

Everyone also had their own predictions at the start of the season as to how the season would play out. What I'd like to know is, what aspect of the performance so far has been considerably BELOW your preseason expectations, and thus heavily contributing to the record so far?

Gray is an easy target so I'll leave that alone, although I really did think he would be better than he has been.

After watching the Nebraska game, for ME anyway, I have to go with the 3 seniors on the offensive line. We all knew the bookends, Eddie O and Jimmy Gjere, were young and would probably struggle. But I really thought Wynn, Bunders, and Orton would be a lot better than they have been. Seniors, all with at least SOME experience, the entire interior line. I thought they could be a core for an offense that really needed that senior experience and leadership.

The last game or two, there have been many times when Tommy Olson has looked like the best offensive linemen on the field. I think that about sums it up.
 

The defense is playing about where I expected them. It's the offense's lack of production that has surprised me, and I agree it starts with the line.

My second disappointment is McKnight. He just isn't giving the same effort as he did last year.
 

Agreed with the above...it's mostly offense, specifically the o-line, QB and receivers, probably in that order. Not that the RBs haven't been horrible, but I don't think that was a huge surprise to many people.

Defensively, I expected more from the secondary based almost entirely on what we saw out of Stoudemire this spring, but you can't really blame him for not producing there.
 

There's not much that has happened that I didn't anticipate could happen, but as far as a few things I thought would be better, that isn't a small list lol. I said 5-7 to start the year, but obviously that hasn't come close to happening. A few things I anticipated:

Offensively, I thought we'd be a little better off. Gray was a complete question mark obviously, but I thought he'd be a tad more productive throwing than he has, but again, not a shocker there. The line play has gotten better, but during non-conference when we could have picked up some wins, it was lacking.

Defensively, I did think we'd be getting more QB pressure, but it appears it's just not in the older guys and the younger guys are too small. This is an aspect of the defense I'll be watching closely as the years go forward. If that doesn't improve immensely, the pieces around won't matter, the defense will still suck.

Injuries haven't helped the cause, we've lost a lot of our quality guys. Gray's been hobbled or missed games, Stoudermire's out, Cooper's been out a few, Beal is out, the o-line's had more than its share of injuries. Now Jones is out. We're not deep enough to handle these and not take a hit, especially Troy, that was a big blow. Hopefully that trend Klein orchestrated at other schools will take hold here and we'll see less injuries each year.
 

Offensive Line play has been the biggest disappointment for me. However after the Nebraska game Kill commented that the backs, Qb's and Wr's made the OL look bad.
 


The linebacker play has been horrible compared to what I thought it would be.
 


1. O-line play of 3 seniors
2. Pass rush - I figured that Wilhite, KGM, Simpson, or someone else who's been around for a few years would figure it out.
3. James Manuel - he looks like a freakish athlete, I thought he'd put it together after getting his feet wet last year and be solid in coverage and a guy that could come up and hit people.
 

The same mistakes that keep showing up game after game. Also, if a play goes against us ( the freakish fumble) we seem to crumble. As coach Kill said, we are not a mentality tough football team. I know coach Kill wouldn't say this, but I don't think the team has football smarts. Kind of goes hand in hand with the staff having to monitor 63 kids to make sure they're attending class.
 



I'd echo lack of effort - I couldn't believe how flat and listless the Gophers were against New Mexico State and Michigan. The other aspect would be the amateurish offense. Gray is most of the offense and he hasn't passed well. He carries about as much as all the backs put together and with the passing game around .500, the tight ends and receivers are not much into it. Little imagination, as well, in play calling.
 

For me, it's been:

(1) Offensive Line,
(2) Defensive Line,
(3) What appears to be an on-going problem with blown coverages and mental mistakes.

But it's more overall disappointment for me. I thought we'd be close to .500.
 

I really thought coaching would make a difference this year. Where are the plays where we take advantage of what we do best vs. the weaknesses of the opponent? I love Kill but really have seen nothing special in this area.
 

WhyNotNow? said:
I really thought coaching would make a difference this year. Where are the plays where we take advantage of what we do best vs. the weaknesses of the opponent? I love Kill but really have seen nothing special in this area.
Click to expand...

One thing that has been bothering me, and ties in with the TEs being underused. Kill seems either unwilling or unable to adapt his style to the talent available (or at least as much as one might hope he would). I'm far from an expert, but I feel like there are a lot of places where the team would be performing better if they played to their strengths, where they tend to play to the system instead (i.e. not utilizing the TEs as receivers, the read options Gray seems horrible at running vs improvising out of the pocket where he seems more comfortable and effective, etc). Kill would probably characterize this as 'building on concrete, not sand' etc, and I assume he knows what he's doing, but I feel like we're leaving some wins on the table due to ineffective use of the talent the team currently has.
 



WhyNotNow? said:
I really thought coaching would make a difference this year. Where are the plays where we take advantage of what we do best vs. the weaknesses of the opponent? I love Kill but really have seen nothing special in this area.
Click to expand...


You have to have good coaching but it's tough when you have little talent, as a whole, to work with. I really thought that if Brewster could recruit well his lack of HCing experience wouldn't be a huge issue, but look how that turned out, terrible coach and didn't get the recruits that were really needed for him to turn it around.
 

The main problem is the lack of speed and Big Ten caliber skill players on offense.
 

Offensive and Defensive lines and the QB position...I thought that all the talk of Gray studdying in the film room and the offseason team workouts would translate into more.
 

Concrete/Sand

Your right about that, with regards to the staff not changing things week to week trying to get a few wins. Every player for Iowa has been in the same system doing the same things for their entire time at the school. Kill wants the same thing in the future, so while painful, I think he's right to keep this approach. Keep the square and continue to teach and recruit how to be a square peg. Eventually we will see dividends.
 

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