Iowa vs Maryland!

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Gophergrandpa

Gophergrandpa

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Iowa just beat Maryland 51-14. Ouch. Iowa intercepted Maryland 6 times. Not a typo: 6 times. Iowa distributed the ball very well to several running backs and 8 different receivers, including 6 receptions by true freshman Arland Bruce IV. Notable were the huge gains on passes to RB Goodson and TEs. Iowa does these things called bootlegs and counters to take advantage of defenses that overload. Wonder how they dreamed these tactics up? QB played great: threw for 3 TDs and ran for 2 more. It pains me to say this, but Iowa is doing what some thought we might do this year. Great defense. And a very creative offense that takes what the defense gives them (and quite often fools the defense to begin with). Darn!
 
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No one thought we’d have a great defense…the vast majority had us as a wild card at best to win the west. Iowa and Wisconsin were the trendy picks.
 

I like when Iowa has a short yardage situation, they don't dilly-dally. They get to the line, have the center snap the ball to the QB, who is actually making physical contact with the center and simply use momentum to gain a measly 3 feet.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Iowa just beat Maryland 51-14. Ouch. Iowa intercepted Maryland 6 times. Not a typo: 6 times. Iowa distributed the ball very well to several running backs and 8 different receivers, including 6 receptions by true freshman Arland Bruce IV. Notable were the huge gains on passes to RB Goodson and TEs. Iowa does these things called bootlegs and counters to take advantage of defenses that overload. Wonder how they dreamed these tactics up? QB played great: threw for 3 TDs and ran for 2 more. It pains me to say this, but Iowa is doing what some thought we might do this year. Great defense. And a very creative offense that takes what the defense gives them (and quite often fools the defense to begin with). Darn!
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Iowa's early turnovers really deflated the Terps and the Terps pretty much caved in.

People like to say that Iowa wouldn't be as strong without that elite defense because Petras is barely an average QB. The reason Iowa is looking like the best team in the conference is because they seem to emphasis special teams and defense.

We all hope PJ was taking notes.
 

Fingers crossed we can be the spoil to their season.
 


Breakin' The Plane said:
I like when Iowa has a short yardage situation, they don't dilly-dally. They get to the line, have the center snap the ball to the QB, who is actually making physical contact with the center and simply use momentum to gain a measly 3 feet.
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We’d line up with everyone on the line, wait until the play clock was down to 2, call a timeout, then come back with the same look and try to run it up the middle.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
We’d line up with everyone on the line, wait until the play clock was down to 2, call a timeout, then come back with the same look and try to run it up the middle.
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You forgot the “step back for 7 seconds while the whole team looks to the slide lines for Devine intervention” part, before the play clock goes down to 2.
 


Boomtime said:
People like to say that Iowa wouldn't be as strong without that elite defense because Petras is barely an average QB.
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He's certainly the beneficiary of a lot of short fields but he gets the job done. He has pretty modest yards per attempt but he's completing over 62% of his passes this year and has 7 touchdown passes vs. 1 interception. He's 11-2 as a starter after losing his first two starts. The stats don't WOW you but it's hard to complain about a QB with that record.
 



cjbfbp said:
He's certainly the beneficiary of a lot of short fields but he gets the job done. He has pretty modest yards per attempt but he's completing over 62% of his passes this year and has 7 touchdown passes vs. 1 interception. He's 11-2 as a starter after losing his first two starts. The stats don't WOW you but it's hard to complain about a QB with that record.
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Any objective fan would conclude the same.
 

Remember when people thought Iowa was just going to be "meh" this year, before the year started?

They don't have new coaches. They don't have new schemes. They aren't doing anything different. They're doing exactly what they always do.

Plug and play.

I doubt they have a roster studded with future NFL super stars. Just a bunch of players who have come up in a system, playing that system to a T.
 

MplsGopher said:
Remember when people thought Iowa was just going to be "meh" this year, before the year started?

They don't have new coaches. They don't have new schemes. They aren't doing anything different. They're doing exactly what they always do.

Plug and play.

I doubt they have a roster studded with future NFL super stars. Just a bunch of players who have come up in a system, playing that system to a T.
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Yeah, I figured they'd have a good team (because they rarely have a mediocre one) but I didn't expect this kind of defensive dominance over P5 teams.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yeah, I figured they'd have a good team (because they rarely have a mediocre one) but I didn't expect this kind of defensive dominance over P5 teams.
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Hiring decisions matter, if the right OC was hired we might have been nipping at Iowa/Wisconsin's heals but as it is we appear to be back in the Mason/Kill zone.
 




Iowa ramped up the hitting after the MD returner’s knee went full sideways. It was men against scared kids out there.
 

Iowa will lose to Penn State next week.
Maryland isn't actually that good.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Iowa ramped up the hitting after the MD returner’s knee went full sideways. It was men against scared kids out there.
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I only watched the first half but that did seem to be the turning point. My reaction at the time was: "Why the hell did he have his best receiver out there returning kicks?"
 

cjbfbp said:
He's certainly the beneficiary of a lot of short fields but he gets the job done. He has pretty modest yards per attempt but he's completing over 62% of his passes this year and has 7 touchdown passes vs. 1 interception. He's 11-2 as a starter after losing his first two starts. The stats don't WOW you but it's hard to complain about a QB with that record.
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He’s fine, but the rest of the skill players won’t wow you either.
 

RogueGopher said:
Iowa will lose to Penn State next week.
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Well, maybe or maybe not. Iowa won that matchup last year. Prior to that, Iowa lost 6 straight. But, prior to that losing streak, Iowa had won 8 of 9. They're only five games into the season but this looks like one of Ferentz's best teams so far. There are a number of posters on this thread who seem determined not to consider the early evidence. They remind me of immature and overly emotional teenage girls talking about their primary rivals.
 

btowngopher said:
He’s fine, but the rest of the skill players won’t wow you either.
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No, they don't wow you but they're getting the job done too. I only watched the first half but the defense surely wowed me and that might be enough for them to run away with the division.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
We’d line up with everyone on the line, wait until the play clock was down to 2, call a timeout, then come back with the same look and try to run it up the middle.
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Like when Iowa lined up on 4th and short in the first quarter down 7-3 trying to draw Maryland offsides at mid-field, ran the clock down to 1 second and called timeout just to punt?

Talk about a wasted TO, just take the 5 yards, keep the TO at a point in the game where it looked like it could be valuable.
 

goldengophers said:
Hiring decisions matter, if the right OC was hired we might have been nipping at Iowa/Wisconsin's heals but as it is we appear to be back in the Mason/Kill zone.
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Just an FYI...Wisconsin is nipping at Minnesotas heals as they are 1-2. Mertz couldnt hit water falling out of a boat.
 

goldengophers said:
Hiring decisions matter, if the right OC was hired we might have been nipping at Iowa/Wisconsin's heals but as it is we appear to be back in the Mason/Kill zone.
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Speaking of offensive coordinators, I'm pretty sure that — at various points in time, over the last few seasons — you could have visited Black Heart Gold Pants and you would have read screed after screed insisting that the Hawkeyes and Big Ferentz should immediately fire that 'worthless beneficiary of nepotism', Little Ferentz.
More than a few Iowegians were quite ready to dump Big Ferentz as well, and simply start over.
 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Iowa play a conservative, ball control style of offense, based on a big offensive line opening holes for runners and protecting the passer, coupled with a sound defense? Haven't they followed that philosophy since way back in the Hayden Fry era?

To my eyes, Iowa and Wisconsin have both earned their long terms of success by insisting on sound fundamentals — blocking and tackling — and a conservative approach to offense.
 

RememberMurray said:
Speaking of offensive coordinators, I'm pretty sure that — at various points in time, over the last few seasons — you could have visited Black Heart Gold Pants and you would have read screed after screed insisting that the Hawkeyes and Big Ferentz should immediately fire that 'worthless beneficiary of nepotism', Little Ferentz.
More than a few Iowegians were quite ready to dump Big Ferentz as well, and simply start over.
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Boy I bet they are glad that they didn’t —Big Ferentz plus little Ferentz has equaled Big Wins.
Maybe we will have that same path?
 

Only two of Iowa’s touchdowns were over 60 yard drives and three were 10, 26 and 45 yards. They also had 3 field goals. Let’s not act like they are an offensive juggernaut because of one game where they got 7 turnovers and were playing on a short field most of the game.
 


RememberMurray said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Iowa play a conservative, ball control style of offense, based on a big offensive line opening holes for runners and protecting the passer, coupled with a sound defense? Haven't they followed that philosophy since way back in the Hayden Fry era?

To my eyes, Iowa and Wisconsin have both earned their long terms of success by insisting on sound fundamentals — blocking and tackling — and a conservative approach to offense.
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Correct which is why i've said it's a fools errand to follow the same path.
 

MplsGopher said:
Remember when people thought Iowa was just going to be "meh" this year, before the year started?

They don't have new coaches. They don't have new schemes. They aren't doing anything different. They're doing exactly what they always do.

Plug and play.

I doubt they have a roster studded with future NFL super stars. Just a bunch of players who have come up in a system, playing that system to a T.
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Surprised me. They lost both starting wrs, most starting dl, few ol.


I was thinking they'd win about 8 games, but that appears to be minimum they'll win
 

RememberMurray said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Iowa play a conservative, ball control style of offense, based on a big offensive line opening holes for runners and protecting the passer, coupled with a sound defense? Haven't they followed that philosophy since way back in the Hayden Fry era?

To my eyes, Iowa and Wisconsin have both earned their long terms of success by insisting on sound fundamentals — blocking and tackling — and a conservative approach to offense.
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They do … but each, especially Iowa, use timely and well planned throws to TEs and RBs as part of their conservative ball control philosophy, to counter and punish teams that overload the box or send too much pursuit in the direction of the first offensive move. The Iowa conservative approach is more varied than simply pounding the other team with the same running play over and over. We run a conservative offense but seem not to want to use the facets of such an offense that are intended to keep defenses honest.
 

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