Wistrom Disciple

Bingo, it appears that we're on our way to that but it will take time. Hopefully the fire Chins crowd will be able to consider this before turning up the heat too much.

Two large chunk TDs can affect the gameplan. However, the plan didn't appear to be working regardless as we punted five times in the first half and we still had the same swing passes for little to no gain whether tied or down two scores. Defense stiffened up and performed well enough to get the win, offense failed. Three possessions in the final ten minutes of a tied game and we produce a total of 11 yards with no points... that is an offensive failure in my opinion.

I'm in the consistency crowd here. I think development comes with time, changing too much staff is detrimental at this point. Think about the Davis twins, they had four different line coaches during their four years. Not to give too many excuses but I can easily understand how their development was negatively impacted by having a different coach every season.

I was asking myself the same thing a lot this year. I'm sure he does a lot more than I realize but his position group was very rough this season and the offense looked bad more often than it looked good this season.

'Frost said "get to a point where we're giving up less than 30 points per game with the way the offense is going" they'll be pretty good' Frost's entire philosophy is about up-tempo football that gets frequent chunk plays aimed at being a high scoring offense. When the offense fails to put up points (or first downs), the defense is on the field more often and gets more susceptible to giving up yards, points and eventually records.

I will kindly have to disagree with you. Our offense has been the problem for nearly every game this year. Frost's goal is 30+ points each game. We achieved that in half the games this year. Yes, we had plenty of injuries and we are a young group but our offense was pretty awful by most metrics this year. Defense had a few games of being especially tough to watch but considering the totality of the season, our defense performed better than our offense.

The scheme that requires a complimentary offense to lend itself well to whats supposed to be an aggressive defense.

Great post until your last line. More staff upheaval will only delay progress with the younger guys. Why not let them continue to learn the scheme from the staff as they get more of their type of players into the system?

True but the younger Ferentz is arrogant and believes his offense can do whatever he wants on us. Hopefully this second half we can serve him some humble pie. If his daddy's isn't the HC, he is a nobody at Iowa.

Correct, he has already appeared in today's game. He is at the limit and not beyond it.

Iowa is home to three solid universities with fantastic fans who are hospitable. In addition they each have great mascots with the Bulldogs, Panthers and Cyclones!

Very good point. I wonder if the staff will consider putting all three QBs on the field at the same time in the future? Would provide a wide variety of options and considering Vedral has some burners along with Luke, it could make for some interesting trickery like the Saints do with Brees, Bridgewater & Hill.

No doubt an odd situation. Makes me wonder whether he is planning to transfer or trying to get his personal life in order. That dragging legal case is not helping in any regard either.

Agreed, he would have been very useful the past month. His situation has contributed to the point of the offense being a letdown this season.

True, all true which is why I have been more disappointed with the offense. The same problems are plaguing the team that we've had for a few years now on that side of the ball... namely turnovers, sacks and questionable play calls.

Fair point, but defense has had their own share of injuries this year too. I will agree that the experience level returning should have helped more than it has but they have performed as most expected in being middle of the road this year. But we haven't really had a clean game offensively since the NIU game. No doubt we've had some flashes since then and looked to have a good one going with Indiana but too often we've shot ourselves in the foot offensively. Hopefully these are learning lessons for the group and we'll be better for it going forward.

How so? Between the offense or the defense, which side has been more of a letdown this season for you? My take -- Too much hype before the season (Heisman talk, scoring explosion, etc.) that all tended to focus on the offense performing well in year two. I don't recall anybody suggesting our defense was expected to be a top 10-20 type. So in that regard, I am more disappointed in our offensive output than our defensive performance overall.

Great point. A lot of criticism has been heaped on Chins and the defense this year... some of that has been deserved. However, Frost & staff were known for the offensive prowess, not that they were a powerhouse defensive group. I would argue the offense has been the more disappointing of the two this year. I do believe it is important to keep the staff together for at least next season. The carousel of defensive coaches has gone on for too long.

Frustrating but we were down two scores so we got pass happy.

Good points, @BigRedBuster. If we could rely on our kicking game and make the nine points, it's a much different outlook on the game.

You're making too many assumptions. Thank you for stating this in a different way, exactly my point. My hope is that Frost will be able to kick when it makes sense in the future and not fall too in love with his own play calling.

Bingo! I agree with both points. Kicking isn't costing us games (except Colorado) but it is a sign of a good, winning program for both college and the NFL.

I'm not going to assume what their private conversations are and I would recommend none of us do that. Valid point. Statistics would indicate that it was not a wise idea to go for it at that range. But as you justified with Nebraska going towards the South endzone... they were going into the wind. Maybe I should simplify the point... winning programs need to trust their kicking game.

No, I thought today's risks were justified. My contention from the thread you're referencing is that we cannot assume failure in the kicking game 100% of the time.

Thought I was done but I couldn't ignore the notification. I understand the propensity to distrust kickers. I guess I'm just more optimistic about Pickering. Yes, as would most of America... and statisticians.