Hey there Cardinal fans. Obviously excited to get back to the RB after being away from it for too long. We should have been there in 2002, but the BCS selection order jacked it all up. Anywho, just a few initial words to let you know a little bit about the Hawks this year and then I will post again to give a more detailed breakdown.
One of the first things you need to know is that Iowa is Iowa, no matter who we play you're going to get the same schemes and the same personnel. I've wondered at times why we don't come up with just a few things to take advantage of a given opponent or situation, but that's just not what Kirk Ferentz is about. We are built to do what we do better than you do what you do.
KF wants to develop an NFL ready, complete football player who can take on anything they face. The system favors experience over raw athleticism and works great when you have a mature/developed player, but really suffers when you don't. Iowa has been mediocre recently mostly because a 50% attrition rate from the late-oughts classes prevented the program from stockpiling mature/developed players. Obviously, that has corrected itself and retention has payed dividends this year. A new, more mobile QB hasn't hurt either.
Teams beat Iowa by one of two ways. Either they out-execute them (which is the Northwestern approach, historically), or the talent gap is just too much to overcome (the OSU approach, historically). Any shortfall in either area usually leads to a Hawkeye victory.
This is why I don't like our chances vs. you guys. Stanford seems to be a program structured on solid execution, but also benefits from the Cali-rich talent pool that we don't have in Iowa (one that produces 10 D-1 players in a good year). I'm not giving up on the game just yet, but it's going to be a steep hill to climb to keep this one close. I would love to see a shootout, because I don't think our D can shut you guys down, but at the same time don't know that our offense is explosive enough to be able to put a ton of points on the board. I need to watch more Cardinal football before speaking any more on this.
Please feel free to give your thoughts on the Stanford program/approach/strategy so that I can better understand what the Hawks are up against. Tuned in a few times last year just to watch McCaffrey because he really jumped off the page even then as a distant observer. This season speaks for itself in regards to his ability.
Edit: Also worth mentioning that Iowa's approaches on offense/defense and special teams are all geared to complement one another. O is possession to keep the D off the field, D is prevent the big play to keep the offense from having to do too much and STs geared to win the field position battle.
One of the first things you need to know is that Iowa is Iowa, no matter who we play you're going to get the same schemes and the same personnel. I've wondered at times why we don't come up with just a few things to take advantage of a given opponent or situation, but that's just not what Kirk Ferentz is about. We are built to do what we do better than you do what you do.
KF wants to develop an NFL ready, complete football player who can take on anything they face. The system favors experience over raw athleticism and works great when you have a mature/developed player, but really suffers when you don't. Iowa has been mediocre recently mostly because a 50% attrition rate from the late-oughts classes prevented the program from stockpiling mature/developed players. Obviously, that has corrected itself and retention has payed dividends this year. A new, more mobile QB hasn't hurt either.
Teams beat Iowa by one of two ways. Either they out-execute them (which is the Northwestern approach, historically), or the talent gap is just too much to overcome (the OSU approach, historically). Any shortfall in either area usually leads to a Hawkeye victory.
This is why I don't like our chances vs. you guys. Stanford seems to be a program structured on solid execution, but also benefits from the Cali-rich talent pool that we don't have in Iowa (one that produces 10 D-1 players in a good year). I'm not giving up on the game just yet, but it's going to be a steep hill to climb to keep this one close. I would love to see a shootout, because I don't think our D can shut you guys down, but at the same time don't know that our offense is explosive enough to be able to put a ton of points on the board. I need to watch more Cardinal football before speaking any more on this.
Please feel free to give your thoughts on the Stanford program/approach/strategy so that I can better understand what the Hawks are up against. Tuned in a few times last year just to watch McCaffrey because he really jumped off the page even then as a distant observer. This season speaks for itself in regards to his ability.
Edit: Also worth mentioning that Iowa's approaches on offense/defense and special teams are all geared to complement one another. O is possession to keep the D off the field, D is prevent the big play to keep the offense from having to do too much and STs geared to win the field position battle.