Cyclones ranked #23 in AVCA Poll


Six Big 12 teams ranked this week

AVCA Division I Coaches Poll (9/11)
1. Wisconsin (62) (7-0)
2. Louisville (8-0)
3. Florida (2) (7-0)
4. Nebraska (7-0)
5. Stanford (6-1)
6. Texas (3-2)
7. Oregon (7-1)
8. Pittsburgh (6-1)
9. Minnesota (3-3)
10. Georgia Tech (7-0)
11. Washington State (8-1)
12. BYU (8-1)
13. Penn State (4-3)
14. Creighton (7-2)
15. Tennessee (7-1)
16. Arkansas (7-2)
17. Purdue (5-2)
18. Baylor (4-3)
19. Ohio State (3-4)
20. Kansas (5-1)
21. Kentucky (2-4)
22. Houston (5-2)
23. Iowa State (7-1)

24. Auburn (7-1)
25. Dayton (8-2)

Others Receiving Votes
Washington, UCLA, Central Florida, Marquette, Western Kentucky, Hawaii, Rice, Texas A&M, Duke, James Madison, Loyola Marymount, Arizona State, Utah State, Colorado State, USC

Purdy for MVP?

I know it sounds crazy to talk about Purdy being a possible NFL MVP, and yes I know I'm just a little bit biased, but hear me out. Obviously, it's a huge long shot, but I’m going to make a case why Brock Purdy should be considered.

It’s widely accepted that the QB position is the most important position in football, especially when it comes to the NFL. As such, QB is the highest paid position in the NFL by far. It's interesting to note that successful NFL teams have QB’s who are outperforming or at least meeting the level of their enormous contracts, and the unsuccessful teams all have QB’s who are not performing up to the level of their contracts.

As the LAST pick in the NFL draft, Brock was signed to a 3-year contract at a salary that could be described as the NFL’s minimum wage for QB’s. NFL QB's are making around $40 million/year. Brock made less than $1 million last year and around $1 million this year. And yet it’s mindblowing that he has the highest QB rating in the NFL since he became a starter midway through last season. He still has yet to lose a game as an NFL starter (note: I’m not counting the NFC championship game when Purdy was knocked out of the game with an injury in the 1st quarter).

If there were only some way to quantify the degree to which a QB is outperforming their contract, Brock would be setting a record right now that might never be broken. And because of this fact, the 49ers have the salary space to keep several of the best players in the league on their roster (e.g., Samuel, Bosa, McCaffrey, Kittle, Warner, etc.). In fact, even after the 49ers just signed Bosa to the NFL’s most expensive contract for a non-QB, the 49ers still lead the league in salary cap space. That is freaking unbelievable. Specifically, I heard today the 49ers still have $49.5 million that they can spend THIS SEASON to go out and get yet another star player, which is crazy considering the 49ers already have the most talented roster in the NFL.

On top of all this, the 49er players and coaches love Purdy as a person. They love his humility and how he has worked his way up from being Mr. Irrelevant to the commander in the huddle. They even voted him to be a team captain.

Based on all this, it could be argued that Brock Purdy is already the most valuable player in the NFL right now. Regardless, he’s the most important reason why everyone in the 49ers organization is going to be fitted for for a ring at the end of this season.

  • Poll Poll
ISU vs Ohio Confidence Poll

Confidence

  • 100% - no doubter, going to be totally comfortable

    Votes: 91 19.0%
  • 75% or more - maybe a little hiccup somewhere but pretty much a cruise

    Votes: 274 57.2%
  • 50% or more - toss up, could go either way

    Votes: 87 18.2%
  • less than 50% - were going to have problems

    Votes: 27 5.6%

How confident are you the Iowa State will win this game?

I’m at 100%. I think the final score looks a lot like the UNI game.

  • Poll Poll
Should fans be allowed to come back in after leaving at half?


I’m conflicted with this, but it’s an honest question. Every single game and it doesn’t matter if we are playing UNI or Texas, it seems half the damn crowd leaves at half and NEVER makes it back by kickoff of the second half. It kills the 3rd quarter atmosphere IMO. It feels like we are the only fans that do this because every other game I watch of another school their lower level stands are still packed come second half kickoff. Ours looks like everyone just decided to head on home.

Zone Read vs Zone Run

Ok, I went back and watched some game clips and I'm not sure we actually are running a zone read at all. On everything that looked like a zone read, we blocked the backside DE. Usually it was a tackle, but sometimes it was a TE motioning across the formation. But in like EVERY case, someone was trying to block every down lineman. You don't read someone you're blocking.

We could be reading a LB, but that would be kind of weird. And the handoffs were quick - it didn't look like there was ever any decision making taking place. Rocco does sprint out the opposite direction every time. I don't know why, but he's clearly being coached that way. Maybe some day they'll run a pure fake/QB keeper off of it, but to me it doesn't look like a zone read.

On one of the 2nd half plays where Sama got blown up, the OL didn't communicate at all. Everyone basically chipped the DL and released to LBs. The frontside tackle stayed on his man and made a competent block, but the DE strung them out and with nobody else blocking there weren't any creases anywhere.
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Williams & Blum Pod: Cy-Hawk lumps & the rest of the season

Enjoy!

Photo Gallery: CyHawk 2023

Hello!

Here is the link to my full photo gallery for yesterdays CyHawk. I know a lot of bad to dwell on but I promise there’s some good shots of those sneaky good moments.

I hope you like them!

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