Blitzing! Is this the key to Beating Iowa?
- Thread starter Carr50010
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Whole defense has to play well. Blitzing is all fine and dandy, but we only have one corner I trust in single coverage, and we get shredded in zone coverage. If we blitz and don't get to the QB, it'll be a long day.
Damnit, now I'm the 'denying Iowa fan", right on cue!
I'm not certain that blitzing will do the trick. Vandenberg did struggle with blitzes a lot in 2009. Many Iowa fans talk about the Ohio State game, and Vandy made some VERY impressive throws in that game (the goal line bullet to McNutt was an NFL-throw and a half). But people fail to remember that Ohio State ran nothing but soft zone most of the game, because we had only Wegher at tailback coming into the game (who ended up not playing and they saw A-Rob at maybe 80%), daring Vandenberg to beat them through the air. Once they realized that they might lose, they ramped up the pressure, and Vandy struggled just like he did against Northwestern and Minnesota (who blitzed from the word go).
That said, not much is known about Vandy's development at this point. Another year and a half in the film room and on the practice field may have helped his blitz recognition skills, as well as teach him how to deal with it when he sees blitz. Or he may still have to take some lumps. We don't really know anything about him right now other than he's got a good frame, decent mobility, and a cannon for an arm.
But, if I were the DC, I'd blitz the s*it out of him. Until proven otherwise, he struggles with the blitz. And he's shown the ability to carve up a soft zone.
Is it THE key? no
Is it A key? yes
Moreso it's pressure, not just sending more people than them, but having Dlineman in the backfield. make him uncomfortable at all times.
Is it A key? yes
Moreso it's pressure, not just sending more people than them, but having Dlineman in the backfield. make him uncomfortable at all times.
I don't know who you've got back for personnel on the line, but if it's mostly the same crew then they will have a hard time getting more pressure than they did this year. Iowa's line should be better than last year's if Gettis stays healthy.
Yeah I'd say tm3308 is the best hawk poster on this site. All in all, the regular hawks on this board aren't too bad which is incredibly surprising.
Well to be fair, the "other" Hawk posters don't last long enough to become regulars :biggrin:
The Iowa scheme has ways to deal with the blitz. They do a good job of putting the ball in the empty space or part of the field vacated by a blitzing safety or line backer. That is why tight ends and full backs play a more prominent roll in the offense. If the coaches upstairs see a tendency in us bringing more people, the will be licking their chops. They also have bootlegs off of play action in their scheme that is effective against blitzes as well. The one mistake Iowa makes is the type of qb they recruit to run their scheme. That seems like an odd statement I know as they have had plenty of good qbs go through there. But what they have not had is the dual threat qbs with the exception of Banks. With a dual threat guy, and their scheme, that is a lot of pressure on a defense. From watching the last two years, we have a long way to go before can beat them. They back off both years and could have named the score both times. I hate it, but until I see Rhoads come close to figuring them out, I don't like a our chances. We will essentially have a new starting qb this year, not good.
We need to get pressure on Vandenberg somehow. Even more importantly, we need to confuse him. Get him out of his comfort zone, and get him to make mistakes. That might not mean blitzing every down, but we should probably be coming after him pretty regularly.
I do think it will be tough to beat Iowa without taking a few chances on defense like blitzing. I've hade several Iowa fans over the years equate blitzing to cheating because it was so effective against them. remarks like......." Yeah. you beat us but you had to blitz alot to do it."
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I think to beat Iowa ISU will have to do some blitzing, but for the past 5 years ISU has been one of the worst blitzing teams in the country. When they do blitz they rarely get to the QB. They are also horrible about disguising the blitz, so QBs have pleny of warning to get into a different set. Maybe with another year of experience for the LBers and DL we will see some improvement. A lot of teams will blitz Iowa with corners or safeties leaving WR in little coverage, so they can take away the TE and RB passes.
It would also be nice to score some points on Iowa. Their defense was good last year, but they still gave up a lot of points in a few games, just not to ISU
It would also be nice to score some points on Iowa. Their defense was good last year, but they still gave up a lot of points in a few games, just not to ISU
Stopping the run and controlling the ball, is how you beat iowa. Constant blitzing is countered by screen passes, which iowa runs very effectively.