Purdy at ISU

[Clonefan32]

This is pretty simple stuff. Brock is playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football. Here, he was running for his life half the time, and often played well under 100% health wise.

I think it's fairplay to question how that 2021 season wasn't better. That's totally a fair question. But pulling Brock individually into it seems silly to me.

 

[ClonerJams]

It was great, appreciate it, enjoy it, celebrate it. I certainly did. I don’t think anyone is asking you not to.

What you can’t do (IMO) is point to that season as evidence to expect Campbell can repeat that level of success, or point to that season as a reason to not be critical of Campbell now and going forward.

The whole CFB season should have an asterisk by it, the results were tainted in so many ways. I also think we had a great team, which makes it even more unfortunate for us.

Yeah its fair to be frustrated with the results after that season, I certainly am. But everyone was on an even playing field for the 2020 season - if Iowa State fans were told when Campbell was hired that he would win a Fiesta Bowl here, most fans would probably tell you to build a statue if that happens. Try to tell Alabama fans their title that year doesn't count. Its just dumb, especially within our fanbase, to downplay the fact Iowa State won a NY6 bowl.

 

[MJ271]

This is pretty simple stuff. Brock is playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football. Here, he was running for his life half the time, and often played well under 100% health wise.

I think it's fairplay to question how that 2021 season wasn't better. That's totally a fair question. But pulling Brock individually into it seems silly to me.

Not to mention the 49ers' skill players. With the combination of McCaffery, Kittle, Samuel, and Aiyuk, they have top players at every skill position. As much talent as Purdy had surrounding him at Iowa State relative to college competition, it's pretty easy to argue that he has more in San Francisco, even relative to NFL competition.

 

[Clonefan32]

Not to mention the 49ers' skill players. With the combination of McCaffery, Kittle, Samuel, and Aiyuk, they have top players at every skill position. As much talent as Purdy had surrounding him at Iowa State relative to college competition, it's pretty easy to argue that he has more in San Francisco, even relative to NFL competition.

I didn't say that because I didn't want to diminish what Brock is doing but you're completely right. "Why didn't Brock play that well here?" Well maybe because he wasn't surrounded by All-Pro NFL skill players.

 

[jdoggivjc]

This is pretty simple stuff. Brock is playing behind one of the best offensive lines in football. Here, he was running for his life half the time, and often played well under 100% health wise.

I think it's fairplay to question how that 2021 season wasn't better. That's totally a fair question. But pulling Brock individually into it seems silly to me.

I actually don’t blame Purdy. I blame the coaches for trying to turn him into something he wasn’t - a dedicated pocket passer - when he was always at his best when he was a playmaker. I feel like most of the time he was running for his life BECAUSE they tried to force him into staying in the pocket instead of calling plays that got him out of the pocket and into open space, where he’s arguably at his best.

 

[cayin]

I cry bull sh!t on the no conference title! The Big 12 is round robin and we won the league outright. It's total BS that the Big 12 doesn't acknowledge that.

This is 100% correct. How many Big 10 championships, or should I say co-championships did Iowa win when they only played 8 conference games and no title game? Oh, and in those co-championships, they never played the other champion. We accomplished everything they did and then some.

 

[Al_4_State]

People also just gloss over that we really did win the Big 12 in 2020 and get no credit for it. We were the undisputed round robin champ and lost a rematch game to a team we'd already beaten. It's ******* stupid. TCU was in the same boat last year.

Brock Purdy did exceptional things here.

 

[ZRF]

IOWA STATE PLAYED (AND NEARLY WON) A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP AND BOWL A FIESTA BOWL WITH BROCK PURDY.

At Iowa State. Sure 2021 was disappointing (not by ISU standards). What else do you want/expect???

No need to yell in caps lock to tell me something I'm already well aware of.

Nothing says loser culture more than "this is Iowa State what do you expect"? Campbell has brought in much better players and put this program in a better place. Nobody is denying that. In this case BOTH things can be true; where Campbell has a much better program but probably left results on the table with his choice of playcalling, coordinators, apathy to special teams, and game management.

Those (sometimes fatal) flaws should not be above reproach. Not just for Campbell but any coach.

 

[ZRF]

What never gets talked about enough with that 2021 team is the number of super seniors that came back for their covid year. I've heard first hand that really impacted the locker room and some of those guys weren't exactly "all in".

I will take your word for it but find it bizarre. What exactly was the point in coming back if you WEREN'T all in? For many of those guys it was a chance to improve or create draft stock. Seems weird to put in all of the work just to half ass it with a WGAF attitude.

 

[ZRF]

Purdy had to evolve his game over 4 years, there was a ton of film on him and he had to adjust. That’s why he is so good now vs a Trey Lance who played one year.

He also had to thrive in an rather incompetent system.

A lot of Brock's success has to do with his intangibles and work ethic, things that are probably innate with him. He also had to maintain composure and poise, something he had to have with abundance being in this offense. One big (negative) difference between Brock and Dekkers was that poise and ability to skake off frustration and start the next play fresh. Dekkers would show his frustration, especially with our inability to get plays in on time, and it seemed to affect him during ensuing plays and series.

Rocco also looks much more composed. It would be very easy to be frustrated with some of the calls and decisions that are coming from the bench. That's hard to do.

 

[BigM]

The back end of the secondary leaked and the D line didn't get the same kind of pressure. I think the 3-3-5 got found.

What game were you watching? The only times Iowa got over the top were on play action when Freyler made a bad read, that's players not scheme

The D-Line got good pressure and had their QB dead to rights many times, not to mention Orange dominating the middle in both the pass and run games.

Iowa had essentially 3 substantially positive plays on offense:

1. Their long run (which was 59/70 yards on that drive), which was on the LB making a bad read (player, not scheme)
2. The long PA to Lachey over the top (the aforementioned bad read by Freyler)
3. The PA to Lachey where their RB tripped TO while he and Verdon were coming essentially unblocked (Scheme worked, 2 free rushers), and for some reason body rolls and leg whips were again legal for a play

 

[madguy30]

What game were you watching? The only times Iowa got over the top were on play action when Freyler made a bad read, that's players not scheme

The D-Line got good pressure and had their QB dead to rights many times, not to mention Orange dominating the middle in both the pass and run games.

Iowa had essentially 3 substantially positive plays on offense:

1. Their long run (which was 59/70 yards on that drive), which was on the LB making a bad read (player, not scheme)
2. The long PA to Lachey over the top (the aforementioned bad read by Freyler)
3. The PA to Lachey where their RB tripped TO while he and Verdon were coming essentially unblocked (Scheme worked, 2 free rushers), and for some reason body rolls and leg whips were again legal for a play

I'm referring to the 2021 team in general.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I’m not sure what reality people are living in when they say we underachieved with Brock and Hall. We won a Fiesta Bowl!

Was 2021 disappointing, yeah, because expectations were a little higher. But we still went 7-6 with two very disappointing losses that fell on the D (TT and WVU). I would have been very happy if we went 9-3 that season.

Yes we had the best RB in football and an NFL-caliber QB. That is but a fraction of the talent Blue Bloods have on their squads. We also had a poor OL, and the D only had 3 NFLers on it (Hummel, who is a backup /ST guy with the Rams, a young Will McDonald, and Anthony Johnson at CB).

Blue bloods have future NFL players at roughly 15-20 of the 22 positions on the field. We had 7. And many of those blue bloods will STILL go 10-3, 9-4 or worse routinely. It’s really hard to win 9+ games a year in college football, especially for non-blue bloods. Purdy helped ISU maximize results with its talent during his 4 year run.

 

[BigM]

Not a single person is going to argue that Purdy, Hall, and others were part of a golden era of ISU football - one where numerous records were shattered and, quite frankly, may never be touched again.

That doesn’t mean it couldn’t - and shouldn’t - have been better.

The same gutless offense we lamented on Saturday as well as all last season was the same gutless offense we ran while Purdy was here. The difference is much of the time it didn’t matter if the defense could predict what we were going to run - our players were talented enough where they couldn’t be stopped.

But a lot of people forget that Purdy’s senior year wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows - in fact, it’s likely the reason why he slid all the way to the final pick of his draft. And statistically Purdy got worse the longer he stayed at ISU.

I’m not taking away from Purdy - he’s the greatest QB to ever come out of ISU. But at the same time I can recognize it should have been even better if the coaches hasn’t handcuffed the offense.

Really? It looks to me like Purdy got consistently better and outside of an outlier year when he had the worst running game of his career (Breece didn't break out until a few games in and still split carries quite a bit) , made consistent progress

*2018	Iowa State	Big 12	FR	QB	10	146	220	66.4	2250	10.2	10.3	16	7	169.9
*2019	Iowa State	Big 12	SO	QB	13	312	475	65.7	3982	8.4	8.7	27	9	151.1
*2020	Iowa State	Big 12	JR	QB	12	243	365	66.6	2750	7.5	7.5	19	9	142.1
*2021	Iowa State	Big 12	SR	QB	13	292	407	71.7	3188	7.8	7.9	19	8	149.0

 

[madguy30]

What never gets talked about enough with that 2021 team is the number of super seniors that came back for their covid year. I've heard first hand that really impacted the locker room and some of those guys weren't exactly "all in".

Imo there were also guys that maxed out their potential, and in a weird way wonder if it was counterintuitive when they came back since there was so much film on them. Like was Eisworth going to improve?

Maybe it would have been better to have a younger but talented replacements at certain positions that weren't figured out yet.

Regardless they were still a handful of plays from getting 9, maybe 10 wins and just didn't get the bounce or earn it.

 

[atlantacyclone]

This is hard to believe, almost criminal ISU had such mediocre results while he was here, coupled with that Defense and Breece.

I really like Campbell, but …

The last season was a disappointment but is winning a NY6 Bowl for the first time not great results for Iowa State?

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I will take your word for it but find it bizarre. What exactly was the point in coming back if you WEREN'T all in? For many of those guys it was a chance to improve or create draft stock. Seems weird to put in all of the work just to half ass it with a WGAF attitude.

I think it was one of those deals where it sounded like a good idea but then winter/spring workouts rolled around and there was some regret. Look at guys like Eisworth, Kolar, and Allen, they were all pretty capped out draft stock wise. It also sounded like we were so heavy leader wise we really didn't have a leader if that makes senese. I think the other thing that really handcuffed us for the 2021 season was that we were 100% all in on the multiple TE looks. Teams adjusted and it showed.

 

[cyclone87]

It's not all on the staff either though. Purdy also got away with throwing a ton of jump balls to Butler and a couple of stud TE's. If anything I think Brock has learned a lot and has figured out how to play within his abilities.

Think he felt like he had to force things/make things happen more at ISU. With all the talent at San Fran seems more comfortable. Happy for him and lots of great memories/wins when he was at ISU.

 

[ZRF]

I think it was one of those deals where it sounded like a good idea but then winter/spring workouts rolled around and there was some regret. Look at guys like Eisworth, Kolar, and Allen, they were all pretty capped out draft stock wise. It also sounded like we were so heavy leader wise we really didn't have a leader if that makes senese. I think the other thing that really handcuffed us for the 2021 season was that we were 100% all in on the multiple TE looks. Teams adjusted and it showed.

That's about as sensible an explanation as one could have/give. Makes sense.

 

[jsb]

I think it was one of those deals where it sounded like a good idea but then winter/spring workouts rolled around and there was some regret. Look at guys like Eisworth, Kolar, and Allen, they were all pretty capped out draft stock wise. It also sounded like we were so heavy leader wise we really didn't have a leader if that makes senese. I think the other thing that really handcuffed us for the 2021 season was that we were 100% all in on the multiple TE looks. Teams adjusted and it showed.

Yeah, I never got the idea that they were some sort of cancer. But they are human and had high expectations themselves, so they were probably disappointed when they didn't reach them.

I remember moving back into the dorms my junior year. My friend group was all in the same dorm house, so we had decided to stay another year. And the VERY first day that I moved in, I thought to myself "I'm too old for this ****". I sort of figure that some of the players that came back probably had that same realization in 2021.