Coaching Staff In The First Half
- Thread starter Thomasrickj
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It's not rocket science - Campbell and Scheelhaase got together and decided that the advantage we should have over KU was being physical in the running game (both offense and defense). Turns out they were wrong.
Why they didn't adapt sooner and who that's on is a different question.
Going into the game, I would have to agree with their plan. That's on paper what we should have been able to do.
Hell they probably realized it right before the pick 6 and that caused a bit of rethinking.
Imo swinging Becht out to pop for short passes could have been the same thing and also helps to loosen things up for the run game.
I didn't think KU tackled very well in the 2nd level and extra yards were there.
Maybe they were trying that but couldn't do much since by then KU was teeing off against the pass protection.
After our early struggles many people, including CW, said we should pass to set up the run. We started doing that then we started winning. Then we just totally bailed on it against KU and we lost.
We got outcoached on both side of the ball. It's difficult to be the power running team that Campbell wants to be, when the line is not dominate, and our is not. We keep making the same mistakes over and over again, running the ball into 8 and 9 man fronts that just kill us. KU did a great job on their delayed blitzes, and the line never adjusted. Our QB throws better out of the pockets, so we have to move him on passing downs.
Same defense we always see, we allowed their QB to get comfortable, and he killed his, I loved their fake a QB sweep to the right, then kick back and hit a wide-open receiver running down the field. I was really hoping that when we hired Campbell that we would have gotten the Leipold, the guy is a winner, and I love his offense. They keep you guessing, and keep throwing different plays at you, which confuses the defense.
As someone said earlier, when we play a quality team for all the marbles, this team folds, we do not play well under pressure for some reason.
Same defense we always see, we allowed their QB to get comfortable, and he killed his, I loved their fake a QB sweep to the right, then kick back and hit a wide-open receiver running down the field. I was really hoping that when we hired Campbell that we would have gotten the Leipold, the guy is a winner, and I love his offense. They keep you guessing, and keep throwing different plays at you, which confuses the defense.
As someone said earlier, when we play a quality team for all the marbles, this team folds, we do not play well under pressure for some reason.
But against the bad teams, you can overcome it, something you cannot do against good teams, they will bury you. I have been saying all year we need to run the QB more, I think Saturday he had one planned run. That is not enough you have to keep the defense guessing.
I could say the same thing about the defense, if we are not going to blitz, then we might as well be rushing 4 guys, because rushing 3 against 5 lineman is only going to give the QB plenty of time to find a receiver and get the pass away.
Also, ISU was really struggling in pass protection.
It makes sense that ISU attack a weakness, especially with the improvement in the running game. When that wasn't working, the pass protection wasn't there so you go to the shorter passing game and we get a pick 6, and the WR are not getting blocks on the outside screens.
So for whatever reason, nothing was working offensively in the first half. I don't think it's coincidence. Liepold is one of the two best coaches in the league along with Klieman. You can discount lower division football if you want, but when it comes to the in-game and game planning aspects of the job, coaching is coaching. And Liepold has been elite at that part of the job for 15 years.
And I think Campbell is a damn good coach, and this staff is great at a lot of things. But I think the game planning and early adjustments before halftime have been a little hit and miss. The job is complicated, and unless your staff is largely the same for many years, there are always going to be some bumps in the road and games where you just get outcoached. But you can't discount games like Okie St, TCU and Baylor, where the gameplan and/or adjustments were great.
How many of these games has this team had? And was this really for all the marbles?
That would have been the Texas game if they kept winning but beating UT is a tall task even if ISU plays out of their minds.
Bolded: Football is football is football and the talent or intuitive ability to recognize how to tap into the strengths of your team and attack the weakness of the opponent can span across all levels.
Leipold also seems to have a real good handle on getting his players to buy into and execute on what he's looking for.
This. And a good point about new coaches figuring things out.
I get tired of all of us (and I do this sometimes!) assuming we know anything. A little self awareness would be nice. If you read 75%of the comments on here and in articles and podcasts about the game you’d think that it’s obvious what they should do. But is it really? I don’t know. And all of us don’t know.
No matter what, every Saturday, one staff gets outcoached by the other. Sometimes it goes unnoticed, and sometimes talent, execution and luck overcome it. But it doesn't change the fact that every single game, one of the two sides gets outcoached.
Ya it is for all the marbles, win the game you are tied for first place, with a chance to make it too the championship game, with the lost, we now have no chance to get there. How much bigger would the UT game in two weeks if we had won on Saturday night? It would be a loser go home game or at least needing help to get there.
ISU controlled their own destiny before the game, now we are out of the race, so yes it was for all the marbles.
Yep. Someone posted that Leipold and Klieman are the best two in game coaches in the Big 12. I don’t disagree. But Klieman got out coached on Saturday.
And watching the first half of our game I was frustrated. I wanted them to do something different. But in the light of day, I know that it isn’t as easy as flipping a switch and everything works.
No one is saying that doing X, Y, and Z results in an auto-win. But it does maximize chances for a win. And coaches should maximize their chances, as opposed to… whatever CMC is doing.
Possibly true, but what is worse is not even considering flipping the switch.
This staff's risk aversion and stubbornness has cost ISU multiple games since 2021.
As for the whole "it isn't that simple crowd", um, yes, it is.
Plenty of evidence shows what you are doing is not working, and will not work.
Can't continue to run into 8 and 9 man fronts with a suspect offensive line.
Can't rely on coverage when only 3 are rushing and not getting pressure.
KU showed that "just throw it deep" can, indeed, work, and is worth trying now and then.
There is a HUGE difference between coming from an established championship program, and building your own championship program.
The latter is almost always preferable.
I think even the biggest Campbell fans would have to admit that in-game adjustments have been almost entirely "miss" as opposed to hit in first halves.
If our game plan doesn't work on offense, then be prepared to continue watching it not work for the remainder of the half, and typically beyond.
I'm starting get a bit frustrated with the lack of creative blitzing with Heacock. It's obvious our dudes aren't going to get pressure when rushing 3 or even 4 (which they actually do a decent amount if you watch) straight up. What I'd like to see is some disguised blitzes or twists. We just don't seem to do that (at least that I've noticed). Opposing QBs face almost zero pressure against us.
This kind of stuff reminds me of how people think ISU 'blew it' last basketball season because they were on top of the Big 12 until late January when so much can happen with a bunch of season left.
I just don't see it that way with a so much of the football season left and OSU and UT likely winning out.
Controlling the destiny imo is if the last three games are an easy schedule and that's not the case.