Can we talk about blown leads?

I hate those nickel and dime packages because they prevent nothing ... and its esp bad against the choke-eyes because they like to throw underneath to wadley anyway....great coaching heacock.....

CyBobby said:
Matt Campell is bringing back the Jim Criner Era of futility.....Criner btw came in here and said he was gonna win the big 8 so get ready to buy Orange Bowl tickets....yeah right LOL

Bobby... shut up.
 
Well, on one hand **** happens. Mac blew late leads, CPR blew late leads. OK. Iowa had to have about 5 things go their way the last 3 minutes, and they ALL did. ****. All we can do is drink, curse, and hope for change. Maybe sacrifice a chicken or something.

Here's MY concern:

remember playing at Toledo 2 years ago? Toledo really dominated ISU that game, but had some key errors that kept them from showing it on the scoreboard. Then at the end, Toledo found a way to lose, but CPR played his trump car, put the juju on the best kicker in ISU history and you know the rest.

So I am a little worried that maybe CMC teams will be quite good, but have an ability to make enough mistakes to let other teams beat them. OSU & Baylor last year. Now this.

Hopefully, I am wrong - easily could be just a matter of being outclassed last year, and Iowa just having the late pass rush and confidence to make their own luck. But the approach of the coach and staff to these kinds of things is key - under stress teams take on their coach's personality. They need some confidence and swagger in winning, which of course only comes from winning. Holding on yesterday for the W would have been a big step forwards.

Damned drops.
 
That's where id advocate a more aggressive offensive approach late.

Absolutely this.

When we had the ball with 3:30, it seemed like we switched to trying to burn clock... which was a rather ineffective idea when they still had 3TOs left. We went conservative, didnt pick up the first down (when our offense had been moving the ball well in the second half, generally) and had to kick it away. Same thing when we got the ball back with about a minute left at the end where we had to settle for OT.
 
When we got it back with 3:30 reaminaing people around me were screaming saying we're gonna win. Several dozen hawkeye fans left my section. I told my wife they'll get it back, score quick, and we'll lose. I was told to stop being so negative, and look, all the hawks even know it's over.

I told my wife theyre leaving because when iowa gets the ball with 3:30 left they win. When we do we lose. Always.

And it sucks. It just sucks.

I would have bet somebody a thousand dollars we were going to lose after that drive.

We're 1-8 in the last 9 games decided by 7 or less. God bless Campbell if he can make that stat better but I absolutely hate nonaggressive play calling late in games. The offense is the clear strength of the team. It should have been on the offense to win it. Even 1 first down probably would have been enough.
 
AM I the only person that thinks ISU maybe should have gone for the TD on 4th down in OT. I knew as soon as we kicked the FG, the game was over.

I was telling my buddy that if the game went to OT ISU would lose. That being said, you have to 100% kick the field goal there.
 
I think our approach to the offensive play calling was a little conservative but was dictated to a degree by Iowa's defense.

In the first half, it seems Iowa's defense was very aggressive and, in general, pretty effective against us. Once they got up by more than a score, they started playing a base, almost prevent defense. Rushed only and no extra DB. We gained a lot of yardage and got up by more than a score ourselves. They then picked up the pressure again and forced us in to a more conservative approach.
 
More depth, that is what is needed. Guys get tired and there is no one good enough to but out there. KCM getting hurt was critical. LBers have almost no support. Just have to find some guy that are at least serviceable that can play in the 3rd quarter, so these guys have something left in the 4th.

Also, the defense needs to find guys that can make that play at the end of the game. How many times has an opposing team converted a 3rd or 4th and 10+ yards to keep a drive alive in those come backs? Just don't have that guy that is going to go out and end it.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: VeloClone
Three minutes and no timeouts is an eternity even for Ferentz and the Hawkeyes. They weren't even running hurry-up and scored with over a minute left. Iowa wouldn't have used a timeout during that drive if they would have had one.

In college, I wouldn't bother playing conservative unless 1) your defense is the strength of your team or 2) you give them the ball back with no timeouts and something like one to two minutes left.
 
Why do we go conservative? 3:30 is too long to run out the clock.

It doesn't make any sense. Especially in the context of Iowa State football. I know some people will poo poo that but Mac got fired for exactly this sitting on the ball crap. People still love the 2 point conversion attempt by Rhoads against NU and it didn't even work.
 
It is time get over it. That one hurt a lot, but its competition and the other guy wants to win too. It is stupid to knit pick every little thing after the fact. Great game, great effort, but an L. It is time to move on to Akron. This is a big game for our team. We need to play well and we need to win.
 
  • Winner
Reactions: SpokaneCY
It doesn't make any sense. Especially in the context of Iowa State football. I know some people will poo poo that but Mac got fired for exactly this sitting on the ball crap. People still love the 2 point conversion attempt by Rhoads against NU and it didn't even work.

It was absolutely the right call, but with the wrong player throwing it. Rhoads seemed to have balls the first half of his tenure.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: alarson
It is time get over it. That one hurt a lot, but its competition and the other guy wants to win too. Great game, great effort, but an L. It is time to move on to Akron. This is a big game for our team. We need to play well and we need to win.

We're not playing the game. The team needs to move on to Akron, we can keep discussing this game for however long we want and it won't change how any other game goes.
 
We're not playing the game. The team needs to move on to Akron, we can keep discussing this game for however long we want and it won't change how any other game goes.

I disagree. With social media today, the players have a pretty good idea what the fan base is feeling. Yes, they need to move on to Akron but we need to move on too. We showed that we have a team that can win some games. The Iowa game wont me one this year. Time to move on. We can't let this loss turn into two loses.
 
Hopefully, I am wrong - easily could be just a matter of being outclassed last year, and Iowa just having the late pass rush and confidence to make their own luck. But the approach of the coach and staff to these kinds of things is key - under stress teams take on their coach's personality. They need some confidence and swagger in winning, which of course only comes from winning. Holding on yesterday for the W would have been a big step forwards.

Damned drops.

Usually when someone says "hope I am wrong" they are usually hoping to be right and their negative points get supported.
 
I disagree. With social media today, the players have a pretty good idea what the fan base is feeling. Yes, they need to move on to Akron but we need to move on too. We showed that we have a team that can win some games. The Iowa game wont me one this year. Time to move on. We can't let this loss turn into two loses.

I think the players are way more resilient than the vast majority of the fans.
 

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