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Contrarian take - special teams

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scottwv

Well-Known Member
Sep 18, 2011
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Melrose Iowa
In big 12 play, Iowa State’s special teams have been a net positive.

Bad
OSU - 2 missed field goals - lose by 3

Good - do we win these games without:

OU - Kene KO return

Baylor - Kene KO return and blocked punt

Texas - stopped a fake punt
 
They certainly haven't been bad since the first game. I think most of the "hire a special teams coach" chatter has died down lately. It was always a lazy take. Many teams don't have special teams coaches and I'm sure many who do have lousy special teams.
 
While true in Big 12 play they have been better, but it can't be overlooked the reason we are currently not 1 top 4 upset away from being in the CFP can be attributed a lot to the play of the special teams in that first week.

Also in the bad, they also allowed a kickoff return TD and missed an XP against Kansas.
 
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Special Forces this year have been above average. Not like KState good, but much better.

And that's what you want, it is a good position to have them to where they are not a liability.

Kene is an nfl caliber returner, he should absolutely get a shot at the next level at that. Cat can straight up fly.
 
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cyclone1209 said:
Special Forces this year have been above average. Not like KState good, but much better.

And that's what you want, it is a good position to have them to where they are not a liability.

Kene is an nfl caliber returner, he should absolutely get a shot at the next level at that. Cat can straight up fly.
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I would say everything but the coverage teams have been above average. Getting 3 kicks housed in a year (2 to Louisiana and 1 to KU no less) is bad.
 
They have been better but I would not say a net positive. Without looking at any stats, our inability to kickoff in the end zone and not so good KO coverage gives up good starting field position.

In addition to those listed above ISU gave up the second chance FG vs Texas.

On the plus there was the blocked FG vs BU and Kene has had some very good KO returns. I also think Rivera and the punt coverage team has been solid.
 
flycy said:
They certainly haven't been bad since the first game. I think most of the "hire a special teams coach" chatter has died down lately. It was always a lazy take. Many teams don't have special teams coaches and I'm sure many who do have lousy special teams.
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Man, I agree with that being a lazy take. Special teams haven't been great, but I don't know how much a specific special teams coach makes a difference. I mean, if you are really a special teams guru, then you need to be an expert on not only kicking and punting, but protection, coverage and returning. How many of those guys are really out there? And then you take one of the current coaches off the field and off the recruiting trail.

We have a staff full of smart guys. I'd rather have one coach take a specific ST (kickoff, punt, KR, PR, FG, FG block) and really dive in and study what works and what doesn't. Not that I wouldn't mind a current assistant getting a title of Special Teams Coordinator to manage the whole thing, but I really think our biggest issue is just not having a Kicker that can kick through the end zone regularly.
 
AuH2O said:
They have been better but I would not say a net positive. Without looking at any stats, our inability to kickoff in the end zone and not so good KO coverage gives up good starting field position.

In addition to those listed above ISU gave up the second chance FG vs Texas.

On the plus there was the blocked FG vs BU and Kene has had some very good KO returns. I also think Rivera and the punt coverage team has been solid.
Click to expand...


I totally agree with this. Our kickoff coverage really bothers me. We can't kick it in the end zone and we seem to always kick one out of bounds. We can't just give away field position. I also don't understand the kick off personnel which I think hinders our coverage. I'm assuming Matt Campbell is trying to rest certain players to be healthy in November, but I have never in my life seen Defensive lineman on a Kickoff team and we have two. Usually it consists of Dbs, Lbs, and some receivers or rbs that can run and tackle. We are slow and heavy on kickoff coverage in my opinion. Anyhoo, despite this we haven't been terrible. Just wish we put better athletes to run down and shore that up.
 
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Special-teams should be one of those things that you just don’t notice unless they do something positive like a big kick off return. The fact that we are even talking about special-teams tells us that there have been multiple bad plays throughout the season.
 
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Don't forget Eisworth's muffed punt against Baylor.

Although it makes me feel better seeing other teams have had the same issues with returns for TDs as we do. The worst I've seen is TT taking the lead against OSU only to give it up because OSU housed a TT onside kick attempt.
 
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