Game Thoughts: UNI

[cyclone1209]

What I liked overall today - -
Offense

• Ben Brahmer sure looks like our next TE draft pick doesn't he? His first catch is a 35 yard+ TD. Man he looks natural as a route runner.
• Abu Sama to me had a great run of 25 when our offense was a little stale. He has more wiggle and "make you miss" ability than Sanders. I think Williams was right on the postgame that the RB tempo for carries should be 1) Norton as the big heavy back, 2) sprinkle in carries for Abu Sama, he's a heck of a freshman
• Aidan Bitter caught a really nice 15 yarder and I think he can be more productive
• Rocco: he isn't particularly big or have a huge arm, but he is really accurate folks. The throws to both Moore and Brahmer were just in stride and help people get yards after the catch. He's my QB the whole Iowa game if i'm the staff but we will see
• TE room, positives: Tyler Moore is a great blocker and had a great TD. Brahmer will be a threat in the pass game. Burkle can hammer people blocking. This room doesn't miss Hannika whatsoever. If we can get Brahmer on the edge with an Iowa LB covering him..... that's going to be popcorn time.
• Nate Scheelhaase: the play action throw to Brahmer to me was defining for why he got the job. Up with a big lead, on their side of the 50.... . instead of a run up the gut he goes play action and goes for the jugular, gotta love that mentality.
• Negatives: OL could have been a tad better in run game but i'm nit picking.
• Negatives: Jaylin Noel, he had 4 receptions for 6 yards. (i realize he was overthrown on one play at least) But man I'd love to see more yards if he's getting 6 touches in a game. Now he's a terrific punt returner.

Defense

- Defensive Line: Tyler Onyedim could be an NFL guy, Dom Orange absolutely abused the center for UNI. I hope these guys are really active next week and beyond.
- Situational blitzing. Myles Purchase with a sack, Caleb Bacon with 2 sacks (by the way I had no idea who this guy was before this game). If we are to beat Iowa, I do think taking a couple chances on blitzes is key.
- Will Mclaughlin to me earned a starting spot back over Willich with how he played. Mclaughlin to me physically is our best linebacker right now. He covers a ton of grass.
- D player development: Trent Jones DT / Caleb Bacon LB. These are legitmately guys I had no idea they were even pushing the two deep. Here they are in 2023 producing sacks, that speaks to our recruiting/player development/strength team.
- Jacob Ellis 44 had a couple huge hits out there. I like the way he plays.
- D was opportunistic all day long. Cooper getting 2 picks was huge. If there was one gripe about the defense last season it is that they did not produce much in the turnover department. Good start to reversing that trend with today's events.

ST:
- We have a kicker who can kick long field goals. That's kind of awesome isnt' it?
- Punt coverage and kickoff coverage were good.
- Jaylin Noel had a really strong punt return, he's great in that role

 

[EvilBetty]

What I liked overall today - -
Offense

• Ben Brahmer sure looks like our next TE draft pick doesn't he? His first catch is a 35 yard+ TD. Man he looks natural as a route runner.
• Abu Sama to me had a great run of 25 when our offense was a little stale. He has more wiggle and "make you miss" ability than Sanders. I think Williams was right on the postgame that the RB tempo for carries should be 1) Norton as the big heavy back, 2) sprinkle in carries for Abu Sama, he's a heck of a freshman
• Aidan Bitter caught a really nice 15 yarder and I think he can be more productive
• Rocco: he isn't particularly big or have a huge arm, but he is really accurate folks. The throws to both Moore and Brahmer were just in stride and help people get yards after the catch. He's my QB the whole Iowa game if i'm the staff but we will see
• TE room, positives: Tyler Moore is a great blocker and had a great TD. Brahmer will be a threat in the pass game. Burkle can hammer people blocking. This room doesn't miss Hannika whatsoever. If we can get Brahmer on the edge with an Iowa LB covering him..... that's going to be popcorn time.
• Nate Scheelhaase: the play action throw to Brahmer to me was defining for why he got the job. Up with a big lead, on their side of the 50.... . instead of a run up the gut he goes play action and goes for the jugular, gotta love that mentality.
• Negatives: OL could have been a tad better in run game but i'm nit picking.
• Negatives: Jaylin Noel, he had 4 receptions for 6 yards. (i realize he was overthrown on one play at least) But man I'd love to see more yards if he's getting 6 touches in a game. Now he's a terrific punt returner.

Defense

- Defensive Line: Tyler Onyedim could be an NFL guy, Dom Orange absolutely abused the center for UNI. I hope these guys are really active next week and beyond.
- Situational blitzing. Myles Purchase with a sack, Caleb Bacon with 2 sacks (by the way I had no idea who this guy was before this game). If we are to beat Iowa, I do think taking a couple chances on blitzes is key.
- Will Mclaughlin to me earned a starting spot back over Willich with how he played. Mclaughlin to me physically is our best linebacker right now. He covers a ton of grass.
D player development: Trent Jones DT / Caleb Bacon LB. These are legitmately guys I had no idea they were even pushing the two deep. Here they are in 2023 producing sacks, that speaks to our recruiting/player development/strength team.
- D was opportunistic all day long. Cooper getting 2 picks was huge. If there was one gripe about the defense last season it is that they did not produce much in the turnover department. Good start to reversing that trend with today's events.

ST:
- We have a kicker who can kick long field goals. That's kind of awesome isnt' it?
- Punt coverage and kickoff coverage were good.
- Jaylin Noel had a really strong punt return, he's great in that role

Defense was awful last year in 3rd down stops. That was about the only other negative though.

 

[EvilBetty]

Ups:
Defense was stellar
Sp teams (sans 1 flub) was good
+2 turnover margin, nearly +3

Downs:
OL couldn't move UNI
Overthrows on would-be tds
OL still couldn't move uni

 

[CycloneDaddy]

******* Hot!

 

[Pope]

Here's my take away:
Great defense, great special teams, and adequate offense will win a lot of games, including today's game.

 

[clonedude]

What I liked overall today - -
Offense

• Ben Brahmer sure looks like our next TE draft pick doesn't he? His first catch is a 35 yard+ TD. Man he looks natural as a route runner.
• Abu Sama to me had a great run of 25 when our offense was a little stale. He has more wiggle and "make you miss" ability than Sanders. I think Williams was right on the postgame that the RB tempo for carries should be 1) Norton as the big heavy back, 2) sprinkle in carries for Abu Sama, he's a heck of a freshman
• Aidan Bitter caught a really nice 15 yarder and I think he can be more productive
• Rocco: he isn't particularly big or have a huge arm, but he is really accurate folks. The throws to both Moore and Brahmer were just in stride and help people get yards after the catch. He's my QB the whole Iowa game if i'm the staff but we will see
• TE room, positives: Tyler Moore is a great blocker and had a great TD. Brahmer will be a threat in the pass game. Burkle can hammer people blocking. This room doesn't miss Hannika whatsoever. If we can get Brahmer on the edge with an Iowa LB covering him..... that's going to be popcorn time.
• Nate Scheelhaase: the play action throw to Brahmer to me was defining for why he got the job. Up with a big lead, on their side of the 50.... . instead of a run up the gut he goes play action and goes for the jugular, gotta love that mentality.
• Negatives: OL could have been a tad better in run game but i'm nit picking.
• Negatives: Jaylin Noel, he had 4 receptions for 6 yards. (i realize he was overthrown on one play at least) But man I'd love to see more yards if he's getting 6 touches in a game. Now he's a terrific punt returner.

Defense

- Defensive Line: Tyler Onyedim could be an NFL guy, Dom Orange absolutely abused the center for UNI. I hope these guys are really active next week and beyond.
- Situational blitzing. Myles Purchase with a sack, Caleb Bacon with 2 sacks (by the way I had no idea who this guy was before this game). If we are to beat Iowa, I do think taking a couple chances on blitzes is key.
- Will Mclaughlin to me earned a starting spot back over Willich with how he played. Mclaughlin to me physically is our best linebacker right now. He covers a ton of grass.
D player development: Trent Jones DT / Caleb Bacon LB. These are legitmately guys I had no idea they were even pushing the two deep. Here they are in 2023 producing sacks, that speaks to our recruiting/player development/strength team.
- D was opportunistic all day long. Cooper getting 2 picks was huge. If there was one gripe about the defense last season it is that they did not produce much in the turnover department. Good start to reversing that trend with today's events.

ST:
- We have a kicker who can kick long field goals. That's kind of awesome isnt' it?
- Punt coverage and kickoff coverage were good.
- Jaylin Noel had a really strong punt return, he's great in that role

Agreed, would like to see Noel get the ball more often on offense.... but also Higgins too. His one catch he looked really impressive getting yards after the catch. These two can be big weapons IMO.

I also agree on McLaughlin over Willich. I wasn't that impressed with Willich at all. McLaughlin was better today, and so was Ellis and Lovett IMO. I figured with Willich's size that he must be really fast, but I didn't see that either. He needs more development IMO.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Overall pleased with the performance today. Becht clearly has it in the poise department where dekkers did not. Much more touch than dekkers had on the short throws as well.

Only “downside” is that the oline was merely acceptable against UNI. Which is an improvement from how our oline typically is.

Felt so nice to have special teams go our way an entire game. Not sure if there’s been a special teams game that good in the entire Campbell era.

They could not throw against us. As long as #11 (onyedi? Onyedim?) is back on the d line next week I feel good about our chances to hold EIU under 20 next week.

Optimistic for our chances against iowa, Cade has definitely improved their offense by a bit but overall it’s still the same ******* Brian Ferentz system

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Also the receivers were not really present at all in this game which is definitely a downside long term once we start playing non-FCS schools with actual athletes at LB

 

[jsb]

Defense was awful last year in 3rd down stops. That was about the only other negative though.

Awful is overstating it a bit.

 

[clonedude]

Also the receivers were not really present at all in this game which is definitely a downside long term once we start playing non-FCS schools with actual athletes at LB

Got next to nothing out of Noel and Higgins at WR. Did Stanley even play today?

Threw mostly to TE's it seemed. Need to utilize Noel and Higgins more.

 

[Remo Gaggi]

I thought our punter was terrific today, but let’s be honest - we punted way too many times. Gotta convert those third downs.

 

[CyGuy5]

Got next to nothing out of Noel and Higgins at WR. Did Stanley even play today?

Threw mostly to TE's it seemed. Need to utilize Noel and Higgins more.

The only reason I know Stanley played is because he had a false start

 

[madguy30]

Overall pleased with the performance today. Becht clearly has it in the poise department where dekkers did not. Much more touch than dekkers had on the short throws as well.

Only “downside” is that the oline was merely acceptable against UNI. Which is an improvement from how our oline typically is.

Felt so nice to have special teams go our way an entire game. Not sure if there’s been a special teams game that good in the entire Campbell era.

They could not throw against us. As long as #11 (onyedi? Onyedim?) is back on the d line next week I feel good about our chances to hold EIU under 20 next week.

Optimistic for our chances against iowa, Cade has definitely improved their offense by a bit but overall it’s still the same ******* Brian Ferentz system

RE: first paragraph.

Things I'm not worried about after all the gambling 'drama': RBs, QB, DL and TE.

 

[cyclone1209]

Got next to nothing out of Noel and Higgins at WR. Did Stanley even play today?

Threw mostly to TE's it seemed. Need to utilize Noel and Higgins more.

Noel had 4 catches with 6 yards.. I don't know, I recognize a lot of people are high on him.

He has a lot of outings like this though. He also has a lot of 3 yard receptions. The production just is not there (not in every game but in lots of games)... I'd almost prefer some others get touches at WR like Bitter/Higgins or others.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

From what I see, Noel is a straight line route runner; just wants to beat guys with speed and catch the ball in stride. He is faster than most DBs which makes that workable, but we don’t have the OL or QB (unless Kohl makes a big jump in game understanding this season) to use him properly. I think Higgins will play a big role this year though. Great body and YAC potential from the limited sample

 

[madguy30]

Noel needs other things going to get like underneath and extend a play.

I think it will come along and getting that many targets is good now imo even if it didn't amount to much.

 

[cyclonehomer]

Noel beat his man and was overthrown on two separate bombs. If he's thrown a catchable ball on either, his line looks great.

 

[CyState85]

I know it was just UNI but did anybody else think ISU was hitting people really hard today? There were so many big hits and it seemed like guys were playing angry.

Stevo Klotz had a huge block on the edge near the goal line that demolished the poor kid trying to come in and make a tackle. Ellis had a huge hit that shouldn’t have been called roughing the passer. Onyedim had a couple along with Caleb Bacon. These are all 2nd string guys laying the wood too!

 

[convoluteme]

Noel beat his man and was overthrown on two separate bombs. If he's thrown a catchable ball on either, his line looks great.

Yep. And 1 of his receptions was a screen where he was tackled immediately. Another was technically a lateral and he had to work his ass off to get back to the line of scrimmage.

 

[HoopsTournament]

Fun Fact: Northern Iowa has 5 road games for football this year. 1 is against South Dakota State. The other 4 are against ISU (Iowa State, Idaho State, Indiana State, Illinois State)