How concerned should we be about the offense?

[ExCyment]

With our traditional defense we lose Saturday 41-14. This is not an average defense. Kempt has limited arm strength. Once teams figure out he throws the long ball short and let's the receiver adjust to the ball they are able to take that away. At least TCU did. He has also been fortunate that a few passes that should have been intercepted have been dropped or negated by penalty. Every quarterback gets a few off those though. If we needed to score 40 to compete Zed would be the best but risky choice. On this team Kyle is perfect. I really like how we have committed to the run game since Texas even when it is only yielding three yards. It really helps the defense and opens up the pass game. I still think we could have won that Texas game with a balanced attack. Far easier to defend a one dementional offense.

 

[ExCyment]

Special teams are a concern. KO are no longer going in the end zone. Not sure we have pooch capability or on sides for when it's needed. Certainly do not understand our running 5-7 defensive players into the back field on an opposing punt and allowing the punt team to rush the receiver downfield unblocked.

I've wondered about this all year as well. They don't try to block the punt or block anyone. Usually the return man is left to fair catch the ball with 6 defenders in his face.

 

[knowlesjam]

I've wondered about this all year as well. They don't try to block the punt or block anyone. Usually the return man is left to fair catch the ball with 6 defenders in his face.

To be honest, in the TCU game, TCU had 4th and short near on their side of field between the 35 and 50 yard lines. Putting the extra people in the box is some additional security against fake punts. I'm frankly surprised that Patterson didn't try a fake punt near the 50...they had the power run game and their defense had our offense cold. Patterson did make some good halftime adjustments, but not going for it at midfield along with the passing game when the running game was working was poor on his part.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Total Yards is a pretty useless stat. It doesn't account for short fields (which we've gotten a lot this year) or tempo (we've slowed it down some, especially compared to the rest of the conference). Looking at Yards/Play, we are averaging 5.61 for the season so far. The teams we've played so far give up 5.53 Yards/Play on average. So we're right about where we should expect to be. Yes, there are some places we need to improve - inside runs/blocking. But we are doing enough that we are competitive in every game, and put ourselves in position to win. You can't do much more than that.

 

[knowlesjam]

I know I've said this probably 100 times here, but I was raised an Alabama fan. My dad is an alum, and I grew up watching Mike Shula and Cornelius Bennett, George Teague and Antonio Langham.

This year's ISU team really reminds me of that 1992 Gene Stallings-coached Alabama team that rope-a-doped at #2 all season, that won with a stifling defense and they were merciless in their pursuit of winning the field position battle. Then came trash-talking #1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl and Bama made them look silly.

With this defense, we don't need the offense to be great. We just need them to hold on to the ball, run some clock, and occasionally put the ball in the end zone. Winning the turnover and field position battles will be enough for us.

It drives the opposing teams to play away from their strengths, which for most in the Big 12 is the spread offense. Once you do that mistakes start to crop up and we are very good at taking advantage of. I'm sure Patterson from TCU has had a few sleepless nights thinking about what he could/should of done, but the pressure of the situation caused some poor play calls.

 

[dmdom]

I've wondered about this all year as well. They don't try to block the punt or block anyone. Usually the return man is left to fair catch the ball with 6 defenders in his face.

That is by design. It happens for 2 reasons. Lazard has the ability to play safety if they fake a punt and its our safe punt, where we have decided beforehand that we are not going to return it. When Ryen is back we are in return mode and you see the players block and come down to block with the gunners.

 

[dcorbatt]

Let me Campbell coach!!!

 

[NickTheGreat]

A quick Googling shows that TCU is #10 in TOtal Defense, allowing 286.8 yards per game. So I don't feel so bad about our offense.

 

[isufbcurt]

Special teams are a concern. KO are no longer going in the end zone. This is from 2 things, 1) Wind and 2) Strategy - to try to pin them inside the 25. Not sure we have pooch capability or on sides for when it's needed. Certainly do not understand our running 5-7 defensive players into the back field on an opposing punt and allowing the punt team to rush the receiver downfield unblocked. This is what we do when we run "Punt Safe". "Punt Safe" is intended to guard against a fake while putting light pressure on the kicker. The returner is supposed to fair catch the punt unless he has a lot of running room.

 

[SCarolinaCy]

That is by design. It happens for 2 reasons. Lazard has the ability to play safety if they fake a punt and its our safe punt, where we have decided beforehand that we are not going to return it. When Ryen is back we are in return mode and you see the players block and come down to block with the gunners.

It also leaves the return man alone on any muffed punt.

 

[CyCloned]

Certainly do not understand our running 5-7 defensive players into the back field on an opposing punt and allowing the punt team to rush the receiver downfield unblocked.[/QUOTE]

these things are all situational. As I recall Ryen had a brilliant 40+ yard put return last week. I'm pretty sure someone was blocking. As someone else mentioned rushing guys prevents the fake and it also prevents to punter from waiting an extra second or two to punt. See a lot of the rugby style punts against teams that don't send a few people.

 

[dmdom]

It also leaves the return man alone on any muffed punt.

Yes it does, maybe the staff hasn't thought about that. CMC actually answered this exact question last night on his call in show. He is comfortable with Lazards hands and ability to catch it.

 

[CyCloned]

Just watched the highlights of the OSU vs WVU game. The ISU running game will look a lot better this week. WVU can't tackle very well and tend to be out of position a lot.

Also, I know their QB is suppose to be pretty good, but he threw some really bad INTs in that game.

 

[dmdom]

Certainly do not understand our running 5-7 defensive players into the back field on an opposing punt and allowing the punt team to rush the receiver downfield unblocked.

these things are all situational. As I recall Ryen had a brilliant 40+ yard put return last week. I'm pretty sure someone was blocking. As someone else mentioned rushing guys prevents the fake and it also prevents to punter from waiting an extra second or two to punt. See a lot of the rugby style punts against teams that don't send a few people.[/QUOTE]
The rugby style punter is all the more reason to go Safe Punt. The punter is running forward prior to kicking. If we peel back to set up the return, the 3 PPs (who are flowing with the punter) out man our edge and the punter runs for a first down.

 

[CyCloned]

these things are all situational. As I recall Ryen had a brilliant 40+ yard put return last week. I'm pretty sure someone was blocking. As someone else mentioned rushing guys prevents the fake and it also prevents to punter from waiting an extra second or two to punt. See a lot of the rugby style punts against teams that don't send a few people.

The rugby style punter is all the more reason to go Safe Punt. The punter is running forward prior to kicking. If we peel back to set up the return, the 3 PPs (who are flowing with the punter) out man our edge and the punter runs for a first down.[/QUOTE]

Exactly, just kind of puts more pressure on the punt return team to not set up a punt.

 

[CyberJJJ]

I’ll agree the offense isn’t what I thought it would be but, then again, we aren’t playing our #1 QB either.

The good news is we have the best defense we’ve had in the past 10 years. Maybe longer (thinking the 05 D was pretty salty).

That is probably no longer true.

 

[FinalFourCy]

That is probably no longer true.

A Berrymen speed rusher would be a nice addition to this defense, but I’m assuming he wasn’t disciplined enough to be a starter in this defense.

 

[MeowingCows]

It also leaves the return man alone on any muffed punt.

-- which is why Lazard is there in that situation. They trust him to not muff.

 

[SCarolinaCy]

Special teams are a concern. KO are no longer going in the end zone. Not sure we have pooch capability or on sides for when it's needed. Certainly do not understand our running 5-7 defensive players into the back field on an opposing punt and allowing the punt team to rush the receiver downfield unblocked.

Just watched replay. All 3 KO's landed on the 0-5 yd line, directly into the hands of the most dangerous return man in the NCAA. Recipe for disaster. The pooch kick can land with fair accuracy at the 25-30 yd line, in an open grass soft spot. If left unfielded, it can be a sometimes lead to a TO. In trying to protect a lead in late game situations, the pooch kick capability is a favored over squib kick. Not saying to use it every time, but surely would have helped in a situation where someone like Turpin is the return man.

 

[hoosman]

Did anyone notice when we had a 3rd and 1 on our 41, there were 2 WR on the left sideline guarded by 1 defender. We ran the ball for no gain and punted. I wonder if anybody even saw that.