One third through the season

[nrg4isu]

I wrote this before the season started and just found it. Thought it would be fun to post my thoughts through 4 games (8 games left).

Best case:

Rocco is BP2 and/or Kohl is a decision-maker prodigy as a freshman
Norton is a bulldozer we hoped for
The Oline looks a lot better - Miller is a bookend, violence is seen in the run game
WR's share the load keeping defenses on their toes - Gains, Bitter, Essex make big steps forward.
TE's are the second coming of Kohler, Soehner and Allen. Dean looks like the most talented TE ever.
Coach Nate Scheelhaase is the real deal and makes the offense run like a well oiled machine

Defense is just as good as last year
Ezeogu, Onydeim and transfer all make a step forward
A surprise improvement from the young LB's
DB's are everything they're hyped to be

Special Teams coach turns a weakness into mediocrity
Kickoffs can actually reach the endzone regularly
PK turns redzone trips into points
We get positive yards on punt returns

Clearly that hasn't happened. I had hoped we'd be 3-1 at this point.

The good:

• Rocco is the decision-maker I had hoped for
• Daniel Jackson has stepped up as a viable #2 receiver
• TE Brahmer has looked good, overall I'm relatively happy with the group as a whole
• Bacon is the surprise LB that no one saw coming
• DB's are every bit as good as we hoped, maybe even better
• Special teams are much much better

The mixed bag:

• Coach Nate Scheelhaase has looked good at times and horrible at others. Hard to tell who that's on more (him or CMC), but the trend at the moment is in the right direction. Some small things look a TON better: QB sneak, fewer false starts/substitution issues/getting the play call in issues, etc. Some play designs have been way too predictable and therefore completely unsuccessful. Other play calls are not to our strengths (e.g. zone read).
• Defensive line: Orange, Onydeim, Ezeogu etc have looked good at times, but don't consistently cause as much havoc as you'd like. Not bad/not awesome.
• The defense as a whole has been a little underwhelming overall. The talent is there in the back end and the INTs show for it. But the numbers as a whole don't look as good as you'd expect

The not so good:

• Offensive line - it all starts here and it's not pretty. There are no players that have stepped up noticeably. Probably the best thing I can say is fewer false starts and snaps have been good. James Neal and Darrel Simmons have been particularly underwhelming
• Running backs - yes, you could put it all on the line, but I'm not going to do that. While yes, there haven't been many holes to hit, when they are there, they haven't been attacked like you'd want to see. Norton seems to be at the point where he expects a hole to not be there.
• The WR room again has zero breakout players outside of Jackson. Where in the world are guys like Gains, Adams, Bitter, Essex? This is the biggest head scratcher for me. With the number of guys we have on the bench, none of them are good enough to see the field? With the run game unlikely to improve much this year, we have to identify more weapons.

Every season is a wild ride... how are we now compared to what you though we'd be at this point in the season?

 

[Acylum]

I think I predicted 4-8, which probably isn’t out of the question based on the rest of the conference so far, but we’re worse than I thought we’d be.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Linebackers are super under experienced. That's why we're giving up chunk yards. It will get better.

 

[madguy30]

Imo Jackson looks the part of the best receiver on the team.

Maybe the light came on a bit last week or even the week prior (he was reliable iirc) and he'll continue to show out which could help everyone.

 

[MugNight]

Can we go 4-4 from here? That’s my new target. We will need some breaks.

Here’s who we have left:
- At OU
- TCU
- At Cincy
- At Baylor
- KU
- At BYU
- Texas
- At KSU

Possible wins are TCU, Cincy, Baylor, KU, BYU

This team could weirdly beat Texas but lose to Cincy. I expect this group to play hard every game.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I wrote this before the season started and just found it. Thought it would be fun to post my thoughts through 4 games (8 games left).



Clearly that hasn't happened. I had hoped we'd be 3-1 at this point.

The good:

• Rocco is the decision-maker I had hoped for
• Daniel Jackson has stepped up as a viable #2 receiver
• TE Brahmer has looked good, overall I'm relatively happy with the group as a whole
• Bacon is the surprise LB that no one saw coming
• DB's are every bit as good as we hoped, maybe even better
• Special teams are much much better

The mixed bag:

• Coach Nate Scheelhaase has looked good at times and horrible at others. Hard to tell who that's on more (him or CMC), but the trend at the moment is in the right direction. Some small things look a TON better: QB sneak, fewer false starts/substitution issues/getting the play call in issues, etc. Some play designs have been way too predictable and therefore completely unsuccessful. Other play calls are not to our strengths (e.g. zone read).
• Defensive line: Orange, Onydeim, Ezeogu etc have looked good at times, but don't consistently cause as much havoc as you'd like. Not bad/not awesome.
• The defense as a whole has been a little underwhelming overall. The talent is there in the back end and the INTs show for it. But the numbers as a whole don't look as good as you'd expect

The not so good:

• Offensive line - it all starts here and it's not pretty. There are no players that have stepped up noticeably. Probably the best thing I can say is fewer false starts and snaps have been good. James Neal and Darrel Simmons have been particularly underwhelming
• Running backs - yes, you could put it all on the line, but I'm not going to do that. While yes, there haven't been many holes to hit, when they are there, they haven't been attacked like you'd want to see. Norton seems to be at the point where he expects a hole to not be there.
• The WR room again has zero breakout players outside of Jackson. Where in the world are guys like Gains, Adams, Bitter, Essex? This is the biggest head scratcher for me. With the number of guys we have on the bench, none of them are good enough to see the field? With the run game unlikely to improve much this year, we have to identify more weapons.

Every season is a wild ride... how are we now compared to what you though we'd be at this point in the season?

I would have guessed 3-1 as well, and I mostly agree with your assessments. I am encouraged that we've been in every game to the end despite our shortcomings. That tells me that they have some upside when they figure some things out.

 

[TopCy]

I predicted 3-1 at this point. I never expect us to play well against Iowa, but I didn't expect the struggles with Ohio.

The key going forward is to move one or two of the things on your list up a level. Do that and this team can at least go .500. Biggest candidates to me are D-Line and running backs. I might also put Jaylin Noel on the "mixed" list right now. If he steps up to "good" like he did against OSU, that's huge for us.

We can't afford anything slipping down though (like special teams becoming a mixed bag) or we'll struggle for the rest of the year.

 

[awd4cy]

I think I predicted 4-8, which probably isn’t out of the question based on the rest of the conference so far, but we’re worse than I thought we’d be.

Have to agree. Fortunately for us, Baylor and Cincinnati look like very real chances at wins. Still probably puts us at 4-8 though.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I think I predicted 4-8, which probably isn’t out of the question based on the rest of the conference so far, but we’re worse than I thought we’d be.

I thought we could be 2-2 through 4 games, although I would've flipped the Ohio/Oklahoma State games. 4-8 is certainly within reach, and probably should be the expectation if not hope moving forward. Maybe you can steal one more and get to 5. The Big 12 is soft this year.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I wrote this before the season started and just found it. Thought it would be fun to post my thoughts through 4 games (8 games left).



Clearly that hasn't happened. I had hoped we'd be 3-1 at this point.

The good:

• Rocco is the decision-maker I had hoped for
• Daniel Jackson has stepped up as a viable #2 receiver
• TE Brahmer has looked good, overall I'm relatively happy with the group as a whole
• Bacon is the surprise LB that no one saw coming
• DB's are every bit as good as we hoped, maybe even better
• Special teams are much much better

The mixed bag:

• Coach Nate Scheelhaase has looked good at times and horrible at others. Hard to tell who that's on more (him or CMC), but the trend at the moment is in the right direction. Some small things look a TON better: QB sneak, fewer false starts/substitution issues/getting the play call in issues, etc. Some play designs have been way too predictable and therefore completely unsuccessful. Other play calls are not to our strengths (e.g. zone read).
• Defensive line: Orange, Onydeim, Ezeogu etc have looked good at times, but don't consistently cause as much havoc as you'd like. Not bad/not awesome.
• The defense as a whole has been a little underwhelming overall. The talent is there in the back end and the INTs show for it. But the numbers as a whole don't look as good as you'd expect

The not so good:

• Offensive line - it all starts here and it's not pretty. There are no players that have stepped up noticeably. Probably the best thing I can say is fewer false starts and snaps have been good. James Neal and Darrel Simmons have been particularly underwhelming
• Running backs - yes, you could put it all on the line, but I'm not going to do that. While yes, there haven't been many holes to hit, when they are there, they haven't been attacked like you'd want to see. Norton seems to be at the point where he expects a hole to not be there.
• The WR room again has zero breakout players outside of Jackson. Where in the world are guys like Gains, Adams, Bitter, Essex? This is the biggest head scratcher for me. With the number of guys we have on the bench, none of them are good enough to see the field? With the run game unlikely to improve much this year, we have to identify more weapons.

Every season is a wild ride... how are we now compared to what you though we'd be at this point in the season?

To your part about the WR room. I am hopeful last week was the start of something great for them. The emergence of Jackson has been great, but there are a lot of other guys who could ideally step up and become involved as well. Higgins has shown some glimpses, and I think you have an obvious top 3 in Noel, Higgins, and Jackson. Probably not a ton of snaps for anyone else.

 

[Jeremy]

To your part about the WR room. I am hopeful last week was the start of something great for them. The emergence of Jackson has been great, but there are a lot of other guys who could ideally step up and become involved as well. Higgins has shown some glimpses, and I think you have an obvious top 3 in Noel, Higgins, and Jackson. Probably not a ton of snaps for anyone else.

There were still a lot of issues with route trees and cuts/breaks to get separation even against a terrible OSU middle. Hopefully they continue to tweak and develop things. OU has a legit good defense this year so we'll learn quite a bit on Saturday.

 

[madguy30]

Can we go 4-4 from here? That’s my new target. We will need some breaks.

Here’s who we have left:
- At OU
- TCU
- At Cincy
- At Baylor
- KU
- At BYU
- Texas
- At KSU

Possible wins are TCU, Cincy, Baylor, KU, BYU

This team could weirdly beat Texas but lose to Cincy. I expect this group to play hard every game.

I like getting KU and Texas both lateish. Perhaps KU's lack of depth is a problem again and maybe Texas's 'revival' isn't quite what it seems by then.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I like getting KU and Texas both lateish. Perhaps KU's lack of depth is a problem again and maybe Texas's 'revival' isn't quite what it seems by then.

The only problem with Texas' revival getting squashed by Nov. 18 is the Big 12 is super weak this year. OU will be a tough and competitive game for them, and they host Kansas State 2-weeks before coming to Ames. Come out of those two games unscathed, and I think there is a very strong chance they are undefeated still.

 

[t-noah]

I wrote this before the season started and just found it. Thought it would be fun to post my thoughts through 4 games (8 games left).



Clearly that hasn't happened. I had hoped we'd be 3-1 at this point.

The good:

• Rocco is the decision-maker I had hoped for
• Daniel Jackson has stepped up as a viable #2 receiver
• TE Brahmer has looked good, overall I'm relatively happy with the group as a whole
• Bacon is the surprise LB that no one saw coming
• DB's are every bit as good as we hoped, maybe even better
• Special teams are much much better

The mixed bag:

• Coach Nate Scheelhaase has looked good at times and horrible at others. Hard to tell who that's on more (him or CMC), but the trend at the moment is in the right direction. Some small things look a TON better: QB sneak, fewer false starts/substitution issues/getting the play call in issues, etc. Some play designs have been way too predictable and therefore completely unsuccessful. Other play calls are not to our strengths (e.g. zone read).
• Defensive line: Orange, Onydeim, Ezeogu etc have looked good at times, but don't consistently cause as much havoc as you'd like. Not bad/not awesome.
• The defense as a whole has been a little underwhelming overall. The talent is there in the back end and the INTs show for it. But the numbers as a whole don't look as good as you'd expect

The not so good:

• Offensive line - it all starts here and it's not pretty. There are no players that have stepped up noticeably. Probably the best thing I can say is fewer false starts and snaps have been good. James Neal and Darrel Simmons have been particularly underwhelming
• Running backs - yes, you could put it all on the line, but I'm not going to do that. While yes, there haven't been many holes to hit, when they are there, they haven't been attacked like you'd want to see. Norton seems to be at the point where he expects a hole to not be there.
• The WR room again has zero breakout players outside of Jackson. Where in the world are guys like Gains, Adams, Bitter, Essex? This is the biggest head scratcher for me. With the number of guys we have on the bench, none of them are good enough to see the field? With the run game unlikely to improve much this year, we have to identify more weapons.

Every season is a wild ride... how are we now compared to what you though we'd be at this point in the season?

I thought we would see, and maybe expect to see, at least a little improvement in the OL. The run blocking is about as bad as I've seen. I honestly don't know how they could be as bad.

The OL has reduced the amount of penalties, I think, and the pass protection is satisfactory. Two positives. But they have to start sticking to their man and driving people!

 

[t-noah]

Can we go 4-4 from here? That’s my new target. We will need some breaks.

Here’s who we have left:
- At OU
- TCU
- At Cincy
- At Baylor
- KU
- At BYU
- Texas
- At KSU

Possible wins are TCU, Cincy, Baylor, KU, BYU

This team could weirdly beat Texas but lose to Cincy. I expect this group to play hard every game.

I predict we will play each of these games. I don't predict we will play well in all of them. If our OL improves slightly I would feel better. I think they are what they are and we have to scheme around it, hope for some big plays and a good TO margin.

 

[t-noah]

There were still a lot of issues with route trees and cuts/breaks to get separation even against a terrible OSU middle. Hopefully they continue to tweak and develop things. OU has a legit good defense this year so we'll learn quite a bit on Saturday.

Jerry Rice has a few ideas..

 

[t-noah]

I thought we would see, and maybe expect to see, at least a little improvement in the OL. The run blocking is about as bad as I've seen. I honestly don't know how they could be as bad.

The OL has reduced the amount of penalties, I think, and the pass protection is satisfactory. Two positives. But they have to start sticking to their man and driving people!

Some push would be nice. I'm beginning to wonder what that looks like.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

The rest of the season depends upon Campbell and the staff. Did they learn last week that to be successful you have to use the play action pass to get our guys open downfield or are we going to continue to try run through a brick wall and run right at the middle of the defense.

Do the first, we can get to 4-4 the rest of the way, maybe even 5-3, do the second one, and we will struggle to win 2 games.

 

[t-noah]

The rest of the season depends upon Campbell and the staff. Did they learn last week that to be successful you have to use the play action pass to get our guys open downfield or are we going to continue to try run through a brick wall and run right at the middle of the defense.

Do the first, we can get to 4-4 the rest of the way, maybe even 5-3, do the second one, and we will struggle to win 2 games.

I know we have to run some, but come up with a different blocking scheme. Include a couple of screens, as the DL comes across, practically untouched.

And speaking of TO margin, I don't mind taking some shots downfield. It's usually better than a shotgun run off tackle anyway. If it gets intercepted, no huge loss, consider it a punt. No risk, no reward.

 

[Acylum]

Can we go 4-4 from here? That’s my new target. We will need some breaks.

Here’s who we have left:
- At OU
- TCU
- At Cincy
- At Baylor
- KU
- At BYU
- Texas
- At KSU

Possible wins are TCU, Cincy, Baylor, KU, BYU

This team could weirdly beat Texas but lose to Cincy. I expect this group to play hard every game.

We have no shot vs KU.