Special Teams Woes:

[photomuse]

Since I can't create a poll, here is the poll in words. What statement do you think best summarizes the reasons for our special teams woes:

1) We hardly have enough time in practice to install a brand new offense and defense, let alone work on special teams.

2) We don't know how to win, and the players fall on their faces at the most important times of the game because they know subconsciously that is how ISU rolls.

3) Special teams players are typically the second string, and ISU isn't that deep.


I personally think it is is mostly #1 and partly #3.

 

[Wesley]

Our kickoffs go anywhere on the lot. We cannot pinpoint them, for the coverge. Our kickoffs are the worse I have seen in modern times. Our fan on the ball rate must be 40% and our height is on the ground to a popup, and our depth varies from the 0 to the 40. Makes it hard to cover kickoffs when we kickoff like ragmuffins. That said, no one gets off a block and we have a hard time covering the sideline. We have so much to fix, we do not know where to start. WEe do not even know how to kick it out. We cannot tackle as the last gasp Hawkeye broke about 7 tackles going back to the 30. We are the buffoons of special teams in the country. people are starting to write about our miseries when talking special teams. If we are on TV, we better play totally different on special teams. Heck, the band could do a better job running down the opponment.

 

[StLouisClone]

Maybe Chizik needs to have tryouts like **** Vermeil did with the Eagles (in the movie Invincible). There is no special teams leader this year like we've had in the past... guys like Ryan Baum and Todd Miller.

 

[ISUFANATIC1973]

Remember that one band member from a couple of years ago that would sprint to the south endzone after the team entered. I think he was faster than most of the players. I said suit him up. Only problem was he was about 145 pounds and 5'6".

 

[bstegs]

Only problem was he was about 145 pounds and 5'6".

So was Baum.

 

[Wesley]

Yeah, he was good. Ryan The Bomb Baum. We need a torpedo with feet to stop these runbacks.

 

[tejasclone]

Lane Danielsen was a beast covering kicks.

 

[Wesley]

This Saturday night if anyone misses a tackle and, as a consequence, Tech makes it back to the fifty on any return for us, ,

we will ask Gene to put paper sacks over their helmets to designate they are out of

the game for returns.

 

[copenhagen]

anyone remember the iowa game where Danielson

just kept blasting the iowa players, borderline dirty but very effective:wink:i think it was the yr at ames when steen intercepted the pass then got it taken away from him on fumble.

 

[wyckoff9]

What?

 

[CrossCyed]

maybe we should just kick er out of bounds

 

[Cyclonepride]

Re: anyone remember the iowa game where Danielson

just kept blasting the iowa players, borderline dirty but very effective:wink:i think it was the yr at ames when steen intercepted the pass then got it taken away from him on fumble.

Dude, you evidently have a special thread going that is all your own.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Since I can't create a poll, here is the poll in words. What statement do you think best summarizes the reasons for our special teams woes:

1) We hardly have enough time in practice to install a brand new offense and defense, let alone work on special teams.

2) We don't know how to win, and the players fall on their faces at the most important times of the game because they know subconsciously that is how ISU rolls.

3) Special teams players are typically the second string, and ISU isn't that deep.


I personally think it is is mostly #1 and partly #3.

I'm going to cheat and go with a little bit of each. I am sure installed new systems takes more time out of other things that established programs can focus on. I believe that mistakes can be contagious, in that once the kids start worrying about missing a tackle, they are thinking instead of reacting naturally. And, I think that the depth keeps some of the more experienced players off the special teams.

 

[bfross]

maybe we should just kick er out of bounds

I thought this too until I read the rules changes. This year if you kick it out of bounds, the other team doesn't automatically start at the 35 like I had thought. The receiving team can enforce a 5 yard penalty and then have the kickoff team re-kick. Or if the kickoff team kicks off from further back than the 30 (like if they had an unsportsman-like conduct penalty on the preceding PAT to be enforced on the kickoff) and the kick goes out of bounds, then the receiving team gets the ball 35 yards from where it was kicked off.

 

[copenhagen]

il go slow this time

this is a thread about special teams. in this thread someone mentioned Danielsen which caused me to remember him playing really really agrresive in a iowa vs iowa state fb game. Then i asked if anyone else recalls the game, and added a further point of reference the fact that i belive it was the game were Grant Steen, a iowa hawkeye linebacker at the time, made a late in the game interception and was running back the ball but was stripped from behind and fumbled the ball back to iowa state. I hope this made it easier for you to grasp.

 

[Wesley]

Special teams need to kick it up a notch. If I was Gene, I would put stars on their helmets if they did something deserving. Did anyone see any stars on their helmets last week?