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State of the Football Program

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djkent01

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2008
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Like everyone, I'm very disappointed in the W/L record of the 2008 squad. But I also see a lot of very positive things.

I have to believe that the staff made the decision to fully commit to the type of football it wants to play in the future, and the players required for that type of football just weren't abundant enough this year.

On the other hand, the youth movemement is apparent. It would have been a shame to spend this entire season running a system the staff does not want for the long term for a couple more victories. Maybe ISU would have won five games under a different system, but where does that get us? Sitting home in December - which is where we are now.

I'm looking for year three to be the renaissance. A few impact new players (Money, please come on over), the redshirt freshmen from this year in the mix, and the maturation and off-season development of players that played this year even though they may not have been ready. Especially Arnaud, Improved decision making will change him as a QB.

I'm going to be patient with Chizik. I wasn't with Duncan, Walden, or McCarney - but for some reason I am with Chizik. Year 3 looks to be very promising to me, especially at a time when the Big XII should not be as strong. Don't get me wrong, I'd like nothing more than to be the champ of the greatest conference in the country. But I honestly believed this staff looked around, saw the strength of the conference, and decided to look to year three.

Next year, I will become a much bigger contributor and will buy four tickets so I can entertain clients. And from the bottom of my gut and heart, I believe I'll be rewarded. Then, onward and upward from there. We're only a few recruits away from making that happen.

Any other thought out there in this regard?
 
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The coaching staff has my entire support. I'm eager to see improvements, but I am still very excited.

I actually have enjoyed this team more than last year's, but can't put the finger on why that is.
 
djkent01 said:
It would have been a shame to spend this entire season running a system the staff does not want for the long term for a couple more victories. Maybe ISU would have won five games under a different system, but where does that get us?
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Please help me understand this. What "system" are we not running that would have enabled us to win more games?
 
I think you are right, however it is tough to sit there and watch the current product they are offering us in 5 degree windchill.

One thing some of us were talking about last night at the game was the senior class. As they were doing the introductions there was not really any players that we are really going to miss, maybe Kurtis Taylor and Bibbs - but all the seniors could be replaced currently by an underclassman with little to no drop off. So ISU gets to exchange that class for a new class that GC is hand picking - hopefully with more speed and potential. Then you look around at Mizzou - who is going to loose all of their real talent. It is a good chance ISU is better than them next year.

I am just thinking that a lot of the teams we are playing this year will take a step back from kids they loose as seniors or early to the draft compared to ISU is not loosing a lot of starters or guys that they depend on a lot. I think ISU will be MUCH better and competing for a bowl birth next year.
 
isuno1fan said:
The coaching staff has my entire support. I'm eager to see improvements, but I am still very excited.

I actually have enjoyed this team more than last year's, but can't put the finger on why that is.
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I agree on the first part but not the last. I "enjoyed" the last 2 seaons equally. And and actually, last year was a bit more fun as we won 2 conference games which gave us hope for this year.
 
isuno1fan said:
I actually have enjoyed this team more than last year's, but can't put the finger on why that is.
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I've never seen them give up this season and in every game the defensive players lay some wood on the opposing team that makes you go wow. I agree despite the record, have enjoyed watching them.
 
Tornado man said:
Please help me understand this. What "system" are we not running that would have enabled us to win more games?
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I's an accountant and certainly won't be able to answer that question in a manner that will satisfy you. I'm basing my comments on previous posts I've seen that discuss the differences between the Tampa 2, Cover 2, and other various defensive schemes. If we're a player to two or three away from being able to be more effective running the Tampa 2, and we have the players in the pipeline, I'd opt for the future.

I am doing the same thing with my business. I knew I'd have to live off of credit for two years, but now year three is shaping up. If I remember correctly, Criner tried to run a 3 - 4 defense and it was effective. Perhaps our current personnel would be better suitied to this defense - I don't know. I'm just trying (and hoping) to understand why we've run a defense all year that can't get the offense off the field. I hope the staff has made a strategic decision because I'm going all-in next year and hope to see smething entirely different.
 
Other than the obvious point that it is stupid not to try and win as many games as you can each year by any method possible, I agree that our offense will be in pretty good shape next year. Special Teams as well. Defense needs improvement obviously.
 
I'll admit that these are some hasty generalizations, but:

This coaching staff can evaluate talent. I'll assume the coaching staff and S&C coordinator can develop that talent. However, they've shown me nothing to convince me that they can out-coach even the most average coaches in the country.

Hopefully once we get more developed talent, our coaching staff can feel like they can run the schemes they want to run to the fullest, but I have a hard time believing that. The only aspect that would make this true is if our linemen get MUCH better. We obviously don't blitz, so we need to get some pressure with a stronger, more athletic front four. And everyone knows running games improve right along with offensive lines. Hopefully our recruiting can address that and we'll see the dividends in the next couple years.
 
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ISUFan22 said:
I agree on the first part but not the last. I "enjoyed" the last 2 seaons equally. And and actually, last year was a bit more fun as we won 2 conference games which gave us hope for this year.
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Last year we won 3 extremely close games and that was about it. This year we lost 3 extremely close games (UNLV, KU and CU) on top of the games we won. I think when you consider how many players we have coming back, we should have just as much to get excited about next year (if not more). Let's hope Chizik can fill in some holes at WR, DE and LB and we'll have a great chance to win 7 games next year.
 
This is the time of the year where I say that I'm never buy season tickets again. Usually a few months go by and I forget how much the team sucked and I just buy them again. This year may be different. It's a lot of money to spend and I've done it 15 years in a row.
 
There have been small portions of their play that has been enjoyable to watch, but as a whole it's been pretty painful. I didn't see much improvement over last year, I see a lot of potential, but unrealized potential at this point. In a lot of areas we took steps backwards, namely on defense, but again, I see the potential for good football, it's just hard to sit through the bad in hopes of the good later down the road.

I sat in the cold last night to watch a very bad football team get worked by a good football team, and so did a lot of other people, but potential only puts butts in the seats for so long.

Our defense looks completely lost out there. They didn't make Daniels beat us once last game, they gave him every short pass he could ever have hoped for and their talent allowed them to break short passes into long plays. We put some good hits on guys, but if I can borrow a phrase from Jim Mora, big hits mean diddly poo when you're down by 28 points.

The amount of arm tackles last night was appalling, it looked as though guys just stopped caring enough to try to get into position, or were too cold to be able to or something, but it was bad form and looked ugly.

Next season is going to be a big one for Chizik, he'll either gain back a ton of fans with a good season and possible low tier bowl game, or he'll lose a lot more with another 2 or 3 win season. I personally think, or maybe hope, that he can get 5-6 wins next season and start building....but I also think it's just as possible to win 2 games again.
 
dmclone said:
This is the time of the year where I say that I'm never buy season tickets again. Usually a few months go by and I forget how much the team sucked and I just buy them again. This year may be different. It's a lot of money to spend and I've done it 15 years in a row.
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This year will be the first that I'll really have to evaluate my options of whether or not to buy season tickets again. $600+ is a lot to watch bad football.
 
cmoneyr said:
There have been small portions of their play that has been enjoyable to watch, but as a whole it's been pretty painful.
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Two years ago and KU came to town and thumped us big time and that was the most painful football game I've ever seen. Knew Dan McCarney had to go after that one.

We're loads better at this point in the season than we were at that time two years ago. You got to have small victories before the big ones come. Our passing game is good, special teams and kicking much better. Need work on the defensive line and run game.
 
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Nobody should be surprised that our defense is struggling. We lost 3 NFL players from our defense a year ago, and we should have known going into it, that there were not a lot of guys ready to go behind them.
 
Benny34 said:
Nobody should be surprised that our defense is struggling. We lost 3 NFL players from our defense a year ago, and we should have known going into it, that there were not a lot of guys ready to go behind them.
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In retrospect, from my perspective, we should have. But I didn't. Thus my overall question - did the staff "sacrifice" 2008 for the long term. Did the staff decide to teach the precepts of the Tampa 2 on the belief that the requisitie players would be there in 2009 to run that defense.

Seriously. If this defense could have getten off the field 25% more of the time than it did, we'd be looking at a possible bowl bid this year. 25%. Is that reason to hold out true hope for 2009? Are the players in the pipeline to make that defense that much better than we saw this season?

The offense is going to be very good in 2009 (IMO) and the addition of someone like Money could put us over the top. Was that the plan?
 
There is a difference between a struggling defense and the 2008 Cyclone defense.
 
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