• The KillerFrogs

Iowa State Game Grades

Atomic Frawg

Full Member
Offense overall: B-
QB Play: B+
Downing came in and did what a backup was supposed to do, and he actually made some pretty good throws. Made some good reads and some good checkdowns. He went 11/21 for 159 with a TD, no picks, and a fumble, with at least one and maybe two drops. He was Jeff Ballard in the spread. Lacked pocket presence, which, in part, could be due to a lack of actual gameplay.

Duggan provided a needed spark. He had good pocket presence, and good overall leadership at the position. He also was much more efficient in this game then I believe any game last year. He went 16/19 for 241 with 3 TDs and a pick that was due to a drop. Made a couple of good deep throws and reads. Provided a needed spark. He had good pocket presence, and good overall leadership at the position. He also was much more efficient in this game then I believe any game last year. Made a couple of good deep throws and reads. Pocket presence could've been better, and he had snap issues.

Offensive Line: D
Gave up six sacks to a three-man front, and stalled drives twice in plus territory. Gave up a sack that lead to a fumble. Too many penalties. Bright spot was rushing.

Play Calling: B
Had flashes at times. Could've used running backs more. Did a good enough job to have us in the game. First half drove the bus; second half more rhythm and swag. Good ball dispersion.

Defense: D
Limited pressure on the QB by the line and ends. Gave up too many big plays, especially on the ground due to improper fits. Secondary was decent, not great. Gave up a big play, but the defensive player was in contact, it happens. Was good on third down holding ISU to 3/11 and got a score.

Special Teams: B-
Missed field goal, and return team lacked explosiveness. Punt return showed some pop, and the punt team averaged 40 yds with no returns.

Coaching: D
The big running plays were due to scouting and planning. To come out of a time out in a critical situation and give up an explosive play is inexcusable.

We'll still beat Bevo.
 

y2kFrog

Active Member
Offense overall: B-
QB Play: B+
Downing came in and did what a backup was supposed to do, and he actually made some pretty good throws. Made some good reads and some good checkdowns. He went 11/21 for 159 with a TD, no picks, and a fumble, with at least one and maybe two drops. He was Jeff Ballard in the spread. Lacked pocket presence, which, in part, could be due to a lack of actual gameplay.

Duggan provided a needed spark. He had good pocket presence, and good overall leadership at the position. He also was much more efficient in this game then I believe any game last year. He went 16/19 for 241 with 3 TDs and a pick that was due to a drop. Made a couple of good deep throws and reads. Provided a needed spark. He had good pocket presence, and good overall leadership at the position. He also was much more efficient in this game then I believe any game last year. Made a couple of good deep throws and reads. Pocket presence could've been better, and he had snap issues.

Offensive Line: D
Gave up six sacks to a three-man front, and stalled drives twice in plus territory. Gave up a sack that lead to a fumble. Too many penalties. Bright spot was rushing.

Play Calling: B
Had flashes at times. Could've used running backs more. Did a good enough job to have us in the game. First half drove the bus; second half more rhythm and swag. Good ball dispersion.

Defense: D
Limited pressure on the QB by the line and ends. Gave up too many big plays, especially on the ground due to improper fits. Secondary was decent, not great. Gave up a big play, but the defensive player was in contact, it happens. Was good on third down holding ISU to 3/11 and got a score.

Special Teams: B-
Missed field goal, and return team lacked explosiveness. Punt return showed some pop, and the punt team averaged 40 yds with no returns.

Coaching: D
The big running plays were due to scouting and planning. To come out of a time out in a critical situation and give up an explosive play is inexcusable.

We'll still beat Bevo.

Our receivers can catch again...ignoring one obvious bad play.
 

jake102

Active Member
QB: C for Downing and B+ for Duggan. Him fumbling the snap was crucial

RBs: who knows. Mostly ignored

OL: D. Solid F in 1st half and a C in 2nd

WR: B+. Would have been an A but Barber blew it


DL: D. The DTs were OK and DEs were insanely bad. How Brooks didn’t take 50%+ of snaps is beyond me

LB: B+

CB: B

Safeties: B


Play Brooks and Evans for God sake
 

Strat Frog

Active Member
O Line grade of a D is about right. ISU’s D-Line is not as stout as some other B12 teams so we need our OL to improve and quickly.

CBs we knew was going to be a question mark, and they played about like that today.

The big plays were the killer, when our D was out of pocket and got burned, especially those off tackle runs for big gains/TDs. We need to fix that ASAP, and Gary will undoubtedly work on that this week.
 

Travis Trucks

Active Member
Coaching: D
The big running plays were due to scouting and planning. To come out of a time out in a critical situation and give up an explosive play is inexcusable.

If you are talking about Iowa State's last TD, it was absolutely the right play call. It was 3rd and 3 and they were going to go for it on 4th down as long as they didn't lose yards. We sold out to stop them for a loss to force them into a tough 4th down situation or long field goal, and they just ran the right play to counter it.
 

CountryFrog

Active Member
If you are talking about Iowa State's last TD, it was absolutely the right play call. It was 3rd and 3 and they were going to go for it on 4th down as long as they didn't lose yards. We sold out to stop them for a loss to force them into a tough 4th down situation or long field goal, and they just ran the right play to counter it.
I agree with you on that one play. Where I do fault the defense there is giving up 7 yards on 1st and 2nd down in an obvious running situation to make the 3rd down play so short and creating the situation you've described.
 

Travis Trucks

Active Member
I agree with you on that one play. Where I do fault the defense there is giving up 7 yards on 1st and 2nd down in an obvious running situation to make the 3rd down play so short and creating the situation you've described.

They blew our DL off the ball on the 1st down play to get those 4 yards on 1st down. To me that looked like a defense that went back out there after the INT with their heads down thinking the game was over instead of motivated to get a stop.
 

4 Oaks Frog

Active Member
O Line grade of a D is about right. ISU’s D-Line is not as stout as some other B12 teams so we need our OL to improve and quickly.

CBs we knew was going to be a question mark, and they played about like that today.

The big plays were the killer, when our D was out of pocket and got burned, especially those off tackle runs for big gains/TDs. We need to fix that ASAP, and Gary will undoubtedly work on that this week.
Our O Line is slow-o-o. You can be slow and react quickly, but we have none of that either. Our O Line is pitiful, and that can be lain at the feet of recruiting. We have horrible O Line coaching, and consequently very good O Line prospects do not want to play for them. I love Coach P, but IMHO, until he cuts lose his old pals, it won’t change...
 

tcumaniac

Full Member
Special teams deserves no better than a C-

Minimal return game.

Terribly missed field goal.

Jordan Sandy was below average again (one AWFUL punt).

Block in the backs as usual.
 

Strat Frog

Active Member
Our O Line is slow-o-o. You can be slow and react quickly, but we have none of that either. Our O Line is pitiful, and that can be lain at the feet of recruiting. We have horrible O Line coaching, and consequently very good O Line prospects do not want to play for them. I love Coach P, but IMHO, until he cuts lose his old pals, it won’t change...

I’m all for an upgrade at OL coach, but didn’t we snag OL Garrett Hays from Athens this year, a 318 lbs freshman? As well as A Barlow and B Coleman, a couple of +300 lbs OLs too? We knew we needed to upgrade here, we went after the talent, and we’re getting them. Our O line will get better as the season goes on; they will gel and learn each other. Today looked rusty and new, which should not be entirely unexpected given we didn’t have a non conference game...
 

Travis Trucks

Active Member
I’m all for an upgrade at OL coach, but didn’t we snag OL Garrett Hays from Athens this year, a 318 lbs freshman? As well as A Barlow and B Coleman, a couple of +300 lbs OLs too? We knew we needed to upgrade here, we went after the talent, and we’re getting them. Our O line will get better as the season goes on; they will gel and learn each other. Today looked rusty and new, which should not be entirely unexpected given we didn’t have a non conference game...

I think this can not be stated enough. First game rust is always a thing, but for us its usually masked because we are playing a SWAC team that we can overmatch.

Non SWAC openers for us recently:

2015 at Minnesota - This was an average Minnesota team we played and we looked like crap offensively.

2013 vs. LSU - We actually didn't play that bad but only made it close due to special teams and turnovers

2011 vs. Baylor - Defense played awful in the loss

2010 vs. Oregon State - Fell behind early and then hung on to beat an Oregon State team that finished 5-7

2009 vs. Virginia - Looked rusty offensively against a Virginia team that went 3-9

You have to go back to our 2008 opener vs. New Mexico for the last time we played a solid game on both sides of the ball vs. a non FCS opener
 

CountryFrog

Active Member
Only issue I have with the "first game, we're rusty, we'll improve" type of comments is that we all had those same kinds of thoughts throughout 2018 and 2019 and now here we are saying it again. At a certain point we need to actually see improvement before assuming it will come.

I will say though the one thing that I think we have this year that we didn't have the last 2 is a competent QB who now is also experienced. So that hopefully will go a long way.
 

Atomic Frawg

Full Member
If you are talking about Iowa State's last TD, it was absolutely the right play call. It was 3rd and 3 and they were going to go for it on 4th down as long as they didn't lose yards. We sold out to stop them for a loss to force them into a tough 4th down situation or long field goal, and they just ran the right play to counter it.
On that play the running back ran A-gap, right off the center. No one covered that gap. The left LB blitzed the B gap and DT slanted left, while the right side played straight up. That left the middle WIDE open. It obviously wasn't the right play because the guy had a 32-yard untouched. Also, there was no diguise in the coverage. So I didn't like the call coming out of a TO.
 
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