DTF
Well-Known Member
I don't wake up and look for things to criticize KF and JVB about. I don't. I also don't think the other "negative" posters are either. Criticism and toiling in negativity comes from people who care about the school and the team and understand reasonable coaches make tough decisions when the results aren't there. People want KF to be forced into making a decision because he doesn't seem to want to make one on his own accord. Expecting better doesn't mean expecting trips to the Big Ten championship on a perennial basis either. What I/we do expect is for the team to be competitive.
KF is getting paid to win every game he coaches. That doesn't mean GarBar is saying "Kirk, we're expecting another undefeated season this year". I'm not naive enough to think that such a thing is realistic. What I DO expect, however, is to see Kirk TRYING to win every game. Make an effort, SHOW you're trying to win the game (that doesn't mean showing emotion). If there are issues, don't just let them stay issues week after week and year after year. Issues should be addressed, but they aren't.
1)The offense has been anemic all season, yet there aren't any noticeable changes. I'm sick of how Kurt treats offensive possessions. How often do you say to yourself "Man, he really wants to score on this drive"? Maybe at the end of the game, when it's too late. The goal should be to score on every possession. You don't see that in the play calling, though, what you see are stretch run plays to the left and short passes to the sideline. That's EXACTLY what the opponent is expecting, try exploiting what your opponent does poorly on defense. Nothing is being done to stress the opponents defense. Throw the ball to the middle of the field, attack down field, throw it 10 yards, FORCE teams to take down your running receiver. Force teams to break up multiple deep balls per game instead of just once or twice. Allowing them to simply push your receiver out of bounds after a sideline completion is too easy. Make it more difficult. That doesn't require changing the entire system.
2) I don't have anything against JVB personally. I don't want to see him injured and I don't want people to boo(urns) him. He is more talented than he's playing, but why is there an expectation that he will somehow master the system or show drastic improvement after playing in it for 10 weeks and practicing in the system since spring? His statistics are amongst the lowest in the NCAA. There isn't any reason to expect a 5th year senior to develop further.
You can't throw balls that are a combination of high, low, fast, behind, under, or over on 75% of the passes that ARE "catchable" and expect your receivers to bail you out every time. Look at any other game and you're guaranteed to see passes that are easy to catch and are thrown to receivers in stride, it doesn't matter the conference or the offensive system. That's all critics are asking for and it's patently absurd to assume one of the backups is incapable of making passes that seemingly 99% of the other NCAA QB's make. JVB isn't at some developmental peak that a backup could only dream of accomplishing some day. It's not Andrew Luck or even Kirk Cousins that we're talking about here.
The bar is set very low. If they can't live up to such a low statistical bar, it's an indictment on KF. Even Notre Dame goes to Tommy Rees for specific things and they're UNDEFEATED, I think they have more at risk than 4-6 Iowa.
Hurting the backups confidence isn't a reason not to play a backup either, it's so subjective and arbitrary and is based on nothing other than speculation. People say "where's your evidence the backup is better?" Where's your evidence that the backup is frightened by playing in a football game? Who's to say the backup's confidence wouldn't be boosted? If these QB's emotions are so fragile, maybe college football isn't for them.
3) Quit treating the punt return game like an after thought. Cotton has shown ability on kick return, let him try punt return. I'm aware KR and PR aren't the same, but Hyde has shown ZERO ability to break anything, so why is he still back there?
KF is getting paid to win every game he coaches. That doesn't mean GarBar is saying "Kirk, we're expecting another undefeated season this year". I'm not naive enough to think that such a thing is realistic. What I DO expect, however, is to see Kirk TRYING to win every game. Make an effort, SHOW you're trying to win the game (that doesn't mean showing emotion). If there are issues, don't just let them stay issues week after week and year after year. Issues should be addressed, but they aren't.
1)The offense has been anemic all season, yet there aren't any noticeable changes. I'm sick of how Kurt treats offensive possessions. How often do you say to yourself "Man, he really wants to score on this drive"? Maybe at the end of the game, when it's too late. The goal should be to score on every possession. You don't see that in the play calling, though, what you see are stretch run plays to the left and short passes to the sideline. That's EXACTLY what the opponent is expecting, try exploiting what your opponent does poorly on defense. Nothing is being done to stress the opponents defense. Throw the ball to the middle of the field, attack down field, throw it 10 yards, FORCE teams to take down your running receiver. Force teams to break up multiple deep balls per game instead of just once or twice. Allowing them to simply push your receiver out of bounds after a sideline completion is too easy. Make it more difficult. That doesn't require changing the entire system.
2) I don't have anything against JVB personally. I don't want to see him injured and I don't want people to boo(urns) him. He is more talented than he's playing, but why is there an expectation that he will somehow master the system or show drastic improvement after playing in it for 10 weeks and practicing in the system since spring? His statistics are amongst the lowest in the NCAA. There isn't any reason to expect a 5th year senior to develop further.
You can't throw balls that are a combination of high, low, fast, behind, under, or over on 75% of the passes that ARE "catchable" and expect your receivers to bail you out every time. Look at any other game and you're guaranteed to see passes that are easy to catch and are thrown to receivers in stride, it doesn't matter the conference or the offensive system. That's all critics are asking for and it's patently absurd to assume one of the backups is incapable of making passes that seemingly 99% of the other NCAA QB's make. JVB isn't at some developmental peak that a backup could only dream of accomplishing some day. It's not Andrew Luck or even Kirk Cousins that we're talking about here.
The bar is set very low. If they can't live up to such a low statistical bar, it's an indictment on KF. Even Notre Dame goes to Tommy Rees for specific things and they're UNDEFEATED, I think they have more at risk than 4-6 Iowa.
Hurting the backups confidence isn't a reason not to play a backup either, it's so subjective and arbitrary and is based on nothing other than speculation. People say "where's your evidence the backup is better?" Where's your evidence that the backup is frightened by playing in a football game? Who's to say the backup's confidence wouldn't be boosted? If these QB's emotions are so fragile, maybe college football isn't for them.
3) Quit treating the punt return game like an after thought. Cotton has shown ability on kick return, let him try punt return. I'm aware KR and PR aren't the same, but Hyde has shown ZERO ability to break anything, so why is he still back there?
