Dean's Dumplings
- Don't be surprised if you hear of 2-3 players leaving the program between now and the start of fall camp. One thing about how HCSF & Co have handled these situations is to let players have time to contemplate a well-written, mostly grammatically correct, post on Twitter. Players know where they stand within the program and most will go the transfer route to equal or better programs than DONU. Nobody on the 3-deep will leave the program, most likely.
- Speaking of transfers, where there is smoke there is definitely fire when it comes to Notre Dame grad CB Nick Watkins. I give Watkins at least a 25% chance of a campus visit and from that point a 5% chance of picking DONU. He could arguably be the most impactful grad-transfer in program history or at least join the likes of K Pat Smith.
- Don't be surprised to see HCSF dip their toe in the deep pool of grad-transfers this year. I could see them bring in upwards of 4-5 prior to the 2018 season. This could become the calling card of the new area of Husker Football, arguably similar to the old Prop 48 athlete.
- The action on the recruiting front is really picking up steam as we round the corner and head into the dog days of summer. Hattisburg, MS signal-caller John Plumlee (no relation to the Plumlees of Duke Basketball Lore) made his way to Lincoln for an unofficial visit this week. So far no response after multiple DM's to Plumlee on via Twitter. However, it will be difficult to lure Plumlee out of SEC country.
- We've seen at least one prospect's recruiting take off over the last several months. Nebraska was the latest to offer another long-haired OL project from the Datoka's this week. This time to Grant Treiber of Sioux Falls. Treiber has already visited DONU on his own dime for a junior day last year. You have to feel really good about DONU's prospects on this one.
- It looks like Florida is the new California for this Husker coaching regime. And why wouldn't it be? HCSF & Co have well established connections from tip to toe in the sunshine state and there is plenty of talent to go around. I could see as many as 10-12 highly regarded recruits filling the 2019 class from Florida this year.
- Look for DONU to edge the Hoosiers in a tight race for the services of 6'3" 330lb fire plug Nose Guard Tony Fair out of Tucson's Pima CC. He's a bit on the tall side for a true Nose, but his middle-clogging potential is off the charts. I see an announcement coming any day now.
- Strength Coach Zach Duval will look to incorporate heavy lifting in season, which has traditionally been seen as unconventional. I used to lift with Zach in Kearney at The Royal Court, so I have no doubt in this decision.
- The introduction of a whirlwind tour of the state has started to create some buzz. All the stars will be there in Moos, Frost, and Davidson. We're not just talking Lincoln and Omaha, either. They will venture out to western Nebraska and the panhandle to glad hand some true Nebraskans and get the pulse of real fans. The coaching staff could not be more excited to spend time in places like Alliance, Gering and McCook.
- We had a good week overall from a moderation front. Only two perma-bans were handed out due to the nature of derogatory comments directed at a member of our moderation team. Not bad.
The Main Board
Things Horrible Golfers Do
How can we be so numb...
Is Matt Campbell the Hayden Fry of Iowa State?
Things Horrible Golfers Do
- Show up 20 minutes before their group tees off, and choose to warm up on the range instead of the putting green.
- Never go to the short game area. Hit 50%+ of their range balls with the driver.
- Putt with their glove on.
- While it was mostly likely the shitty Papa Johns pizza, I literally can’t get off the toilet the last two hours. I used to think constipation was way worse, but my asshole may have just fell off.
Any advice? Go ahead and KMS? Wife said we are out of Imodium.
- Send your fat lazy wife to Walgreens
How can we be so numb...
- Great, great grandkids don’t even understand...
There used to be a day and time when as an opposing team you played Nebraska and it meant something. For the very-few & very-far-in-between teams that we lost to; they knew, and quickly learned to accept fate on an annual, and in many cases decadely basis.
With Frost, I trust, and oh, do I trust... keep ye’ heads up in the eyes of rain my Husker men and women:
- At Arizona now and is expected to play this year.
Is Matt Campbell the Hayden Fry of Iowa State?
- I could not help but think this starting in the second half of his first season when, although they were 3-9, ISU was quite competive the last several games, and this thought was further solidified with their 8-5 record and upsets last year.
- Brand new to this but I truly feel Frost is 3 years from truly factoring into the Big Ten West race. I think defense and line domination on both sides of the ball will prevail and hurt his teams. Henrich is a good 3*** player BUT there are 50 other 3*** to 5***** players still out there. Would we take him, yes, is it the world's end if we don't get him, NO.
- Yea 50 other 3 to 5 stars we have no connection with. Henrich is a very good 4 star and should be at least a 5.8 on rivals as far as I'm concerned. Very true the world will not end if we miss on Henrich. How many top guys have we missed on and the program is still going strong?
We'll see about Frost, but physicality will be a key to debra's progression. With the way they recruit, never know when a team could come together and do well.
- Wisconsin and Iowa will be good for the foreseeable future so if Nebraska wants to win a B1G Frost has to go through Madison and IC first. These aren’t your grandpa’s teams anymore!
- Due to the vibe and language from their AD and HC I say yes. We will see further evidence as the next couple seasons progress.
- JFC man just drop the pretense and go full GBR. Your obsession with Nebraska is embarrassing.
- Who cares? Until they prove they can compete for B1G Championships, they're irrelevant.
- 2015 biased the win-percentage ... but the rest of the numbers were largely different sides to how Iowa manages to have an excellent scoring D. If you look at the last 3 years ... 2015 actually featured our poorest scoring D of the 3. Frankly, the success of our O, complementing our scoring D is what contributed to a huge portion of our success in '15.
If you look at the core philosophy that the numbers were saying ... it simply reiterates a point that I tend to post annually about. The philosophy of the Hawks is to force opposing teams to earn every last point that they get. It causes opposing teams to see more 3rd downs. On a compressed field ... when the opposing team has reached the red-zone ... we often stop them on 3rd down and they opt to kick. Thus, instead of giving up TDs ... we give up FGs. Given how inconsistent many kickers are ... we also benefit from missed FGs too.
Complementing the above strategy, the opposing O has a tendency of seeing plenty of snaps. As alluded before, the opposing O is typically has to earn every yard and point they get ... so sometimes they get greedy ... sometimes they press things. When teams take those chances ... that plays to hands of how Phil schools his DBs. The result is Iowa nabbing quite a number of interceptions.
Ferentz obviously values ball security ... the fewer times we give away the ball and the more times we gain turnovers ... it minimizes the number of scoring opportunities for our opponents and increases our own opportunities. Furthermore, Iowa tends to value a balanced ball-control O ... for obvious reasons, against better offenses, featuring such an O allows for our team to play "keep away." If we're possessing the ball ... it allows our D to rest AND it keeps the ball out of the hands of the opposing O. This further limits the number of possessions the opposing team gets ... even though it also limits the number of possession we see as well.
As I've written many times - if Iowa has trouble scoring ... Iowa's strategy has back-fired against "lesser" competition ... because it keeps them in the game. On the flip side, when we're playing teams that are supposed to be better than us ... it helps to keep US in the game.
Consequently, even with Iowa's perceived lower amount to talent (as measured by recruiting "stars") ... Iowa still manages a well above-average level of success.
Lastly, as it relates to how things will be the further we get from 2015 ... I anticipate that Iowa will have mighty fine seasons in BOTH 2018 and 2019. Thus, I'd say that the win percentage of 65% will continue ... if not improve. If you pay attention to recruiting ... it would appear that Iowa's recruiting has been trending up too. Will that end up paying dividends in terms of the W-L column? We'll see ... I certain hope so!
