Mizzou Sanity: Iowa State football

Showing posts with label Iowa State football. Show all posts

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Mizzou Links, 9-13-07

We've got basketball recruiting news! I'll let Atchison go more in-depth on this guy, but Laurence Bowers is on-board. Meanwhile, the pursuit of Notre Dame Prep's Kim English is on.
Speaking of basketball, Mizzou will have a public workout at 10am this Saturday...I tend to avoid these due to the occasional outbreak of stupid optimism on my part.
On to football. Martin Rucker has been disgustingly good so far this season, and Mike Dearmond takes note. Mike D. also says, "Hey MU fans: cheer up!"
It's the latest "Cut to the Chase"! Love these things...Matter also has his latest Power Poll.
Interesting stat from the Trib: "When leading by eight or more points, the defense has allowed 5.9 yards per carry. With a 7-point lead or less, the average shrinks to 3.1." Sounds about right. The Post-Dispatch looks into the defense's struggles as well.
Graham Watson hands her keyboard to a WMU writer.
It's a family conflict!!
Despite the fact that I will be forever bitter about the phantom holding call and the 2006 loss to Iowa State (and trust me, I latch onto bitterness for long periods of time...ask me about the 1998 basketball loss at OU--the one where Brian Grawer got the tying 3-point play, only Johnnie Parker dunked the ball home and negated the basket--at your own risk...and yes, I just spent five minutes digging up that article...), I actually feel a bit sorry for Iowa State fans at this point. They're staring down "the suck" at the moment, and it's not going to be a pretty 3 months...
What's the perfect remedy for a team that just got some horrible injury news? UMKC! Mizzou Volleyball smoked the always-horrid 'Roos, finishing a sweep with a 30-8 win in Game Three. OUCH. Mizzou had 5 errors the entire match. More on this one later.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Mizzou Links, 8-31-07

Can you feel it?? I'm off to Minnesota soon (sigh), so everybody cheer the Tigers on...hopefully Mizzou TCB's early, but we'll see...

I nominate First & Ten day as the best day of the year. The actual day the season starts could be full of landmines, but the day or two before the day the season starts is full of nothing but optimism and fantasy. Lots of good stuff in this year's First & Ten: Chase Daniel analyzes the offense and breaks down film. Oliver Lorenzo Williams III is a leader. Meet the newest Tiger starters. And the Big 12 offseason was a bit strange.
Others are writing about Chase Daniel as well, surprise surprise.
The Mizzou-Illinois game is back up to Mizzou -5. It was down to 4, which was just confusing as hell.
You may not have heard this, but...Juice Williams is like Brad Smith! (Just for the record, Williams might end up being a better passer than Brad, but nobody runs like Brad...had the strangest sense of elusiveness I've ever seen. Just had to throw that out there.)
Pinkel knows...fast start = vital. He also "feels it"...knowing this is the best chance at "the year".
Blair Kerkhoff has a nice football column up.
Bernie Miklasz says Mizzou needs to feel urgency. Uhh, good call there Bern.
After weeks of reading about Illinois and trying to figure out what to think about them, here's what Illinois is thinking about Mizzou.

In other football news...

One game into the season, and Mizzou Sanity's 'unanimous' predictions are 0-for-1. Ouch. As Clone Chronicles puts it, building a program takes time (Mizzou fans should know), but still...ouch. Bret Meyer might not be starting much of his senior season.

And in other Mizzou news...

The Mizzou Volleyball lineup is still in flex.
And finally, meet MU's wheelchair basketball star.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Mizzou Links, 8-30-07

I was a day early in my 'why blogs are great' sentiment. Yesterday produced the best reason yet: "Cut to the Chase." I love that Pinkel agreed to this, I love that it's going to be a weekly thing, and...yeah, I love blogs.
Today's player profiles: the Trib talks to Darnell Terrell, the Missourian profiles asst Cornell Ford and a couple of his prized recruits, PowerMizzou also takes on some "St. Louis sons", and the KC Star takes on Juice Williams and...Kirk Farmer?
In basketball recruiting (basketball? what's that?), Inside Mizzou has a Laurence Bowers update. Spoiler Alert: he likes Mizzou. Meanwhile, back to football, Tyler Wilson's still down to just two teams (Spoiler Alert: one of them's Mizzou), but he still isn't deciding...
Clone Chronicles takes a look at the ISU depth chart for tonight's game against Kent State.
Corn Nation does the same for Saturday's NU/Nevada game.
Looks like KU will be playing as many freshmen as Mizzou this year. Followers of Mizzou recruiting will recognize two of the names on the list...former Mizzou targets Carmon Boyd-Anderson and Dezmon Briscoe.
Buffs.tv previews CU/CSU.
Via Bring On the Cats, here's a quick (and relatively optimistic) look at the KSU season. It doesn't make much mention of the turmoil and strangeness presenting itself over the last few weeks, but...I'm not sure that makes a difference with this team. Ron Prince did a lot of things that annoyed the crap out of me last season and made me think KSU was going to stink for quite a while...then I looked up at the end of the season and they were 7-5. So whaddo I know...

Monday, August 20, 2007

I'm running late on the Links now because I had to watch that Indy Bowl highlight video from top to bottom again...I take complete credit for that comeback, by the way. I was recording the game, and I turned it off about two plays before Marcus King's interception. That was obviously the catalyst.

Another new O-line commitment over the weekend. The Beef made a great point on the phone this weekend...with as many high schools that incorporate the spread offense now (especially in Texas), there's really no need for us to ever recruit another O-lineman who isn't fully versed on the spread's intricacies. I haven't paid attention, but I'm sure folks on the message boards are whining "Ohhhh, he's not a big-time recruit!" or whatever, but...well...tough. Meanwhile, Jeff Ermann catches up with Cahokia's finest...new TE commit London Davis.
Graham Watson summarizes the offense's massacre of the defense on Saturday's scrimmage. I'd like to point out that this was mostly done against the #2 defense, not the #1, and while that shows that our depth isn't very good...well...that's not as much of a problem as not having a decent #1, right? Honestly, with two weeks to go before the season starts, I'm still a bit worried about our pass rush, which was my #1 concern all along. Sounds like the run defense might get a boost from formations where Ziggy Hood occasionally works from the DE slot, and it also sounds like Sean Weatherspoon and a healthy Van Alexander will make the losses of Marcus Bacon and Deke Harrington pretty palatable. If Darnell Terrell can get back to full speed by September 1, then I'd say the #1 defense is in pretty solid shape. All the defense has to be this year is competent. That's what I keep telling myself.
Gabe has a nice Week Two Recap for your reading enjoyment. We bag on Gabe for always being wrong in his recruiting predictions (well, it seems that way anyway), but there's no doubting that he goes all-out on coverage.
LOTS of practice coverage in Sunday's Trib. Joe Walljasper has his own Week Two Recap, and then he catches up with Mr. T Rucker, while Dave Matter talks about Tony Temple's damn-impressive recovery from the bruised knee that scared the bejeezus out of everybody a couple weeks ago. Meanwhile, if Danario Alexander is the best #4 receiving option in the conference, and Jared Perry is maybe the best #5, I guess Jeremy Maclin might be the best #6? Sweet merciful crap, do we have some weapons...
The Missourian takes a look at Derrick Washington and his chances of avoiding a redshirt in 2007. Actually, so does Mike Dearmond. Mike also takes note of Chase Patton's impressive play.
Things aren't too hot in Manhattan at the moment...to say the least. Zero completions? Really?
Iowa State is looking into a new uniform design for 2008, and you can vote on your favorite helmet right now. I've gotta say...I'm not sure why, but I LOVE all three of those choices. Guess I'm a fan of white helmets or something...who knew? I'd say I-State is my #1 choice, ISU my #2.
Via Rock Chalk Talk, it appears that, as expected, Todd Reesing is your KU starting QB. Ouch. Who knows...maybe he's improved significantly in the offseason, but...I think that says more about Kerry Meier than it does about Todd Reesing.
Meanwhile, also as expected, Coach's Son Hawkins is officially the Colorado starter.
Finally, in Lincoln it looks like Zackary Bowman has begun practicing again. I don't expect much from him after 19 knee injuries, but I guess it helps with depth in a pretty thin secondary.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Mizzou Links, 8-13-07

Fun night last night...70 mph winds came out of nowhere...good times...anyhoo...now that we've got a pretty good idea of what's going on in Columbia, let's look around the Big 12 North.

So in 1995, Nebraska had to replace three DL starters, and those replacements ended up being named Wistrom and Peter, and the Huskers won another national title. Apparently 2007 will be just like that. Good to know. In other news, Marlon Lucky (mild concussion) and Cody Glenn (tight hamstring) both missed out on some scrimmaging over the weekend. See, Jeffrey? Every team has injuries. And finally, Sam Keller drops jaws. No comment.
One of KSU's major question marks, wide receiver, has gotten a boost from the emergence of JUCO transfer Deon Beasley. Another boost could come from remembering that Jordy Nelson is pretty good. In all, I think Josh Freeman is pretty overrated (and apparently not in the best of shape), but I also think that there are enough unknowns involved with K-State that they are pretty much the North wildcard.
Another weak WR corps--Colorado's--might get a boost from a freshman or two, though that's rarely an optimal solution. Even less optimal: freshmen on the O-line. Dan Hawkins really doesn't have much of a choice--he barely has enough scholarship OL's to fill out a 2-deep. I do figure that line play (on both sides of the ball, really) will hold CU back more than playing a RSFr QB. They do have one thing going for them, though: here's a feature on one of the conference's most underrated RB's, Hugh Charles.

Here's a new candidate for Best Nickname in the Conference: Tang "Hostile" Bacheyle. He could provide a nice physical presence in the Jayhawk defensive backfield...though physicality wasn't the main problem for the KU DB's last year--it was speed. And with no Jon Cornish in the backfield, it's time to "open up the offense." Not a bad thing per say, though when your QB's are Todd Reesing and Kerry Meier, it's not necessarily a good thing either.

So the ISU offense has Bret Meyer and Todd Blythe. Great. It appears that the other 9 starting positions on offense are still up for grabs, including RB (Jason Scales, J.J. Cass, Cameron Bell, Alexander Robinson, Michael Atchison, The Beef) and Other WR (R.J. Sumrall, Wallace Franklin, Euseph "Awesome Name" Messiah, Doug, The Boy, Bill C.). Also, Meyer is getting a bit of competition from RSFr Austen Arnaud. Meanwhile, the 'Clones have one less LB in the mix, as veteran Adam Carper is out for the season.

Finally, back to Mizzou...DE was my main concern heading into this year, and a resurgent Stryker Sulak could be a positively huge boost for the Mizzou defense. Meanwhile, Mike Dearmond looks into the Mizzou punter battle (or lack thereof), and Graham Watson talks about the true freshman emerging in the defensive backfield.

And Mizzou's Roger Wehrli sits down for the Trib's Sunday Q&A...

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Iowa State Spring Football Preview

2006

I am very wrong about many things, but I nailed this one. While some people were saying that 2006 would be Iowa State’s time to shine after two near misses (i.e. gags) in the North Division, I correctly predicted that things would fall apart in Ames (seriously, I pat myself on the back when I can because opportunities are usually pretty limited...for instance, I just knew there was no way that Florida would repeat as national champs in basketball, but that’s a completely different story). Somewhere in early October, it dawned on people that Dan McCarney really hadn’t put together a team with much discernible talent, and since the rest of the North Division had all begun to improve, Iowa State got left in the dust. They were a ball control team that could only average 3.0 yards per carry for the season; they were an experienced offense that only topped 350 yards in a game once during Big XII play (and only three times, total).

(Of course, none of this stopped them from beating Missouri in the finale, but hey...the refs wanted to send McCarney off as a winner...what can I say? Yes, I’m bitter. Yes, I need to learn to let these things go. And yes, the holding penalty called when Chase Daniel damn near killed himself scoring on 4th-and-goal from the 1 with 20 seconds left was just about the worst, most completely nonexistant penalty I’ve ever seen. Just horrible. But I’ll stop my rant there. This is about Iowa State.)

Because of the complete and total collapse of 2006, however, Iowa State got a new coach, and he could be a good one. Gene Chizik was the Defensive Coordinator for both Auburn’s undefeated team in 2004 and Texas’ undefeated team in 2005. He’s young and aggressive, and he thinks he can build a winner in Iowa State (that’s important because he probably could have waited another year or two and become head coach of a much bigger-name team...I guess he still could, but it’s not nearly as likely now).

Key Returnees

While the cupboard isn’t bare in Ames, it will probably take Chizik a while to build a solid base of talent. Bret Meyer, who started his career with great promise, has proven to be a decent-but-not-spectacular QB, and he has some weapons at WR—particularly Todd Blythe (who has been ISU’s #1 WR since his very first game in 2004) and R.J. Sumrall. Chizik didn’t inherit much—if anything—at RB. Returning RB’s Jason Scales and Josh Johnson combined for all of 236 yards in 77 carries last year (though in Scales’ defense, he was battling injury most of the season). Chizik quickly tried to address that in recruiting, bringing in JUCO RB Jamicah Bass. Lord knows Bass will have every opportunity to prove himself in the fall. The O-line was hit heavy by graduation—junior OG Tom Schmeling is the only returning O-lineman who has truly proven himself to any degree. Bret Meyer will be protected by two first-year starters at tackle...rarely is that a recipe for success.

If the O-line was hit hard by graduation, the D-line was demolished. Gone are both starting DE’s (including Shawn Moorehead, ISU’s all-time sack leader) and DT Brent “Big Play” Curvey. WLB Alvin Bowen, the nation’s leading per-game tackler last season (12.92/game) returns. With a D-line as porous as this one, Bowen should have ample opportunity to repeat as the nation’s tackle leader. Senior Jon Banks also returns, but junior Tyrone McKenzie doesn’t—he transferred to South Florida. In the secondary, SS Caleb Berg and CB Chris Singleton are experienced starters, and two sophomores, CB Drenard Williams and FS James Smith, have potential. This isn’t a great unit, especially if the Front Seven fails to make plays and leaves the DB’s in a precarious situation, but the secondary is probably the least of Gene Chizik’s worries. The D-line will need some work.

Special teams will be solid for ISU. Senior PK Bret Culbertson is a very good kicker against anybody other than Missouri (3 of his 9 career FG misses have come in the 4th quarter or OT against Mizzou), and sophomore punter Mike Brandtner was good as a freshman (41.2 yards per punt). Milan Moses is a pretty good kick returner, though they’ll have to find somebody to replace Ryan Baum at punt returner.

Spring Developments

Honestly, I’ve found next to no information about what’s been happening in ISU’s spring practices. ISU’s official site doesn’t have crap, and GoCyclones.com barely has more. The main focus, from what I’ve been able to tell, has been on having the Chizik mentality, meaning lots and lots of physical drills and D-line depth. Beyond that? Who knows.

Fun With Numbers

As discussed previously, here were the five statistical categories that were most directly related to ISU’s success/failure last year (aside from the refs calling holding on 4th-and-goal from the 1):

1. Third Down Ratio
2. Opponents’ Passing Attempts
3. Rushing Yards
4. 3rd Down Conversion %
5. Opponents’ Pass Completions

Now, under a new coach, these things could change pretty significantly. And I still find #2 and #5 very curious—they were the only team whose fortunes were significantly improved by their opponents passing more. I do think the only explanation for that is, when they were winning, it was because they had grabbed an early lead and the opponent had to pass more...and when they didn’t grab an early lead, they probably weren’t going to grab a late lead, if you know what I mean.

So will ISU be any better at these factors in 2007 than in 2006? Um, probably not. Unless the Chizik Mindset is immediately noticeable and significant (which, I guess, isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility), ISU really won’t have much of a pass rush to stop teams from converting 3rd downs, and their O-line is going to be inexperienced and not all that talented...making it hard to convert 3rd downs or pile up rushing yards.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I’m not thinking ISU will make a lot of noise in the fall. I was impressed that Chizik took the job, and he really could be the real deal, but it’s still going to be his first year as a head coach at this level, and he just doesn’t have much talent to work with. Line play on both sides will be pretty poor and the offense officially has one known weapon (Todd Blythe). The ’07 schedule has four relatively winnable nonconference games—they get Iowa at home, though a trip to Toledo will probably be a problem. However, after Toledo, they have to travel to Lubbock and Lincoln before finally getting back home...for games against Texas and Oklahoma. Ggh. If they’re somehow 4-4 when they head to Columbia on October 27, then Gene Chizik has done one fantastic job. However, I’m thinking 2-6 at that point (and about 3-9 overall) is much more likely. Chizik’s got his work cut out for him, though he seems like the type to embrace the challenge.