So in general, I thought that the Defense played OK. They seemed to be guessing wrong and the Akron OC called a good game keeping ISU off balance. That QB made some good throws and then some really bad ones. But he was able to move the chains enough and we seem to have a hard time with mobile QBs. The Akron run game was not a problem for ISU. Offensively, I got the feeling that we could have easily had a couple more TDs if we would just open things up and pass to set up the run, but Campbell seemed determined to run the ball. I have no doubt that they would have went downfield more if necessary, but they didn't need to.
Tailgate was good, crowd was OK although we probably need to lay off patting ourselves on the back for attendance when there was large sections of empty seats in the upper levels on a great weather day. Got to meet fairview at "the auctioneer's" tailgate (and thanks for the beers). So that was good.
My thoughts on the team after 1/4 of the season:
QB: Noland played well. Who knows how Kempt would have done, but Noland has the confidence and arm strength to move the team. I have no problems with him starting the rest of the season if it comes to that.
WR: Butler is really coming on. He's a flat out beast. I was impressed with Akers play. We need more from Jones and Milton at the M. But overall, I thought this position did fine with the passes that they got.
RB: Nice rotation of players. I like that they are taking some of the load off Montgomery's shoulders. Lang looked pretty good out there. I would really like to see Mike Warren get some carries, but I understand why he doesn't. I thought Montgomery showed some flashes of what he did last year. On a side note, I wish that we had last year's Seonbuchner. He has not been nearly the dominant blocker he was last season.
TE: This position disappeared some with Allen being out. We need more from them.
OL: Pretty bad performance overall. I thought they took a step back from the OU game. Doesn't help being down a starter, but I really thought that they would be better than last year and they are absolutely not. IMO we have a bunch of OGs and Cs and no true Tackles. They need to fix this ASAP and I think it should be Priority #1...enough signing skill positions, find the best JUCO or grad transfer OT you can get and force Meeker or JGJ to move inside.
DL: They did a nice job. Especially Bailey. Not a huge pass rush overall, but it's tough with a mobile QB. Kept the run game to a minimum and rotated a lot of bodies. Decent work.
LB: I thought that they kind of disappeared. We really have yet to see Spears and Harvey from last year. Rose wasn't as good as he has been. I actually thought Hummel played pretty well.
CB: Not much new from Peavy and Payne. They continue to do a decent job. Azunna got beat, which isn't a great sign for next year and Young blew some coverages.
S: I thought Eisworth was the star of the game. And White played really well too. Lewis was solid as usual. Ruth had some major screw ups and got yanked.
K/P/ST: Assalley was great and Dunn had a solid game. They also had some really solid returns from Nwangwu and Milton.
Overall a decent game even though they seemed to be extremely conservative. They are going to have to play a lot better if they plan on making a bowl. There's no reason why this game should have been that close. That said this was a solid team they played and they were really close to busting it open.
Tailgate was good, crowd was OK although we probably need to lay off patting ourselves on the back for attendance when there was large sections of empty seats in the upper levels on a great weather day. Got to meet fairview at "the auctioneer's" tailgate (and thanks for the beers). So that was good.
My thoughts on the team after 1/4 of the season:
QB: Noland played well. Who knows how Kempt would have done, but Noland has the confidence and arm strength to move the team. I have no problems with him starting the rest of the season if it comes to that.
WR: Butler is really coming on. He's a flat out beast. I was impressed with Akers play. We need more from Jones and Milton at the M. But overall, I thought this position did fine with the passes that they got.
RB: Nice rotation of players. I like that they are taking some of the load off Montgomery's shoulders. Lang looked pretty good out there. I would really like to see Mike Warren get some carries, but I understand why he doesn't. I thought Montgomery showed some flashes of what he did last year. On a side note, I wish that we had last year's Seonbuchner. He has not been nearly the dominant blocker he was last season.
TE: This position disappeared some with Allen being out. We need more from them.
OL: Pretty bad performance overall. I thought they took a step back from the OU game. Doesn't help being down a starter, but I really thought that they would be better than last year and they are absolutely not. IMO we have a bunch of OGs and Cs and no true Tackles. They need to fix this ASAP and I think it should be Priority #1...enough signing skill positions, find the best JUCO or grad transfer OT you can get and force Meeker or JGJ to move inside.
DL: They did a nice job. Especially Bailey. Not a huge pass rush overall, but it's tough with a mobile QB. Kept the run game to a minimum and rotated a lot of bodies. Decent work.
LB: I thought that they kind of disappeared. We really have yet to see Spears and Harvey from last year. Rose wasn't as good as he has been. I actually thought Hummel played pretty well.
CB: Not much new from Peavy and Payne. They continue to do a decent job. Azunna got beat, which isn't a great sign for next year and Young blew some coverages.
S: I thought Eisworth was the star of the game. And White played really well too. Lewis was solid as usual. Ruth had some major screw ups and got yanked.
K/P/ST: Assalley was great and Dunn had a solid game. They also had some really solid returns from Nwangwu and Milton.
Overall a decent game even though they seemed to be extremely conservative. They are going to have to play a lot better if they plan on making a bowl. There's no reason why this game should have been that close. That said this was a solid team they played and they were really close to busting it open.
