Looking back at the the last few years, it is pretty clear that ISU football lives or dies at the margin. By that, it means that there will be a number of close games every year that could go either way. Some games, we get overmatched and there is no margin. See Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma last year, for example. Others we control pretty well - but seldom many in number and seldom by as much in points.
Thus all of the remaining games turn on a relatively few number of plays or non-plays. And if our team wins games at the margin we are happy but tend to forget the closeness of the impact of a few plays. Some examples would be the narrow wins against Iowa in 2012 and 2014, the victory over UConn, Nebraska turnover game, the OSU missed field goal (finally one went our way), the win over Minnesota at the insight bowl, etc. We remember, usually vividly, the missed kick against Toledo, the missed opportunities against Texas the last two years, not getting a first down to win against K-State, etc.
It feels like we have become less productive at the margin. That may be as simple as less talent. Or it may be more complicated than that. But it is pretty obvious that we need to get more productive at the margin to improve our records. We are 0-2 at the margin this year. That means we are probably 5-6 plays from being undefeated. I would contend that Bill Snyder is very good at winning at the margin. I would also contend that for ISU to turn the football program around, we will have to become effective at the margin. That is the first step to getting to the next level.
Thus all of the remaining games turn on a relatively few number of plays or non-plays. And if our team wins games at the margin we are happy but tend to forget the closeness of the impact of a few plays. Some examples would be the narrow wins against Iowa in 2012 and 2014, the victory over UConn, Nebraska turnover game, the OSU missed field goal (finally one went our way), the win over Minnesota at the insight bowl, etc. We remember, usually vividly, the missed kick against Toledo, the missed opportunities against Texas the last two years, not getting a first down to win against K-State, etc.
It feels like we have become less productive at the margin. That may be as simple as less talent. Or it may be more complicated than that. But it is pretty obvious that we need to get more productive at the margin to improve our records. We are 0-2 at the margin this year. That means we are probably 5-6 plays from being undefeated. I would contend that Bill Snyder is very good at winning at the margin. I would also contend that for ISU to turn the football program around, we will have to become effective at the margin. That is the first step to getting to the next level.
