[Postgame Thread] Iowa State Defeats Southeast Missouri 38-10

[u/CFB_Referee]

Box Score provided by ESPN

Team	1	2	3	4	T
Southeast Missouri	0	7	0	3	10
Iowa State	14	14	3	7	38

[u/80cyclone]

Right?

The 3-3 alignment was trash once teams had the familiarity to attack it. Having an elite secondary was about the only thing that kept us from getting torched on that side of the ball.

Its hard to field a good defense when you cede so much at the line of scrimmage.

[u/spitfyr36 → u/80cyclone]

It was designed to stop the old pass happy Big12.
A three man front worked decent when it had multiple NFL guys, but the scheme always struggled against teams that could run.

[u/80cyclone → u/spitfyr36]

It only really "worked" when we had the linemen AND the LBs.

It was a downright travesty Heacock didnt transition to a 4-2-5 the last few years of McDonald. Doing so would have created favorable matchups, for a unit (at the time) thar was far more capable then the LB position, which was the weakest. You then get part of the strength of the secondary, while getting more pressure and disruption.

A lot of what made the 3-3-5 work was the novelty factor. After teams played us more, and after several others adopted it, reduced the novelty factor, teams simply exploited the line of scrimmage and weakness at LB after Rose was done. The last 4 years of LB corps were putrid, and the injuries only compounded the problem.

Teams not only crushed us on the run, good QBs would pick apart the zone coverages. The three man front meant any decent Oline could give their QB 7+ seconds to throw, which is an insane amount of time. Just think what the secondary could have done had they been able to be more aggressive, knowing teams would have that much time.

[u/spitfyr36 → u/80cyclone]

I agree.
It was a sad when I was more confident with a 3rd and 3 then a 3rd and 20+
Idk that switching to a 4 man front was even an option at the time the way the staff was recruiting interior linemen.

All that aside, Heacock’s defenses carried Campbell’s tenure.

[u/80cyclone → u/spitfyr36]

The last sentence is both true and sad.

As much as I didnt like the 3-3-5 it was far superior to the offensive design, which was a complete joke. There was a lot of talent (aside from the line) on that side of the ball, but the lack of varying route tree depth, deception/misdirection, and utilizing TE chip blocks ( to help give QBs time) meant the offense always underperformed the talent.

There is nothing like having a weak line and seeing your coaches call minimal protection blocking schemes on passing plays. At times, teams (like Baylor did one year) would simply go with wide 4 man splits, angle the DEs to Roccos drop depth, and tee off. I have no clue what any of our offensive coordinators were doing.

Heacock was competent. I just think sticking with the scheme was a mistake.

[u/spitfyr36 → u/80cyclone]

It’s honestly insane to think about what Monty/Hall could have done with a legit offensive lines.

Watching the staff continuously slam dudes like Sama/Sanders straight into the defense for 0 yards was predictably painful.