2022 Iowa State Post Mortem: Defense/Special Teams
Pete Kwiatkowski owes Anthony Cook an ice cream and a gift certificate to Massage Envy.
[Get FOUR MONTHS of Inside Texas Plus for $1!]
Cook’s outstanding forced fumble hit on Hunter Dekkers with 2:09 left in the game on the Longhorn 32 yard line with Texas tenuously holding on to a three point lead saved the game and the defensive coaching staff from possibly having to Uber home. At that stage of the game, the Longhorn defense was crumbling and Iowa State had converted the chains into a new set of downs six times in a row, including converting 3rd and 13, 3rd and 10, 3rd and 8 (twice). The others were 3rd and 5 and 4th and 2. They also had their best player drop a wide open touchdown pass on a busted coverage where the closest Longhorn defender, Jerrin Thompson, was in San Marcos. Without Dekkers getting cold Cooked, Iowa State would have methodically drained the clock and scored a game winning touchdown. Probably on a 3rd and 10.
However, since Anthony Cook forced that fumble and Jaylan Ford caught an earlier Dekkers brain freeze interception in the end zone and Texas won, I probably should write some platitudes about the defense doing enough to win and go watch NFL games.
Nah.
There are three issues here:
First, the seeming indifference of the game plan to the small handful of things that Iowa State can do on offense was odd. Shades of Lubbock. Solve ISU on Tuesday and you don’t need to worry much about Saturday. Texas isn’t dominant enough to just roll out the football and play. Opponents with glaring weaknesses need to exploited, not endured. Further, Texas has high IQ starting safeties and a massive advantage on the interior. Doubling or shading a key wide receiver on 3rd and 10 is not football chess. It’s barely checkers. Further, if the pass rush isn’t getting home, add defenders to the pass defense and deny Dekkers his rhythm security blankets. When he turns to Page 2 and starts to improvise from the pocket, bad things happen to him. Make him demonstrate his shaky skills. Don’t allow him his demonstrated ones.
Surrendering 21 points seems eminently reasonable in a modern football game, but that doesn’t adjust for the quality of the Cyclone offense, the number of possessions in the game, or the multiple unforced Cyclone errors that left points on the field. Could Texas have scored 35 on offense with better breaks? You bet. As could Iowa State. The Cyclone scored their first touchdown on a busted coverage where the Horns didn’t cover the motion man. The second touchdown was a simple RPO slant on Austin Jordan where the entire 2nd and 3rd level jumped the fake and left the middle of the field wide open. The backside safety also took a weird angle to cover a referee. What should be a twelve yard gain or a pass break up turned into a 54 yard score. The third touchdown was an 11 yard Dekkers scramble up the middle on goal to go when Sweat lost his lane discipline and Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey watched and took a late angle that made Descartes roll over in his grave. Iowa State converted 3rd and 2, 3rd and 13, 3rd and 8 on that drive.
Texas could take away ISU’s entire running game simply by lining up in an honest box and letting the interior defensive line own the line of scrimmage while Ford cleaned up the trash. ISU was a one dimensional team from the opening kickoff and Texas showed little ability to parlay dominance in one facet of the game to stifle an Iowa State passing game that is near the league bottom in overall efficiency.
Iowa State’s total dominance on key downs was perplexing given their inability to run the ball against the Texas interior line and given the frequency with which they found themselves in 3rd and long. The Cyclones converted 10 of 16 on money downs (62.5%), a season high not seen since their season opener against the pride of the Ohio Valley conference, Southeast Missouri State. ISU converted those third and longs in two predictable ways: throwing to an open receiver from a trips bunch formation on smash or brush routes and/or finding Xavier Hutchinson in single coverage or drifting into open space between closely guarded grass in zone. The Horns also gave them two new sets of downs with offsides penalties. Hunter Dekkers also operated from a pristine pocket, which he has not done all year save against…Southeast Missouri State.
Finally, the Longhorns exhibited odd substitution patterns that predated Ryan Watts going out with a stinger. While Watts going out certainly hurt Texas (he already had 7 tackles), Iowa State was attacking the Longhorn coverage scheme and open space. Not individual players per se. The secondary is the offensive line of the defense. They thrive on cohesion, communication and reps. Mass substitutions of inexperienced or lesser players all at once makes little sense. You stagger subs and I didn’t see any Longhorn defenders gasping for air after defending six Iowa State plays on their first two possessions. On the third and fourth mass sub possessions, ISU drove 84 yards for a TD and then 53 yards before the Ford INT.
Hunter Dekkers had a career day going 25 of 36 for 329 yards while adding three total touchdowns with two turnovers. He was sacked only once. He averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and 13.2 yards per completion. Interestingly, against three other Big 12 opponents – Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State – Dekkers averaged only 6.3 yards per attempt, just over 10 yards per completion, threw for only three touchdowns and three picks, and was sacked 11 times, including five against Kansas. Texas is the clear outlier against the Cyclone passing game.
DL
The edges got no pressure and allowed Dekkers to leave the pocket several times. The interior defensive line dominated on run downs but made little impact as pass rushers. If you’re not getting pressure, lane discipline becomes important – keep Dekkers in the pocket and play coverages that force him off his first read. That’s what Kansas State did and Dekkers averaged around 5 yards per attempt in that game while totaling 198 yards through the air.
LB
Ford played really well inside against the run. The interception was a present, but plenty of linebackers can’t unwrap the gift. Overshown had some flashes early and pursued well but is becoming a surprisingly non-useful player on passing downs. He stands and watches in his “drop”, delay blitzes into a blocker, or comes flying off of the edge too late to impact the play. Given Overshown’s agility and length, it’s hard to imagine not finding him work on robber concepts or letting him shadow the QB while Texas runs line stunts to get pressure. Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey played poorly. He sought blocking and is slow to react to open-ended situations. See the Dekkers touchdown scramble.
DB
Several busted coverages, which is odd given that Iowa State’s passing offense isn’t brimming with options and 8th graders run smash route concepts. It looked like a secondary that wasn’t well prepared for the ISU Trips Bunch formation, brush routes, in/out cut combos, or Xavier Hutchinson as WR #1. As the game progressed, confusion increased and performance worsened. Ryan Watts was playing well before his injury, but losing a cornerback should generally be an individual match up problem, not degrade the entire secondary’s recognition of how they’re being attacked. D’shawn Jamison was OK. Kitan Crawford is Danger, Will Robinson because he’s Lost in Space. Anthony Cook was not on the field for long stretches before coming back late and winning the game. I don’t know why. Reliable Jerrin Thompson had his least impactful game to date. Jahdae Barron played well at nickel and then was later pressed into action at cornerback. Austin Jordan was put in a tough spot and his technique completely fell apart on the slant touchdown, but that was as much a team breakdown as individual fault.
Special Teams
Keilan Robinson blocked a punt (and a took a foot in the gut) while kick coverage was terrific. Roschon Johnson brought us this gem of form tackling.
Final
The defense didn’t perform all that well against a limited offense despite dominating the line of scrimmage. Texas will face another offense with some real personnel limitations this Saturday led by a feast or famine QB with a knack for making plays off schedule.
