Well, there you have it. Another unnecessarily close game with an inept, ultra conservative offense, subpar QB play, and a stellar defense. De ja vu all over again? The Hawks win an ugly one 20-13 against a team playing without their starting QB and RB.
1. Not Impressed with Cade. The Hawks blew their entire NIL budget to bring in a hobbled backup QB. Does his play on the field match his bravado? His subpar 12/22 for 123 yards and an interception should probably put him at around 10th or 11th in Big 10 QBs. What's more disappointing is that in two games as a Hawk, Cade has completed 7 passes to wide receivers (one was for 0 yards). That's Petras caliber bad and it may not be his fault. My guess is his tendency to check-down to the ultra safe 2 yard routes has already been coached into him by Brian. But c'mon, Dordt College walk on Hayden Large now has more receptions than the 4 star WR transfer from Ohio State. In what world is that good coaching? In contrast, Iowa State's small school WR transfer managed to catch 8 passes for 100 yards against Iowa's top tier DBs...and he caught those passes from a freshmen backup QB. I expect more from a 5th year mega hyped grad transfer QB.
2. Very impressed with Patterson. We have the racial bias scandle to thank for having a stud from Florida on the roster with a grill full of gold teeth and dreadlocks. Under Doyle, he would have been run out of town after a semester. And while Johnson got all the preseason hype, Patterson looks to run harder and have more burst. Ironically, last year at this time, Johnson was the 3rd string back playing behind inferior talent. This year, it appears to be Patterson as the 3rd string back with superior talent. My guess is he'll be the starter by the end of the year, especially after today's 10 carryfor 85 yards and a touchdown performance. By comparison, Johnson had 15 carries for just 28 yards (11 of the yards came on 1 carry, meaning the rest was 14 carries for 17 yards). Even more impressively, Patterson runs harder north/south than anyone we've had in years and showed he can block.
3. Xavier a No Show? Iowa's defensive backfield is young. But what a difference a week can make. After having a highlight reel interception in game 1, X was a no-show against Iowa State, racking up no tackles, no passes batted down, and no stats of any kind. He seemed out of position and was caught Randying. The opposing QB threw the ball 44 times, often throwing away from DeJean. So where was our 5 star safety? Let's hope he was just having an off night, as it's not common for starting safeties at Iowa to record no stats in a game.
4. Tight Ends Lead By Default. Lachey and All each had 3 catches. Somehow that led the team playing for a ranked Big 10 program. I have to wonder if the TEs are getting all the targets because they are great players or because Brian's route trees & ultra conservative play calling would make any TE the QB's favorite target. All I know is, no WR in their right mind is going to play for Iowa and no offensive coordinator in their right mind would completely omit WRs from the offense the way Brian does. If you don't throw the ball down the field and have big play threats at WR, you are never going to have a running game.
5. DeJean is Elite. The guy is everywhere out there. When he's wasn't racking up 10 tackles and locking down receivers, he was returning puts and the gunner on the punt team. The guy is Tyler Sash or Amani Hooker out there and he hasn't come close to reaching his ceiling.
6. Saved By the Drops. At the end of the year, no one will remember how Iowa won...just that Iowa won. But if you think about it, if it weren't for 7 separate dropped passes by Iowa State and a missed field goal, the Hawks likely lose this game and the "Fire Brian" crowd would be yelling at a fever pitch. Even with all those drops and missed field goal, ISU's depleted offense still tied Iowa's offense with just 13 points each.
