The Hawks were favored to blow out winless Troy (who was starting a brand new QB), yet they trailed in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Strangely, the low octane offense ended up putting up a ton of points while the elite level defense gave up more big plays than I can remember seeing against a Troy caliber opponent. At the end of the day, the Hawks came away with a satisfying 38-21 win heading into the relatively winnable Big 10 schedule.
1. QB Performance. Cade had himself his best statistical game as a Hawk, but stats can be deceiving. He was 19/23 for 176 yards, but the high completion percentage came from throwing a ton of 3 yard passes (including on 3rd and long). Because of all of the hyper conservative check downs, the running backs and tight ends caught the vast majority of his passes while Iowa's top 2 WRs totaled just 1 combined reception. Mobility was an issue yet again, with that horrible QB sneak on 3rd and 3. Cade bootlegged, had a massive hole to run through, yet only managed to hobble out a 2 yard gain with the foot speed of a 65 yr old man. Thankfully, the new OC was a breath of fresh air by finally creating a package designed for Sullivan...goal line RPO. Decent coaches make this kind of adjustment every week...Iowa never seems to. But it's nice that Kirk put his legendary stubbornness aside and allowed a QB with mobility to run a few red zone plays. The strategy worked! Both of Sullivan's possessions resulted in red zone touchdowns. The guy can run the RPO and deserves more opportunities.
2. TJ Hall Gets Torched. Ouch, I haven't seen a Hawkeye corner get torched this bad since Adam Shada. Over the years, Phil Parker has had the Midas touch when it comes to developing DBs, but in Hall's case, he's been in the program 4 years yet gets caught randying around right and left. At the end of the day, the guy Hall was guarding ended up with 142 yards receiving and 2 tds. A receiver hasn't had that kind of day since Purdue's WRs used to pick the Hawks apart. Hopefully this will be a teaching moment and we won't see Hall burned for deep touchdowns the rest of the year.
3. Playing Not to Lose...Again! Last week, Iowa lost to a much lesser opponent solely because they played not to lose. Did the staff learn their lesson? Nah. Sadly, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. The Hawks were trailing against a winless small school opponent with 2 mins to play in the first half and the ball at the 25 yard line. Rather than go into the two minute offense and taking some shots down the field, Kirk opted to go into a shell and run the clock out. Why? Cowardly and gutless are the most descriptive words that come to mind, but the conservative play calling had to be disappointing not just for the fans but for the players who bust their butts every day in practice for this kind of opportunity. A coach is supposed to have faith in his team...not doubt them against an inferior opponent. If this ended up being a one possession game, Kirk's lack of aggression would have likely come back to haunt the team in back to back weeks.
4. All Big 10 Running Backs. Plenty has been said about Johnson kicking off his Heisman campaign with a 25 rush for 173 yrd and 2 td performance, but how about the other guys? Jaz Patterson finally made his 2024 debut (has Kirk ever been asked why) and ripped off 72 yards on just 8 carries, averaging 9 yards per carry! Freshmen Moulton did even better, averaging 11 yards per carry! While the left side of the OL remains complete garbage, both in pass protection and rushing, the right side appears to be opening holes and allowing the RB crew to dominate. If the Hawks can muster an average passing attack, this team can still win 10 games.
5. DL Dominates. Most weeks, the DL gets outshined by elite LB or DB play. But this week, the DL stole the show (although Harris had a pick 6). Hurkett, Black, and Allen combined for 6 tackles for loss and dominated the line of scrimmage. For that reason, Troy averaged under 2 yards per carry and was forced into a 1 dimensional passing attack.
6. Can We Get the Ball to Wetjen Already? I'm sure IowaLaw sounds like a broken record by now, but Wetjen is truly becoming the 2024 version of the underutilized Charlie Jones. He's the quickest guy on the team, yet he was targeted just once this week. On that one target, he hauled in his first catch of the year...a 33 yarder that single handedly increased McNamara's yards per completion by about 10 yards.
1. QB Performance. Cade had himself his best statistical game as a Hawk, but stats can be deceiving. He was 19/23 for 176 yards, but the high completion percentage came from throwing a ton of 3 yard passes (including on 3rd and long). Because of all of the hyper conservative check downs, the running backs and tight ends caught the vast majority of his passes while Iowa's top 2 WRs totaled just 1 combined reception. Mobility was an issue yet again, with that horrible QB sneak on 3rd and 3. Cade bootlegged, had a massive hole to run through, yet only managed to hobble out a 2 yard gain with the foot speed of a 65 yr old man. Thankfully, the new OC was a breath of fresh air by finally creating a package designed for Sullivan...goal line RPO. Decent coaches make this kind of adjustment every week...Iowa never seems to. But it's nice that Kirk put his legendary stubbornness aside and allowed a QB with mobility to run a few red zone plays. The strategy worked! Both of Sullivan's possessions resulted in red zone touchdowns. The guy can run the RPO and deserves more opportunities.
2. TJ Hall Gets Torched. Ouch, I haven't seen a Hawkeye corner get torched this bad since Adam Shada. Over the years, Phil Parker has had the Midas touch when it comes to developing DBs, but in Hall's case, he's been in the program 4 years yet gets caught randying around right and left. At the end of the day, the guy Hall was guarding ended up with 142 yards receiving and 2 tds. A receiver hasn't had that kind of day since Purdue's WRs used to pick the Hawks apart. Hopefully this will be a teaching moment and we won't see Hall burned for deep touchdowns the rest of the year.
3. Playing Not to Lose...Again! Last week, Iowa lost to a much lesser opponent solely because they played not to lose. Did the staff learn their lesson? Nah. Sadly, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. The Hawks were trailing against a winless small school opponent with 2 mins to play in the first half and the ball at the 25 yard line. Rather than go into the two minute offense and taking some shots down the field, Kirk opted to go into a shell and run the clock out. Why? Cowardly and gutless are the most descriptive words that come to mind, but the conservative play calling had to be disappointing not just for the fans but for the players who bust their butts every day in practice for this kind of opportunity. A coach is supposed to have faith in his team...not doubt them against an inferior opponent. If this ended up being a one possession game, Kirk's lack of aggression would have likely come back to haunt the team in back to back weeks.
4. All Big 10 Running Backs. Plenty has been said about Johnson kicking off his Heisman campaign with a 25 rush for 173 yrd and 2 td performance, but how about the other guys? Jaz Patterson finally made his 2024 debut (has Kirk ever been asked why) and ripped off 72 yards on just 8 carries, averaging 9 yards per carry! Freshmen Moulton did even better, averaging 11 yards per carry! While the left side of the OL remains complete garbage, both in pass protection and rushing, the right side appears to be opening holes and allowing the RB crew to dominate. If the Hawks can muster an average passing attack, this team can still win 10 games.
5. DL Dominates. Most weeks, the DL gets outshined by elite LB or DB play. But this week, the DL stole the show (although Harris had a pick 6). Hurkett, Black, and Allen combined for 6 tackles for loss and dominated the line of scrimmage. For that reason, Troy averaged under 2 yards per carry and was forced into a 1 dimensional passing attack.
6. Can We Get the Ball to Wetjen Already? I'm sure IowaLaw sounds like a broken record by now, but Wetjen is truly becoming the 2024 version of the underutilized Charlie Jones. He's the quickest guy on the team, yet he was targeted just once this week. On that one target, he hauled in his first catch of the year...a 33 yarder that single handedly increased McNamara's yards per completion by about 10 yards.
