The Hawks picked up their 9th straight win and 3rd of the season. Does this solidify them as a legit Top 5 team or have they been beneficiaries of an overrated schedule? Time will tell. We know that "top 20" Indiana got smoked, fell to 1-2, and no longer looks like a quality win. Iowa State, who entered the season with hype, is 1-1 and their lone win was a squeaker over IAA Northern Iowa. Regardless of early season ranking, the Hawks are sitting pretty in the Big 10 West 3 games into the season.
Impressive LB Play - Long gone are they days where Bo Bower played every painful snap at LB for the Hawks a step slow. Jack Campbell was a beast with 11 tackles and a safety. Seth Benson had some big hits to go along with his 5 solo tackles. Perhaps most impressive of all was backup Jestin Jacobs, who came off the bench and still racked up 8 tackles. Has a backup ever put up those kinds of numbers before?
RBs Ran Harder Today - After running timid against ISU last week, Goodson is starting to show glimpses of why he was voted 1st team all Big 10 last year. He continues to get stuffed at the line a bit (though it's against a stacked box), but he more than makes up for it with his big play potential. On the day, he had 22 rushes for a career high 153 yards and 3 touchdowns. A majority of those yards coming on 2 big plays. Unfortunately, 5th year senior IKM disappointed, but his fumbles made way for freshmen Gavin Williams to get his first college carries. The Dowling Maroon showed flashes, catching the ball well out of the back field and potentially giving the Hawks the power back they've needed for years
VanValkenburg Leading the DL - Although all of last year's seniors had the opportunity to return to Iowa this year as "super seniors," most opted to move on. VanValkenburg's decision to return to Iowa to anchor the inexperienced DL may have been the biggest recruiting commit of the entire off season. He looked every bit as disruptive as greats like Epenesa or Nixon out there. His 1.5 sacks to go along with 2 more from Van Ness, disrupted a pretty good QB in Dustin Crum.
Petras Padding His Stats But Not Improving - Those who didn't watch the game might see his 25 for 36 for 206 yards and 1 td and think he had a great game. He didn't. The vast majority of his 25 completions were thrown within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage (RBs accounted for 8 catches). For better or worse, Brian has allowed Petras to turn the offense into a Greg Davis offense, averaging just 5 yards per pass attempt. By comparison, Crum threw for nearly the same yardage while throwing 13 fewer passes. The staff needs to call a spade a spade and a randy a randy. Petras has been starting for a year and a half, yet he still locks on 1 receiver because he can't go through his progressions, lacks any sort of pocket presence, can't throw on the run, and has the usual really bad misses. He's playing adequate enough for Iowa not to lose, but these are first year freshmen mistakes. Wouldn't it have been nice to use this MAC game work on stretching the field or getting the backup QBs some throwing reps? Not this year.
How Bout That Punter - Is it possible for the punter to be the MVP of a Top 5 team? If ever it was, Taylor may be the guy. 5 punts for a 48 yards per kick, despite rarely getting to kick at full strength due to field position. The guy has touch and leg. He's easily a 3-5 point swing per game. Is it possible for a true soph punter to jump to the NFL? Let's hope not.
Impressive LB Play - Long gone are they days where Bo Bower played every painful snap at LB for the Hawks a step slow. Jack Campbell was a beast with 11 tackles and a safety. Seth Benson had some big hits to go along with his 5 solo tackles. Perhaps most impressive of all was backup Jestin Jacobs, who came off the bench and still racked up 8 tackles. Has a backup ever put up those kinds of numbers before?
RBs Ran Harder Today - After running timid against ISU last week, Goodson is starting to show glimpses of why he was voted 1st team all Big 10 last year. He continues to get stuffed at the line a bit (though it's against a stacked box), but he more than makes up for it with his big play potential. On the day, he had 22 rushes for a career high 153 yards and 3 touchdowns. A majority of those yards coming on 2 big plays. Unfortunately, 5th year senior IKM disappointed, but his fumbles made way for freshmen Gavin Williams to get his first college carries. The Dowling Maroon showed flashes, catching the ball well out of the back field and potentially giving the Hawks the power back they've needed for years
VanValkenburg Leading the DL - Although all of last year's seniors had the opportunity to return to Iowa this year as "super seniors," most opted to move on. VanValkenburg's decision to return to Iowa to anchor the inexperienced DL may have been the biggest recruiting commit of the entire off season. He looked every bit as disruptive as greats like Epenesa or Nixon out there. His 1.5 sacks to go along with 2 more from Van Ness, disrupted a pretty good QB in Dustin Crum.
Petras Padding His Stats But Not Improving - Those who didn't watch the game might see his 25 for 36 for 206 yards and 1 td and think he had a great game. He didn't. The vast majority of his 25 completions were thrown within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage (RBs accounted for 8 catches). For better or worse, Brian has allowed Petras to turn the offense into a Greg Davis offense, averaging just 5 yards per pass attempt. By comparison, Crum threw for nearly the same yardage while throwing 13 fewer passes. The staff needs to call a spade a spade and a randy a randy. Petras has been starting for a year and a half, yet he still locks on 1 receiver because he can't go through his progressions, lacks any sort of pocket presence, can't throw on the run, and has the usual really bad misses. He's playing adequate enough for Iowa not to lose, but these are first year freshmen mistakes. Wouldn't it have been nice to use this MAC game work on stretching the field or getting the backup QBs some throwing reps? Not this year.
How Bout That Punter - Is it possible for the punter to be the MVP of a Top 5 team? If ever it was, Taylor may be the guy. 5 punts for a 48 yards per kick, despite rarely getting to kick at full strength due to field position. The guy has touch and leg. He's easily a 3-5 point swing per game. Is it possible for a true soph punter to jump to the NFL? Let's hope not.
