The Hawks soundly defeated the worst team in the Big 10 a week after defeating arguably the worst team in D1 football. It's nice to string together wins to build confidence, but we will know a lot more about this team after the level of competition improves next week.
3rd Down Play Calling. The Hawks went just 1-9 on 3rd down against lowly Rutgers? How is that possible? Incompetent play calling and a "check down" focused QB. Of the 9 3rd downs, many were 3rd and long. Instead of using common sense, Ol' Brian chose those occasions to call up a short screen pass, a run up the middle, or a 3 yard out well short of the sticks. Heck, the only 3rd down conversion of the day involved a catch where the receiver had to catch and run 6 yards before picking up the first. Even more frustrating, there have been multiple 3rd and long plays where Petras takes off running, then intentionally slides 5 yards short of the 1st down marker. Inexcusable in major college football. There is no benefit to picking up 2 yards on 3rd and 6. It's a turnover. How are these guys not taught that on 3rd down the objective is to move the chains, not gain 2 yards and punt? Those 2 yards do the punter no good.
Emergence of a Run Game. Perhaps we have low expectations after such poor results all season, but we saw glimpses of a run game. L Williams ran hard. Kaleb Johnson is a star in the making. In total, the Hawks still averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. They aren't going to be confused with Wisconsin or Michigan's run games, but they passed the eye test. True freshmen Johnson led the team in carries. Look for that trend to continue. Who knew the guy was also a stud kick returner, averaging nearly 40 yards per return on the day. He looked like Khalil Hill back there.
Moss Mistiming his Jumps. Moss is an all-American. Last year at this time of year he already had 3 or 4 interceptions. So what's changed this year? Are opponents throwing away from him? Yes, there is some of that. But there also seem to have been quite a few sure fire INTs that he just hasn't grabbed this year. There were two balls thrown right to him against Rutgers where he leaped way too early and allowed a touchdown on one and missed an easy interception on the other. Hopefully the pre-season hype isn't getting to him and he steps up big against the better competition ahead. We are going to need him.
Graves & Van Ness Brutalizing the QB. Those guys are studs. 2.5 sacks between them, and Van Ness was constantly in the back field laying hits on the QB. I'm actually shocked the Rutgers QB made it through the entire game still standing, because he was hit as often as I've seen a QB hit.
Defensive Backfield. Kaevon continues to get much of the media attention on defense. He stepped up big against Rutgers, with 2 fumble recoveries, an int, and a dropped interception that bounced off his hands. However, for the stat friendly position he plays, one would expect more productivity. He finished the day with just 3 tackles. By comparison, Schulte & DeJean had 7 tackles each. Overall, the defensive backfield is as solid as they come, and it's great seeing the depth start to develop, with Casto getting quite a few reps. But where's the 5 star freshmen? Even with two top CBs down, he's not getting reps.
More Lechey Less LaPorta. There were quite a few plays where Lachey and LaPorta ran similar routes with Lachey the deeper option and LaPorta the safety dump off option. Of course Petras is going to go the safe route more times than not, and as a result, LaPorta gets quadruple the targets. LaPorta finished the day with 4 catches on 9 targets, while Lachey had 2 catches on 2 targets. Don't get me wrong, LaPorta had a good game (despite 2 more drops to add to his team leading total), but it would be nice to see what Lachey, who is quite a bit bigger and stronger than LaPorta, could do if he got the targets LaPorta gets. As we've seen with Charlie Jones at Purdue, there is zero correlation at Iowa between a player's skill level and targets. It's more a function of who runs the shortest, easiest routes.
Punting Is Winning (Against Inferior Opponents). Four of Taylor's five punts were downed inside the 10 yard line. That's an absolute weapon when your offense can't seem to move the ball. The guy is a lot of fun to watch and a great, unexpected weapon for the Hawks to rely upon. Unfortunately, once we start playing opponents who can score on our defense, it's going to take a lot more than a good punter to win games.
