We look at a Hawkeye team that's seen so many ups and downs already this season. From the great defense we saw vs Wyoming, to the great offense we saw vs Iowa St and Ohio St., to the huge offensive struggles we've seen in games like WI and tonight we now sit at 6-5.
The one thing we were previously able to hang our hat on this season was how well we played at home. Well, tonight has now taken that consistency from us. Just 2 weeks ago we sat on top of the world crushing Ohio St. Our biggest national critic revoked our program from the title of Fake ID of college football. Then the last 2 weeks happened.
About 3 weeks ago I grew tired of hearing the we just need to execute response from players and coaches. Since then I've seen Brian Ferentz as the sure successor to our program to an unqualified coach learning on the fly. It's got to be tough being the offensive coordinator. One week you're the best and the next you didn't prepare. Why such drastic changes? Execution. The Ohio St game we didn't turn the ball over but forced 4 INTs while actually catching the ball on offense. We saw a consistent threatening passing game open up the run game. Teams all year have dared us to pass and have stacked the box against our run. When they stack the box to not let us run and we have receivers consistently dropping the ball, what offensive coordinator will have success?
My pick to click this week was Rugamba. I've been waiting for him to break out all season and after Josh's recent success I thought it was time. Unfortunately, he was the victim of #21 for Purdue early in the 2nd half. I think they blatantly picked on Rugamba 4 plays in a row and thats all it took for a quick TD. Astute fans (I say sarcastically) around me wanted Rugamba pulled not unlike the same fans who feel benching players and firing coaches is the solution. However, OJ came in and quickly got torched and benched for Hankins who was also beat early and often. After 2 quick TDs I was happy to see Parker make the adjustment to put JJ on #21 and that ended that. I was happy to see we weren't stubborn and made the necessary adjustment there. Normally our cornerbacks don't flip. Speaking of defense how bad will the loss of our 3 starting linebackers be? Especially Josey Jewell. One thing that bothers me about our defense is our Dline on 3rd down doesn't collapse the pocket. What I mean by this is they seem to hold the QB to the pocket while potentially making it tighter and tighter. This has to make a QB feel so comfortable. He knows he can keep his eyes downfield. We treat our defensive line rush as if we're playing elite running QBs and we need to contain them to the pocket. When we are playing pocket passers or in this case 2nd string QBs we need to create more pressure. For examples of what I mean watch Purdue's pass rush on 3rd down vs ours. Sad day for Iowa football when you desire to be Purdue in any way. One final execution thing on the defensive side that broke our back today was Gervase's dropped INT which I believe was late 3rd quarter. That forced 4thd down with Purdue backed up but they were able to punt with the wind and out kick Vandeburg. This was about a 45 yard difference in field position.
This brings us to special teams. When we had the wind early in the game on the 34 yard line with the wind I'm surprised we didn't trust Recinos for a field goal. Now we ended up pooch punting with Stanley and forced a safety so water under the bridge, but I was still surprised. Later in the quarter we had 4th and I believe 5 on the 20 and chose to go for it instead of taking the 3. I found this to be odd as well, but resulted in a TD drive. 2 very gutsy calls by the coaching staff and both worked so give credit when its due there! And finally, our punting. It's awful. The crowd boo'd at least once if not twice after punts. Its a major problem right now. When we play a field position brand of football and our offense isnt moving the ball and our punting game isn't there we see a game where we're backed up and the opposing team is threatening all game long. It's tough to win when your back is constantly up against the wall and we weren't able to win this one. On to Nebraska to see if we can win 7 this season.
The one thing we were previously able to hang our hat on this season was how well we played at home. Well, tonight has now taken that consistency from us. Just 2 weeks ago we sat on top of the world crushing Ohio St. Our biggest national critic revoked our program from the title of Fake ID of college football. Then the last 2 weeks happened.
About 3 weeks ago I grew tired of hearing the we just need to execute response from players and coaches. Since then I've seen Brian Ferentz as the sure successor to our program to an unqualified coach learning on the fly. It's got to be tough being the offensive coordinator. One week you're the best and the next you didn't prepare. Why such drastic changes? Execution. The Ohio St game we didn't turn the ball over but forced 4 INTs while actually catching the ball on offense. We saw a consistent threatening passing game open up the run game. Teams all year have dared us to pass and have stacked the box against our run. When they stack the box to not let us run and we have receivers consistently dropping the ball, what offensive coordinator will have success?
My pick to click this week was Rugamba. I've been waiting for him to break out all season and after Josh's recent success I thought it was time. Unfortunately, he was the victim of #21 for Purdue early in the 2nd half. I think they blatantly picked on Rugamba 4 plays in a row and thats all it took for a quick TD. Astute fans (I say sarcastically) around me wanted Rugamba pulled not unlike the same fans who feel benching players and firing coaches is the solution. However, OJ came in and quickly got torched and benched for Hankins who was also beat early and often. After 2 quick TDs I was happy to see Parker make the adjustment to put JJ on #21 and that ended that. I was happy to see we weren't stubborn and made the necessary adjustment there. Normally our cornerbacks don't flip. Speaking of defense how bad will the loss of our 3 starting linebackers be? Especially Josey Jewell. One thing that bothers me about our defense is our Dline on 3rd down doesn't collapse the pocket. What I mean by this is they seem to hold the QB to the pocket while potentially making it tighter and tighter. This has to make a QB feel so comfortable. He knows he can keep his eyes downfield. We treat our defensive line rush as if we're playing elite running QBs and we need to contain them to the pocket. When we are playing pocket passers or in this case 2nd string QBs we need to create more pressure. For examples of what I mean watch Purdue's pass rush on 3rd down vs ours. Sad day for Iowa football when you desire to be Purdue in any way. One final execution thing on the defensive side that broke our back today was Gervase's dropped INT which I believe was late 3rd quarter. That forced 4thd down with Purdue backed up but they were able to punt with the wind and out kick Vandeburg. This was about a 45 yard difference in field position.
This brings us to special teams. When we had the wind early in the game on the 34 yard line with the wind I'm surprised we didn't trust Recinos for a field goal. Now we ended up pooch punting with Stanley and forced a safety so water under the bridge, but I was still surprised. Later in the quarter we had 4th and I believe 5 on the 20 and chose to go for it instead of taking the 3. I found this to be odd as well, but resulted in a TD drive. 2 very gutsy calls by the coaching staff and both worked so give credit when its due there! And finally, our punting. It's awful. The crowd boo'd at least once if not twice after punts. Its a major problem right now. When we play a field position brand of football and our offense isnt moving the ball and our punting game isn't there we see a game where we're backed up and the opposing team is threatening all game long. It's tough to win when your back is constantly up against the wall and we weren't able to win this one. On to Nebraska to see if we can win 7 this season.
