ISU Postgame

As they say, “All is right in the universe.” After the Hawkeyes dominated in-state rival Iowa State with a convincing 35-3 win, Hawkeye fans have all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Many people wondered how this team would respond following the all too close for comfort 17-16 win over UNI, but they did respond in a convincing manner. (By the way, UNI put up 712 yards of offense in a 66-7 beat down of North Dakota). There are several positives to take away from the Iowa State game, so here we go.

Ball Hawking. Needless to say, Tyler Sash was an absolute force on Saturday. Sash grabbed three interceptions, forced one fumble and had 10 tackles. Sash’s athleticism is evident with his play at strong safety and it is certainly going to be a pleasure to watch him not only this year but for the next two years.

RRBC? My running back by committee idea is going to be all but gone by the end of the Arizona game. Adam Robinson looked more than serviceable at running back, carrying the ball 12 times for 69 yards. The bigger story at running back was the emergence of Brandon Wegher. The ballyhooed recruit from Sioux City Heelan finally had his opportunity to show the Hawkeye Nation that the hype surrounding him was more than legitimate. Wegher eclipsed the 100 yard mark on fifteen carries, including a one-yard touchdown dive. The thing that impressed me the most about Wegher was his patience waiting for running lanes to develop. It always seems to me that having such patience is a trait that takes time for young running backs to develop. He just seems to have “it.” I am really excited to see what #3 does in an Iowa uniform the next four years. I think next week we will see the following distribution of carries: Robinson 45% Wegher 45% Brinson 10%.

KOK. I know some of you are probably Ken O’Keefe haters. I am not one of them. Nevertheless, I dare anyone to complain about O’Keefe’s play calling on Saturday. He came out with an aggressive game plan geared towards the pass. In fact, he showed several four and five receiver sets, something that we do not see regularly. Keep the good times rolling this season, O’Keefe.

Offensive Line. The offensive line came out with something to prove on Saturday. Without the help of Bryan Bulaga, the offensive line gave Ricky Stanzi all day long to throw and paved the way for 191 yards of total rushing. Speaking of which, I was really impressed with Riley Reiff. To be honest, I was a little surprised that Reiff was given the nod to start at left tackle. Julian Vandervelde looked great in his return, and Josh Koeppel looked pretty solid in some time he received at center. If you have a chance to watch the replay, watch the offensive line play as the Iowa offensive line dished out several pancakes. Based on what has been said by Kirk Ferentz and Bulaga himself, it appears that he will likely play against Arizona, which is certainly a relief. The Bulaga, Richardson, Eubanks (Koeppel?), Vandervelde, and Calloway line is only going to get better as the season progresses. And that, my friends, is going to be fun to watch.

The Iowa defense had a convincing game with five interceptions and an ability to slow down Iowa State’s no-huddle, spread offense. If I had one complaint, it would be the poor tackling. I am not worried about that at all because you can guarantee that Norm Parker, Darrell Wilson, Phil Parker, and Rick Kaczenski will address that issue in practice this week.

The overwhelming concern after the game was Ricky Stanzi’s inconsistency in the first half. There were several instances in which Stanzi had all day to throw and still missed his target by a wide margin. Although I am not worried about Stanzi, it was a little disconcerting to see him miss several wide open targets.

Yes, Iowa State is not exactly a world beater, but it was still refreshing to see Iowa dominate in the manner they did. The game this week against Arizona will give us all a good indication as to the possibilities for this team.

Go Hawks!