Recap of the UNI Game

Wow. That three letter word pretty much sums up my thoughts after the game on Saturday. I will have to admit, I was in full crisis mode at halftime. I was calling and texting all of my diehard Hawkeye friends to rant and rave about Iowa’s performance in the first half. Nonetheless, the second half showed signs of (some) improvement and following a moment that you will never see again (i.e. blocking two field goals in a row), a win. Here are some of my thoughts on the game.

Defense. Following the game, I thought the Iowa defense looked terrible at times. I thought the run support from the secondary was poor in terms of tackling, I thought the front four were not able to put enough pressure on Patrick Grace, and I thought the linebackers were non-existent at times. Then, per usual, I thought about it some more and have come to the conclusion that this defense is going to be a standard Norm Parker defense. The Iowa defense gave up only two field goals in the second half. Yes, they did give up a lot of yards in the final drive. But, and this is important, they only gave up six points. We have seen this scene before with Norm Parker defenses, give up the short 7 yard plays all day long down the field, but when the opponent arrives at the Iowa 20 yard line, it becomes an entirely different story as the defense more often than not forces the opponent to kick a field goal. This defense is going to be just fine when it is all said and done.

Offensive Line Play. Our offensive line play was below average to poor at times on Saturday. However, as the eternal optimist when it comes to Iowa football, I think that once Kyle Calloway returns, which he will this week, and once Julian Vandervelde is starting again (he will see some snaps on Saturday according to Kirk Ferentz's presser on Tues.), this offensive line will be a totally different unite. The zone blocking scheme is predicated on cohesive movement and unspoken rhythm. Once the line begins to mold as a unit, I think the unit will live up to their pre-season expectations. Now do some of you believe me when I said going into the year that this team would miss Rob Bruggeman more than any other player?

Ground Game. Unfortunately, Paki O'Meara just did not have the type of game that many Iowa fans and perhaps the coaches expected. As I wrote before the game, one of the most important things for both running backs heading into the game was ball security. O’Meara unfortunately shot himself in the foot on the first drive of the third quarter, which landed him on the sidelines for the remainder of the second half. Although he will still receive some carries against ISU, the majority of the carries will go to former Lincoln Railsplitter Adam Robinson. Robinson showed some signs of ability to hit the hole hard and shake off tacklers. The area in which it appears as though he needs to improve is his patience for a running lane to develop. Young running backs seem to have a tendency to hit the hole too hard before the linemen have engaged the defenders. Likewise, they tend to not see the cutback lane. The ability to "see" the cutback lane is vital in the Iowa offense because of the zone blocking scheme. When the zone blocking scheme works well, the cutback lane is open for a running back to take full advantage. It is still unclear whether Jeff Brinson will play at all Saturday. If I had to break it down, my guess is that Robinson will receive 75% of the carries, O'Meara 15%, and Brinson 10%. Perhaps we will get a Brandon Wegher sighting at running back, but do not hold your breath. Would you give the ball to a true freshmen running back for his first carry in a rivalry game at the opponent's stadium? Yeah, I thought so.

Special Teams. Ryan Donahue was arguably the player of the game on Saturday. His booming punts that stopped on a dime inside the 20 were very important in causing UNI to have poor field position on several drives. I think Donahue is quietly moving himself up the ladder for all-time great Iowa punters. Certainly he has a long way to go to catch Reggie Roby, but he is making a case for being named in the same sentence as Jason Baker.

Those are some of my thoughts on the UNI game. I still think this team has a lot of potential. As usual, I think it will be a typical Kirk Ferentz team that continues to improve each week of the season. The game this weekend will serve as an obvious metric as to how good this team might be this season. The early forecast calls for rain. I think that rainy conditions would favor Iowa. I am still unsure on my prediction, but stay tuned for it later this week.
Go Hawks!