Thoughts on Arizona Game

As is most often the case, twenty four hours removed from Iowa’s first loss of the year things are not as bad as they seemed in the minutes and hours after Iowa’s 34-27 loss to Arizona. Despite a subpar performance in many areas of the game, I think that there are several reasons for Iowa fans to be excited about the remainder of the season. Here are my thoughts.


Special Teams Play. The margin for error at Iowa has always been and always will be small. That margin for error shrinks even more on the road against a quality opponent. It is very rare for a team to give up a blocked punt that leads to a touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown, and miss an extra point and walk away with a win on the road, yet Iowa was oh so close to overcoming those odds. Iowa’s donation of fourteen points to Arizona with the blocked punt and kickoff return made it nearly impossible for Iowa to win the game, which should make Iowa fans very pleased with the team’s effort in the second half to score twenty straight unanswered points to tie the game. Iowa’s kickoff coverage has been suspect all year, as the unit is giving up 30.9 yards per return, which is good enough for 116th out of 120 teams in Division I. With respect to kickoff coverage, it does not appear that players are abandoning their lanes; rather, it appears as though they are tentative in getting to the returner instead of flying to the returner with the reckless abandon that is necessary to have good kickoff coverage. Something tells me that special teams will receive quite a bit of work during this week of practice.

Protection. While I was just as disgusted as everyone else with the debacle that was the last offensive drive that resulted in three straight sacks, in evaluating the performance of the offensive line for the whole game, think about how much time Ricky Stanzi had to throw the ball the entire game. For an offensive line that includes three first time starters, I thought they handled the pressure of playing on the road quite well and gave Stanzi plenty of time to throw the ball deep downfield. Run blocking, however, was a different story, due in part to the fact that Arizona was selling out on the run placing eight or more defenders in the box, which teams have been prone to do against Iowa for the past several years. Iowa’s offense is predicated on establishing the run, thus the offensive line will need to continue its progress and improve each week to help setup the play-action pass. The defensive gameplan of future Iowa opponents will likely be similar to what Arizona did on Saturday, which is to say that teams will continue to bring pressure with linebackers up the middle and through disguised cornerback blitzes. As this unit continues to develop and grow, I think they will be able to handle the blitz long enough for Stanzi to make the quick throw to burn the blitz.

Defensive Scheme. Arizona quarterback Nick Foles is probably the most accurate passer that the Iowa defense will face the entire season. Likewise, his patience to wait for his receivers to become open in Iowa’s zone was one of the better passing performances against an Iowa defense in a long time. One of my biggest curiosities entering this season was how well Jeff Tarpinian and Tyler Nielsen would cover receivers in space. Although both have the athletic ability and talent to keep up with receivers, their lack of experience was evident on Saturday. Nonetheless, I think Iowa’s linebackers will continue to improve and gain the experience that Iowa had last year with two year starter Pat Angerer and three year starter AJ Edds, who are arguably two of the best linebackers in the Kirk Ferentz era. On the defensive line, I thought that Mike Daniels was particularly impressive again in this game with his ability to push back his blocker off the line of scrimmage. Likewise, the athleticism of Adrian Clayborn and Christian Ballard was a sight to behold even if it did not translate into quantifiable statistics. It is only a matter of time before the sacks and hurried throws that result in interceptions start to add up for this unit.

Like many Iowa fans I was initially angry and upset about the performance on Saturday. When my Hawkeye hangover settled by Sunday morning, however, I was impressed with the team’s ability to compete in the second half by scoring twenty unanswered points to tie the game at 27. I also think that if Iowa and Arizona played ten times against one another, Iowa would win eight to nine of those ten games but, as they say, that is why they play the game. The other reason for my optimism is due to the fact that the Big Ten race is still wide open, as Wisconsin and Michigan do not appear to be as strong as I thought at the beginning of the year. If Iowa can continue to improve, eliminate the small mental mistakes that caused the disasters on Saturday, and play to their ability, there is still so much to play for this season, including an outright Big Ten championship, something that Iowa has not had since 1985 and, perhaps, a berth in the Rose Bowl. Most sane Iowa fans would take an 11-1 or 10-2 record and a Big Ten championship if offered. The placement of the Ball State game could not come at a better time, as several Hawkeyes are nicked up, most notably Jewel Hampton whose status is still uncertain. With a bye week on the horizon after a night game against Penn State on the horizon, I think a shot of confidence against an overmatched Ball State team will be just what the doctor ordered for this team.