Thoughts on Iowa State Game

Dominant performances early on in the season have been few and far between in the Kirk Ferentz era, which is not a knock on Coach Ferentz or the coaching staff, as they are more concerned with steady progress and improvement than dominating opponents. This senior-laden team, however, showed on Saturday, against a rival opponent no less, why lofty aspirations this season are realistic. Here are my thoughts.

Disruption. How many times does it need to be said how talented this defensive line is before it simply becomes a broken record? The play of Adrian Clayborn, Karl Klug, Christian Ballard, Broderick Binns, and Mike Daniels was absolutely superb on Saturday. While the defensive line only ended up with one sack, their disruption of the Iowa State offense cannot be quantified. The constant pressure forced Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud into several hurried throws and bad decisions resulting in three interceptions. Likewise, the defensive line was responsible for limiting one of the best running backs in the Big 12, Alexander Robinson, to forty nine yards rushing. The problem for scheming against this Iowa defense is the fact that they are able to apply a consistent pass rush with only four linemen, which allows the linebackers to stay back in coverage and defend the pass. While another difficult test awaits this defense this next week, I expect this unit to continue to improve, which should be very disconcerting to Iowa’s remaining opponents.

Drive and Push. The play of Iowa’s offensive line was also a bright spot on Saturday powering Adam Robinson and Jewel Hampton to 158 and 87 yards of rushing respectively, and 293 total rushing yards. Perhaps most encouraging was the way that this unit came out and methodically moved the line of scrimmage early in the first half to consecutive drives of 71 yards. While this young offensive line was a concern of many Iowa fans entering the season, their play thus far has been very impressive, especially the play of James Ferentz and Nolan MacMillan who have both been able to stay on their blocks and drive their defenders down the field. I am very encouraged by the play of this young unit and am anxious to watch their development as the season continues.

Quick Start. Not to apply any jinxes, but it has been very encouraging that the Iowa offense has scored on their first offensive possession in the first two games. With a defense that will limit scoring, the ability of Iowa’s offense to spot their defensive brethren with seven points is a huge advantage. Ricky Stanzi looked confident in the pocket and made several beautiful long throws to Marvin McNutt and Allen Reisner. Stanzi’s ability to throw the ball downfield and put the ball over a receiver’s shoulder while hitting him in stride has been a thing of beauty his entire career and is something that should not be taken for granted. What is even more exciting for Iowa fans is the fact that Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, arguably one of Iowa’s best playmakers, along with McNutt, has not had many touches this season. It will be very interesting to see if this Iowa offense is able to continue its consistency in the desert against a salty Arizona defense.

Coverage. The only dark spot of the afternoon was Iowa’s kickoff coverage, which is something that Iowa has always done well under Kirk Ferentz. Typically a breakdown on coverage is a matter of players going outside of their lanes and shirking responsibilities. I would expect Iowa’s kickoff coverage to be much improved this week against Arizona. Speaking of special teams, one thing that does worry me about the Arizona game is the fact that Iowa has yet to attempt a field goal this season. It really concerns me that Trent Mossbrucker may be called on to make a clutch field goal against Arizona without having done so in competition this season.

Iowa’s 35-7 victory over intrastate rival Iowa State was one of the most dominant performances on both sides of the ball that Iowa has had in a long time. Iowa outperformed Iowa State in almost every respect of the game and gives this team confidence entering a matchup in a game that has worried Iowa fans the entire offseason. While I think the two hour time difference and heat are overblown in terms of their disadvantages to the Hawkeyes, Iowa will face one of the best backfields it will see the entire season, and although I will make my prediction later in the week, I think Iowa fans have reason to be confident heading into the game.