Q: You have played at the high school, college and pro levels of football. Have you ever seen one like Saturday?

Jared Clauss: I don’t think I have seen such a dramatic turnaround. From our turnovers, to our quirky interception, to missing field goals to reviewed plays…no I have not. It was a unique game and seems to be fitting within the context of this season being the most exciting Hawkeye season I can remember.

Q: How much emotion do 18 to 23 year olds have to expend? Should we be worried these guys can run out?

Clauss: No. No. If there was no emotion the games are not worth playing, and that means people quit. Teams that struggle early in the year and don’t get momentum going, or nothing ever wakes them up from their routine, that is when they quit and you lose that edge. College football is an emotional game and you feed off of that. I think it has more to do with the fact that Indiana had a pretty good game plan, we didn’t execute early. We have had to come back in every game but one, and it’s time for us to not have to rely on unusual plays and emotion to get us going. We have to come out firing on all cylinders. This team has shown that they feed off of emotion. When things start to roll their way, they are tough to stop.

Q: Do you think this game can serve as a wake up call or a slap to the face? Or do you think they needed something like this?

Clauss: If they don’t realize they are not an overpowering team by now, I don’t know if this will do that for them. Indiana just capitalized. They came out sharp and scored right away, we didn’t put much together. Indiana caught a few breaks that we handed to them, but they took advantage of those early. It’s not a matter of a wake up call; we are too far into the season for that. They are just a resilient team, they don’t panic, they stick to what they do best and it’s working. But we are playing with fire right now and I hope we can get healthy and start to hit on all cylinders out of the gates.

Q: What did you see out of Iowa’s defense? Joe Conklin stepped in and I don’t think he gave up anything drastic over the middle. All in all, the defense was put in some tough spots and answered the bell for the most part.

Clauss: They were put in some tough spots. I think the toughest thing to do on a college and pro field is play man to man coverage as a cornerback. Indiana has some big wide receivers and it’s tough to play man to man, and I think that hurt us a few times. But that is not an easy thing to do. I think Iowa responded well. Before Michigan State, I wondered if we could win a game if the defense isn’t +3 in turnovers. The answer against Michigan State was yes. Then can we win a game if we are negative in the turnover margin, and we answered that this week. But they have been close. It has been exciting.

Q: It looked like Iowa made an offensive adjustment to take advantage of Indiana’s front seven over pursuing against Iowa’s zone scheme, and getting caught up in the flow. That’s when Iowa went to their bootleg game in the second half, plus some zone read plays and it worked exceptionally well. The backside defensive end did not play contain well at all. Do you think they made that move? It could not be coincidence.

Clauss: I have always been a fan of Rick throwing on the run. I think he throws well outside the pocket, even though there was a good pocket. They know Iowa will pound the run even if it’s not working, because they are trying to hit that home run ball late in the game and that worked. That defensive end, when he gets tunnel vision and is focused on the run, I think the coaches handled that well, moved the pocket and got RIck going outside the pocket, dumping the ball off, getting a dagger route from a wide receiver, a deep cross. They handled that well. I was as frustrated with Rick’s play like everyone else in that third quarter. But I absolutely think, as a former player, Rick is a leader on this team. That is clear. There is no dissension among the players. They know he is their leader. For the Iowa coaches to go right back to him after those picks and put the ball in his hands and let him continue to throw it, that speaks volumes to their confidence in him. That shows a lot to the players and that means as lot to Rick, too. It was good to see that, it was great to see the pocket moving. It was a great adjustment by the Iowa staff, because you are going to have to throw a lot at Iowa to stop that run and I thought Wegher did a great job of stretching the run, keeping it outside and not looking to duck it up inside. Then the play action off of that was a great combination.

Q: Why has Northwestern been a thorn in Iowa’s side, offensively? Is it because their scheme matches up against where Iowa’s defensive scheme is vulnerable?

Clauss: No. Not at all. I think they took advantage of our turnovers. Indiana did too, but we also created some of our own. Northwestern took advantage of our turnovers last year in Kinnick. It’s as simple as that. We have seen this offense before. They speed things up a bit more, but it’s a matter of executing. In the Big Ten, it’s the most competitive league in the country and you have to execute. That is what I see happening. I don’t know if Kafka will play this week, but the backup looked capable and they gave Penn State all they wanted this past weekend.

NOTE:  More of Clauss’ observations will be published tomorrow evening.

Jared Clauss is currently a wealth manager in his hometown of West Des Moines, Iowa.  He played for the Iowa Hawkeyes between 1999-2003 and was also in the NFL for four seasons.

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