"Down" but not Out.
Posted 09-20-2010 at 06:37 PM by HawkIU
What a great game that was on Saturday night! At the time of the game I was extremely irritated and definitely not in a good mood during or after the game. Now that over 30 hours has passed since that game, I have realized that the game was a success for the most part.
Poor Categories
- Special Teams Performance
- Points vs Opponent Points
Special Teams Performance
This seems to be realistically one of the only major points the Hawkeyes really need to emphasize in over the next few weeks. Sure they played awful, but there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Iowa finished the season last year 9th on Kickoff Yardage Defense. 9th. Iowa lost some good players, but as we have seen most have been fairly effectively replaced.
The kickoff defense will get better, they will fill in spots and start blowing up returners like its their job. Like Jon said in his Arizona wrap up, it isn't a unique situations to put studs in for coverage. Do we want it? No. Could it ultimately change the outcome of the game? (I think everyone now knows the answer to this.)
Points vs Opponent Points
This is the number one stat everyone looks at. Period. The Hawkeyes lost and the nation knows it, but thats fine. Baring a few silly, silly mistakes this stat could have easily changed in favor of the Hawkeyes. They have pulled out the 4th quarter comeback one to many times and it was time they took a loss for it.
Good Categories
-Offense
-Offensive Line/Passing
-Receiving
-Rushing
-Defense
-Punting
Offensive Line/Passing
Iowa's offensive line played amazing given the circumstances. They got thrown into a hostile environment that they should not have been in. What did they do that was different from any other game? Let me show you a few statistics:
EIU:
Passing: 256 yards
Attempts: 26
Completions: 21
Arizona:
Passing: 278 yards
Attempts: 33
Completions: 18
Sure, Iowa was sitting pretty after a few possessions during the EIU game, but they only threw 5 less attempts and 6 more completions for 20 less yards against a defense that doesn't come close to being as good as Arizona's. What does this mean? The Offensive Line is not horrible. They were getting blitzed on very often and Stanzi still had enough time to sit in the pocket and throw for deeper passes. I can't really think of any other reason that he would have enough time to create a comeback than his offensive line.
I saw a disturbing tweet from Keith Murphy after the game Saturday: "You're not a top ten team if you give up four straight sacks at crunch time. Time to lower expectations." Unless he meant to write "You're not a top ten team if you put your team in a position to have 4 sacks in a row." Then I disagree with his comment. I also can't agree 100% with Jon in his recap either. We needed 7 points, thats all there was to it. What is worse throwing it away and losing a chance or taking the extra time to maybe get a chance at a thrown ball and getting a sack and having to throw it 6 more yards? IT'S 6 YARDS! Wooopeee. He could have gotten sacked for 20 yards and it wouldn't have really mattered much. Stanzi knew he needed to throw the ball, no Scrambling, no quick dump off, he needed to win. If this was the 3rd quarter with 4 minutes left in the game, Stanzi runs or throws it into the 2nd tier of the stadium.
BTW, Arizona had 2 sack before that final series. If you were keeping track, give Iowa's OLine another point on the Good scale.
BTW #2, Ricky Stanzi gets drafted this year higher than Nick Foles does next year.
Receiving
WOW. Iowa has some STUDS. A couple bobbles and missed catches but other than that the receiving corp. played excellent! 2 catches come to mind in this category.
1) The pick-6. Stanzi did throw it a bit high, and maybe we put to much faith in our receivers but usually anything in McNutt's or DJK's hands is caught. Everything. In my eyes Stanzi is still interception-less and McNutt redeemed himself. It is over and wasn't the only reason Iowa lost. Pick-6 was a fluke and won't happen again this year.
2) DJK's touchdown throw. Probably slightly over thrown and I again wouldn't necessarily put this on DJK, but it hit his hands. =)
2 plays 14 point swing and possibly more. What is the score now?
Their isn't much to say about the receivers. They played excellent and made some amazing catches.
Rushing
This was a non-factor really. Iowa didn't have time to run nor was the Arizona defense going to stop blitzing long enough to let them. If Iowa is allowed to have a balanced game, they rush for over 100 yards again. Just didn't have time.
Defense
Iowa's defense won this game. In how many games last year did the defense hold a top 25 team without a touchdown for an entire game? They didn't. They themselves only allowed 13 points. You can't hold the blocked punt score against them, that one is on the special teams. So, Iowa's defense held Arizona's BETTER team to less points than they had last year. 13 points is absolutely nothing. Iowa scored less than that once last year and it came in a punt fest vs Minnesota. What else do you want?
Arizona had the ball longer, and only mustered 30 more rushing yards and 30 more passing yards. Sure, they were in a bit of slow the game down mode, but they still threw 40 times!
Punting
Ryan Donahue, Iowa
Rank in nation: 7
Punts: 13
Yards: 613
Average: 47.15
Enough Said, He did his job and was a large reason Arizona didn't score 65 points.
Recap and Future
The Arizona game was a success baring the first few minutes of the game. We get those first few minutes back and Iowa wins in a blow out. The special teams will have a comeback, don't think Ferentz is going to sit around and not work on things. It will get figured out and become a non-issue again. There were plenty of mistakes to go around to say it wasn't entirely the special teams fault, and I will nearly never blame one individual or unit in a game loss. They dug the hole and Iowa climbed to the top, they just couldn't get out.
This loss meant a lot to every Iowa fan. The National Championship murmur will now most likely stop for the rest of the season which is sad. Although, I read an interesting topic today in the forums (by jesterapparel) about Iowas off chance to make it into the National Championship and the more I look at the schedule the better it looks. If Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin don't beat up on each other in the polls to much before Iowa plays them. Iowa could end up beating 4 ranked teams in 4 weeks. That will push them close or into the top 10 again. No naked-bootlegs for 2 games and Iowa heads into Kinnick around 10th in the nation against a top rated Ohio State team. An interesting scenario that doesn't look very far off in the first place.
Everyone here thought Iowa could win out this season. There should be no reason they still can't do that. If anything this should give Iowa fans a little more confidence from here on out. 3 plays for 21 points. The rest of the game was played well enough to beat everyone in the remaining schedule. Iowa holds the rest of the season in their hands and are capable enough to win every game.
Enter Ball State.
Iowa Football. One. Game. At. A. Time.
Poor Categories
- Special Teams Performance
- Points vs Opponent Points
Special Teams Performance
This seems to be realistically one of the only major points the Hawkeyes really need to emphasize in over the next few weeks. Sure they played awful, but there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Iowa finished the season last year 9th on Kickoff Yardage Defense. 9th. Iowa lost some good players, but as we have seen most have been fairly effectively replaced.
The kickoff defense will get better, they will fill in spots and start blowing up returners like its their job. Like Jon said in his Arizona wrap up, it isn't a unique situations to put studs in for coverage. Do we want it? No. Could it ultimately change the outcome of the game? (I think everyone now knows the answer to this.)
Points vs Opponent Points
This is the number one stat everyone looks at. Period. The Hawkeyes lost and the nation knows it, but thats fine. Baring a few silly, silly mistakes this stat could have easily changed in favor of the Hawkeyes. They have pulled out the 4th quarter comeback one to many times and it was time they took a loss for it.
Good Categories
-Offense
-Offensive Line/Passing
-Receiving
-Rushing
-Defense
-Punting
Offensive Line/Passing
Iowa's offensive line played amazing given the circumstances. They got thrown into a hostile environment that they should not have been in. What did they do that was different from any other game? Let me show you a few statistics:
EIU:
Passing: 256 yards
Attempts: 26
Completions: 21
Arizona:
Passing: 278 yards
Attempts: 33
Completions: 18
Sure, Iowa was sitting pretty after a few possessions during the EIU game, but they only threw 5 less attempts and 6 more completions for 20 less yards against a defense that doesn't come close to being as good as Arizona's. What does this mean? The Offensive Line is not horrible. They were getting blitzed on very often and Stanzi still had enough time to sit in the pocket and throw for deeper passes. I can't really think of any other reason that he would have enough time to create a comeback than his offensive line.
I saw a disturbing tweet from Keith Murphy after the game Saturday: "You're not a top ten team if you give up four straight sacks at crunch time. Time to lower expectations." Unless he meant to write "You're not a top ten team if you put your team in a position to have 4 sacks in a row." Then I disagree with his comment. I also can't agree 100% with Jon in his recap either. We needed 7 points, thats all there was to it. What is worse throwing it away and losing a chance or taking the extra time to maybe get a chance at a thrown ball and getting a sack and having to throw it 6 more yards? IT'S 6 YARDS! Wooopeee. He could have gotten sacked for 20 yards and it wouldn't have really mattered much. Stanzi knew he needed to throw the ball, no Scrambling, no quick dump off, he needed to win. If this was the 3rd quarter with 4 minutes left in the game, Stanzi runs or throws it into the 2nd tier of the stadium.
BTW, Arizona had 2 sack before that final series. If you were keeping track, give Iowa's OLine another point on the Good scale.
BTW #2, Ricky Stanzi gets drafted this year higher than Nick Foles does next year.
Receiving
WOW. Iowa has some STUDS. A couple bobbles and missed catches but other than that the receiving corp. played excellent! 2 catches come to mind in this category.
1) The pick-6. Stanzi did throw it a bit high, and maybe we put to much faith in our receivers but usually anything in McNutt's or DJK's hands is caught. Everything. In my eyes Stanzi is still interception-less and McNutt redeemed himself. It is over and wasn't the only reason Iowa lost. Pick-6 was a fluke and won't happen again this year.
2) DJK's touchdown throw. Probably slightly over thrown and I again wouldn't necessarily put this on DJK, but it hit his hands. =)
2 plays 14 point swing and possibly more. What is the score now?
Their isn't much to say about the receivers. They played excellent and made some amazing catches.
Rushing
This was a non-factor really. Iowa didn't have time to run nor was the Arizona defense going to stop blitzing long enough to let them. If Iowa is allowed to have a balanced game, they rush for over 100 yards again. Just didn't have time.
Defense
Iowa's defense won this game. In how many games last year did the defense hold a top 25 team without a touchdown for an entire game? They didn't. They themselves only allowed 13 points. You can't hold the blocked punt score against them, that one is on the special teams. So, Iowa's defense held Arizona's BETTER team to less points than they had last year. 13 points is absolutely nothing. Iowa scored less than that once last year and it came in a punt fest vs Minnesota. What else do you want?
Arizona had the ball longer, and only mustered 30 more rushing yards and 30 more passing yards. Sure, they were in a bit of slow the game down mode, but they still threw 40 times!
Punting
Ryan Donahue, Iowa
Rank in nation: 7
Punts: 13
Yards: 613
Average: 47.15
Enough Said, He did his job and was a large reason Arizona didn't score 65 points.
Recap and Future
The Arizona game was a success baring the first few minutes of the game. We get those first few minutes back and Iowa wins in a blow out. The special teams will have a comeback, don't think Ferentz is going to sit around and not work on things. It will get figured out and become a non-issue again. There were plenty of mistakes to go around to say it wasn't entirely the special teams fault, and I will nearly never blame one individual or unit in a game loss. They dug the hole and Iowa climbed to the top, they just couldn't get out.
This loss meant a lot to every Iowa fan. The National Championship murmur will now most likely stop for the rest of the season which is sad. Although, I read an interesting topic today in the forums (by jesterapparel) about Iowas off chance to make it into the National Championship and the more I look at the schedule the better it looks. If Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin don't beat up on each other in the polls to much before Iowa plays them. Iowa could end up beating 4 ranked teams in 4 weeks. That will push them close or into the top 10 again. No naked-bootlegs for 2 games and Iowa heads into Kinnick around 10th in the nation against a top rated Ohio State team. An interesting scenario that doesn't look very far off in the first place.
Everyone here thought Iowa could win out this season. There should be no reason they still can't do that. If anything this should give Iowa fans a little more confidence from here on out. 3 plays for 21 points. The rest of the game was played well enough to beat everyone in the remaining schedule. Iowa holds the rest of the season in their hands and are capable enough to win every game.
Enter Ball State.
Iowa Football. One. Game. At. A. Time.
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