I don’t feel like this unit played a bad game, but they were were overwhelmed by the physical MSU running attack at times. MSU didn’t gash them or open giant holes but opened big enough creases for the backs to get through and prevented penetration.  Probably the biggest issue with this unit was the lack of penetration and it let the talented MSU backs get going downhill on the majority of their carries. The Iowa front four just wasn’t consistent enough with disrupting the run game this week. Iowa ran a fair number of blitzes to help account for this and had some success there. However, the biggest run of the day for MSU came on a run blitz where they guessed wrong and Bell went in from 25 yards out with little resistance.

The two bright spots for the DL are the reoccurring names: Broderick Binns and Mike Daniels. Daniels probably didn’t play quite as well as Binns but he was noticeably more effective than the other guys lining up inside. Daniels held his ground fairly well against double teams most of the day and MSU clearly had game planned to not let Daniels beat them.  Binns continued his smart and effective play this week. He’s not an easy guy to project to the next level but he’s done a lot this season to ease concerns about his less than stellar Junior year. He’ll need to add some size and strength to hold his own the NFL but he has excellent instincts and is a smart football player.

For guys like LeBron Daniel, Joe Forgy and Steve Bigach this wasn’t a game where they consistently made mistakes or were constantly out of position. However, it was more about what they couldn’t do, which is provide disruption while still playing their responsibilities. It’s tough to make plays while still doing your responsibility, especially when you have limited physical tools. To some extent Nardo falls in this category as well, but Nardo flashes a little more than the others listed.  Overall, the way Iowa’s scheme works it’s hard for this unit to consistently have success with the guys in the rotation. Might be time to see what some of the underclassman can do.

Binns
+1 Great job squeezing down on the draw here. Excellent job shedding his block here to make the TFL. S3
+1 Nice job getting in Cousins face on 3rd and long. Doesn’t let Cousins break contain here. S3
+1 Stacked up the running lane, attacked the FB and drove him into the pulling guard in the backfield. Great play. S9
+1 Nice work getting free in his pass rush here and picks up the sack. Escaped the tackle with speed and slap move. S14

Overall: +4

Daniels
+1 Nice spin move here to disengage from the blocker and he makes the play in the hole. S9
+1 Nice penetration here as he breaks up the run. just beat his block here and got to the back. S12
+1 Nice job flashing into Cousins face here as he releases the pass. Forces an off target throw here. S12
+1 Good pressure as he forces Cousins to step up right into Binns. S14

Overall: +4

Nardo
+1 Excellent job winning at the POA here as he discards the blocker and makes the play on the back for a short gain. S11

Overall: +1

Daniel
+1 Nice job pressing the hole here , shot inside and met the pulling guard and blocked the hole. S2

Overall: +1

Forgy
-1 Blown out of the hole on the off tackle play. Got shoved way inside here. S10

Overall: -1

Bigach
-1 Blown out of the hole here.  Ends up 3-4 yards off LOS and laterally way out of the play. Needs to play with better leverage here and get his pads down. S1
-1 Was lined up at DE and got caught in the wash on the outside play. Really looked like he had no idea where the ball was. S3
+1 Good pressure on 3rd and long here. Gets inside the OT and chases Cousins out of hte pocket S3
+1 Good effort running down the big play. Saved the TD here. S5
+1 Got pressure here on the PA play at the goal-line. Forced a throw way by Cousins here. S5

Overall: +1

LINEBACKERS

Not an overly active day in terms of tackles this week for James Morris or Tyler Nielsen. Combined the two only had 9 total tackles. Part of the issue was the DL had issues eating up blocks and protecting the LBs. The other part was the LBs struggling to beat blocks and make tackles. MSU had a lot of success running Power O looks (http://goo.gl/FvpvN) and were able to get bodies to the second level targets pretty often in this game. Iowa countered this by attacking with run blitzes more often but did get caught out of position once or twice because of it. The 25 yard TD run by LeVeon Bell was a Double A gap blitz by Morris and Nielsen and Bell cut over a gap on the play and was through untouched.

Christian Kirksey had a quiet 9 total tackles in this game. He spent a fair amount of time lined up outside over slot receivers and had the tall task of dealing with the bubble screen looks to WR Keyshawn Martin. Iowa didn’t give up any big plays there, but MSU got a couple of easy first-downs with it. Kirksey looks to be at his best attacking forward from space. He struggles when caught up in traffic gets outclassed dealing with pullers and lead blockers. Overall Kirksey has played well for a first year starter and is a guy who should be a very good player for the next two years.

Nielsen
-1 Got overpowered by the FB in the hole here and the back rolled by him for easy yards. S1
+1 Closed down the bubble screen quickly and didn’t allow the WR to get going. S4
+1 Got pressure on the blitz here as he fought through the blockers and forced the throw away here. S5
+1 Blows through on the run blitz for a loss here. Excellent effort here. S10
-1 Loses the RB over the middle here in coverage. Cousins extends the play and finds his RB wide open over the middle. Tough to ask a MLB to run with a guy this long. S14

Overall: +1

Morris
+1 Great play Morris here firing up the A gap. Got in Cousins face and forced the bad throw. Looked like a screen that nearly turned into an INT. S7
-1 Morris Takes himself out of the play on the draw trap. Needs to read the play a little better here and not blindly read a single key here. S7
-1 Unable to get himself in good position to run with the TE up the seam here. Looked very awkward trying to open his hips and it goes for an easy completion down the middle. S12

Overall: -1

Kirksey
-1 Flew inside here when he had contain, busted outside for a big play. Got pinned in by the puller here and need to play with his outside shoulder free. S3
+1 Great job reading the play there. Avoids the puller and drags down the back for a loss here. S14

Overall: Push

DEFENSIVE BACKS

Not a great week for the DBs against MSU. They gave up a couple of big plays in the passing game that really hurt them in this game. Cousins was one of the better passers they have faced this season and he stuck some tough throws in some tighter windows The level of RB play was also the highest Iowa has seen since Ray Graham of Pitt way back in week three. Both Baker and Bell are skilled backs and a single misstep by a DB in run support resulted in a big play a couple of times. From my view this group made a few more mistakes than normal, but the major difference was MSU had the offensive weapons to consistently turn mistakes into big plays.

Prater had one of his better games of the season this week. He was a lot better with his footwork and didn’t make some of the mental mistakes he has in weeks past. He was pretty good in run support this week as well. As far as his draft stock goes I think there has been a substantial amount of damage done. Scouts are going to see a lot of inconsistency on his senior year tape and he doesn’t have overwhelming physical talent to help ease those concerns.

Hyde had an up and down day out there. He may his fair share of good plays but also had a couple of big break downs. Hyde has been a pretty solid player this year but the margin of error is slim when facing a higher level opponent. MSU WR, B.J. Cunningham, definitely fit the bill as a higher level opponent and the two mistakes Hyde made allowed Cunningham two pretty easy touchdowns.

Prater
-1 Jumped inside on the bubble screen here, needs to play it outside in and turn him back into pursuit. S1
+1 Nice job reacting to the wheel route by the FB on the PA. Quickly got his hips around and took away the throwing lane and forced a throw away. S2
+1 held the outside on the bubble screen and allowed Nielsen to close. Better discipline and effort here. S4
+1 Good jam and coverage on the PA play at the goal-line. Disrupted the timing and then in good position as the WR tries to get loose over the middle. S5
+1 Took away Cunningham on the outside curl here on 3rd and 5. Forced Cousins to throw it away. S9
+1 Great job supporting the run here. Actually got knocked back by the WR initially but disengaged and flew up to bring down Bell here. S11
-1 Bit down too far inside in run support here and the back popped it out-side for a big gainer. S12

Overall: +3

Bernstine
-1 Not able to bring down Martin in the open field here. Needs to break down and makes this tackle. S5
+1 Nice angle on the pitch play here. Brings down Baker for a short gain on the play. S14

Overall: Push

Miller
-1 Facemask on Bell. Just needs to be a little more careful with his tackling here. S1
+1 Nice job getting over top the vertical here and made the WR hear footsteps. Solid depth in his pass drop here and took a good angle. S3
-1 Goes for the ball here and misses. Nearly came down with the INT here but it goes for a big play. S5
+1 Great job running with the arrow route here in what looks like Cover 4. Attacked the WR very quickly and whacked the WR. Good play to get his defense off the field. S6
-1 Very poor angle here. Leaves his feet and it lets the back go in for the score. S7
+1 Excellent hard fill on the outside run here. Put a solid hit on the back to knock’m out of bounds for a short gain. S10

Overall: Push

Hyde
-1 Eyes were in the back-field here and it looked like Hyde was zoning off here. Bernstine was the safety to his side but had stepped down into the box and was responding to the run fake here. Probably some confusion on the scheme here. S1
+1 Great coverage here. Breaks on the route and runs right with the WR on the comeback route. Was in good position and was able to force an in-completion here. S5
-1 Got leap-frogged by Bell. Liked hte aggressive fill in run support but dropped his eyes and Bell just hopped right over’m. Needs to keep his eyes up here. S5
-1 Very poor job tackling here on the boundary. Needed to get low on the TE here and wrap up. S7
-1 Gets lost on fake bubble screen. Cunningham walks in easily on the fade here. Got fooled here and looked back late and it’s an uncontested TD. S8
+1 Great job poking the ball out there on the shallow cross. Brings up a 4th down. S10
+1 Great job crashing down on the lead play here. Closes it down very quickly. Good effort. S12
+1 Great job staying over the top on the PA here. If the WR hadn’t made a great play to bat the ball down this was an INT. S14

Overall: Push ]]> http://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/msu-gamefilm-the-defense/feed 2 http://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/msu-gamefilm-vandenberg-analysis http://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/msu-gamefilm-vandenberg-analysis#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:23:29 +0000 jonmiller http://www.hawkeyenation.com/?p=8892 A long, tough game for James Vandenberg this week. There was a blustery wind out there in Kinnick and it looked like JVB was at its mercy a couple of times out there. This was far and away his worst game at home, both in passer rating and decision-making. At least some of the credit goes to MSU’s defense who showed all kind of looks and coverages this week. He got some pressure early on in this game and it looked like it left its mark on him. He threw out of rhythm and rushed his mechanics at times out there and started seeing “phantom” pressure.

The varied packages MSU used throughout this game made it hard for JVB to read the coverages. Safeties consistently moved around before the snap and MSU ran a lot of post snap coverage rolls. JVB had his moments in this contest but struggled with his accuracy much of the day. He had some simple physical miscues early on and it seemed to get into his head. He had some mechanical issues and looked awkward with his footwork at times. He looked to be “aiming” throws rather than just winding up and slinging it. When a QB goes off the rails it’s extremely difficult to get them back on track. With the relatively simple passing scheme Iowa employs I’m not sure JVB can be real successful having to sling it 47 times either.

As tough of a game as JVB had I feel like the play calling didn’t do much to help him. When you’ve got a QB who’s struggling to find consistency and is getting pressure in his face you’ve got to do some things to let him get settled down. Not big changes, but things like throwing some screens and letting him work more from the shotgun can go a long ways towards settling him down. Especially in obvious passing situations it important to let your QB see the field a little better and already have his feet set with pressure coming. A couple of bubble screens would have helped keep MSU honest. As it was they weren’t surprised by anything Iowa was throwing at them and they’re a talented defense.

JVB
-1 Low wobbly pass on the 3rd down play here. Had McNutt wide open on the out cut here and it looked like he was aiming this ball here. D1 Play 5
-1 Throws the fade way far inside and it ends up an INT. Looks to have underestimated the wind a bit here. Ball got dragged out of the sky and Davis wasn’t able to adjust. D2 Play 2
+1 Nice throw coming off the INT here. Showed good poise here and put the ball where only his guy could catch it. D3 Play 1
+1 Nice ball over the middle here to Staggs. Got the ball out on time off the PA fake and put it where only his man could get to it. D4 Play 4
+1 This wasn’t a great throw but the roll-out throw back generally isn’t a pretty ball. As it was he managed to throw a catch-able ball to wide open CJF. D4 Play 7
-1 Just about threw a pick 6 on the rollout here. Just a bad ball here with his team backed up in their end zone. D7 Play 3
-1 Hangs out his TE here. Stared down the stick route all the way here and gets his TE lit up. Needs to be more disciplined with his eyes and protect his guy here. D8 Play 3
+1 Nice throw into a tight spot on the slant. Did a good job reading where the defense was flowing and put it right on target. D10 Play 5
+1 Nice job fitting the ball in on the goal-line to McNutt. Threw a bullet right on the spot here. Ball was right where it had to be here. D10 Play 9
+1 Excellent read of the coverage here as Iowa had the perfect call on for Cover 4: a PA post. Lays up the ball over the top and lets McNutt run to it. Excellent throw. D11 Play 11
+1 Nice poise in the pocket here waiting for the deep crosser to clear the underneath defenders. Fits the ball into a spot here. D12 Play 3
-1 Terrible mechanics here. Threw off his back foot and hte ball is way off target. He had a wide open McNutt on the skinny post/deep slant and it should have been an easy completion and maybe another big play. D12 Play 4
-1 Throws to a very tightly covered receiver on the 4th down play. Needs to come off the TE and goto another read here. MSU showed blitz and JVB threw to the shallow route by the TE as if he read blitz. Wasn’t pressured here and needs to give someone a chance to pick up this first down. D12 Play 7
-1 Threw a high  jump ball over the middle to Coker and got him lit up. Nearly ends up an INT on the tip. He also had a wide open Keenan Davis to his left. Needed to have his eyes down-field and find the open WR. D13 Play 1
-1 Had an open target on the deep out here and mis-fires by a long ways here. Doesn’t give his man a chance to make a play here. Looked to have rushed the throw and may have felt some phantom pressure. D13 Play 4
-1 Fired way off target to the TE underneath here. The TE had a step on his man here and a better throw and this would have resulted in a completion. D14 Play 1
-1 Under-threw McNutt here pretty badly. Threw this ball into the wind and it got dragged out of the sky and fell so short McNutt couldn’t adjust to it. McNutt’s CB had fallen down on the play and this could have been a big play and maybe a score. D14 Play 2
+1 Great scramble here, no one open down the field and he stayed in the pocket a long time here. Ends up a 15 yard gain. D14 Play 6
-1 Throws the out and up way too early here. Didn’t have any pressure in his face but let this ball go very early. Didn’t give McNutt any chance here. D14 Play 11

Overall: -3

The Numbers:

Overall: 22/47(46.8%) 262y(5.6YPA) 2TD 1INT
Rating: 103.4

Marvin McNutt continues to be the only real consistent play maker for this offense. MSU didn’t have an answer for senior wide-out who’s NFL draft stock is rising each week. He made a couple of phenomenal plays again this week and provided a jump-start for an otherwise struggling offense. He continues to impress me with his route running and play making ability. Not sure he’ll be a #1 WR in the NFL but he looks like a guy who can be a very solid #2 guy early on in his career who may continue to improve his game.

Got a look at Staggs in some live action this week. He doesn’t appear to have great physical tools but he ran solid routes and looks like a guy who can give you some quality snaps out there. With Keenan Davis struggling with the ankle injury again this week it could be leave some big shoes to fill out there. Developing some depth at WR will be important for the future as well with McNutt heading on to the NFL next year.

Coker
+1 Tough physical run here. Ran through contact and stayed on his feet to pick up 7. D1 Play 4
+1 Nice job recognizing the penetration here and he bounced outside here using a couple of stiff arms to spring himself outside here. D4 Play 5
+1 Nice tough running up the middle here  and he drags a tackler for extra yards here. D8 Play 1
-1 This wasn’t a perfectly thrown ball here but he got both hands on it and couldn’t reel it in. D8 Play 5
+1 Good acceleration here on the 3rd and 10 run. Picks up a 1st down to keep the drive going. D8 Play 6
-1 Needed to cut this play back to space here. Ran into contact with the safety here and really needed to jump back inside to green grass here. D10 Play 3
-1 Slow to see the cutback lane and shuffles his feet instead of planting and driving decisively here. D12 Play 6
-1 Needs to stay out of his QBs way here as he sacked JVB. Looks like he was trying to step up inside to pick up a rusher, but popped JVB on his way by. D13 Play 3

Overall:  Push

Rogers
-1 Not a clean blitz up and allows pressure to flush JVB from the pocket here. D9 Play 3

Overall: -1

Herman
+1 Herman Excellent job getting out in front of the reverse and getting a body on a guy here. Gives McNutt a block to cut off of here. D11 Play 6

Overall: +1

Derby
-1 Doesn’t seal the back-side DE and allows him into the play and he breaks up the play. D4 Play 2
-1 Leading up the hole for Coker here and he runs right by the MLB in the hole and he makes the tackle on Coker for a short gain. Needs to show better awareness here. D4 Play 6
-1 Poor blocking here by Derby on the backside LB. LB slips off the block and meets Coker in the backfield and breaks up the play. D5 Play 2
+1 Nice job pinning the DE inside here. Allows Coker to get outside. D10 Play 1
+1 Nice catch in the flat and he turns it up field and picks up solid yards on the short route here. D10 Play 2
+1 Nice job feeling where the hole in the zone defense was. Catches it and gets his body going forward to pick up the first down. D11 Play 5
-2 Fumbles inside the 5 here. Just doesn’t wrap up the ball securely here and the defenders pull it loose. D14 Play 12

Overall: -2

CJF
+1 Nice blocking the reverse as he got out front and found a LB and put a block on’m. D4 Play 3
+1 Great job getting the TD here. Dragged back across the grain here and had to wait quite a while for the throw back ball. D4 Play 7

Overall: +2

McNutt
+1 Nice job turning a simple 5 yard out into a big gainer. D1 Play 1
-1 Slips down on the out route here, but got both hands on the pass. He’s got 5+ yards of separation and had the first down here. Looked like he was trying to adjust to the low wobbly pass . D1 Play 5
+0 Does a good job beating the press coverage here and gets himself open over the middle and makes a great grab just short of the first down. Makes a few too many moves and really could have just fell forward and got the first down. Does a bit of dancing and nearly fumbles and ends up short of the sticks. Tough break here. D3 Play 4
+2 One of the best 1 handed catches I’ve seen over the middle here. Catches the ball in full stride here and creates a big play mostly on his talent and effort here. D4 Play 1
+1 Great cut-back on the reverse here as he leaves the safety in the dust. D4 Play 3
+1 Exellent hands on the rocket by JVB at the goal-line on 4th down. Then fights his way into the end zone. Great effort there. D10 Play 9
+1 Excellent route here. Gets the CB to turn his hips with the jab stab and then bursts back to the center of the field. Gets over the top of the safety and reels in the pass for  big play. D11 Play 1
+1 Great cut on the reverse here, makes a play to get the ball inside the 5. D11 Play 6

Overall: +6

Davis
+1 Nice job getting his feet in bounds on the deep come-back. Got himself open here and JVB got the ball to him. D3 Play 1
+1 Tough catch in traffic here for the 1st down. Double slant goes down to the 1 yard line. D10 Play 5

Overall: +2

KMM
+1 KMM Great catch on the crossing route here. Runs a solid route and then goes down to make the catch

Overall: +1

Staggs
+1 Nice job going down to get the ball here over the middle. Not a guy who’s gotten a lot of reps this season and he stepped in seamlessly here. D4 Play 4
+1 Nice catch on the low throw here on the sideline. Good body control to come up with the catch here. D14 Play 9

Overall: +2

Iowa committed three turnovers to none for Michigan State, two in the first half that led to Michigan State touchdowns.  The Hawks were down 24-7 late in the second quarter when Jordan Bernstine fumbled a kickoff return inside Iowa’s 30 yard line.  He was trying to gain some extra yards after his legs were wrapped up and took a hit that dislodged the ball.  The Spartans then ran in to score, making the halftime defecit 31-7, erasing most hopes of a comeback.

However, Iowa did come back to pull to within two possessions late in the third quarter and had two chances to pull to within six points in the fourth quarter, but both drives fizzled.  Iowa’s last gasp drive ended in a fumble inside the Michigan State 10 yard line with Iowa down 16 points.

It was Michigan State’s first win in Iowa City since 1989, a span of seven games.

The Michigan State defense was as good as advertised today, with their enormous tackles holding Iowa to just 2.9 yards per rushing attempt, or 87 total yards.

Iowa was forced to throw the ball in the second half and the team was too inconsistent.  It seemed as though James Vandenberg and his receivers were not on the same page more often than not, which is disappointing nine games into a season.

Marvin McNutt became the school’s all time leader in receiving yards, hauling in eight receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown.  He also pulled in one of the best catches I have seen, a one handed stab with the ball thrown behind him as he continued to run upfield.  McNutt also broke the single season receiving yards mark and is one touchdown away from tying the single season record for touchdown receptions.

The Iowa defense was put into too many tough spots and still answered the call in the second half.  They held Michigan State to 4 of 16 on third down conversions, but spotty tackling and a few missed plays leading to large MSU gains were too tough for Iowa to overcome.

With the loss, Iowa falls to 6-4 on the season, 3-3 in the Legends Division.  Michigan State moves to 5-1 in the Legends and they control their own destiny.  Even if Iowa would win its last two games and Michigan State would lose its last two, the Spartans would hold the head to head tiebreaker advantage.

For the second straight week, running back Mika’il McCall did not see action after Kirk Ferentz said he would play.  You have to believe the plan would now be for Iowa to redshirt McCall, who suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter of the first game of the season.  It also makes me wonder if McCall hasn’t been an insurance policy these past two weeks in case Marcus Coker suffered and injury.  But with Iowa now out of the Legends Division title chase, playing McCall would serve no purpose if he can qualify for an extra year.

We’ve been wondering all season long what the identity of this football team would be.  I believe nine games in, their identity may be that they have nothing you can hang your hat on…no real areas where they have been consistent.  Inconsistency is the one thing you can expect from inexperienced teams, which is what we’ve seen this year.

Nine games into the season, you are who you are and you are what your record says you are.  Iowa is 6-4/3-3, which is about average.  That seems the right word to use to describe this football team.

Iowa goes on the road next week at Purdue, a team that just beat Ohio State in overtime and a team that can become bowl eligible with a win in one of its final two games against Iowa and Indiana.  Right now, the Boilermakers will bring a great deal of momentum into this contest and it’s hard to imagine Iowa becoming a consistent team in the span of a week, especially when they have not won on the road in 2011.

Our captains are the same four guys, Tyler Nielsen, Mike Daniels, Marv McNutt and James Vandenberg, same four guys.

Certainly it was a good win for us, a very hard-fought game, and now we go back to work. Got another real challenge on our hands. Michigan State is a team like last week’s challenge, got a lot of good players, they’re very experienced, very well coached and they’re good in all three phases.

They’re a little bit like the challenge last week. Very different in terms of schemes offensively and defensively, but they’re alike in that you both have an identity, they both have an approach, and they really do a great job within their approach. They’ve got a bunch of good players in all phases, and they’re very, very well coached, and they play well. They beat the team that we just beat by a couple touchdowns earlier. So that just gives you an idea of the level of difficulty here.

Also had a very dramatic win against Wisconsin, an excellent Wisconsin team. It’s going to be a big challenge for us, and we’ll go back to work today.

Q. A little bit off topic, but as a long-time admirer of Coach Paterno and all he’s done for Penn State, I wonder what your take is on the recent events out there. 
COACH FERENTZ: I’ve really been more focused on what we’re doing here, getting through the weekend and then turning our sights to Michigan State. So that’s really kind of where my thoughts have been, and the only thing I can really say is what can anyone say right now.

Q. How important is Brad Rogers to Marcus Coker these last four games?
COACH FERENTZ: I mentioned a while back it was great to have Brad get back just for obvious reasons, to get him on the field and back with the team. It was a really tough period for him being out and away, and he’s improved and certainly it’s not the same as, but Marcus Coker didn’t get off to the fastest start because he missed a lot of time in August, and I think certainly with Brad we’re seeing him improve each and every week. Having him out there gives us another good player and another really good guy. He’s — not that he’s played all that much, Morris has been our fullback, but he’s been around and I think he’s got a lot of confidence. I would classify him — he’s one of our younger guys that really kind of brings a good vibe to our football team. He does a little bit more than besides block; he just really adds a real positive energy, also has done a good job on our punt team, which is a real important role, and it was good to get him back on that front, too. It was really the first thing he started doing when he got back.

Q. How does that positive energy work? 
COACH FERENTZ: How do you mean?

Q. How does it come out? 
COACH FERENTZ: I don’t know, I mean, just when you have good players on the field, and more than that, good players that have a good vibe, it helps your football team. He does his job well, but he also adds a little bit more. Anytime you’ve got a player that does more than just execute his assignment, that’s a good thing.

Q. Does it feel good for you personally that this offense is back to — the no-huddle is dead and gone, and you guys look more like you guys usually look when you work well? 
COACH FERENTZ: You know, I mean, the no-huddle really got borne out of the fact that we were down three scores, so it was kind of an obvious choice at that point. And then — I don’t know how much — I didn’t understand the question totally, but I thought overall the offense played well Saturday. We had to be balanced. I felt like we had to be balanced. That was a really tough team to move the ball against. I think we’re making some strides right now, and having guys healthy helps, and having guys having a chance to be balanced, not that you’re going to be balanced every game, but having an opportunity to be balanced is a good thing.

Q. Does Marcus’ defensive play last week carry over to this week or do you just throw away the playbook since you’ve got contrasting quarterbacks?
COACH FERENTZ: That was part of what I was trying to say a little bit. They’re very different in terms of their offensive approach obviously. The things that make you good defensively, I think for us it starts with everybody being on the same page and really playing to their best of ability because we’ve had some challenges there from that standpoint and that continues with Dom being out, so we really have to play well as a group. We don’t necessarily have a lot of erasers out there.

If we do that, then I think we can match up whether we’re playing an option team or a throwing team or a running team. That’s really just everybody kind of being on the same page, and it starts in practice.

Q. Marcus has said that he sat down with you about a month ago where you basically told him stop overanalyzing and just go out and play some football. I wonder, what were you seeing that led you to have that conversation with him, and what have you seen since? 
COACH FERENTZ: Well, he just wasn’t running decisively. It’s about as simple as that. And I think sometimes when — again, he missed a lot of practice, so if you don’t practice you don’t get enough work, and you don’t get confidence if you’re not working. Everything starts in practice, I believe that, and so he got the game time, he was probably just overanalyzing, over-reading, those types of things, which is typical of young players. It’s not that he’s played that much anyway, especially a month ago, career-wise. So it’s just kind of, hey, let’s get back to basics, and I think every player should try to play to their strengths, and I think he’s done a good job of that the last month.

Q. Is there anything to the belief that Michigan State given what happened last year will come out with an added juice, their hair on fire, that sort of thing?
COACH FERENTZ: We actually beat them two years ago in a really tough ballgame right at the end, so I mean, you know, if you use that theory, 50 percent of the teams that are playing this weekend are going to be that way. They played really hard last year. They played hard the year before, and we had lost to them in ’08, right? We lost to them in ’08. They played pretty hard in ’09, so I mean, I expect these guys to play hard no matter what. In every film you look at they play hard.

Q. If you lose to Michigan State there’s no way that Iowa can win the Legends Division. Do you stress that to your team at all this week?
COACH FERENTZ: Not at all. You know, we’re really not worried about division standings right now or Big Ten standings. I mean, a week ago it didn’t look like we were going to a Bowl game to a lot of people. We’re nine days removed right now from not getting it done on the game field, and that’s kind of where we’re at as a team right now, so we need just to really try to worry about a good opponent coming in here and see if we can play a good game because that’s really what’s important for us right now is trying to play well. If we don’t play well, it’ll be a tough day, I know that. This is a really good team.

Q. What do you think of Cousins now and his last year finally? 
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, I talked to — I was just on with the Michigan writers here a few minutes ago, and he’s obviously played well throughout his whole career. The two things that really impressed me the most about him first of all is when he got in there, he played like he was a veteran player when he wasn’t a veteran player, and then this week, this past summer, if anybody was at the Big Ten luncheon, he got up and spoke on behalf of all the student athletes that were there, so you know, close to 2,000 — I didn’t count them but I would imagine close to 2,000 people sitting out there, and the speech he gave, you can understand now why he played that way. He’s obviously a very good football player, but my guess is he’s just a great leader, not only on the offense but the whole team. He’s really an exceptional young guy. I’m just sitting there in the part of the program and thinking about two of the quarterbacks that were there, both he and Dan Persa, and Kirk mentioned in his speech that he got the call from Coach Dantonio a couple weeks into January I believe he said, and he got him, and I don’t know what Dan Persa’s recruiting story was, but those are two guys that I think could play anywhere in the country for any team in the country, and neither one of them were the five-star recruits that we all know about or read about. It’s a good example of what makes college football so neat, and that’s a fun thing about it.

Q. On the field what does he do that makes him so effective?
COACH FERENTZ: He’s a great leader first and foremost. He moves his offense, and he can really throw it. He runs their offense. That’s a big responsibility because they get out of bad plays with the quarterback, and he does a good job.

Q. They’ve struggled to run the ball this year, at least numbers wise. Is there something you’re seeing on film that they could be doing better or that you guys think is one of the reasons they’re not getting the yards that some of the other teams are?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, a week ago we watched them run against Michigan and they ran it better than we ran it, so they’re a pretty dangerous team. They’ve got some really good backs, and their line is — that’s probably where they got hit the hardest by graduation. Otherwise they’ve got a really veteran ball club. That Michigan game they ran it really well, and we know how tough it is to block the Michigan defense. That’s more than a full day’s work.

Q. They opened the Big Ten against Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and they went 3 and 1. What does that tell you?
COACH FERENTZ: They did pretty well, so that tells me they’ve got a great team. That’s what I was trying to say. If we don’t play well this weekend, this is not going to be fun. This is just a really good team.

Q. Can you think of a much more difficult scenario to open the Big Ten season than against something like that? 
COACH FERENTZ: You probably could throw something together, but it may take a while to figure it out, that’s for sure, yeah. Throw the Steelers in there, I guess, right? They’re not in our division right now, or our league.

Q. You’ve got Nardo back. What does that do to your rotation, your depth?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, we get one back and we lose one outside, so we’ll just have to keep adjusting. Obviously Dominic will not be with us this week or the rest of the season, so that’s out of the equation. The good news is I think everybody else is back with us. Carl Davis was close to being 100 percent last week, but he’s barely played. I mean, he’s still a young guy who’s barely played, but at least we’ll have someone to practice with so we’re not just wearing everybody out, so that’s a positive. At least if we can have a good week of practice we’ll see what we can throw out there Saturday.

Q. Bigach okay moving outside– 
COACH FERENTZ: He’ll have to. The one thing I do know is we can’t — I don’t think we can play, whether it be Dom Alvis or Lebron, we can’t play any of those guys for 90 snaps or 80 snaps in a game, that’s just not a good formula, especially against a team like this, a big, physical team like this.

Q. Do you have any story about how you found or how Joe Forgy found you because he’s kind of worth his weight in gold right now. 
COACH FERENTZ: It’s similar to Tom Nardo, I guess, in that I’m not sure why he’s here or why he came other than it makes sense because he’s from Iowa, up in the Iowa Falls area, but outside of that, he just kind of showed up and started working hard and really did a phenomenal job on the scout team last year, he and Collin Sleeper are the two guys that really impressed us. We’re going to need him to chip in, too, and I’m sure he’ll be ready.

Q. Every senior class seems to have its own kind of personality or its unique story. What’s this year’s senior class’s story? 
COACH FERENTZ: I don’t know if we have a story yet. It’s kind of weird because we still have three games going into senior day. Usually you only have one left, so we’d be a little further down the road. But this group is — they’ve been fun to work with certainly, and it’s a mixed bag. You’ve got guys like Mike Daniels, Tyler Nielsen that are — Zusevics, Gettis that have played here the last couple years and other guys like Nardo or Bernstein that have jumped in there late, so it’s kind of a mixed bag of guys. But they’re really a good group, and it’s not the biggest class that we’ve had certainly, but their attitude has really been good, and they’ve been really good to work with since January.

Q. The Michigan game was kind of a perfect example of the so-called bend-don’t-break philosophy. Is that a philosophy you embrace, or is that more the media cooking that up?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, I think the numbers probably bear that out. I’m speaking from a historic standpoint. I mean, we got good on special teams early, I’m going back 13 years now, and right along with that, if you don’t play well in the red zone on defense, it’s going to be tough to win enough games to keep your job. I think that’s one thing that we’ve done a decent job at, and quite frankly, again, a week, nine days ago, ten days ago, we fell short in that area and paid a price for it. If you’re not being productive down in the red zone, be it offense or defense, you’re not going to win enough games. That’s just the way it goes.
So at least it was good to see that last week but that doesn’t mean it’ll be good this week. We really need to keep working here.

Q. Were you surprised with the amount of blitzing you guys did or did you have a hand in that on the goal line?
COACH FERENTZ: I mean, you know, you have two choices, right, you can pull back or let it rip. Norm was making the call, and I think he just felt good about it. It panned out. If we had given up a touchdown on any one of those plays, which could have happened on any of them, then we’re all dummies. You’ve got to pull the trigger and make a decision, not worry about what the experts say afterwards. Not that they’d say anything, but you know…

Q. With three games to go, the division is wide up for grabs. Can you just kind of talk about –
COACH FERENTZ: Back to division. I’m sorry, yeah. I got distracted, I’m sorry.

Q. No worries. Your thoughts on the league as a whole and the division and how competitive it is this first year with divisions. 
COACH FERENTZ: Well, you know, it’s always been competitive. Now I guess the big — I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I’ve noticed there’s twice as much competition if you will or two different things to look at or consider, I suppose. But at the end of the day, I’ll predict this: It’s probably going to go down to the last week like it pretty much has every year, or maybe next-to-last week. Maybe some things get decided before that. But that’s the great thing about conference play and I guess we’re going to learn the great thing about divisional play. But at the end of the day, it’s good to win, it’s bad to lose, and that’s really how it is in college football.

Q. You’ve dealt with external distractions during your time at Iowa –
COACH FERENTZ: Really?

Q. Once or twice. How hard is it to keep a team focused on the game when so much is being said about the program or the school away from the field? 
COACH FERENTZ: You know, there are challenges every week. I don’t care what the week is, there’s going to be a challenge every week. That’s just part of it. It’s like injuries and how you manage and navigate through challenges. That helps determine success or failure.

Q. Did B.J. get that cast off — is it a cast?
COACH FERENTZ: No, we’re going to have that on all — the regular season, it’ll come off hopefully at the end of this month here. He got that checked last week, and they just want to be cautious, which I’m on board with.

Q. Is Marcus going to carry it another 100 times over the next few weeks or –
COACH FERENTZ: It’s possible. We’re going to try to get somebody else in the game, but sometimes I need a push, I guess. It’s one of those deals. Finding that good time is really — I can see that being really tough here the next three weeks, but we’re trying to get there.

Q. Has he maybe demonstrated that he is one of those backs that gets stronger in the fourth quarter?
COACH FERENTZ: So far, so good, and good backs do that and good running teams do that. I’m not saying we’re that, either or, but that’s how it works. But that being said, if we could get him a little rest during the game it wouldn’t hurt him. It really wouldn’t hurt. We’ve got to get there somehow.

Q. As you move along and have a chance maybe to red shirt Mika’il, does it become a more difficult decision at all?
COACH FERENTZ: No not at all. We’re playing to win right now. The decision has been made.

Q. How is he coming along?
COACH FERENTZ: He’s doing good. The problem last week was not Mika’il, it was the head coach; the head coach needs a push, so I’m working on it.

Q. Do you need somebody, Ken, to tell you?
COACH FERENTZ: No, we said it during the week, I said it during the week, and then I guess I must have changed my mind. But it has nothing to do with Mika’il or anybody else, it’s just me, I’ve got to get over it and we’ve got to go. He’s a good player.

Q. What does it say about Marcus, how reliable he is, especially after the first game of the year?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, it seemed like there was a little panic out there after that first game. But I just looked at it, I think all of us looked at it that had been watching what was going on. He didn’t practice enough during August to be ready, and when guys don’t practice enough any time of the year, it’s really hard to perform. I’m going back to — I’m dating myself here a little bit, but I’ve got a clipping somewhere in one of my files in my rat’s nest that the Steelers lost to the Jets in like 1974 or something like that, but anyway, they had a couple guys tried to play without — these are the best players in the world, and if you can’t practice enough, then it’s really hard to think that you’re going to be able to perform at a good level.

I think we were all confident that Marcus was a good player and is going to be good, but we just had to work through an issue, and it got more complicated when Mika’il broke his leg in the first game. What we thought was a good plan in August and kind of fell apart real quick. So he worked through that, and I think at least now we have a chance maybe to be a little bit better than we were back then.

Q. Where are you at with Nolan MacMillan, and I noticed that Jim Poggi finally dressed on Saturday. How are they coming along?
COACH FERENTZ: Jim has practiced two weeks. Two full weeks he was actually the look team player of the week, the look team guy of the week defensively for the game two weeks ago. So he’s back with us now, and he’s doing well. He had a couple ups and downs, but that’s part of coming back from an injury, so he’s back with us. Nolan is I would say maybe working 50 percent, something like that, but it’s increasing incrementally, so I mean, right now until he’s back he’s got a lot of ground to cover just like Brad did, but at least the arrow is going the right direction right now.

Q. Do you see either of them participating at all this year? 
COACH FERENTZ: You know, Jimmy might have a chance, but I think Nolan right now, we’ve got, what, less than three weeks left, so that’s probably not now, but maybe the Bowl game, we’ll see.

WR Johnson-Koulianos, Sandeman
LT Reiff, Haganman
LG Vandervelde, Boffeli
C Ferentz, Koeppel
RG Gettis/MacMillan
RT Zusevics, Van Sloten
TE Reisner, Herman
QB Stanzi, Vandenberg
WR McNutt, K. Davis
RB Robinson, Coker
FB Morse, Rogers

IOWA DEFENSE

DE Clayborn, Daniel
DT Klug, Bigach
DT Ballard/ Daniels, Nardo
DE Ballard/Binns
OLB T. Nielsen, Petersen
MLB Johnson, Morris
WLB Hunter, Tillison
LC Prater, Castillo
SS Sash, Donatell
FS Greenwood, Miller
RC Hyde, Bernstine
PT Donahue, Guthrie
PK Meyer, Mossbrucker

NOTE:  The only change from last week is that Gettis and MacMillan are listed as co-starters.  MacMillan was the listed starter last week, and Gettis played most of the snaps against Wisconsin.

Since Coach Ferentz has taken over the Iowa program the Hawkeyes have reached new heights of success. Iowa finished ranked 8th three consecutive seasons from 2002 through 2004 and played in four consecutive January Bowl games. This season is looking rosy already and Iowa still has four games left to play with only one really tough stumbling block left on the schedule- Ohio State in Columbus. Ferentz and his staff have followed the same blueprint in almost all of those seasons’ a balanced offensive attack featuring a smashmouth running attack and a stifling defense that plays fundamentally sound and basic coverages. There has only been one aberration offensively- the 2004 season when Iowa was down to 5th string running back walk on Sam Brownlee and turned Drew Tate loose on the Big Ten. Iowa basically changed offenses mid-stream during that season and went pretty much 70% to a 3 wide shotgun look that relied on Tate’s ability to read defenses and extend plays with his mobility and play making ability. That was the last time that Iowa won a Big Ten Title. Iowa just has to hang on and win three of the next four to at least win a share of the title this season.

Ricky Stanzi isn’t Drew Tate. At least he isn’t yet. He doesn’t have Tate’s ability to process information and ability to extend plays and see receivers break open downfield consistently. He isn’t as accurate as Tate was (a healthy Drew Tate for people who only remember his senior year). Stanzi has some things going for him that Tate didn’t. He isn’t as high strung and seems impervious to pressure. He seems to be genuinely like by all of his teammates and that didn’t always seem to be the case for Drew at the end of his career, although looking at the attrition around the program and some of the comments from some of his teammates of that era, that might not have been a bad thing. He is tall enough to be invited to the NFL scouting combine if he continues to improve. He also has a group of receivers at his disposal that Tate could only dream about. But Tate also seemed to have something that Stanzi doesn’t yet have. The absolute trust to go out and win the game.

Stanzi is a winner, there is no doubt about that as he has started 19 games and won 16 of them. But a case could be made that Iowa has won some of those games in spite of Stanzi or that the defense won them. I don’t want to make that case. In fact I want to make the case to let him do more. I feel like he turned the corner in the Arkansas State game even with the pick 6 he threw in that game. I actually think he was underutilized in that game and that we went away from the long pass for no reason at all in that game. Iowa scored early on two long passing plays and my game notes show Arkansas State was still playing 8 in the box and daring Iowa to throw the ball- playing single coverage on the outside. Stanzi could have thrown for 4 TDs in the first half and McNutt might have caught three TDs in the first half if the Hawks had kept attacking. Arky State didn’t adjust or do anything to take it away, Iowa just stopped trying for that play. On the second play of first possession of the 2nd half Iowa runs the Go Route for McNutt and, cue Gary Dolphin, “Touchdown Iowa”. Ricky threw 2 interceptions in that game but both were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. It was the long ball that was working all day. And that is the strength of Stanzi’s game.

Quarterbacks who are percieved to win games are asked to do it at the end of games or in clutch situations. Iowa doesn’t ask Stanzi to do that or they don’t put him in postion to do it. I don’t know if it is a matter of not trusting him or a ridiculous amount of faith in the defense. Until last Saturday the defense had been up to the task all season and they still allowed only 13 points, normally plenty enough to win you a game. Here are the reasons a couple of the reasons I don’t think the “training wheels” have been taken off of Stanzi yet.

Until “The Drive” versus Michigan State, Iowa had not successfully completed a “2 minute drill”this season. At the end of the first half versus Arizona – Iowa stopped a field goal fake and took over with 2:49 left in the first half, a nice momentum swing. Brandon Wegher promptly popped off a 15 yard gain giving Iowa decent field position (their own 35) and plenty of time left to try to extend their 14- 10 lead. Stanzi competed a 7 yard pass to Wegher and then Iowa sat on the ball punting it away. Against Michigan Iowa was seemingly content to run out the clock when a Michigan time out spurred them into passing mode so they could try to run out the clock some more. They then ran three passing plays in a row, getting into field goal range on a beautifully executed flare to Brett Morse. They inexplicably picked up a delay penalty knocking Murray out of his comfort zone with Time Outs in their pocket. Murray missed the field goal.

And finally I think the Coaching Staff takes the ball out of Stanzi’s hands content to let the defense win close games. This philosophy has won us seven close games so far this season. But Iowa could have chance to put a couple games away earlier, including last Saturday’s game with more aggressive play calling. In fairness they tried to give him a chance to salt away the UNI game and Stanzi and the offense came up short, calling four pass plays out of a six play drive (including the punt and scrambles). I also found no flaws with the Arkansas State playcalling, giving them a 80+ yard field with less than 20 seconds.

But the Michigan game drove me crazy. At the time no one knew Forcier was hurt. Iowa had a 3rd and 4 from their own 39. If they had converted it Michigan was out of time outs and the game was over. Michigan was only down two and only needed a field goal to win. Iowa ran Power I zone Lead with a Fullback to Bulaga’s side into a blitzing 9 man front. No numbers advantage and a run for a loss. Thank you Denard Robinson.

Against Wisconsin, Iowa had a relatively comfortable 10 point lead with 3:30 remaining. Iowa goes for it on 4th and 5. Iowa runs play action and has Allen Reisner completely alone. There is a hilarious thread on the Scout site about interpreting Kirk’s smirk. Stanzi wasn’t throwing the ball. If he was throwing the ball he would have stopped rolling out and just thrown the ball. Touchdown, 27 – 10 nightmares of crazy plays and onside kicks abate and you relax. Instead thank you Scott Tolzien.

Finally the Michigan State game. Iowa passes the ball on a perfectly thrown fade to DJK. They then run a Power I with 2 TEs to the short side of the field to Adam Robinson. Good play, well blocked, Greg Jones is a stud, saves a TD. Iowa then has to burn a Time Out getting the play in. That is the KOK I know and love. Next play is the same formation except Iowa motions Reisner to the wide side of the field, same zone lead 2 yard gain, holding called on Bulaga, debatable call, oh well. Now it is 2 and Goal from the 13. This is probably a passing down. Iowa comes out with 3 wide outs( a slot to the wide side of the field) and Robinson in the backfield, Tony Moeaki as the Tight End on the short side of the field. MSU is still in their base defense. The line up exactly like Iowa does here. Iowa has a run called to the short side of the field. They can’t block everyone. It is 5 to 6.

ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
-
-
-
SS -
____________________________________
-
-
-
SLB MLB
____________________________________
-
CB DE NG
TETGC
FL

That is my bad attempt at play art to explain what I mean about a numbers mismatch. I am not including the other side of the line #1 because that took 10 minutes and #2, the DE came back around Moeaki to make the tackle for a three yard gain. So Iowa now has Third and Goal from Ten yard line.Pass right? No they run basically the same play out of shotgun only Moeaki is on the other side and Iowa has a better front to block. Three down lineman, three linebackers and five defensive backs. I have three problems with this playcall. One it didn’t surprise me. Two if you are worried about a turnover that means you trust a true freshman running back more than your offensive line and your quarterback. And finally three, if you don’t make it it leaves Murray a terrible angle for the field goal and he was already looking shaky on the first two. Fortunately it didn’t matter.

Stanzi has now dropped back 101 times without throwing a pick since the interception return for a TD versus Michigan although he does have a fumble lost in there. He is making better decisions and getting out of bad plays when he is given time to do so. As the games progress he continues to get better becoming more and more comfortable with what he is seeing and more confident as the game goes on. He has as much natural ability as any quarterback to play for Iowa. He certainly has the poise and leadership skills to lead Iowa to a special season. This team can only go as far as he can take them. He has earned the right to do more than be a caretaker. He now also has one other thing in common with Drew Tate- a signature win that Hawk fans will never forget.

Agree? Disagree? Soundoff in the comments section below

Seriously, does it get any better than this?

The Hawkeyes were 97 seconds from history, and more than a few of the Iowa faithful were probably not optimistic after Michigan State scored the first touchdown of the game with 1:37 to go. Speaking for myself, I hadn’t given up because anything is possible. Drew Tate and Warren Holloway showed us that on January 1st of 2005.

Yet, I was not exactly upbeat, either.

Rick Stanzi orchestrated something that will forever be known as ‘The Drive’ in Iowa City. 30 years from now, for those that watched the game, if you mention, ‘Do you remember The Drive?’, everyone will know exactly what you are talking about

This game wasn’t pretty; it looked a lot like the sluggish football played in the Southeastern Conference, didn’t it?

Before Michigan State’s touchdown, it was 58:23 of smashmouth defense and five field goals. Even Iowa’s three field goals were ugly.

So if you were not exactly confident that Iowa could march 70 yards over the last 1:30ish of the game, you are forgiven. However, 10 plays later, the Iowa team was celebrating in the endzone after pulling off one of the most amazing winning finishes in Iowa football history.

The 2009 Iowa Hawkeyes become the first team in school history to start a year 8-0. They have a 12 game winning streak, the second longest in school history. In their last six games away from Kinnick Stadium, they have outscored their opponents 177-46. They have won at Iowa State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State this year, with one road game remaining. They are the first team to beat PSU, Wisconsin and MSU on the road in the same season since Michigan in 1997. By the way, that Michigan team wasn’t necessarily the prettiest, but it was pretty enough to win a National Championship.

Now, Iowa is down to a four-game season for more history. The Hawks will host Indiana and Northwestern before going to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. They have just two wins in that stadium since the late 1950′s. BUT WHO CARES, right? This is the 2009 Iowa football team we are talking about.

They ain’t pretty, but their ours. They ain’t the best offense, but they are good enough when they have to be and they haven’t lost yet.

Neither team committed a turnover in this game, and I thought my statement of ‘If Iowa doesn’t turn the ball over, they will win every game on their schedule’ was in some jeopardy. Nah, no worries, mate. Just your standard 70-yard game winning drive in 1:30, and the fourth down play from the seven yard line with just :02 to play.

What the heck, right?

Some will say, after the euphoria wears off, that this team shouldn’t have been in this situation. The running calls on 2nd and goal from the 13 were interesting, to say the least.

But for now, I don’t want to deal with that. I don’t want to pick nits on this night…on this historic night. No way…we can do that all week long if we have to.

This was epic, to the definition of the word.

This was one we will never forget.

Bigger than Tate to Holloway? I think so, because let’s be honest, as amazing as that was, and it was amazing, it was flukish. This was not a fluke. This was a 10-play drive; no flukes involved. Cue the freaking Rocky music, will ya?

Speaking of Rocky, how about this comment from our Monday Morning Quarterback, Jared Clauss, from last Sunday night:

“We are the Rocky Balboa of college football right now. We look shaky early, but we are to fight. We take a lot of hits but don’t go down, we fight on and we always come out on top.”

I can’t top that, and won’t even try. Enjoy the night. Enjoy the week. Enjoy this freaking season, Iowa fans. Your Iowa Hawkeyes are 8-0.

With the win, Iowa leads the series against Michigan State by a 21-18-2 margin. Iowa’s victory is the first for the Hawkeyes in East Lansing since a 21-7 win in 1995. The home team had won the last nine games in the series.

Iowa wins with a touchdown on the last play of the game for the first time since the 2005 Capital One Bowl. In that contest the Hawkeyes scored on a 56-yard pass from Drew Tate to Warren Holloway for a 30-25 win.

Dating back to 2008, Iowa has won its last six games away from Iowa City, including wins at Minnesota, Iowa State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State, and over South Carolina in the 2009 Outback Bowl. Iowa has allowed just 46 points in those games.

Iowa becomes the second Big Ten team ever to win road games at Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State in the same season. Michigan completed the trifecta in 1977.

With the win at Michigan State, Iowa improves to 4-0 on the road this season, with a Nov. 14 contest at Ohio State remaining. Iowa has won at Iowa State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Iowa won all five road games in 2002 before a neutral site loss to Southern Cal in the 2003 Orange Bowl.

Michigan State won the toss and deferred, with Iowa electing to receive. Iowa has started on offense in 110 of its last 125 contests. The Hawkeyes have started the game on offense in 112-of-131 games under Ferentz. Iowa has started on offense in 10 straight games. Iowa deferred after winning the toss last year in a win over Purdue and the Boilermakers elected to receive on a very windy day in Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa games vs. Purdue (11/15/08), Penn State (11/08/08), Wisconsin (10/10/08), Minnesota (11/10/07), at Northwestern (11/3/07), vs. Michigan State (10/27/07), at Penn State (10/6/07), vs. Iowa State (9/16/06), vs. Minnesota (11/19/05), vs. Michigan (10/22/05), at Purdue (10/8/05), at Minnesota (11/13/04), vs. Purdue (11/6/04), at Miami, OH (9/7/02) and at Michigan State (9/27/03) are the only contests that the Hawkeyes didn’t start on offense. Iowa won 12 of those 15 games.

Iowa did not score on its first possession of the game. Iowa scored a touchdown on its opening drive vs. Arizona and a field goal on its opening drive vs. Northern Iowa. Iowa also did not score on its opening drives at Iowa State, at Penn State, vs. Michigan, at Wisconsin and at Michigan State.

Michigan State did not score on its opening possession. Iowa has allowed just one opponent (Penn State, game four) to score on its opening drive in its last 21 games. The Spartans became the fourth Iowa opponent to score the first points of the game with a field goal in the first period.

Iowa was 4-4 in the red zone against Michigan State, with three field goals and a touchdown. Iowa has scored on 51 of the last 56 red zone possessions (32 TDs and 19 FGs), dating back to the Michigan State game in 2008. Iowa is 34-38 combined inside the red zone its last 11 games.

Michigan State scored six points on two drives inside the Iowa red zone, collecting two field goals. Iowa opponents are 16-17 in the red zone this season, with eight FGs and eight touchdowns.

Michigan State’s second field goal of the game of 23 yards came after the Spartans has a first and goal at the Iowa one. Including an offside penalty on Iowa, MSU ran four straight plays for no gain before getting the field goal.

Iowa RB Adam Robinson had career bests in rushing attempts and yards (27-109). He had 20 attempts at Wisconsin and 101 rushing yards vs. Arizona. This becomes his second game this season with over 100 rushing yards (Arizona).

Iowa has outscored its opponents 113-51 in the second half in eight games. The 15 points scored at Michigan State mark the lowest total for Iowa this season (20 at Wisconsin).

There were no turnovers in the game. Michigan State had two fumbles, but retained possession.

Iowa had at least one turnover in its first seven games, with a low of one in wins over Northern Iowa (fumble) and Arizona (interception). Iowa entered the MSU game leading the nation in interceptions (15) and ranking second in total turnovers.

Iowa, in its first seven games, scored 67 points (eight TDs, four FGs) following 23 opponent turnovers (15 interceptions, seven fumbles, one blocked punt).

Iowa had recorded at least one takeaway in 40 of its last 42 games before MSU, dating back to the 2006 campaign. Iowa had collected at least one turnover in 20 consecutive games, dating back to the final contest of the 2007 season.

Iowa opponents have scored 30 points following 11 Iowa turnovers (eight interceptions, three fumbles). Michigan, Arkansas State and Arizona returned interceptions for touchdowns, Northern Iowa scored field goals following two Iowa fumbles and Penn State scored three points following an interception.

Iowa’s opponents have scored the first points of the game in all four Iowa road games this season. Iowa State, Wisconsin and Michigan State opened with a field goal, while Penn State started with a touchdown. Iowa scored 35 straight points at Iowa State, 21 at Penn State and 20 at Wisconsin.

Iowa PK Daniel Murray had a 37-yard field goal in the second period and two 20-yard kicks in the fourth. He tied his career-high of three field goals, which came earlier this season in a win over Michigan (in four attempts). He made field goals of 37 and 48 yards at Wisconsin. He made 2-3 field goals in a win at Penn State. The 48-yarder at Wisconsin is a career best. Murray has made 14-18 field goal attempts this season and all 19 PAT kicks.

DE Adrian Clayborn had another solid game for Iowa, collecting four tackles, including three tackles for loss and two QB sacks. He forced a fumble in the third period as well.

Instant replay was not used tonight.

After two straight road games, Iowa returns home next Saturday for the first of two straight games in Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes host Indiana (11 a.m.) next week and Northwestern on Nov. 7.