I’ve said before that the only way for the Iowa Hawkeyes to get better was to change their ways and I didn’t believe that that was possible under Kirk Ferentz because all evidence I’ve seen said so. I’m not convinced that yesterday’s destruction of Illinois St. was absolute proof that things have changed but all I’ve asked for is for Ferentz to show us all that things are different and not just talk about. There were so many positives in yesterday’s game it’s tough not to get at least a little excited that things could go well this season but there are still a few things that temper my expectations.
The first major thing people want to talk about is the QB change and CJ Beathard had a nice game against the Redbirds and while I’m not about to anoint him the second coming of Chuck Long like some he was a nice improvement. The one thing that Beathard did that made a huge difference was his decisiveness with the football. On short throws to WRs or RBs in the flat timing is everything and Beathard recognized who was open quickly, decided which player to go to and delivered the ball quickly and without hesitation. He did this several times to WR Matt Vandeberg and RB Jordan Canzeri and getting the ball in the hands as quickly as possible is a key to them having a chance to make a play. Beathard wasn’t perfect and he missed the only deep throws he tried but the offense was able to sustain drives, wear out the defense and convert on third and fourth down when it counted. He also did a nice job using his legs to gain yards, buy time and keep the chains moving.
The biggest difference in the offense overall was the proper usage of the players and their abilities. The first of these was RB LeShun Daniels who brings the same power to the position as Mark Weisman did but has far more burst and much better patience and both showed yesterday. Daniels is the type of RB that punishes defenders when he hits them, frustrates them because he’s tough to bring down yet has enough burst through the hole that he catches them off guard with his speed. He wore down the Redbirds defense and while they became more fatigued as the game went on he just got stronger. The Hawkeyes also found that Jordan Canzeri is the perfect complementary back to Daniels and his usage was exceptional. Canzeri only carried the ball 5 times but he added 4 catches and he made the most of his touches and perhaps he should get a few more of each but 5-7 carries and 5-7 catches is about right. The Hawkeyes need to keep Canzeri healthy and effective in his role because he keeps the defense guessing. Using Canzeri a couple of times to run up the middle, a few times running to the edge and four times catching the ball out the backfield means the defense has to prepare for all of those things when he enters the game. When your personnel doesn’t give away your play call (we didn’t see Jonathan Parker running the jet sweep at all yesterday) it makes life fa more difficult for the defense.
Only three WRs caught passes yesterday as the Hawkeyes did most of their damage in the running game and they need to get some more guys involved (TE George Kittle and WRs Jerminic Smith and Adrian Falconer for starters) but the way they used Tevaun Smith, Matt Vandeberg and Jacob Hillyer was far better than anything they did last season. Smith only had 3 catches but they were important catches especially the one on 4th down. The fact that Iowa went with a passing play on 4th and short is in and of itself noteworthy but CJ Beathard was smart enough to go to his best WR and the play call put Smith in a great position to make the play. He needs to be more involved in the offense but yesterday’s game didn’t really require a lot from him as the team dominated in other ways. Iowa finally took advantage of the skills Matt Vandeberg does possess instead of asking him to do things he is ill-suited for. Vandeberg has a quick burst and decisiveness and throwing the quick out to him worked well against a Illinois St. team that doesn’t have the outside speed to close quickly on him. This is a far better use of him than trying to have him run go routes down the field and catch long passes with a CB or safety draped all over him. Jacob Hillyer is the big, tall WR and while he only had two catches they went for 18 and 20 yards so they used him to stretch the field a bit and that’s how you should use your bigger WR.
The Iowa offensive line had a distinct size advantage over their FCS opponent but they did the work to make it count. Illinois St. DE Teddy Corwin is a pretty good player and Boone Myers and the rest of the line neutralized him to the point where he was a non-factor. They dominated in the run game and while they will have to step up as their opponents get tougher this game served as a nice confidence boost to start the season. Two notes on the offensive line; 1. C Austin Blythe is as good as advertised and he’s going to have a great year and 2. True Freshman OG James Daniels (LeShun Daniels “little” brother) played at the end of the game and he’s going to be special.
The defense absolutely destroyed Illinois St.’s offense and while I would usually be loath to give credit to one player it’s hard not to give most of the credit to senior DE Drew Ott. QB Tre Roberson left yesterday’s game with a 95 tattoo on his body after Ott relentlessly hit and harassed him. Ott only recorded two sacks but that doesn’t even come close to telling the story of his dominance. Truthfully the entire defensive line deserves the credit but Ott was the star. While most people knew Ott was in for a great year DT Jaleel Johnson was the guy being asked to step into the rather large shoes of DT Carl Davis (now a Baltimore Raven) and he didn’t just fill in he had a breakout game. Johnson recorded a sack but he did far more than that as he was the major reason why the Redbirds running game was non-existent. RB Marshaun Coprich is no slouch but he couldn’t get anything going and only had 32 yards rushing on 13 attempts. Johnson spent almost as much time in the Redbirds backfield as Coprich did. The attention they had to pay to Drew Ott on the outside helped Johnson get free on the inside and when they tried to concentrate on both of them DE Nate Meier took advantage too. When the entire defensive line (new DT Nathan Bazata played pretty well too) dominates the rest of the defense’s jobs get a lot easier. CB Greg Mabin got a lot of work yesterday and he really played well but one thing that fails to get mentioned during TV broadcasts is that one of the reasons Mabin had so many opportunities to make plays was because QBs Tre Roberson and Jake Kolbe were smart enough to avoid throwing towards Desmond King’s side of the defense.
While I am very happy with the way the Hawkeyes played and the fact that the actually beat an FCS opponent the way they should beat an FCS opponent there are still a few things to fix over the next couple of weeks especially before the Big Ten schedule starts. On offense the team has to find a way to stretch the field in the passing game. Tevaun Smith has to get open down the field because averaging 8.0 yards per catch like he did in the Illinois St. game is not going to get it done. Whether they need to get the freshmen Jerminic Smith and Adrian Falconer on the field to do it it has to be done. Running every play within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage makes life a lot easier on your opponents and makes it much tougher on your running game. I realize the team is missing a major playmaking component of their offense without TE Jake Duzey but they need to use George Kittle and even possibly get TE Jameer Outsey some early playing time to see if they can get something going over the middle. My friend Bill pointed out one thing to me that I completely agree with and we both agree it is nitpicking the play calling but worth mentioning the last QB sneak TD by Beathard should have been a hand off to LeShun Daniels to get him a TD after he put in such a great performance all day. If you’re going to give a guy 26 carries in a game and he’s going to average nearly 5 yards a carry and his backup got an easy short TD earlier in the game you should throw the guy a bone in the fourth quarter. He did the lion’s share of the work for the day but you don’t let him run it in from a couple yards out? Daniels deserved a little glory.
A few notes.
- 3rd string RB Derrick Mitchell didn’t see action in the game because he was a little dinged up and the coaches wanted to let him heal up a little more. Akrum Wadley, who played last year but had been passed up in the off season by Mitchell, stepped in when the game was well within hand and promptly showed why Mitchell is ahead of him. Wadley had fumbling issues last year and he fumbled on his second carry of the game. Something tells me Mitchell will be just fine from now on and Wadley is about to enter the witness protection program, meaning he’ll never be heard from again.
- Three true freshmen played; WR Jerminic Smith and OG James Daniels we knew would play because Ferentz said so last week. Falconer was a bit of a surprise but not completely surprising given the fact that the WR group needs playmakers.
- As I suspected Miles Taylor and Jordan Lomax make a much better safety tandem than Lomax and Lowdermilk did as both of them were flying all over the field. Neither is afraid to hit or to cover and while Taylor had a bad missed tackle on a running back early on that wasn’t indicative of his overall play.
- The LBs played pretty well overall although life is a lot easier for LBs when the defensive line is owning the offensive line.
- Desmond King is a special talent at CB and you won’t hear his name called a lot because no one is going to be dumb enough to throw at him this year. He also did an excellent job at punt returning, I don’t remember him fair catching anything and that’s a start.
- The Hawkeye punting game wasn’t used a lot yesterday but when it was…it wasn’t pretty.
- K Marshall Koehn might hit someone in the front row behind the end zone (or the fourth row), they should consider lifting the net they put up for field goals just for safety sake. Our kickoff coverage team is just running wind sprints at this point. If Koehn has a consistent year at FGs he’ll be kicking in the NFL next year (if anyone had uttered that sentence at this time last year they would be laughed out of the room, oh how things can change). Also you have to love the fact that he came up 2 yards short of a first down on a fake field goal attempt and basically got a standing ovation because the crowd was so stunned the Hawkeyes called for a fake field goal. He was part of the most popular turnover on downs ever.
- Two fifth year seniors that played well and I hope have good years. OG Jordan Walsh looked pretty solid and after a couple of inconsistent seasons hopefully he can have the Matt Tobin-like senior year I mentioned in my preview. WLB Cole Fisher has been a backup his whole career and played special teams and he never complained, never threatened to quit and never looked to transfer and yesterday he started and led the team in tackles. He may be from Nebraska but that kid is all Hawkeye.
- Final Note: None of this matters if the Hawkeyes can’t get over their mental block when it comes to playing the Cyclones next Saturday. The game is on the road but the Hawkeyes need to get the win, not because beating Iowa St will mean anything overall but because they need the mental health it will provide for the rest of the year.
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