Iowa Vs Ball State

It was a rainy afternoon on saturday when the Hawkeyes hosted the Ball State Cardinals. Iowa got off to a slow start which was kind of expected after last week on the opening drive we had two drops that Stanzi put right on the money. The defense dominated long enough for the offense to get going in the first half we finally got some points when Adam Robinson took it in for a TD. The key player in this game on offense for me was Keenan Davis it seemed like he really got the team fired up he had three catches on the Hawkeyes second Touchdown drive including the Touchdown catch to put us up 14 to 0. It seemed like this drive really got us fired up. The offense got off to a slow start but really turned it on in the second quarter Ricky Stanzi was great in the first half. Offensively Ricky Stanzi if he gets time to throw the ball he will make plays he is one of the best quarterbacks in the big ten. Our wide receiver core is very good so if our offensive line can give him time they will get open and make plays. The only thing our offense did was they dropped a few passes, fumbled the snap and had a lot of holding penaties which was dissapointing. Stanzi was 19 of 25 for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns in this rain that was very impressive it didn't seem to effect him at all.

Our running backs all looked good Adam Robinson may not be the fastes guy in the world but he stays low to the ground, is very patient and runs through a lot of arm tackles. He had a great game against Ball State and played a lot better this week then vs Arizona. The offensive line rally did a nice job opening holes for Robinson and he did a nice job finding the holes and making big plays. Robinson is a good running back who can also be used in the passing game we haven't used him that much in the passing game yet but as we saw vs Ball State he can be very effective when he gets the ball in space. Can Robinson take the majority of the carries without some help in the big ten I don't but I was very imprssed with the way that Rodgers and Coker ran the football both are nice change of pace to Robinson because they love to look for contact a lot like Shonn Greene. The offensive line did a great job of just tiring out the Ball State defense and once they did they dominated the line of scrimmage. Robinson can handle a big load at running back but I still think we will need either Rodgers or Coker to step up and be that change of pace back.The offense put up 560 yards of total offense

My impression of the back up running backs and which one will eventually take the change of pace spot, at the game to me it really looked like Coker was a monster who was big and strong and very hard to tackle. It was very nice to see Rodgers and Coker get in the game and get some experience in case we need them. Brad Rodgers really showed some nice explosiveness for being such a big guy he really hit the holes hard and showed how quick he could get down the field. Rodgers really showed some nice vision with his cutbacks on the stretch play plus I love how he finished runs putting his head down. Coker has some real power he may run a littl bit straight up but they will get that taken care of and he will run more low to the ground and when he does he will be very hard to tackle at 6 ft 230 pounds this guy will break a lot of tackles.Coker slos caught a pass out of the backfield and really looked like the full package. I think we will be just fine at the running back position both of these guys can play and should be able to help us as we get deeper into the big ten season.

Defensively they played great I though our corners played very well in this game and completely shut down the Ball State offense. I don't think there is a defensive line in the country that has five players as good as Iowa does. Mike Daniels is just starting to come on and with him rotating in keeping bodies fresh this defensive line is downright scary.When Clayborne is being double teamed that leaves plenty of opportunities for Daniels, Ballard, and Klug to make big plays for the defense. When you look at our linebackers they have been all over the field and that continued today with Tarpinian being in on  a lot of tackles. Our secondary was very good on Saturday not making any mistake and Micah Hyde pulling down an interception was good to see he really looked like he was starting to get it playing on instincts instead of trying not to make a mistake. If Hyde can continue to develope into a great corner that will only make this defense better as we saw on Saturday when they want to they can totally shut a team down only giving up 112 total yards and becoming the overall number 1 defense in the nation.

Special teams was a lot better this week our coverage was better but on punts I would like to see our gunners be able to find the football better when they are trying to down a punt. Our kicking game we have  a lot of questions like who is the kicker on this team yesterday Meyer kicked he missed his first attempt but made his second so he went 1 for 2 in kicks and made all of his extra points. Our special teams looked a lot better this week including Colin Sandeman having a couple of nice returns and he even looked like he could take one to the house in the future. There are still questions about special teams but it seems the coaches have began to put more freshman on that kickoff coverage to see if they can spark the coverage.

Next week we play Penn State I have not been impressed with the Nittany Lions they have really struggled to get the run game going untill yesterday when they finally ran the ball well vs Temple. They have a True Freshman QB in Rob Boldin who is very capable of making plays but also I think our defense will be able to force him into a couple of turnovers. They haven't played well this year and this is a game we should win as long as we don't make mistakes. Overall this was a good win and one we needed to see some of the younger players on this team we stayed healthy for the game next week and got a blowout 45 to 0 win. I like how we bounced back following a tough loss in the desert.