The CyHawk trophy is coming back home after the Iowa Hawkeyes went on the road to beat the Cyclones. The final score was 27 to 21 but that doesn't tell the whole story of the game. The facts are Iowa put together a dominating performance on Saturday night controlling both lines of scrimmage. I was very impressed with the Hawks on Saturday night anything they wanted to do vs ISU they did do. Now is this one of ISU's better teams probably not but that really doesn't matter Iowa needed to go on the road and get this victory which is exactly what they did. It did get a little shaky at the end of the game when we blew 2 coverage assignments allowing the Cyclones to creep within 6 points. Allowing the Cyclones to recover the first onside kick was disappointing but that was a very well executed onside kick by them Hamilton got a hand on the ball, he just couldn't pull it in. Now that we have talked a little about the game lets jump right into how the Hawkeyes won this football game.
The biggest thing Iowa did in this game was the offensive and defensive lines completely controlling both lines of scrimmages. It didn't matter how many guys ISU stacked in the box Iowa was still getting 5 yards a carry and a lot more throughout the game. Mark Weisman was a beast for the Hawks on Saturday doing what he does running through arm tackles and his vision to find the right hole almost every play. Iowa ran for a total of 218 rushing yards on 60 carries most of that from Weisman who went for 145 yards on 35 carries, Damon Bullock also carried the ball 13 times for 50 yards and looked a lot better this week as he was more direct running to the hole. Iowa ran a total of 83 plays which is 20 more plays than the Cyclones were able to run on Saturday as the Hawks controlled the tempo of the game. I believe the tempo Iowa plays at will only help when they get into Big Ten play. The running game was a big key in our win but Jake Rudock really played a nice game on Saturday night.
Jake was very solid on the road in a hostile environment making enough plays to win the game and not making critical mistakes to lose the game. Jake went 14-23 for 160 yards and 2 touchdown passes 3 total touchdowns scoring one on the ground. I really liked the way the hawks allowed Rudock to get out of the pocket and throw on the run. He made some nice throws on the run where like the one where he hit Tevaun Smith down at the 2 yard line. That was a perfect pass and set up the first touchdown for the Hawks. Later on the drive we ran a nice play action where Rudock rolled left this time to find Kevonte Martin Manley with our first touchdown going up 7 to 0. Iowa was also very good on third down converting 11 of 20 first downs a number of those were short runs by Weisman but Rudock also made a some good passes to convert first downs. The most impressive thing for me was after the Cyclones scored to cut the lead to 13 to 7 Rudock had two huge 3rd down conversions on this drive. One was 3rd and 6 at about the 40 he hit Martin Manley on a little drag rout to pick up the first down and keep the drive going. The other big 3rd down conversion happened later that drive again 3rd and 6 the Cyclones brought all 3 of their linebackers on the blitz Rudock passed the ball to Jake Hillyer on a little curl rout he went up and caught the ball broke the tackle to score a touchdown. This was critical part of the game the Cyclones were getting some momentum and Iowa put together a great drive to extend the lead back to 20 to 7. Jake really looked comfortable in the pocket or outside the pocket throwing on the run. I could see on his face how bad he wanted to win this game and it was great to see him go over to the offensive line to pat them on the back saying great job. I thought this was his best game in his biggest game so far and he should only improve the more he plays.
The defense completely shut down Iowa State except for about 3 plays which were all long touchdowns the first one Lowery missed a tackle that allowed Bundridge to break it for a touchdown. The other two were late in the game where Lowery got beat in man to man coverage and the other one was a good play call by ISU with the quick slant to score another touchdown. Other than those plays Iowa completely dominated this football game. The defensive line played their best game so far this season really getting great penetration on about every single play. Another big plus for the line was they finally got to the quarterback sacking Sam Richardson once and causing Richardson to hurry a number of throws. The defense forced 2 turnovers both interceptions one by Lowery and one by Morris which set up a field goal. The defense really shut down Iowa State's offense only allowing 59 rushing yards. The secondary did give up some big plays late in the game but for the most part they were very good vs the Cyclones. The defense only allowed 7 points until late in the 4th quarter where they gave up some touchdowns to make the game look closer than it was.
The great thing to me was Iowa just physically dominated this football game on offense or defense it didn't matter the Hawks were the more physical team. This was great to see because the years Iowa has had a good football team it has been because they can run the football and play defense while making plays off the play action pass. This team has that same potential we have a number of running backs even though Weisman and Bullock have received the majority of the carries so far. Rudock has proved he can be very effective on the playaction pass I'd still like to see him hit a deep ball but overall very strong. The defense has some things to clean up in the secondary but the front 7 seems to be improving every week. Our defensive line has dominated the last 2 games what that means for the Big Ten season who knows but it's encouraging they are getting better each week. Special teams even helped out the Hawks on Saturday Mike Meyer made 2 of 2 field goals and Jordan Cotton had a big kick return after ISU scored to cut the lead to 13 to 7. This was a huge road win for the hawks and should only give us momentum as we move forward in the season.
Now since the Hawks didn't play until 5 on Saturday Night I had a long time to catch some of the other Big Ten teams on television. I watched parts of the Nebraska, UCLA, when I turned it on Nebraska was up 21 to 3. The next thing I know UCLA scores 28 straight points in the 3rd quarter to take a commanding lead and go on to win 41 to 21. Nebraska's defense is not good they have a lot of improving to do if they are going to be a good football team. I also was able to see a lot of the Michigan, Akron game they kind of slept through this game and got very lucky to win stopping Akron on the 2 yard line. Devin Gardner is a very good quarterback but he tends to make at least one bad mistake each game if this trend continues they could be beatable. I was able to see some of the Northwestern and Western Michigan game which was a pretty good game for a while before Northwestern pulled away to win 38 to 17. Northwestern was really able to run the ball extremely well vs Western Michigan so I believe Iowa should be able to also. I'm still not sure on the Wildcats defense they are very opportunistic but when Iowa plays them if we don't turn the ball over we should have a chance to win that game. The final 2 games I got to see on the night Purdue, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, Arizona State. I was surprised that Purdue was able to hang around with Notre Dame I still don't think they will be very good come Big Ten Season. The final game I was able to catch was Wisconsin and Arizona State the Badgers are who we thought they were a team that runs the ball a lot. Their secondary was not very good on Saturday night allowing a number of pass plays and being penalized for at least 4 pass interferences that I saw. Their QB play wasn't very good either. If you look at the Big Ten right now you have Ohio State and Michigan than the rest of the conference. There are a lot of people in the media who love the Northwestern Wildcats and Wisconsin I'm just not ready to say they will be that good. That is my little BIG Ten review now lets look ahead to next week for the Hawkeyes.
The Hawks have the Broncos of Western Michigan next weekend should be an interesting game another must win for the Hawks. If Iowa can get this one we finish the non conference 3 and 1 with two winnable games to start the Big Ten season. This week Iowa got a big road win next week they need to take care of Western Michigan and get ready for the start of Big Ten play. In the Big Ten I'm just not sure how good the conference is I see a lot of winnable games or games we could lose. I think Iowa will surprise some teams this season as we know Iowa always wins a game they aren't supposed to and loses one they shouldn't. I'm really excited about the team going forward this win at Iowa State should give the team a momentum boost as we move into conference play. The Big Ten Season is coming but first we must take care of the Broncos on Saturday. As always thanks for reading I will put together a preview of the Western Michigan game in the next few days.
Go Hawks
No comments:
Post a Comment