Saturday wasn't the day Iowa fans were hoping for as the Hawks fell to the Huskies 30 to 27. This was a really tough way to start the season but the good news is the team looked a lot better in this one game than all last season. The offense could move the ball in the first half. The game didn't start out good as Iowa was driving across midfield when Weisman fumbled the football. This was kind of a theme early in the game and during the 3rd quarter we made mistakes when we starting to get a good drive going. NIU got an early field goal to take a 3 to 0 lead and than hit a Playaction pass for a Touchdown to go up by the score of 10 to 0. This is where things were getting a little tense especially after we had to punt on our next offensive series but Christian Kirksey made the play of the day forcing a fumble and running it in for a Touchdown.
From this point on late in the 1st quarter till end of the second quarter Iowa dominated this football game. We got their offense off the field and forced a punt that had the Hawks backed up at our own 10 yard line. This was the first opportunity Damond Powell had in the game and made an immediate impact on a great play call a Playaction pass on 1st down completed for a 50 yard gain. On this drive Rudock seemed to be finding a bit of a rhythm just missing KMM on a crossing pattern and CJ Fiedorowicz on a post pattern. The passes were on the money and could of been caught and failed on 4th down. The next drive we really got the run game going with 7 consecutive runs to put us in field goal range I would of liked to see a Playaction pass during all the success running but we didn't and settled for a field goal. Once again after this score the defense came up big forcing Northern Illinois to go 3 and out getting the offense good field position. The play calling was aggressive on first down again as we pulled off the the Flea Flicker to Jordan Cotton for a long play probably 50 yards or so. To cap the drive off it was nice to see us find our 6 ft 7 tight end CJ Fiedorowicz for a Touchdown. This was the first lead Iowa had on the day and it really looked like we were going to start to pull away a little bit. The Defense almost had NIU off the field but on 3rd and long Jordan Lynch scrambled for a big first down if we could of got that stop I think we could of really put a lot of pressure on the Huskies. Instead NIU put together a nice drive which they capped with a little wheel rout for a touchdown as Tommy Lee Lewis beat Anthony Hitchens. Our best drive of the game which turned out to be the last Touchdown we scored was a mixture of running the football and throwing some quick passes. Rudock capped the drive with a nice 8 yard Touch down run to give Iowa 24 to 17 lead at the half.
The Halftime stats looked like this
NIU 140 passing yards, 60 rushing, 200 total 10 1st downs, 3-7 on 3rd down and 11:12 of TOP
IA 188 passing yards,114 rushing 302 total 16 1st downs 6-10on 3rd down and 18:48 of TOP
Individual stats Jake Rudock 13-21 188 yards passing with 2 total Touchdowns.
Everything was looking great until the 3rd quarter started, the defense continued to shut down the Northern Illinois offense getting a stop on their opening drive of the second half. This is where the team started to make some critical mistakes the offense could of had an easy 1st down but the offense wasn't set when we called a QB sneak. After this play a quick slant to Shumpert was thrown behind him so we had to punt. Kornbraith had a really nice punt backing up NIU to their 3 yard line. The defense got a big stop giving Iowa great field position. On the first play of the drive we ran a Playaction deep pass to Powell who was open just Rudock's arm was hit on the throw and the ball was intercepted. NIU took over around the 50 yard line where the defense once again got a big stop. This time the special teams let us down as NIU pulled off a fake punt that took them all the way inside the 10 yard line. Once again the defense made plays to force a field goal making it 24 to 20 Iowa still leading. At the very end of the 3rd quarter on 3rd and 1 Iowa made a controversial call going for the deep pass to Damond Powell another aggressive play call Rudock missed Powell by about a step or two which is a touchdown if we completed it. I personally didn't have a problem with this play, people want the offense to be more aggressive and they were you can't have it both ways. Looking back do I wish they would of just ran the ball to pick up the 1st down yeah but you can't second guess on that now.
I know the defense is taking a bad wrap for this game but they made so many stops the offense just couldn't make the plays to put this game away. The offense finally got a drive going had it 4th and 2 on the 20 yard line and we were forced to take the field goal which Mike Meyer knocked right through. The next drive for NIU Jordan Lynch found a receiver wide open in the end zone on 3rd and 7 which was a heart breaker at the time should we of blitzed because were were so successful with it all day maybe but no one knew that Lowery would hang too long on the inside receiver not allowing him to get back to the other receiver who scored to tie the game at 27. This is where we once again couldn't make the big play to put us in position to win the game on offense. The defense came up big with a clutch defensive stop when NIU got the ball back with about a minute 25 seconds. After this stop it sure looked like we had the game in the bag than on the very first play Jake Rudock made a bad decision throwing an out rout to KMM which was intercepted by Jimmy Ward to set up the game winning field goal. If you look at that play closely if Rudock would of waited just a little bit longer Jacob Hillyer was coming wide open on the curl route but he forced it and that would turn out to be the game. I don't feel that Rudock lost the game for us the execution in the 3rd quarter is what cost Iowa the game just one Touchdown in that second half and Iowa is sitting at 1-0 instead of 0-1. I still feel Iowa looked like the better team on the field we turned the ball over 3 times where NIU only turned it over once that was the difference in the game. A really tough loss to start the season but there were a lot of positives that makes me excited for the rest of the season.
Here are the final stats of the game
NIU passing yards 275, rushing 163 yards, total 438, TOP 29:20
IA passing yards 256, rushing 202 yards, total 458, TOP 30:40
Individual stats Iowa
Jake Rudock 21-37 286 yards total offense 2 TD's 2 INT's
Mark Weisman 20 CAR 100 yards
Damon Bullock 17 CAR 76 yards
KMM 9 Catches 78 yards
Cotton 2 Catches 58 yards
Powell 1 catche 49 yards
Defensively
Dominic 9 tackles
Kirksey 14 tackles FF Touchdown
Those are some of the stats that stood out for Iowa in this ball game what a tough loss but don't give up on this team yet. I saw a lot of good things from Jake Rudock and he will get better as he gets more experience. I really enjoyed the running back rotation with Bullock and Weisman in and out on about every play. I really liked what I saw from KMM did a nice job getting open, and Powell looked like a playmaker, cotton made some plays I also liked seeing the quick screens to Jake Hillyer he is a big guy who is hard to get to the ground. On defense the linebackers were free to run and make a lot of plays last Saturday because the defensive line did a nice job of tying up the NIU's offensive line. Blitzing was very effective for the Hawks as we were able to get to Lynch a number of times. I would like to see more blitzing as we move in to the schedule deeper.
Iowa now play's Missouri State this Saturday where we can end this losing streak and get ready for the Cyclones a week later. Some things I look for this weekend Iowa needs to put together a complete game, vs NIU we played really one good quarter I want to see 4 quarters of good football. I also want to see Leshun Daniels get some carries Ferentz said he will play this season so expect to see him play this weekend. Also I want to see Damond Powell more involved in the offense he has that Play making ability, I would like to see Jordan Canzeri get some more touches in space. These are some of the things I want to see this weekend. I would also like to see Jake Rudock keep the football a time or too if we are going to keep running the zone read. On defense the Line needs to be able to apply pressure on the quarterback with just 4 and the secondary needs to limit the big plays this weekend. NIU had a lot of big pass plays and Iowa needs to correct that if we are going to have a successful season. The NIU game wasn't the way we wanted to start but that is where we are now Iowa has to beat Missouri State next week and get this thing going in a positive direction. Not looking too far ahead but ISU was beat by UNI on Saturday what does that mean who knows as we have all seen this story before. All the focus needs to be on MSU get by them which we should fairly easily than get ready for ISU. There will be brighter days on the horizon Hawk fans don't give up on this team yet as always thanks for reading.
Go Hawks
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