What is up Hawk fans I'm back with a review of last Saturday's win over Missouri State 28 to 14. Okay we didn't blow them out like every fan hoped we would but the Hawks still got a win and moved to 1-1 on the season. The first half was not a whole lot of fun as the Hawks made a number of key mistakes that killed potential scoring drives.The game could of easily been 21-0 at the half but it didn't turn out that way. The red zone we need to get this solved last season we had trouble scoring touchdowns in the area last season. I liked seeing Jake Rudock getting a run pass option down in the red zone and think he can be very effective doing that to help the offense score more points not just move the ball.
So lets get to the positives the first one is we won a game after 7 consecutive losses the team needed a win to get some momentum for the season and reward them for the hard work they put in this off season. We ran the ball very well as Weisman continued to carry the load with 30 carries for 180 yards on the ground and 2 touchdown's. We also got to see Leshun Daniels this week and he looked the part in the 6 carries he received rushing for 30 yards. Damon Bullock ran the ball 10 times for 40 yards but I really believe he will have a breakout game soon. He didn't have his best game but still has the total package of speed and power that can complement the power of Weisman. The problem I see with Bullock right now is he isn't reading the holes as well as Weisman which is the reason he is getting more carries. Jordan Canzeri also had 3 carries for 13 yards as Iowa ran the ball 58 times vs MO State. I would like to see Jordan used more in spread run formations because he doesn't have the power of Bullock and Weisman but he definitely has the speed to make some things happen. When we ran the ball out of shotgun to him was when he looked to be his most comfortable. Now the thing about this number is it seemed to me that Iowa decided we could run all over them so they played pretty conservative just running the ball most of the time instead of opening up the deep Play action passes. The Running backs as a whole really had a nice game rushing for 263 total yards. We really had a lot of success running the ball to the left side of the line, the right side of the line we seemed to have some problems blocking the the bears 3-4 defense. Now remember we do have some inexperienced guards so that could be why our running backs were hit in the backfield a number of times.
Now lets get to the QB play Jake Rudock was very efficient for the most part but didn't get a lot of help from his receivers especially in that 1st half. Rudock showed off some of his mobility in this game escaping the pocket and scrambling away from the pressure to pick up 1st downs. He ran the ball 7 times for 33 yards including 2 Touchdown runs on the day. His passing numbers were 19 of 28 for 193 yards and 1 interception which turned out to be a pick 6. On the play it was a quick pop pass to Fiedorowicz where the linebacker faked like he was rushing the passer than dropped straight back into the passing lane to intercept the pass. Jake hit 10 different receivers on 19 completions which is a pretty good indication that we don't have one main receiver this season.We need the receivers as a collective group to make plays if we are going to win a lot of games this season. I though Rudock had a very good game and continues to have great potential to be a strong QB for Iowa. The only weakness I saw was he checked down a couple of times to quickly when guys were about to come open but that will happen with a younger QB especially when the Bears played a 3-4 defense and blitzed out of it a lot.
Lets talk about the Wide receivers this past weekend as they did drop a number of passes which was disappointing and hopefully this doesn't become a problem moving forward. Dropped passes have to be cleaned up the good this week we finally found CJ Fiedorowicz who caught 3 balls for 31 yards,also I loved the use of Powell as a decoy to get George Kittle wide open on the wheel route. It was nice to see Matt Vandeberg get a chance to play, he made a nice catch and is a receiver that will get to play more as we get further into the season. George Kittle is a guy that I got to see at the kids day he hasn't been used a whole lot yet except for on the deep pass to him. Another thing that I saw back at the kids day is we practiced specifically on screen passes to Damon Bullock and Jordan Canzeri from the wide receiver position. We haven't seen this play once this season so it will be interesting if we see it vs ISU. Don Shumpert had a rough game at first but looked pretty good on the 2 balls that he caught he also did a nice job blocking. Kevonte Martin Manley didn't have the number of catches he did last week but he is still a big part of the offense. The one thing this group needs is for someone to emerge whether that be Powell, Hillyer probably the best run blocker, Shumpert or Tevaun Smith or another younger receiver. We need someone to become that number 2 guy for the offense, right now it's kind of a mixed bag one week guys make plays the next week they don't. I also like the idea of getting the tight ends more involved in the offense that little screen to Jake Duzey was a great play and I would like to see more of that. This is a group where one week it might be Martin Manley with a big game and the next week Shumpert or Powell. We need these guys to find consistency if we are going to win a lot of games this season.
Defensively I thought the team was outstanding really only giving up one big play on a stop and go that Freshmen Desmond King bit on for a Touchdown. Other than that play the defense shut the Bears down as you would expect. They didn't allow their QB to scramble and even pressured him a lot even though that didn't lead to a sack, it did force some hurried passes like the one Tanner Miller Intercepted in the Endzone. Carl Davis and Louis Trinca Pasat were all over the field Saturday disrupting the Bears running game. I didn't see a lot of rotating on the defensive line and I believe that was for a reason they didn't want to show the Cyclones anything for this weeks game. I thought defense was very good most of the day they had a couple of plays that weren't smart like Hitchens hit out of bounds but overall the defense had a good performance Saturday.
This game could of easily been 42 to 7 if not for the penalties Iowa racked up 10 for 100 yards. This isn't going to get it done come this weekend and Big Ten Season. It wasn't the holding's though it is the pre-snap penalties that just kill you. We had a number of nice drives moving the ball down the field and a false start penalty makes it 1st and 15 this happened twice and it Cost Iowa points. Late hits also aren't going to help you Iowa had 2 of them one on Anthony Hitchens and one of Jacob Hillyer on Special teams. Another negative for special teams they gave up a longer kick Return which was a problem last season and Mike Meyer missed a chip shot field goal. These are some of the things Iowa needs to get cleaned up before the big game this weekend.
So what can we take away from this game vs MSU I really don't think you can take a whole lot away good or bad. It was a game where if you don't blow out the Bears the team is bad and if we did well we were supposed to do that. This was a win and that was the most important thing to come out of this game the team needed to know what it felt like to win again after 7 straight losses. I truly believe the next 4 games at least are very winnable @ ISU, VS Western Michigan, @ Minnesota and VS Michigan State. Iowa could easily be 5-1 when we head to Columbus now things could go the other way too. This is one of those seasons where it is unpredictable I could see Iowa going in and thumping ISU or I could see us lose a close one I will have my preview for the Big game in next few days so check back. I know this wasn't a pretty game overall but it is a win and that in itself was more important than blowing out a bad football team.
Thanks
Go Hawks
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