Hey Hawk fans I'm back with another blog, this time a review of Iowa's first loss in the Big Ten 26 to 14. We knew points would be at a premium in this game so the team that made more plays would likely win. Michigan State's defense completely shut down the Hawks besides two drives where Iowa scored two touchdowns in just under 6 minutes. When Iowa was able to get the lead I thought the Hawks were going to pull this one out but things just didn't go Iowa's way in the second half. So what did Michigan State do on defense to completely shut down Iowa's offense.
In Iowa's first 14 plays we gained a total of 22 yards and that includes four three and outs plus an interception. Rudock made a very poor throw on the pick probably one of his worse this season as Don Shumpert looked like he was able to get behind the Spartans defensive back but the throw was so far under thrown that he had no chance to make a play on the ball. That ball was 5 yards short of where it needed to be maybe the wind played a little bit of a factor but that just wasn't a good throw. Iowa couldn't run the football at all only gaining 23 yards on 16 carries. It isn't a good thing when the Quarterback leads the team in rushing with 11 total yards. I knew coming into this game that it would be tough to run the football like the Hawks had all season. In the first 5 games of the year they rushed for 200 yards plus but on the first drive I could tell we were going to have to win this game on the arm of Jake Rudock. The other huge factor in this game was field position Michigan State kept Iowa backed up all day long. It seemed that Iowa was starting inside their own 20 on most drives where as the Spartans were starting at the 40 yard line or better. In a defensive game field position becomes extremely important because putting together a long drive on either on of these defenses is very difficult.
I knew coming into this game that MSU would be the most physical defense we probably will see all season they love to play press coverage and blitz more than any other team in the Big Ten. Since the Iowa run game couldn't get going the Hawks had to try to win it by throwing the football over 40 times which just didn't happen on Saturday. Iowa on 3rd and 4th down conversions combined went 5 for 16 which wasn't going to get it done the problem was Iowa just couldn't get ahead of the chains and faced a number of 3rd and longs. Jake Rudock was 26 for 46 with 241 yards 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He didn't have his best game but I thought he still played a pretty good game. He played great in those two drives at the end of the half completing 11 straight passes including the long 47 yard touchdown pass where he read the corner blitz perfectly getting the ball to Bullock who made one man miss and was gone. The second touchdown pass was a superb throw to Fiedorowicz fitting the ball in between the linebacker and safety for a touchdown to give the Hawks their first lead of the game. The wide receivers did have some trouble getting open against the Michigan State defense but the Spartans defense came in number one in the nation vs the pass. It didn't help Iowa's offense when Keyvonte Martin Manley and Mark Weisman both went out with injuries which changed the Hawks offense. One of the things Iowa did well on those 2 drives at the half is they threw the ball to their running backs out of the backfield I would like to see more of this especially vs teams who rush the passer well.
Bullock led the Hawks in receiving hauling in 5 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown, Tevaun Smith had a breakout performance with 6 catches for 59 yards. Another new name emerged as Matt Vandeberg had his first extended action catching 4 passes for 36 yards, and we even had CJ Fiedorowictz get involved with 3 catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. This was the first game where Damond Powell ran two very good routes to get open for first downs he hauled in 2 passes for 19 yards. Losing Martin Manley early in the football game hurt the offense a lot as Keyvonte was the leading receiver coming into the game with 26 catches for 225 yards averaging 8.7 yards per catch. Losing Martin Manley hurt as he was Rudock's safety valve coming into the game but it was nice to see some of the other guys step up. Both of the turnovers hurt the first one was a bad throw and the second one Iowa was down 26 to 14 so Rudock knew he had to get the offense going and forced a pass to Powell which was intercepted. This was the difference between a veteran QB and a younger QB he forced a pass when he just didn't need too. Now that we have looked at what the offense did or didn't do vs the Spartans defense what went wrong on defense.
Big Plays, Big Plays, Big Plays, I just don't understand how this defense continues to get beat deep for touchdowns. Here's the thing Iowa is blitzing more now than ever which means we are playing more man to man defense. Iowa used to play a zone defense exclusively now we play way more man to man defense so if the corner gets beat usually it ends in a big play. Iowa also missed some big tackles when the game was 3 to 0 Iowa had a 3rd and long the Spartans threw a pass to the flat to Fowler Sean Draper came up to make the tackle but missed him to allow the drive to continue. On another 3rd down later that drive Iowa blitzed both safeties on 3rd and 7 this time Michigan State beat the blitz with a skinny post to Mcgarret Kings who beat Sean Draper on the play. Iowa fans for so many years said why do we just sit in a zone well they are seeing first hand why a lot of defenses play more zone because man to man can give up a number of big plays. The second touchdown this time a first down play action pass was a little stick and go route Fowler cut right than ran right by BJ Lowery for a touchdown. Iowa's defense played a decent game keeping Iowa in the game and when James Morris came up with the interception I really thought Iowa was going to get back in the game. The problem was Iowa moved the ball one yard than missed a 50 yard field goal after this play the game was pretty much over. The defense did give up 135 yards rushing but they only gave up 3.5 yards per carry on 37 carries. This game reminded me a lot of last year where the defense played basically the entire game but this time Iowa's defense was good the problem was the Spartans defense was great. The biggest thing that went Michigan State's way was special teams which let the Hawks down yet again.
Special teams like Big plays has killed this team all season long whether that be coverage or fake punts special teams just haven't been that good. The biggest play in the game Michigan State had the ball 4th and 7 on their own 37 yard line Dantonio called the fake which worked picking up 37 yards and a first down leading to another field goal to put the Spartans up 2 scores early in the 4th quarter. Punting was actually pretty decent as Korbraith averaged 45 yards a punt the coverage did give up a 30 yard punt return which set up another score for the Spartans. Field goal kicking Meyer went 0-1 and their kicker Geiger made 4 of 5 field goals. This game was loss in 3 areas special teams they dominated, turnovers they won the battle 2 to 1 and field position Iowa started with the ball once in Michigan state territory and only one time at their own 35, Michigan State got the ball at the 40 yard line and above 3 times in Iowa Territory once and they just controlled the field position game. Also Iowa had 10 3 and outs plus two interceptions thrown where as Michigan State had 4 three and outs. This game just didn't go the way the Hawks needed it to go to win this football game Iowa needs to be able to run at least a little bit and that just didn't happen. So what's next should we give up on the season absolutely not?
Iowa was really banged up coming out of the game so the bye week comes at a great time to get healthy before a very difficult stretch the final 6 games of the season and that starts in the Horse Shoe a week from Saturday vs the Buckeyes. I know a lot of people are disappointed with this loss and I was too but I still have a lot of hope for the rest of the season. This was the best defense Iowa will play all season but the Hawkeyes must clean up the secondary as we start to play more top skill position players. I believe Iowa will be able to run the football against almost every team left on the schedule and if they don't the good thing is Iowa had to throw the football a lot today they didn't win the football game but actually a number of guys stepped up. I think vs the Buckeyes you will see a lot more Powell and Vandeberg on the field they both looked very good and hopefully Tevaun Smith can become a consistent number 2 threat. Ohio State won't be an easy game but I'll have that preview next weekend so be sure to stop back thanks for reading as always.
Go Hawks.
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