It was a tale of two halves for the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium. The Cyclones looked like the better team for about two halves. Something changed at halftime as the Hawkeyes completely took control of the game to bring home the CyHawk Trophy. I think the attitude of this team and entire coaching staff has changed. So let's review how the Hawkeyes came out with a 31 to 17 Victory.
During the First half there were a couple of key plays that really got the Iowa offense going. Iowa State was leading 10 to 3 and had Iowa pinned at the 2 yard line. Beathard was able to just barely avoid a safety where the Cyclones would of been up 12 to 3. All the momentum was on Iowa State's side. The very next play Beathard showed how dangerous he can be running the football going 44 yards to take the ball to the 45 yard line. The very next play Ike Boettger got beat by the Cyclones defensive lineman, CJ stepped up in the pocket then slid out to his right to find Jordan Canzeri for 19 more yards. The next play Jordan ran for 9 yards, on a critical 3rd down Leshun Daniels ran for 13 yards to place the ball at the 15. The Hawkeyes facing another 3rd and 9 Beathard hooked up with Tevaun Smith on a beautiful back shoulder throw to tie the game. I thought this was the turning point in the game although it didn't last long as ISU found a hole in the defense on the first play Sam Richardson hit Trevor Ryen for 53 yards. On the play it looked like the linebackers got confused and let him run free. The Iowa defense stood up to force a 3rd and 17. So it looked like we were going to hold them to a field goal unfortunately Desmond King was beat deep for a TD.
The next play on Special teams Desmond King tried to catch the ball on the sideline and it went out of bounds at the 2. Two plays later CJ Beathard ran a QB draw 57 yards to put the Hawkeyes in business. Now is when the strange scenerio occurred facing a 2nd and 1, Jordan Canzeri was stopped in the backfield on two consecutive plays. I thought running the ball wasn't that bad of a call if Iowa gets the first down the clock stops and allows them to run more plays. Now the fake Field Goal wow who would of thought that not me, Iowa pulls off the fake Marshall Koehn runs it all the way down to the 5. At halftime Iowa State was leading 17 to 10.
The second half started and there was a switch that took place. The Iowa defense manhandled Iowa State in the second half. The Cyclones ran 31 plays for 66 yards in the Second Half. The defensive line completely took over even after the Hawks lost Ott in the first half. Nate Meier had a huge game for Iowa seemingly living in the backfield. Parker Hesse who came in for Ott made some big plays also. The first half it seemed like Richardson had all day to the throw in the second half he had no time. Jaleel Johnson and Nathan Bazata both were getting in the backfield and making plays. A big reason he couldn't find any receivers was because they just weren't open. Iowa's secondary which looked bad at times in the first half was in position every time. It wasn't just the starters, the Iowa defensive coaches showed confidence on 3rd down playing more man to man defense then I can remember seeing. Joshua Jackson a RS Freshman corner was matched up on Allan Lizard one on one and he made some very good plays. The only time Richardson could complete a pass was a back shoulder throw or an underneath pass. Iowa State also was gashing Iowa on the run in the first half but the second half Iowa just dominated.
On Saturday Iowa was the team that made all the winning plays which is why they won the game. The Hawkeyes quickly tied the game early on in the 3rd quarter when Beathard hit Krieger Coble for about 30 yards then he fumbled and right there to pick it up was Matt Vandeberg who dove into the endzone. The game was tied at 17 with everything on the line the Hawkeyes backed up again. 3rd and 21 how many times in the past would we have seen a run play then a punt where Iowa state winds up with great field position? Iowa instead let Beathard launch one he stood tall in the pocket throwing an absolute strike to Matt Vandeberg for 48 yards. Another 3rd and 7 Beathard hit Vandeberg for a 9 yard gain another first down. Two plays later Jordan Canzeri fumbled that was the only play of the second half where Iowa State made a winning play. Iowa forced another punt and for the first time Desmond King got a chance to make a play and he did a 34 yard punt return setting the Hawkeyes up at midfield. 3rd and 5 Beathard found Matt Vandeberg again for 7 yards and another first down. The Hawkeyes were money on 3rd down in the second half. On Second and 10 Beathard found Tevaun Smith on a quick hitch route for 9 yards. Canzeri picked up the first down with a run of 4 yards. On first and ten the clock running what do the Hawkeyes normally do run the ball to kick a field goal play very conservative? What did Iowa do? They go for the kill beautiful PA pass from Beathard to Riley Mccaron to give Iowa a 24 to 17 Lead. I loved seeing that it just shows a different attitude then we've seen in the past.
Another winning play this time by the defense Desmond King stepped in front of the Iowa State receiver to seal it with an Interception. This was the demoralizing play for the Cyclones, two plays Later Jordan Canzeri really locked the game up with an 8 yard TD Run. Final Score Iowa 31 Iowa State 17. In close games the team that wins is the one that makes the winning plays, Iowa made all but one in the second half. Looking at the offensive stats the Hawkeyes were balanced again CJ Beathard had 292 total yards with 3 TD passes 0 Interceptions. Jordan Canzeri with Leshun Daniels banged up ran 24 times for 124 yards 1 TD. Iowa as a team ran for 260 yards. I love seeing the balance on offense something that hasn't always been there the past few years. The Receivers stepped up Tevaun Smith had 2 catches for 23 yards with a TD. Matt Vandeberg if you didn't know him you do now what a game by Matt 9 Catches for 114 yards a TD. Then how about Riley Mccarron first career TD catch is a game winner 1 Catch 25 yards. We finally found the tight end a couple of times on Saturday Henry Krieger Coble 2 catches for 34 yards. This offense continues to get better I'm really excited about what I'm seeing.
Defensively there were so many guys that took their game to another level. Nate Meier was great making a lot of plays. How about the linebacker Ben Niemann this guy can fly sideline to sideline he made some great open field tackles. Both Cole Fisher and Ben Niemann got sacks and as a Team Iowa sacked Sam Richardson 4 times. They have 9 total sacks in two games with this secondary if they can get pressure on QB's we will see more interceptions.
All around it was a good day Saturday, we saw the Hawkeyes face some adversity trailing at the half but they took over in the second half. Punting Dillon Kidd a big shout out to him he punted 5 times for an average of 47 yards which is a huge improvement from last year. Lazard had some big returns vs UNI last week the coverage was excellent Saturday. Marshall Koehn made his only field goal attempt and kept his kicks deep in the End Zone. This was a great win coming from behind in a hostile environment. Next up is the Pittsburgh Panthers who will bring a very good team to Kinnick Stadium Saturday Night. I'll have a preview of that later in the week. Thanks for reading
Go Hawks
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