These are just my observations from the victory. I'll start with Quarterback Spencer Petras. His numbers weren't great just 13-27 for 145 yards 0 touchdowns. I get it if you only look at the numbers he didn't play very well. I thought overall he looked more comfortable in the pocket, he stepped up in the pocket and made good reads. I don't recall too many throws where I was like what in the world. He took some chances over the middle at times but overall I thought he was solid. The one thing I noticed was he likes to throw over the middle of the field to the TE Laporta but didn't take a lot of chances down the field to our wide receivers. Indiana is supposed to have a strong back 7 so it wasn't like this was a defense he should pick apart. I like using the Tight Ends because Laporta is a really good player and Lachey even had a nice reception. The disappointing part was the wide receivers were very quiet Tyrone Tracy had 2 Catches, Nico Ragaini 2 Catches, Charlie Jones 1 Catch. This will have to improve next week vs Iowa State, we have to get more guys involved in the offense.
The offensive line was the biggest question mark on the offense outside of quarterback coming into the game. Overall I thought they played pretty well but still have some things to improve on. Petras was only sacked twice but I'll preference this saying Indiana's defensive Line has question marks too. The run game they had some explosive plays like Goodson's 56Yard TD Run. The Hawks rushed for 158 yards on 36 carries which is a decent number 4.4 yards per carry. Iowa rushed for 60 yards on two carries and the rest of the game had just 98 yards. This game probably feels a lot better because of the way the defense played but you can't rely on pick 6's to win every game. If the Hawks are going to win they have to find some more consistency in the ground game. Both Goodson and Ivory Kelly Martin lost fumbles so that was a negative.
Defensively they were dominant. Coming into the game I felt Iowa's back 7 could be as good as anyone in the country. They were facing a very skilled Indiana team who has a lot of weapons in Fryfogle and TE Hendershot. I don't know if I remember the Iowa defense playing so aggressively. The 4-2-5 Defense is a game changer vs the spread offense. The secondary wasn't give the cushion that is always open in the Iowa defense. We've all seen those plays over and over where it's 3rd and 10, the hawks drop the corner 15 yards to give an easy first down. There were very few uncontested catches on Saturday. The Hawks came up with 3 interceptions but easily could have had 5 even 6 in the game.
Dane Belton is so versatile and I loved the way they rotated him from the Cash position to the safety at times. Hankins, Moss, Koerner, Merriweather and Belton the sky is the limit for this crew. The linebackers also played very well. Seth Benson led the team with 10 tackles and Jack Campbell 6. I was really impressed by the way Benson covered he was always right there on any throw to the flat. I think he only missed the one tackle. Even Jestin Jacobs had some moments yesterday. Usually the season opener tackling is a problem but yesterday Iowa missed very few tackles.
The defensive line was the biggest question mark coming into the game. The question was could they get pressure on Penix and they did that consistently. Hawks had just one sack by Luka Van ness but they were close multiple times forcing early throws. They were able to shut down the middle run and stop the outside run. Iowa held Indiana to just 77 yards on 31 carries just 2.5 yards per game.
Well now it's time for the Big Game in Ames next weekend. The defense will be ready to face Iowa State. The Cyclones have a better Running back then what Indiana had this week so tackling will be a key again. Iowa State won ugly vs UNI but I don't think that will mean much next week. This win over Indiana was big especially when you look at some of the other cross over match ups in the Big Ten. Wisconsin lost to Penn State, Minnesota lost to Ohio State, Northwestern lost to Michigan State, Nebraska already has a loss to Illinois. Iowa and Illinois both 1-0 in the Big 10 West. Obviously it's way too early to think about this but it's a big advantage right now. I haven't been able to watch the replay yet so maybe I'll have more thoughts on the game after I watch the recording.
