Howe: Hawkeyes Outclass Penn State
- Thread starter RobHowe
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WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Nice article Rob. Penn State had two plays when Clifford came in that amounted to 96 yards and two touchdowns. The other 71 plays amounted to 242 yards or a 3.41 per play. When you take out that early scoring drive...in 57 plays...Penn State averaged less than 3 yards a play. That's domination...57 plays is a large sample set.
HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
If I was going on Power Ratings, I would have Iowa the third best team in the Big Ten, and the best team in the West. It is a shame.
Yeah, I think the coaches again played into the strength of the jNW defense as the game went along. The third Iowa drive that resulted in a FG sort of sputtered and then the hawks went away from a balanced running and passing game. Not sure why they did that because in the win over Miss St in the Outback the hawks were not making big runs but they kept balanced and let the defense and kicking games make big plays and when the defense got good field position the offense made a few big pass plays.
That Miss St team's defense was better than jNW's and if jNW is going with 8 in the box you have to throw quick outs to the receivers and Rbacks out is space.
So as you say if the hawks didnt basically self destruct and got the win against jNW they would be in the lead in the West.
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Fitzgerald isn't going to allow you to run the ball...and especially if you want to run outside. His defense is good enough to load the box and take that away from you. It was even more pronounced this year with Petras. They aggressively run blitzed Iowa the whole game.
I'm going to tell you...BF should shoulder lot of the blame on Iowa's loss to NW. After we get the pick in plus territory in the fourth quarter...Goodson runs for 9 down to the 32 or something like that. We have a second and one, and we run outside zone left and lose 5 yards. A QB sneak at that point, gets you a first down at the 30 and you can run three plays straight at them, nothing outside and pick up 4-5 yards...and kick a damn field goal and put it on your defense. The defense was having a great second half.
I have no problem with Petras throwing 50 times in that game. That's where you have to attack NW...they are forcing you to do that and throwing the ball is where they are vulnerable. Unfortunately, our QB was playing the second game of his career and he just wasn't ready for it. The plan was right...but we couldn't execute. Spencer didn't play well and was still throwing fastballs on the short routes.
However, with 6 minutes left and the ball 2nd and one at the NW 32...you have to run straight at them. We'd had no success on the edges the entire game. You were already in field goal range. Flat out stupid play selection and strategy.
I'm going to tell you...BF should shoulder lot of the blame on Iowa's loss to NW. After we get the pick in plus territory in the fourth quarter...Goodson runs for 9 down to the 32 or something like that. We have a second and one, and we run outside zone left and lose 5 yards. A QB sneak at that point, gets you a first down at the 30 and you can run three plays straight at them, nothing outside and pick up 4-5 yards...and kick a damn field goal and put it on your defense. The defense was having a great second half.
I have no problem with Petras throwing 50 times in that game. That's where you have to attack NW...they are forcing you to do that and throwing the ball is where they are vulnerable. Unfortunately, our QB was playing the second game of his career and he just wasn't ready for it. The plan was right...but we couldn't execute. Spencer didn't play well and was still throwing fastballs on the short routes.
However, with 6 minutes left and the ball 2nd and one at the NW 32...you have to run straight at them. We'd had no success on the edges the entire game. You were already in field goal range. Flat out stupid play selection and strategy.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Can't quite do that. NW is undefeated, beat IOWA head-to-head and just beat the team that has largely owned the West this century. Iowa #4 in the B1G and #2 in the W.
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HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
Don't blame you. Northwestern deserves it for sure. But, I think Iowa would beat Northwestern by at least 2 scores if we played again. I think Iowa looks like the best team in the West.
