IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
The game went as games against games against UNI should go. Iowa dominated every aspect of the game, took a big lead, and coasted to victory. A lot of subs getting their first extended action. More importantly, no major injuries. Nice win, and on to Wisconsin!
1. QB Play- Nate Stanley put up his best stats of the year. 23-28 for 309 yards, with 1 bad interception. Unfortunately, the inflated stats do not accurately reflect his performance. Of the 23 completions, 18 were dinks and dunks to the safety valve and 5 or so were thrown more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage (the best being thrown about 30 yards in the air to Fant). At least 1/3 of the completions were thrown behind the receiver. Most involved nervousness in the pocket, randying around with jittery footwork like a timid high school backup QB. Again, this is not an "NFL ready" or even upper echelon Big 10 QB yet. Mansell came in at the end and played well. He reminded me of Drew Tate. He had swagger, he had a cannon for an arm, and he wasn't afraid to tuck the ball and run down the field. With Stanley, you don't get that confidence or willingness to take a risk.
2. WR Play - Nick Easley finally had the coming out party that we expected of last year's leading receiver. The undersized walkon had 10 receptions (more than the rest of the WRs collectively have all year) for 103 yards. He's not the fastest guy. He doesn't have the best hands. But he knows how to get open 4 or 5 yards down the field, and that is exactly what an ultra conservative QB needs as his crutch. The rest of the WR corp remains a disappointment. Stanley only completed 3 passes to WRs other than Easely in a game where he was supposed to be working on fixing the passing attack. When we go up against Big 10 defenses, our WRs will be shut out just like last year and the year before.
3. LB Play - The LBs continue to be inconsistent. In week one, Amani Jones was supposed to be the man, but he didn't show up. Week two saw a freshmen come in and lead the team in tackles in Colbert, while Nick Niemann seemed poised to take over for his brother. This week, Colbert didn't even get to see the field as a reward for last week's performance. More surprisingly, Nate Stanley ended up with as many tackles (1) as Niemann (1). Kristian Welch was back from injury and led the team with 8 tackles. Hockaday played ok but didn't record a single solo tackle.
4. DLine Play - Recruiting stars don't matter? Really? Well, 5* Epenesa came in and did what a 5* does, he got yet another sack, despite playing only 1/2 the snaps. Lattimore and Reiff also had a sack. I reiterate, I cannot remember a time where our DLine put so much pressure in my lifetime. With decent QB play, this group could make this an elite Iowa team.
5. Mental Play - 10 penalties! Unacceptable! The Stanley/Brian Ferentz "brain trust" came away with another delay of game call, but the remaining 9 penalties were uncharacteristic. Penalties cost us a 38-0 shut out, and cost Groeneweg an electric punt return. Against a good opponent, mental play can make the difference between a win and a loss.
6. RB Play- We have depth at RB, but we do not have a game changer or upper half of the Big 10 back. Perhaps we've been spoiled having Wadley around for so long, but I miss watching an Iowa back break through the first wave and take it to the house. The backs averaged 5 yards per carry when our OL outweighed their DL by 50 lbs per person, and averaged 3 yards per carry against ISU. Geil came in and showed he is not ready for prime time, averaging just 2 yards on 10 carries, which is how he played in game 1 as well. Hopefully our starter is healthy and ready to go next week, because we are going to need someone with both size and speed against Wisconsin's 3-4 front.
Big week next week!
1. QB Play- Nate Stanley put up his best stats of the year. 23-28 for 309 yards, with 1 bad interception. Unfortunately, the inflated stats do not accurately reflect his performance. Of the 23 completions, 18 were dinks and dunks to the safety valve and 5 or so were thrown more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage (the best being thrown about 30 yards in the air to Fant). At least 1/3 of the completions were thrown behind the receiver. Most involved nervousness in the pocket, randying around with jittery footwork like a timid high school backup QB. Again, this is not an "NFL ready" or even upper echelon Big 10 QB yet. Mansell came in at the end and played well. He reminded me of Drew Tate. He had swagger, he had a cannon for an arm, and he wasn't afraid to tuck the ball and run down the field. With Stanley, you don't get that confidence or willingness to take a risk.
2. WR Play - Nick Easley finally had the coming out party that we expected of last year's leading receiver. The undersized walkon had 10 receptions (more than the rest of the WRs collectively have all year) for 103 yards. He's not the fastest guy. He doesn't have the best hands. But he knows how to get open 4 or 5 yards down the field, and that is exactly what an ultra conservative QB needs as his crutch. The rest of the WR corp remains a disappointment. Stanley only completed 3 passes to WRs other than Easely in a game where he was supposed to be working on fixing the passing attack. When we go up against Big 10 defenses, our WRs will be shut out just like last year and the year before.
3. LB Play - The LBs continue to be inconsistent. In week one, Amani Jones was supposed to be the man, but he didn't show up. Week two saw a freshmen come in and lead the team in tackles in Colbert, while Nick Niemann seemed poised to take over for his brother. This week, Colbert didn't even get to see the field as a reward for last week's performance. More surprisingly, Nate Stanley ended up with as many tackles (1) as Niemann (1). Kristian Welch was back from injury and led the team with 8 tackles. Hockaday played ok but didn't record a single solo tackle.
4. DLine Play - Recruiting stars don't matter? Really? Well, 5* Epenesa came in and did what a 5* does, he got yet another sack, despite playing only 1/2 the snaps. Lattimore and Reiff also had a sack. I reiterate, I cannot remember a time where our DLine put so much pressure in my lifetime. With decent QB play, this group could make this an elite Iowa team.
5. Mental Play - 10 penalties! Unacceptable! The Stanley/Brian Ferentz "brain trust" came away with another delay of game call, but the remaining 9 penalties were uncharacteristic. Penalties cost us a 38-0 shut out, and cost Groeneweg an electric punt return. Against a good opponent, mental play can make the difference between a win and a loss.
6. RB Play- We have depth at RB, but we do not have a game changer or upper half of the Big 10 back. Perhaps we've been spoiled having Wadley around for so long, but I miss watching an Iowa back break through the first wave and take it to the house. The backs averaged 5 yards per carry when our OL outweighed their DL by 50 lbs per person, and averaged 3 yards per carry against ISU. Geil came in and showed he is not ready for prime time, averaging just 2 yards on 10 carries, which is how he played in game 1 as well. Hopefully our starter is healthy and ready to go next week, because we are going to need someone with both size and speed against Wisconsin's 3-4 front.
Big week next week!
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