JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Here are some final thoughts from Iowa's Insight Bowl win on Tuesday night...
The more I reflect on the game, the more impressed I am with how the Iowa football team responded. During the weeks leading up to the game, I wondered how this year's team would respond to the off the field adversity given how they responded to the on field adversity, namely the last game of the year when Adrian Clayborn said the team lost its will to win. I felt they could have put the on field stuff behind them and chosen to go out with their best effort, one more chance to add a positive chapter to this three year legacy. I was not convinced that would be the case, however, as several players have NFL futures and most teams that have significant numbers of NFL players on it deal with the 'go for mine' factor; as in not wanting to get hurt in your final game.
Then you add the DJK, Jewel Hampton, Brandon Wegher news and the circus that followed some of that, plus the day of the game the players wake up to learn that Adam Robinson had been arrested on possession of marijuana charges back home, that's a lot of stuff.
I held out hope, and really that's all it was, that the 2006 Alamo Bowl could be an example of a team staying focused and on the same page with the coaching staff. Kirk Ferentz has admitted the 2006 season to be his most disappointing, and the loss to Minnesota that year being the low point of his era. He called that team fat cats at one point in the year, and there was an air of entitlement in the program.
Yet that team was up 21-3 on a nine-win Texas team in the second quarter before they called back the touchdown due to a player being lined up a half yard off the line of scrimmage. Iowa lost that game but that team, which didn't have great chemistry, bought into what the coaches were preaching and gave a proud effort.
This year's Iowa team may have had better chemistry than the 2006 team, but there were plenty of reasons to doubt they could right the ship. Yet, they did right the ship.
I believe that performance will reverberate throughout the off season and perhaps for seasons to come.
Beating a Top 15 opponent in a bowl game like that, and doing it with the same philosophical approach they have always used will have to speak to the underclassmen on the team. It has to speak to the fanbase, too; the coaches are still in control.
Iowa ran its bread and butter offense and the running game was working extremely well despite losing it's leading rusher and possible MVP in Robinson. The offensive line played its best game since the Michigan State win and Josh Koeppel looked solid at right guard, though he was the 4th string option there in August. Colin Sandeman stepped up and made some huge catches to move the chains and the Hawks were effective enough through the air without the services of their all time leading receiver. Don Nordmann even chipped in with one reception for 38 yards.
The kickoff return team averaged 29.5 yards per return without the services of the Big Ten's leading return specialist in DJK who averaged 29.3 yards per return this season and the kickoff coverage team played arguably their best game of the season, limiting Missouri to just 16.4 yards per return.
The football fates even balanced out Iowa's kicking game, as Mike Meyer's last point after attempt ricocheted off an upright and went in.
This wasn't a flawless game by Iowa, but seldom has this been a flawless program.
It was a team win, and the foundation of this program is all about every man executing their job. For the most part, the Hawkeyes did this on Tuesday night when there were plenty of reasons to believe they would not.
At some point I will ask Kirk Ferentz where the Insight win ranks in his career with regards to the most satisfying victories; I suspect it will rank near the top, because his players bought in one final time in a season where that became more and more difficult as the weeks, and losses, marched by....
This is my first look at some of the season totals...I mentioned Mike Meyer a few sentences ago. He finished the year making 14 of 17 field goals as a true freshman. The great Nate Kaeding hit on 14 of 22 during his freshman season. Meyer was 6 of 7 20-29 yards, 6-7 30-39 yards and 2 of 3 40-42 yards. 42 was his longest attempt, against Indiana, and he made it. He made a 40 yarder against Wisconsin in a pressure situation and missed a 40 yarder against Ohio State in a pressure situation. His 30 yarder against Michigan was also under the gun, as were both attempts against Missouri, in my opinion. I'd call this resume a great start.
Iowa allowed 20 sacks this season. That's not going to lead many articles during the next nine months but it stands out to me. Ricky Stanzi isn't the most mobile quarterback Iowa has ever had and I would not call him slippery. The Iowa offensive line was the smallest in the Big Ten, yet they held their ground. Again, they played very good against Missouri, a team that came into the game with 38 sacks; they didn't get one against the Hawks. But given Iowa's pro-style offense and lack of a dual threat under center, 20 sacks is a solid total; it was closer to 50 allowed in 2007. The future of the offensive line is very, very bright.
Marcus Coker's rookie totals were 114 attempts for 622 net yards in seven games. (That's three Iowa freshman backs to top the 600 yard mark in the past two seasons, by the way). That's an average of 5.5 yards per carry. Here were his totals in his three starts (Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri): 76 carries for 438 yards (5.76/carry). Adam Robinson averaged 4.6 yards per carry. Coker is faster than Robinson and is looking to be similarly tough as a runner. That extra speed, however many tenths of a second it is, allows him to get through a hole quicker than Robinson and get to the second level, meaning he is more of a threat to break long runs. This is one of the reasons why Jewel Hampton's injury was so devastating this year, because the undersized Iowa line was going to open holes that stayed open for shorter periods of time, therefore even a tenth of a second quicker to the hole was going to mean a big difference in the big play department for Iowa on the ground.
Coker has a very, very bright future. He reminded me of several former backs on Tuesday; a dash of Shonn Greene, a touch of Ladell Betts and a scoop or two of Nick Bell vs Illinois in 1990.
With the bright prospects of Iowa's offensive line next year, Coker will have so much motivation to improve this off season, because the audition he just put forth in the Insight Bowl should only be the beginning. I had hoped he could make exponential strides during bowl prep in the pass blocking department and he did just that; it was a night and day difference and if you watch the tape again, you will see him doing an excellent job. Not perfect, but considering the number of blitz looks Missouri gave Iowa on film, it was excellent.
PS: Do you think Rodney Coe and Mi'kail McCall were excited to see that Insight running performance? I think Jake Rudock would like seeing that too, because a pro-style quarterback's best friend is play action passing and play action passing's best friend is a good ground game.
Speaking of Rudock, he was named the Big School Player of the Year for Broward County Florida. This year, leading his team to not only the Florida State title but the Mythical National Title, he was 157 of 242 for 2,827 yards with 36 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Some Iowa fans were worried about recruits like Rudock looking elsewhere given the tumult of November and December. The Insight win was good tonic.
Speaking of passing yards, Ricky Stanzi threw for 3004 yards this year becoming just the third Iowa quarterback to top the 3,000 yard mark in a season and the first not named Chuck (Long and Hartlieb). He had 25 TD passes to 6 INT's and completed 64.1% of his passes. He would have liked to finish better on the field, but he finished like a true leader and champion off the field, taking blame for many of Iowa's ills and in some instances taking too much of the blame. That is what leaders do.
James Vandenberg has all of the physical tools to be just as good as Stanzi on the field, if not better. That jumped off the TV when he played against Ohio State now. He has had a chance to learn from Stanzi for the past three seasons. Let's hope he can be the leader that Stanzi was. JVB will benefit from a very good offensive line the next two seasons. More on that later this week and next, and the next nine months, really.
For all the talk of the players Iowa has to replace off of this team, and some we are still waiting on, there may not be bigger shoes to fill than those of punter Ryan Donahue. When some fan bases hold their breath when their punter comes onto the field, Iowa fans expected excellence every time. Thats because Donahue delivered that more often than not. Nearly half of his punts were downed inside the 20 this year and almost 30% were 50 yards or longer. He was a great weapon, a friend to both the offense and defense and he will be sorely missed.
Jeremiha Hunter led Iowa with 90 tackles; Micah Hyde was second with 82. Freshman James Morris had 70. Karl Klug led Iowa with 13 tackles for loss with Mike Daniels second at 11. Klug's 5.5 sacks were tops on the team and Daniels had four. Adrian Clayborn had 7.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
