Takeaways as Iowa football uses ground game in Week 1 win vs. Albany

[BigD]

MSN

 

[SCHawkeye2]

"Seniors Sam Phillips and Seth Anderson being graded so badly is frustrating, given how much hype both received this offseason. Iowa needs more from both of them if this passing game wants to find life."

"Senior Addison Ostrenga was barely noticeable, despite playing 43 snaps."

"And for those wondering where graduate Mark Gronowski is, he just avoided the bottom five grades, with a 61.6 grade."

 

[guffus]

Some things I liked from the game

The new starting LBs got a lot of experience playing together as a unit and that should help in the next game.
I think I saw signs that Xavier Williams may be the future starting running back. I was surprised jazz Paterson has been demoted to 4th team but I was impressed once he got a chance to play.

Yeah, it was weird Iowa threw once to Ostrenga early and never again. I have a hunch we will see him a lot more against Iowa St

Comparing this years sesson opener to last years opener. Last year Iowa beat ILL St 40-0 but only led 6-0 at half time. Kaleb Johnson had a big 2nd half. Cade McNamara was 21-31 with 3 TD's. Reese Vanderzee had 5 catches.

But I have to admit, I did not learn much from this year's game.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Some things I liked from the game

The new starting LBs got a lot of experience playing together as a unit and that should help in the next game.
I think I saw signs that Xavier Williams may be the future starting running back. I was surprised jazz Paterson has been demoted to 4th team but I was impressed once he got a chance to play.

Yeah, it was weird Iowa threw once to Ostrenga early and never again. I have a hunch we will see him a lot more against Iowa St

Comparing this years sesson opener to last years opener. Last year Iowa beat ILL St 40-0 but only led 6-0 at half time. Kaleb Johnson had a big 2nd half. Cade McNamara was 21-31 with 3 TD's. Reese Vanderzee had 5 catches.

But I have to admit, I did not learn much from this year's game.

I thought Jazz had a solid game

The X Man is the Goods, for certain

It's All Good

 

[Sparky]

I thought 7 figure Gronowski was the 2nd coming of Jesus based on everyone's hype.

44 yards and a 61 rating? Can we get a refund?

 

[AreWeThereYet]

I looked around for any information on the strengths and weaknesses of Albany. Albany had a below average season last year after an FCS playoff appearance in 2023.

Best Units going into the season: Defensive backfield is the best unit, by far. Team captains are FS and SS. Offensive line are experienced. Runningbacks are also experienced.

Weakest Units: Coaching staff has been a revolving door since most of the 2023 staff moved on. QB is a competition among transfers. Defensive line is very inexperienced.

Albany is in the Coastal Athletic Association - FCS Tier 2
(Tier 1 - Missouri Valley & Big Sky)

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So, it shouldn't be a surprise that Iowa's offensive line steamrolled Albany's front seven.

Albany's offense looked decent for about 5 minutes than disappeared. We didn't see much of the Albany's RBs.

Parker's defense was pretty vanilla, shut down the run, deal with the pass. They appear to have made their adjustments after the Albany score.

Gronowski had a major case of the YIPS, so the coaching staff let loose the running game. Gronowski was 6 for 7 on rinkidink passes, with no style points. Although that 13 yard pass on 3rd and 13 was nice.