I wanted to post my impressions of the Hawkeye game yesterday and how it might effect the game next week. Original intent was to ask Clone fans to do the same but that’s not really possible now.
Kinnick - The north stands looked great. Subjective opinion was that t was louder but we will see.
Defense - Looked really good. Pitched a shutout until garbage time. Classic bend but don’t break. They gave up some rushing yards but replaced Amani Jones with Hockaday and it really shored things up. Pass defense was really good but....
Oh my goodness was the NIU quarterback awful. Slow at making decisions. Held the ball. Then he wasn’t very accurate. Their running backs were pretty decent and the offensive line was very good, but the QB was ungood.
Offense - Stanley didn’t look good. Or at least looked average. He hit Hockenson on some really nice throws and made a beautiful deep throw that Fant flat dropped. The running game was inconsistent in the first half, rock star good in the second half. The backup tackles were fine. The all whatever defensive end was for the most part neutralized. All three RBs looked good. Iowa basically abandoned the pass in the second half as they could run at will.
ST - mixed bag mostly positive. Had a punt blocked as a player flat missed an assignment. But, punting was much improved. Return game was much improved. Especially punt return. Groeneweg (sp) looks like Andy Brodell.
For next week, I think Iowa’s going to be able to run the ball. They need to work out the passing game, but we’ve been saying that for like five years. The potential is there. Early in the game, it seemed like NIU made an effort to take away Fant but Hockaday was beating them up a little. I think that’s something that you’ll see this Saturday. ISM looked pretty good. Brandon Smith not so much.
Edit to add - Penalties. Iowa had three holding calls and a chop black. Pretty atypical for them. Ferentz seemed to attribute them to an officiating interpretation. I don’t know but it killed a number of drives.
Kinnick - The north stands looked great. Subjective opinion was that t was louder but we will see.
Defense - Looked really good. Pitched a shutout until garbage time. Classic bend but don’t break. They gave up some rushing yards but replaced Amani Jones with Hockaday and it really shored things up. Pass defense was really good but....
Oh my goodness was the NIU quarterback awful. Slow at making decisions. Held the ball. Then he wasn’t very accurate. Their running backs were pretty decent and the offensive line was very good, but the QB was ungood.
Offense - Stanley didn’t look good. Or at least looked average. He hit Hockenson on some really nice throws and made a beautiful deep throw that Fant flat dropped. The running game was inconsistent in the first half, rock star good in the second half. The backup tackles were fine. The all whatever defensive end was for the most part neutralized. All three RBs looked good. Iowa basically abandoned the pass in the second half as they could run at will.
ST - mixed bag mostly positive. Had a punt blocked as a player flat missed an assignment. But, punting was much improved. Return game was much improved. Especially punt return. Groeneweg (sp) looks like Andy Brodell.
For next week, I think Iowa’s going to be able to run the ball. They need to work out the passing game, but we’ve been saying that for like five years. The potential is there. Early in the game, it seemed like NIU made an effort to take away Fant but Hockaday was beating them up a little. I think that’s something that you’ll see this Saturday. ISM looked pretty good. Brandon Smith not so much.
Edit to add - Penalties. Iowa had three holding calls and a chop black. Pretty atypical for them. Ferentz seemed to attribute them to an officiating interpretation. I don’t know but it killed a number of drives.
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