Posting for an IOWA fan (BrewHawk)

Submitted by DesHow21 on
Posting some good info from an IOWA fan (BrewHawk) who doesnt have enough points to post yet:
I just wanted to come over and give my two cents on what to expect from Iowa and also see what you guys had to say about what the Wolverines have to offer since this version is new to us. As far as the Hawks are concerned, we've seen very good defense, inconsistent offense and fairly solid special teams. The offense has been inconsistent largely because of players missing. We started the year with two OL out against UNI, got one of them back for ISU, but lost another (Bulaga) for the next three games, with Tony Moeaki largely absent during most of this time as well. Also out for the season is Jewel Hampton, the projected starting RB, but the two freshmen are doing just fine in his stead. Wegher is a good one. Also out here and there has been Johnson-Koulianos, but we have been as deep as ever in our receiving corps, so this hasn't been as big an issue. The other story on offense has been Ricky "Pick-Six" Stanzi. At times he's looked like the field general we need, and at others, he's giving up six points faster than you can say Oskie! He has shown improvement this year from one game to the next, but his penchant for throwing balls right at 2-3 defenders is mindboggling. We are going deep more than I've seen in the recent past, mostly due to the talent of McNutt and Stross on the outside. Moeaki's replacement, Reisner, is a very good receiving TE, but not quite the complete package with blocking ability that Tony is. Also lost in the shuffle has been great play from our FB, Brett Morse, who is a very solid blocker and decent receiving threat out of the backfield, but has seen maybe one carry so far this year. Will throw this out there for now, need to go to work. Defense to follow... Feel free to throw in details about your guys please.

More HTML wizardry (Thanks to ShockFX): Link to original post here

Irish

October 5th, 2009 at 10:50 AM ^

What is your summary of the past weekends game against Arkansas state, were they just coasting? Miscues? I didn't get to see the game but the final score was a bit surprising with the way Iowa put away PSU

loosekanen

October 5th, 2009 at 10:55 AM ^

I definitely appreciate the updates. I've watched every Iowa game myself (friendly wagering...) and agree that they're probably the most inconsistent team in the Big 10. They look like world beaters one minute and then have 30 minute stretches where they look like a MAC team.

Next time though, please aid our reading with the use of paragraphs in your posts. Cheers.

Tater

October 5th, 2009 at 10:58 AM ^

...I have been asking it this way:

Which Iowa team will show up Saturday? The one that looks like it should play in the MAC or the one that looks like it should play in the National Championship game?

I can't understand how Iowa totally controlled PSU in Happy Valley but has struggled mightily against grossly overmatched teams. As you may have guessed, I am hoping for the "bad version" of Iowa to show up against UM, but suspect that they will be "up" for the game, even during a rebuilding year for UM. It seems like when Big Ten teams see the maize and blue, they see years of UM domination, and always play to the utmost of their abilities.

I'm hoping for a game that makes the Big Ten look good on national TV. And, of course, a UM victory.

BrewHawk

October 5th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^

...not sure why the paragraph breaks didn't carry through, sorry about that.

Anywho, to answer the f/u question about Ark St.:

We jumped out really quickly against them, scoring 2 TDs in 1/2 of a quarter on two beatifully thrown deep balls. ASU was up in the box and this left these passes open in man coverage. After getting those two scores, we went back to trying to pound away at the run game with some success and scored again on a long pass from Stanzi to McNutt in the 3rd.

I think the long ball would have been there all day, but our coaches are hell bent on keeping things balanced and it almost seemed that they were running plays for teaching purposes more than anything as the game wore on. They never did get out of run-stop mode, despite our aerial assault. Stanzi threw one of his pick-6s in the fourth and this energized ASU to make an 8 minute drive to score their last TD.

The defense played well throughout the game, but we didn't do anything all that special other than DL stunts to shut them down. Their QB played an excellent game despite getting the crap beat out of him.

We also missed a 28 yd FG.

All in all, I think we coasted for the most part. No emotions going to really have that extra edge. You guys will get the full nine yards on Saturday night, especially from the Kinnick crowd who will be excited to have Michigan back in IC, and also after 12 hours of marinating.

Thanks again for the hospitality. I'll make more specific comments about the D soon.

BrewHawk

October 5th, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^

I have thought from the beginning of the season that we are a BCS Bowl caliber team (despite what you've seen on the scoreboard against lesser competition), if we can minimize crucial mistakes (or overcome Stanzi's generosity). Iowa fans don't see a Wolverine team with RichRod in his second year of transistion, they only see Michigan, and you'll get all the venom that Kinnick can muster.

I really like our defense and think that as we're finally healthy for the first time this year (and as the RBs mature), you'll really start to see the offense become a whole lot more consistent.

I also don't really believe in the transitive property in CFB and there are a lot of unknowns still out there.

What I do know is that Iowa has 16 starters back from a team that finished last year on a tear and has won every game they've played, even despite missing some key players. Iowa teams in the past would have not been able to overcome these losses. This is probably the deepest I've seen an Iowa team in my 25 years of watching them play, and we've needed every bit of it.

northmuskeGOnBLUE

October 5th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^

BrewHawk,

My buddy and I will be in Iowa City for the game on Saturday. We are looking forward to the trip. I do have a question for you regarding game day parking. I realize that it is a night game but we would like to be parked early, probably around 9am or 10am. Can you offer any parking area suggestions?

I was there for a game a few years ago and we parked at a placed called the Duck Pond. We had fun but it was quite hostile. Does this place still exist? It seems to me I remember reading that it was now closed for business.

Any suggestions you could offer would be much appreciated. Thank you.

BrewHawk

October 5th, 2009 at 1:42 PM ^

You should be okay to just find some fairly close yard parking for around $20 at that time and be able to wander around. I'm not familiar with any spots other than the reserved lots. There may be some "general admission" parking garages that aren't more than a 5-10 minute walk around the hospital.

check out www.uifootballparking.com for a map of the lots

Sorry I can't be more help. Tailgating should be starting up fairly early in the morning, despite the late start, so there should be plenty to do and see.

Hope you have a safe trip.

JerryDennard

October 5th, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^

I would second Brewhawk's analysis that Iowa appeared to coast a bit after taking a 2 touchdown lead. In addition to two quick-strike home run passes by Stanzi, the first 2-3 possessions for ASU were 3-and-outs. Iowa's D was shutting down their RB, and their QB was off target and scrambling for his life. Even their kick receiving team was bobbling their returns. It really looked like it was going to be a cakewalk.

As a result, on the 3rd and 4th Iowa drives, Iowa got themselves into 2nd-and-short and 3rd-and-short situations where Iowa took some deep shots and used a trick play (McNutt reverse pass) and tried to establish a bit of a ground game (which ASU was able to stop). There was a 3rd-and-1, for instance, where Stanzi could have just run a QB keeper to convert. On a previous possession, he did exactly that. Instead, we went off tackle and got hit for a loss and had to punt.

Then, ASU's offense woke up and marched on a long, end of 1st half drive. I think Iowa's D was playing safe cover 2 and letting ASU dink-and-dunk. ASU's QB made a beautiful 15-yard TD pass over our weak young CB, Lowe, who didn't even turn around as the ball nearly grazed his helmet. That was just ASU executing.

Iowa got the ball back with 40 seconds remaining on the 30 yard line, and all 3 timeouts, so we could have done something, but instead, Ferentz opted to just take a knee. So we went into the half as 14-7.

Third quarter, Iowa's D gets a big interception, and first play, Stanzi once again hits McNutt for the long-ball TD - 21-7. And then it just went back and forth. Iowa missed a chip shot FG. Iowa recovered a fake punt attempt and ran it back for a TD which would have made it 28-7, but the refs called it back. Iowa was marching towards a regular TD when the 3rd Quarter ended, and when the 4th Quarter started, it looked like the game was in hand. Then, Stanzi inexplicably throws a pick 6 returned for 80 yards plus a somersault into our endzone by their LB. Totally changed the complexion of the game.

Iowa drove it the length of the field to ASU's 3 yard line, but then Iowa could not convert the TD and had to settle for the Field Goal. I have no idea why Iowa was having so much trouble on 3rd-and-short and at the Goalline. It was like we couldn't do anything short all day - all our plays were either triples or homeruns or nothing. Weird offensive day.

ASU marched the length of the field for about 8 minutes to score their last TD. A very impressive drive, with their QB scrambling to convert a 3rd-and-27 and then the 4th-and-1. The Hawks had him 3rd-and-long several times on both of ASU's TD drives, and he just found receivers running around on broken plays. It's not really something you can gameplan, there's no scheme to defend that kind of play.

But then, we got the ball back and just sat on it to end the game instead of trying for one more score.

Bottom line: ASU never had the ball when they could have taken a lead, and for 3 quarters, it never seemed like Iowa was in any danger. The crowd was really more disappointed at missed opportunities in running up the score. The pick-six changed the score but was kind of a freak play (although a mistake that Stanzi just can't make - he did it before against Arizona). ASU was able to mount 2 effective, long drives, which is troublesome, but our front 4 was getting pressure - he was just scrambling and making plays. Similar to what I expect Forcier to do.

I do agree that we took our foot off the gas in the first half. You could kind of tell the O was getting a bit cocky back there - after the game, McNutt, who threw the reverse WR pass on 2nd-and-8 on the 3rd possession or so, said that he could have just ran it for the 1st down, but because he's a converted QB, he wanted to throw it. Basically, admitting he was just f-ing around. Had we converted that series into a TD, the game was effectively over. We thought we had all day.

I guarantee Iowa doesn't take plays off against Michigan if they have the luxury of a quick lead.

darkstrk

October 5th, 2009 at 1:09 PM ^

This is the only thing that Michigan does well at this point:

"The Hawks had him 3rd-and-long several times on both of ASU's TD drives, and he just found receivers running around on broken plays. It's not really something you can gameplan, there's no scheme to defend that kind of play."

juiceman

October 5th, 2009 at 1:56 PM ^

Is the Duck Pond the best place to tailgate in Iowa? I was hoping to find a nice grassy area for bags, football, frisbee, and of course pregame libations. Any tailgate information would be appreciated. Thanks.