Position Grades for Iowa Football: Northwestern
For the past week, rigleyvilleW has been filled with baseball clichés as Iowa and Northwestern battle to see who has the “less bad” offense. A runner crossed the plate and the Hawkeyes managed to scratch out a couple of swinging bunts. In the ninth, Iowa’s defense and special teams (again) entered the game and shut the door. The second half saw a veritable explosion of points following a score of 0-0 at halftime. Hawks prevailed 10–7.
Thus, the Hawks triumphed. Gaining is preferable to losing. My son’s team was playing, so I was unable to watch the first half live, but our quarterback play was appalling, and I kept getting text messages about it. We really do not play football like the rest of the nation, as the rewatch proved. Hawk signal calling’s pinnacles are Chuck Long and Brad Banks. In terms of this position, we are currently at Titanic depths. Deacon Hill and associates are making every effort tomay, but damn it. Hill finished with a yardage of 10-15, one touchdown, and one interception. In fact, Iowa’s game-winning field goal was set up by his 23-yard pass to Kaleb Brown. Joey Labas deserves to be given some freedom to run around. We can always hope, even though it won’t happen.
Leshon Williams ran 79 yards (3.3) on 24 totes of the rock. On eight carries, Jaziun Patterson gained 21 yards in the rush (2.6). It was not Kaleb Johnson’s game. The ball was not dropped by Iowa’s backs.
Wide receivers for Iowa are difficult to grade because they rarely see the field. Iowa’s wide receivers caught four passes for forty yards on the day. With Cooper DeJean out of control, Kaleb Brown—who was wearing a new number—caught a huge pass for 23 yards.
The team in receptions will almost always be led by Iowa’s tight end or tight ends. On Saturday, that was the situation. Stepping up to become TEU’s next big star is Addison Ostrenga. Ostrenga gained 15 yards and a touchdown on three balls caught.
Running blocks against a team that anticipates your every move can’t be simple. When your opponent realizes you are unable to complete a forward pass, it does not help. The offensive line of the Hawks did not appear as proficient as it had in a few earlier contests. Deacon Hill was sacked twice, and Iowa’s backs gained an average of 2.5 yards per carry. This would benefit from having a mobile quarterback, but the tiger (hawk) won’t change its stripes.
I fondly recall Iowa’s 34-play goal line stand against Syracuse back in the day. Phil Parker and Kelvin Bell’s crew came up with “The Stand 2.0” against the Wildcats. Deontae Craig led this group with six tackles (0.5 TFL). Joe Evans collected a sack and a QBH. Yahya Black continues to have an excellent year; he had 2 tackles and 1 sack. Ethan Hurkett had 4 tackles and 1 TFL. When your defense doesn’t allow a score in four attempts from the half-yard line, you know the boys were having fun.
A shoutout to linebacker coach Seth Wallace. Jay Higgins is having an all-American year. Higgins had 12 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 TFL. Nick Jackson had 7 tackles and a sack. Jackson is hitting his stride in Phil Parker’s defense.
When an opposing quarterback throws for just 81 yards you are doing something right. Xavier Nwankpa led this group with five tackles including a sack. Sebastian Castro also had five tackles. Cooper DeJean had a pass breakup.
Drew Stevens cooly kicked the game-winner from 52 yards and put the Wildcats night night.
Stevens converted his only extra point. Stevens missed from 53 earlier in the game. Tory Taylor’s was not quite up to his standard; he averaged 39 yards on 6 punts. Anterio Thompson blocked his second punt of the season. Thompson is a freak and it will be fun to see him develop and get more snaps.
Is Iowa always fun to watch? No. At least not offensively. Defensively, Phil Parker just keeps on keeping on. Our special teams are also worth the price of admission. Beth Goetz will be the MVP of this season. The Hawks don’t have much wiggle room, and there’s not much of a chance of us scoring more than 17 points in a game the rest of the season, but all we can ask for is a chance. Iowa football isn’t pretty; heck, it’s rather homely, but it’s ours and we love it. Keep winning games, fellas. Go Hawks!
