The boos on Saturday night, in Kinnick, were well deserved. The Hawkeyes played sloppy, nonaggressive, stupid football. Never in my life, have I seen such poor offensive and defensive play at Kinnick. The points on the board were a result of a kickoff return for a touchdown and the second string defense. Big Ten play should never be a time where your opponent can rack up so many points that they can afford to put their second string in. It was embarrassing.
Let’s take a look at what happened to the offense last Saturday. It all started with the injury to our star running back, Mark Weisman. He is the only proven running back for Iowa and he didn’t play much due to his injury. Secondly, we had two offensive line injuries. The backups didn’t have any playing experience this year and very little practice with the first string. Replacing one lineman is tough, but two linemen, mid game, was a difficult task. I don’t think that offense on Saturday night was a fluke either. The Hawk’s passing game has been awful this year. We are 10th in the Big Ten in passing. That is unacceptable. A lot of people are putting the blame on James Vandenberg, senior quarterback. What the hell guys? Do you not remember the 3000 yards and 25 touchdowns he threw last year? It is absolutely ridiculous to say that James Vandenberg is a problem with the passing game. We should however, all that first year offensive coordinator Greg Davis. His new offensive scheme has been unsuccessful the first half of Iowa season. Use passing screens have led to more negative yardage than positive yardage. If it doesn’t work, don’t run the play, yet he continues to write a screen play consistently. Another problem with the offense is James Vandenberg has too many responsibilities. He is responsible for calling audibles, changing offensive line protection, and anticipating receivers breaking off their routes. This is too much for a quarterback. If as a result, James Vandenberg stares down receivers making him easy to defend. Opposing coordinators plan less and less for quarterback James Vandenberg. With all the stuff on his plate, it will be very hard for James Vandenberg to put up numbers like he did last season. The only helped to Iowa offense is the running game. If Iowa rack racked up 150 plus rushing yards a game, the fastest will be focused on the run, leaving James Vandenberg plenty of holes in the passing game.
The defense last Saturday, was not that bad, besides the defensive line. The key to Iowa’s defense is to put pressure on the quarterback and make him throw a bad pass into zone coverage. If your defensive line doesn’t get pressure, they whole defense is done. To be fair though, the defense was put into a poor situation. You can’t expect a defense to perform well if they are put out on the field for 38 minutes. This number is generous because we had the ball for most of the fourth quarter. Defenses get tired and it is very hard for them to make stop after stop when their offense goes three and out. The key to the defense is simple; keep them off the field and get pressure on the quarterback.
The Hawks struggles will likely continue throughout the season and cause the Hawks the Legend’s division championship. It seems like more and more, I sound like a cubs fan with my “next year” speech. It is very fustrating to see multiple players go to the NFL each year because it means that Iowa has talent but still loses. It seems that Iowa can't seem to put drives together with good players. I think that is a coaching problem. I really hope the Hawks with this weekend because if they don't, they won't be a contender in the Big Ten.
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