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Iowa Football: Three Takeaways From Win Over Rutgers
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Three takeaways from the Iowa Hawkeyes first win in Big Ten action
It wasn’t pretty but the Iowa Hawkeyes escaped with a win over Rutgers to kick off Big Ten play. A week after falling to North Dakota State at home, Iowa came into the game needing to answer a lot of questions. They failed to do so, in fact, they might have added even more to the table after barely squeaking by a mediocre Rutgers team.
Iowa once again never gained any momentum this week. They ended up winning 14-7 in a game that featured 13 punts and as many turnovers on downs as touchdowns, three. They avoided their first Big Ten loss since 2014, however many people are coining this as the roughest two game stretch in the C.J. Beathard era.
It makes sense, though. Not much has gone right on offense and the defense barely held Rutgers in check this week to ensure a win. With homecoming weekend next Saturday, and Northwestern in town, the Hawkeyes hopefully will be able to get back on track.
Still, a win is a win and the Hawkeyes improved to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. They avoided a disastrous start to Big Ten play, which seemed like a possibility late in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t the type of win many fans expected from Iowa on Saturday, although their struggles have become a common occurrence over the past two weeks.
Here’s a look at three of the biggest takeaways from their win over Rutgers.
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa Wants to Pass Early
After averaging 1.4 yards per carry on the ground a week ago, establishing a run game early seemed vital for the Hawkeyes success. Instead, the Hawkeyes called six pass plays to one running play on the first drive of the game. C.J. Beathard scrambled out of the pocket three times, gaining 18 yards on the ground, and started the afternoon 1-for-3 through the air.
The Hawkeyes continued to turn to the arm of C.J. Beathard early in the game, refusing to run. In fact, in the first quarter, Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels Jr had a combined four carries, compared to Beathard’s six pass attempts and three carries.
It would have made sense if Rutgers started the game stacking the box, dedicated to stopping the run. Although, while their defensive line was aggressive all afternoon with blitzes, they never honed in on stopping the run, at least not effectively. Wadley and Daniels ran for 20 yards in the first quarter, averaging five yards per carry.
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Coming off a game where not owning a consistent ground attack hindered the passing game, it was strange to watch Kirk Ferentz go to the air time and time again in the first half. Plus, the Hawkeyes receivers had a hard time getting open all game. Rutgers defensive backs stuck on them like glue, which forced Beathard to have to scramble or take a sack.
Kirk Ferentz has made a living off pounding the ball, however has gotten away from that over the past couple of weeks. The run game proved to be ineffective against North Dakota State, however that doesn’t mean the Hawkeyes should abandon it. Plus, it seemed like if they gained minimal yardage on first down, the coaching staff would panic and quickly call two pass plays.
It would have been a lot more effective for the offense to keep pounding the ball than to let their already banged up quarterback continuously take hits. As a result, Iowa could have developed a play-action game that has been missing from their arsenal through the first month of the season. With a tough secondary and aggressive defensive line, the Hawkeyes refused to change their game plan to try to get the defense off-balance.
Granted, the Hawkeyes did hand the ball off to Daniels and Wadley 25 times, but four carries came in the last drive of the game when the offense was trying to run out the clock. Therefore, their 21 carries is just three more carries than they had against North Dakota State and significantly less than when they pounded the ball early against Miami (OH) and Iowa State.
When it comes down to it, Matt VandeBerg and George Kittle are good receivers, however the Hawkeyes don’t have an elite quarterback – receiver duo to rely on their passing game as much as they do. Their bread and butter is to pound the ball, which worked extremely well on Saturday, to help set up play-action.
Considering Beathard completed just 52.6 percent of his passes, and Wadley and Daniels combined to average 4.8 yards per carry in the first half, it’s shocking that Iowa never wavered away from the passing game.
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Offensive Line Isn’t Great, But Better
One of the biggest concerns heading into the week for the Hawkeyes was how well their offensive line would play. The Hawkeyes ran the ball effectively in two of their first three games, however their offensive line hasn’t given C.J. Beathard a ton of time in the pocket all season and the Bison manhandled them a week ago.
Based on the fact that Iowa averaged 5.1 yards per carry, and Daniels and Wadley averaged 6.4 yards per rush, it’s evident that the Hawkeyes offensive line proved to be a lot better this week. Even though they didn’t face the daunting North Dakota State defense, many people expect improvement from this group every week.
They faced a lot of injuries to start the season, which forced the Hawkeyes to move players around. As a result, they’re not quite in mid-season form, yet. Iowa’s offensive line is still gelling together, although they did look a lot better this week.
Sure, Rutgers had a couple of good pushes when they blitzed, and Beathard got hit hard a couple of times, however, for the most part, they weren’t terrible. Besides a questionable chop block call on the first play of the second half that negated a 75-yard TD run by LeShun Daniels Jr, the line didn’t make any horrible mistakes.
Of course, Rutgers isn’t the best measuring stick game. Northwestern’s tough defense will be a much better test for this offensive line. Although, considering the amount of blitzes and looks Rutgers threw at them, they handled it very well for a group who hasn’t played together all season.
Against Northwestern, though, Beathard will have to scramble like he did this week, but also needs to know when to get rid of the ball. There were too many times where he was given five-to-six seconds in the pocket and took a sack instead of throwing it away. They’re costly negative yardage plays for an offensive who struggles to gain big chunks of yardage at a time. Plus, the Hawkeyes can’t afford to lose Beathard to an injury.
Next week will be a better test for this group, but they looked a lot better this week, and it showed in the run game. If Iowa devotes themselves to pounding the rock like in previous years, that could also help an offensive line who seemed to be much more effective than when Beathard dropped back to pass.
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Run Defense is Shaky
The defense did their job just like they’ve done all season. They held the Scarlet Knights to just seven points, which should have been more than enough for a Hawkeyes blowout. Despite keeping Rutgers off the scoreboard until 12:45 remained in the game, Iowa still had problems stopping Robert Martin.
He finished the game with 106 yards on 21 carries — five yards per carry. As a team, the Scarlet Knights only averaged 3.6 yards per carry and became less effective in the second and third quarters. Although, to start the game and in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes defense looked eerily similar to last week.
Rutgers continuously punched the Hawkeyes in the mouth by running it up the middle with ease. The defensive line got no push and a bad first quarter team nearly scored on their first drive of the game, before a penalty pushed them back. In the first quarter, Martin ran for 59 yards on only eight carries — 7.4 yards per carry.
However, his was production was minimal after that. Rutgers never seemed fully committed to handing it to Martin, despite Chris Laviano being ineffective and Janarion Grant leaving the game with an ankle injury. Here’s a look at Martin’s production quarter-by-quarter:
1st Quarter: 8 carries, 59 yards, 7.4 YPC
2nd Quarter: 5 carries, 15 yards, 3 YPC
3rd Quarter: 3 carries, 8 yards, 2.7 YPC
4th Quarter: 5 carries, 24 yards, 4.8 YPC
Even though the game stayed close and Iowa never figured out how to stop him in the first quarter, Rutgers shied away from Martin at times. Still, Justin Goodwin torched the Hawkeyes for 74 yards on 11 carries, and their defense up the middle lacked all game.
It’s why the Scarlet Knights held the ball for 6:18 to start the game, driving all the way to the eight yard line at one point. It’s also how they went 88 yards for a touchdown in 4:36 that spanned between the third and fourth quarter. The Scarlet Knights handed the ball to Goodwin and he ran straight up the middle with ease.
It was evident last week, and even more so this week, that good running backs can burn Iowa up the gut. It’s a problem that could surface next weekend against Justin Jackson, and later in the year when Iowa hosts Wisconsin and Corey Clement.
In the end, though, Iowa only gave up seven points and came into the game as a top-20 defense in points allowed per game. They do what they’re supposed to do, although penalties and goal line stands might not work against the cream of the crop later in Big Ten play.
Teams will take advantage of a very big hole on that defense, and that could prove to be a crucial area in an otherwise sound defense.
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