Iowa played like I thought they would this week - tough. Arizona wanted to have a track meet but the Hawkeyes wanted to have a street fight. How about that prediction score? Not too shabby. The Hawks remain unranked after the 27-17 win over the Wildcats. Hopefully they will continue to feel salty and disrespected.
And the game ball goes to...: Adam Robinson. The redshirt freshman from Des Moines turned in his first 100-yard performance of his collegiate career, racking up 101 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Robinson continues to lead the team in rushing, pushing his season totals to 233 yards on 45 carries with three touchdowns.
Tip of the cap: to defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Clayborn was a flat-out beast on Saturday. At one point in the game, I remember saying,"when you run down a running back as a D-End, you're doing something right." Clayborn had six tackles, a forced fumble and three QB hurries.
Wag of the finger: to Ricky Stanzi, again. Once again, I had to dig to find a scape goat and Stanzi seemed like the only weak point on Saturday. The junior signal caller looked good, hooking up on 20-of-32 passes for 205 yards despite the absence of his two favorite targets - DJK and Tony Moeaki. Stanzi, however, threw an interception toward the end of the first quarter which was returned by Arizona DB Trevin Wade 38 yards for a touchdown, tying the score at 7-7. The pass looked like a duck out of his hand and Wade was all over it. Stanzi has to be mistake-free next weekend if the Hawks want to win a tough road game.
Final thoughts: The defense looked awesome. Could it be possible this year's defense is as good, if not better than last year's - even without King and Kroul? Iowa looked every bit like the "bullies of the Big Ten," as the Hawks had their way against Arizona's run-happy offense. Nic Grigsby entered Kinnick Stadium as the second-leading rusher in the nation. But the Arizona junior was limited to his fewest touches of the season (14) as the Iowa defense seemed to be everywhere. Grigsby rushed for 75 yards on 11 carries - 58 of which came on one run in the second quarter; Arizona was held to a field goal from the Iowa one-yard line. Oh yeah, and Mr. Interception (Tyler Sash) struck again this week.
Also, congrats to punter Ryan Donahue on being named Big Ten special teams co-player of the week. Donahue averaged 51 yards on five punts against Arizona. He had four kicks of fifty yards or more with a long of 62 yards. He has had at least one punt over 50 yards in 13 of Iowa's last 15 games.
Next week: The Hawks travel to University Park, Penn., to tangle with No. 5 Penn State. The game will be nationally televised on ABC at 7 p.m.
Kirk Ferentz is 6-2 as the Iowa head coach against the Nittany Lions, including a 3-1 record at Beaver Stadium. Iowa took the previous meeting in last year's breath taking 24-23 win over the Nittany Lions. Penn State will be out for revenge as the 2008 game cost the Nittany Lions a shot at the national title.
No comments:
Post a Comment