UNI Wrap Up

Okay following film review of the UNI game some of my initial impressions have been softened. Unfortunately some of them have been reinforced. That was a sloppy game from an Iowa perspective and certainly not the way the Hawks wanted to open the season. Some things I am certain of are that Mark Farley and his staff did a great job of preparing their team and UNI is better than many FBS schools. UNI may be a more physical team than our opponent this weak. And Pat Grace is a hell of a football player. We couldn't have played a better opponent to prepare for this weeks game. However, Iowa did not play a very good football game. That is unfortunately the truth. I want to break down the game into three phases Positives, Negatives and Coaching. First we will look at the Negatives.

Negatives
Interior Offensive Line: Rafael Eubanks, Adam Gettis and Dan Doering, to a lesser degree, did not have an outstanding performances in the opener. The run game didn't get off the ground and all of the sacks in the first half came up the middle. Gettis was also the lineman responsible for the holding penalty that nullified Paul Chaney's long td pass. This looked like more than lack of communication as several times all three players were physically dominated. I would guess that Doering is the only one of the three that has a chance to start all of the games and even that is tenuous at best. Fortunately Vandervelde and Calloway return this week allowing Richardson to get into the mix as he also looked like a potential weakness on the edge. The two deeps listed Richardson as a starter at one of the guard spots depending on how much Vandervelde can go so Doering may have already lost his job.

Iowa's Scheme: Normally I would be blasting KOK for playcalling and for lack of creativity. However what I mean by this is that Iowa's injuries and struggles above will dictate what they can do with their scheme. I think to successfully run the ball Iowa is going to have to have FB Brett Morse in the game. I didn't see him miss a single block or read in the run game and he also had a nice catch in the flat early in the game. He may have to line up as the third down back to pick up blitzes as he seems to be the most sure fire blocking back in Iowa's fold. I have a lot of respect for both Paul Rhodes and Wally Burnham and I am pretty sure they will be able to make adjustments to Iowa formationally.

Tackling: I understand that this was the first game but I thought that all of Iowa's back 7 were sloppy tackling and took poor angles to the ball, especially in the first half. Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds both missed key tackles on the long td drive that gave UNI momentum and chewed clock. The only player who consistently tackled well was Amari Speivey. This must be cleaned up. ISU will complete short passes they cannot break tackles for YAC.

Castillo: I know it was his first game going against a relatively experienced recieving unit and a well- oiled offense but again visions of Adam Shada keep appearing in my head. Too much cushion and very little physicality. He needs to step it up against receivers who will be bigger and faster than him this week and don't think the first 3 or 4 passes won't be coming his way.

The Business Like Approach: I am tired of hearing about how Iowa doesn't get too high or too low. Football is an emotional game. We need a little Matt Roth or Drew Tate fire in somebody on this team. I want to somebody pissed off when things aren't going well. The only time Ferentz gets pissed is at refs. Chew on some players when they aren't executing. Seniors get in somebodies face on the sidelines. Jaw with the opponent. The leadership question is still very much unanswered on this team and the coaches obviously leave the emotion up to the players. Someone needs to step up and lead.

Positives
Receiving Corps: This looks to be the deepest receiving corps of the Ferentz era. McNutt seems to be real as does Chaney. Trey Stross isn't listed on the medical report yet. DJK is supposed to be hurt but made a huge statement on the field and a stupid one off of it. Keenan Davis saw limited action and flashes huge potential. Colin Sandeman is still highly regarded by the coaching staff. That doesn't even include the tight ends. Moeaki looked like the player that killed Syracuse all by himself and Reisner quietly had a nice game blocking very well.

Moeaki: I know I already mentioned him but he deserves more mention. Moeaki's only mistake was trying to hurdle a guy early in the game. He blocked very well, ran very good routes and is obviously Stanzi's security blanket. At least twice it looked like he wasn't even running a route and floated out to catch a pass from a scrambling Stanzi. That would look great all season if he can stay healthy.

Stanzi: I understand that many Hawkeye fans weren't impressed with Stanzi but I was. I feel he has progressed greatly from last season to this season although I still think he has a long way to go. He seems much more confident in his reads, and much more accurate. He is still very streaky but when he is on he can really fit the ball into tight spots. He throws the long ball very, very well. The first sack and fumble I do put on him. He had time to make two reads and then he needed to go down hopefully he will learn from that mistake. His pocket presence is much improved from last season in my opinion.

The D-line: The move of Christian Ballard to DT seems to be a very smart move in my opinion. I thought that Iowa had to play less games in order to pressure Grace, I just think he is a good and fairly mobile qb. Klug played well but I think that Daniels should rotate in more to keep Ballard and Klug fresh. Clayborn and Binns looked very good to me and Hundertmark looked very natural at LDE. I think that UNI has a very good O-line and that Iowa did a very nice job of shutting down the run after the first two series of the game with out doing anything out of character.

Amari Speivey: I knew he was good, but I didn't realize how physical he was. I don't think he missed a tackle. I don't know why teams throw at him but I hope they continue to do so. I also think he looked outstanding in the return game. Drink plenty of water this week.

Coaching
I think that Iowa got outcoached in this game plain and simple. But they should have. Iowa needed to use this game as a tune up and Ferentz and company shouldn't have had to give a Knute Rockne type speech to get his players motivated to take care of business against UNI. When it comes to the execution vs. scheme camp you can put me solidly in the scheme camp but talent wins 90% of the time anyway so I think alot of the time that debate is a waste of time. I think that it is a coaches job to get his players in postion prepare and win games. I don't think that Ferentz and company necessarily failed to do that this week. Obviously they won the game. What I would like to see is Iowa be a little more flexible with its roster. Play less experienced, more talented players i.e. no more Paki O'Meara carrying the ball, please. I think that Paki is a great kid, wonderful Hawkeye just not a great running back. I understand the concept of no practice- no play but I also like watching winning football and relaxing in the fourth quarter of games we should be dominating. Iowa is so conservative Steve King turned an endorsement from their coaching staff. I guess what I am trying to say is open up the playbook defensively and play your most talented players offensively, please.