Tag: Iowa Michigan

It wasn’t the dominant start-to-finish performance that was on display in Indianapolis, Ind., last December when Michigan routed Iowa, 42-3, to win the Big Ten Championship game.

In that contest, the Wolverines racked up 461 yards of total offense, including 211 rushing yards on 34 carries with four rushing touchdowns. The Wolverines also shocked Iowa with a trick play that saw running back Donovan Edwards throw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Roman Wilson.

In this edition, Michigan couldn’t find the same amount of offense, finishing with 327 yards of total offense. The message was clear, though. Iowa still has a long ways to go to be a legitimate factor in both the Big Ten West and to win a Big Ten championship. The Wolverines came right out and set the tone, driving 75 yards on 11 plays for a 16-yard touchdown run from Ronnie Bell.

Then, after an eight-play drive that ended with a Michigan punt, the Wolverines came back with 13-play and 12-play drives that tacked on a 44 and 35-yard field goals from Jake Moody. Michigan led 13-0 at halftime and after the Wolverines followed up an Iowa three-and-out to start the second half with a 10-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from J.J. McCarthy to Donovan Edwards, it felt like too big of a hill for Iowa to climb.

Credit the Hawkeyes. They did manage to piece together a seven-play, 44-yard drive that was capped off by a 2-yard Kaleb Johnson touchdown run. On the scoring drive, Iowa also overcame a questionable personal foul call on center Logan Jones that wiped out a 16-yard gain from Petras to wide receiver Nico Ragaini to the Michigan 2-yard line.

Then, after the Hawkeyes’ defense added a subsequent three-and-out stop, hope started to creep in. It looked like Iowa was about to make things interesting. The Hawkeyes drove down to the Michigan 14-yard line and it was highlighted by a nice throw from Petras to tight end Luke Lachey for 34 yards.

But, if the back half of 2021 and the start to 2022 have taught us anything, hope quickly fades with this offense. Iowa stalled out and turned it over on downs. The final play was a 4th-and-2 pass to tight end Sam LaPorta that wasn’t even thrown past the sticks.

Herein lies the problem with Iowa clear as day once again: it just doesn’t generate enough offense to hang with and beat a defending Big Ten champion or what appears to once again be a contending team in Michigan if its defense isn’t lights out. Against Michigan, the Hawkeye defense wasn’t lights out.

Iowa’s defense failed to come away with a turnover and didn’t come close to registering the pair of defensive touchdowns it did a week ago versus Rutgers. Blake Corum also managed to run for 133 yards on 29 carries and Iowa let Michigan set the tone by scoring on four of its first five drives.

Maybe that’s an indication that while Iowa’s defense is certainly one of the Big Ten’s stingier units, it still can’t be counted on to completely shut down an offense with the talent that say either a Michigan or Ohio State possesses.

And, really, it probably shouldn’t have to. Iowa’s defense has to get some credit for forcing a punt and stiffening up for a pair of field goal tries in the first half and then stringing together three consecutive three-and-outs in the second half. What Iowa did defensively against Michigan was good enough to win if the offense held up its end of the equation. Counting on that just isn’t realistic, though.

Excluding the one-play drive that sent the game into halftime, on Iowa’s first five possessions, the Hawkeyes ran 25 plays for 80 yards and punted on each of those five possessions. It’s simply not good enough to beat anybody good.

And so the question becomes, who is Iowa good enough to beat with this level of offensive ineptitude? One thing is clear. Iowa isn’t contending for any Big Ten championship this season. Even with a defense that is one of the league’s better units. And that’s a shame.

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It’s going to take a tremendous effort for Iowa to down Michigan come early Saturday afternoon. That means both sides of the football and not just defense.

Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, Iowa has actually put together its two best performances together here in back-to-back weeks against Nevada and Rutgers. Iowa scored 27 points against Nevada and then followed it up with 27 more against the Scarlet Knights.

Granted, 14 of those points against Rutgers came on Cooper DeJean’s pick-six and Kaevon Merriweather’s scoop and score.

Still, Iowa did have a nice 12-play, 87 yard drive that netted a 25-yard Drew Stevens field goal just before half last week. Then, with their first possession of the second half, the Hawkeyes tacked on a 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Leshon Williams’ 2-yard rushing score. The Hawkeyes had one final 9-play, 42-yard drive that ended with a 51-yard Stevens field goal.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz discussed the offensive confidence that his team is gleaning from the past several weeks.

“Yeah, I think it certainly helps, and I think we as coaches at least we’re pretty cognizant of where we were at a month ago and where we’re trying to go. It’s a process, and the more you get your guys healthy and the more guys involved, the better off it’s going to be.

“But the most key and central element is practice, and, well, that’s how we’re going to gain ground is doing a good job during the week. We’re a little bit younger on offense, and we don’t have as much veteran leadership as we do on defense, so that’s a bigger challenge. But the guys understand, and that’s really where the things — that’s where good things happen typically, and then you’ve got a chance to carry it to a game. But again, we’re looking big picture, too, not just each day. It’s not just each week, but it’s a race against time, yeah,” Ferentz said.

According to Ferentz, practice performance has improved some, too. The Hawkeyes aren’t making as many of the same mistakes in practice.

“We’re certainly doing better than a month ago, yeah, certainly. Getting some other guys back helps you. It helps your tempo, but it’s day-to-day. Veteran guys tend to practice a little bit better. They understand and know how to do it, and that’s part — it’s a learned thing just like anything else you do in your career.

“Again, let’s go back to Tony (Moeaki). Tony got here — occasionally young guys just walk in, and boy, they have an understanding and feel and they just jump right in with it, but usually it’s a ladder you’ve got to climb,” Ferentz said.

That part has translated to the games. Iowa doesn’t have a turnover in either of the last two weeks.

“Ball security is critical and it has been for us historically. I’m not a big stat guy, but that’s one I follow really closely and we improve our chances a lot if we’re smart with the football.

“It’s a big thing and then if you can get the takeaway on top of it, that’s a bonus. But a lot of it’s just to me, two things. Concentration, really concentrating out there as a player, and then you’ve got to be sound fundamentally and technique wise. So those two things.

“And then I guess the third thing is everybody realizing everybody has got a role in that. It’s not just the guy fumbling the ball sometimes, but if you let a guy go unblocked and somebody gets surprised, those types of things, that’s how bad things happen, so it’s a team effort. I don’t think — it’s not that we weren’t concentrating those first two games, but part of that’s just getting better and getting more experience, too. But it’s a huge part in victories, that’s for sure,” Ferentz said.

Not that it was anywhere close to a masterpiece, but, suddenly Iowa looks like it’s beginning to find something with its trio of running backs in Gavin Williams, Leshon Williams and Kaleb Johnson. It’s a good problem to have trying to figure out how carries should be divvied up.

“We’ll take that week by week, too. Just depends how it presents itself. Right now it’s great to have both Leshon and Gavin in the locker room together at the same time. It’s the first time we’ve had both those guys playing.

“Kaleb is growing and getting a little bit better every week. My guess is we’re going to need all three of them. All three of them are really quality players and all have different strengths and weaknesses, so I’m glad they’re on our team,” Ferentz said.

Lastly, Ferentz responded when asked about his starting quarterback play from Spencer Petras. It’s been improved over the past two weeks with Petras completing 25-of-43 passes for 323 passing yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

“I think it all goes together. That’s what I was trying to articulate a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if we can get a fair assessment when things aren’t a little bit more in better sync than they were. Not that we’re there yet, but at least we’re making some progress.

“I think the last two weeks we’ve seen more of what we think Spencer can do and can be. He’s like everybody else; we’re all trying to move as far down the road as we can, knowing it’s going to be a tough challenge this week.

“But we’re just trying to take a step forward each and every day, and if we can do that, we might end up having a good football team, but that’s what we’re working on. Yeah, he’s done a good job, and he’s getting a little bit more help right now, and we’re going to need to do a good job Saturday,” Ferentz said.

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Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.

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