How 'bout those Hawks!? For the first time all year, the Hawks were solid in offense, defense, and special teams for all 4 quarters of the game. Iowa wins decisively, 41-3, against a supposed rival...though is it really considered a rival if one team wins 10 out of 11 years? Minnesota's freshmen QB was in over his head against the Hawkeye D at Kinnick, and they made him pay.
1. Gronowski Plays His Best Game of the Year. While his stats weren't flashy, 12/19 for 135 yards and 1 TD, Gronk was efficient. He completed almost exclusively 3 to 5 yard passes (plus a miraculous catch on a poorly thrown ball by Vander Zee), but he gave the receivers a chance to catch the ball in space and making something out of it with their legs (i.e. Wetjen averaged 16 yards per catch, but his longest reception was caught behind the line of scrimmage and another was caught 3 yards ahead of the line). The Hawks haven't had a mobile QB like this since Brad Banks, which is more an indictment of horrible personnel decisions by the coaching staff given that every other program seems to have QBs that can run, and Gronk's 24 yards rushing was huge considering sacks count against his yardage and he was sacked several times.
2. Lutmer Shines. I don't think it has been said enough, but Lutmer is just a sophomore dominating in an era when half the players out there are 6th year seniors! Five tackles, a sack, and a pick six for a kid who should be making plays for the Hawks for two more years (knock on wood). Not bad for the 116th best LB recruit in his class coming out of thriving metropolis Rock Rapids.
3. Not Everyone Had Good Games. In a 41-3 blowout, you would think everyone shined. That was not the case. I'm sorry, but Seth Anderson has no business playing D1 football at any school. Years ago, IowaLaw publicly questioned the staff's judgment when the landed Anderson out of DIII and missed out on Isaac Teslaa the same week. Teslaa went on to become a 3rd round draft pick and is playing this year for the Lions. Meanwhile, Anderson is now in his 3rd year in the program where he has more drops than receptions. That stone handed drop in the endzone had to kill Gronowski, and on 3rd and long, Anderson had his lone catch of the game, wide open with plenty of running room to get a 1st down, and he managed to go down instantly without being touched. Really bad. Similarly, what is going on with Iowa's punting game? Dakin is failing big time at flipping the field. When the Hawks are doing their usual punts near midfield, Taylor would pin opponents inside the 10 yard line...Dakin isn't even getting those punts inside the 25.
4. OLine Continues to Dominate. Going into the game, I was a little worried about the fact that Minnesota had NINE sacks against Top 25 Nebraska last week. That sounded pretty formidable. It's amazing what a difference an elite OL can make instead of Nebraska's OL. Gronk had time to throw...but more importantly, the line opened gaping holes all day long so it really didn't matter who was carrying the rock, they were going to pick up solid yardage. Let's hope the guys who were dinged up will rest up during the bye and be back for Oregon.
5. Linebacker Playing Time Continues To Mystify. IowaLaw was first (and only) to gripe about this in weeks past, but how can the coaches possibly justify having Cam Buffington ride the bench despite the starter being hurt the past 3 weeks? I get that Montgomery is a legacy recruit and maybe Kirk feels indebted to his dad, but as Iowa linebackers go, Montgomery (all 5'7 of him) isn't where you'd expect a Hawkeye LB to be. Sure enough, Montgomery played unmemorable defense for most of the game, with just 1 solo tackle (unheard of for a middle linebacker), no sacks, no deflections, no plays. Then in the 4th quarter Buffington gets a little playing time...and like he did in the Wisconsin game, he was dominant. For only playing a few minutes, he tallied 2 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and an awesome interception that he ran back 26 yards. The guy is just a freshmen and should be getting serious reps for the future of the program.
6. Wetjen Playing Like Tim Dwight? The guy is nothing short of electric. It's about damn time, after 3 years in the program, the coaching staff is finally figuring out ways to pass the ball to Wetjen in space. The Hawks are ridiculously fortunate Wetjen, who came in as a walk on, chose to stick with Iowa this season after winning Big 10 return man of the year last winter. I'd imagine there were plenty of $EC teams out there who would have paid him a fortune to return kicks for them. Similarly, there are plenty of pass happy teams could have offered him opportunities to catch 5-7 passes per game. 3 catches for 50 yards (all after catch), a jet sweep for 8 yards, and 4 punt returns for 80 yards and a touchdown make Wetjen the second coming of a young Tim Dwight.
1. Gronowski Plays His Best Game of the Year. While his stats weren't flashy, 12/19 for 135 yards and 1 TD, Gronk was efficient. He completed almost exclusively 3 to 5 yard passes (plus a miraculous catch on a poorly thrown ball by Vander Zee), but he gave the receivers a chance to catch the ball in space and making something out of it with their legs (i.e. Wetjen averaged 16 yards per catch, but his longest reception was caught behind the line of scrimmage and another was caught 3 yards ahead of the line). The Hawks haven't had a mobile QB like this since Brad Banks, which is more an indictment of horrible personnel decisions by the coaching staff given that every other program seems to have QBs that can run, and Gronk's 24 yards rushing was huge considering sacks count against his yardage and he was sacked several times.
2. Lutmer Shines. I don't think it has been said enough, but Lutmer is just a sophomore dominating in an era when half the players out there are 6th year seniors! Five tackles, a sack, and a pick six for a kid who should be making plays for the Hawks for two more years (knock on wood). Not bad for the 116th best LB recruit in his class coming out of thriving metropolis Rock Rapids.
3. Not Everyone Had Good Games. In a 41-3 blowout, you would think everyone shined. That was not the case. I'm sorry, but Seth Anderson has no business playing D1 football at any school. Years ago, IowaLaw publicly questioned the staff's judgment when the landed Anderson out of DIII and missed out on Isaac Teslaa the same week. Teslaa went on to become a 3rd round draft pick and is playing this year for the Lions. Meanwhile, Anderson is now in his 3rd year in the program where he has more drops than receptions. That stone handed drop in the endzone had to kill Gronowski, and on 3rd and long, Anderson had his lone catch of the game, wide open with plenty of running room to get a 1st down, and he managed to go down instantly without being touched. Really bad. Similarly, what is going on with Iowa's punting game? Dakin is failing big time at flipping the field. When the Hawks are doing their usual punts near midfield, Taylor would pin opponents inside the 10 yard line...Dakin isn't even getting those punts inside the 25.
4. OLine Continues to Dominate. Going into the game, I was a little worried about the fact that Minnesota had NINE sacks against Top 25 Nebraska last week. That sounded pretty formidable. It's amazing what a difference an elite OL can make instead of Nebraska's OL. Gronk had time to throw...but more importantly, the line opened gaping holes all day long so it really didn't matter who was carrying the rock, they were going to pick up solid yardage. Let's hope the guys who were dinged up will rest up during the bye and be back for Oregon.
5. Linebacker Playing Time Continues To Mystify. IowaLaw was first (and only) to gripe about this in weeks past, but how can the coaches possibly justify having Cam Buffington ride the bench despite the starter being hurt the past 3 weeks? I get that Montgomery is a legacy recruit and maybe Kirk feels indebted to his dad, but as Iowa linebackers go, Montgomery (all 5'7 of him) isn't where you'd expect a Hawkeye LB to be. Sure enough, Montgomery played unmemorable defense for most of the game, with just 1 solo tackle (unheard of for a middle linebacker), no sacks, no deflections, no plays. Then in the 4th quarter Buffington gets a little playing time...and like he did in the Wisconsin game, he was dominant. For only playing a few minutes, he tallied 2 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and an awesome interception that he ran back 26 yards. The guy is just a freshmen and should be getting serious reps for the future of the program.
6. Wetjen Playing Like Tim Dwight? The guy is nothing short of electric. It's about damn time, after 3 years in the program, the coaching staff is finally figuring out ways to pass the ball to Wetjen in space. The Hawks are ridiculously fortunate Wetjen, who came in as a walk on, chose to stick with Iowa this season after winning Big 10 return man of the year last winter. I'd imagine there were plenty of $EC teams out there who would have paid him a fortune to return kicks for them. Similarly, there are plenty of pass happy teams could have offered him opportunities to catch 5-7 passes per game. 3 catches for 50 yards (all after catch), a jet sweep for 8 yards, and 4 punt returns for 80 yards and a touchdown make Wetjen the second coming of a young Tim Dwight.
