This was the kind of game where it sucks to be a Hawk fan. You know you're going to be the underdog against a team with the athletes USC has. You know you're going to need to get a few breaks, limit the mistakes, and outcoach your opponent to stay in the game. You go nuts when there are 30 seconds in the first half, the Hawks held a 21-7 lead and you start believing "we might actually pull this one off and have a shot at the playoffs. Then reality sets in, you get a few questionable calls, your OC gets out coached, and the athleticism of the opponent catches up with you. The team played hard but the final score was a gut wrenching 26-21. FOUR one possession losses.
1. Lester Struggles Beyond His Opening Set of Scripted Plays. The Hawks usually come into games with a set of 10-15 pre-set plays that are creative and keep opponents off balance. They go against tendency. Counters. Play action. Misdirection. WR passes. But by the time the second half rolls around the scripted plays run out and the coach actually has to coach/outcoach the defensive coordinator. That's when the play calling goes stale and conservative. Way too many When that happens, unless you have an elite punter and defense, leads evaporate like water in the desert. The Hawks turtled up and couldn't muster a single point in the second half.
2. Lutmer Continues to Shine of Defense. This loss doesn't fall squarely on Iowa's bend don't break defense. Giving up 26 points against a high octane offense like USC happens to the best of em. But the lone bright spot in terms of individual play week in and week out appears to be Lutmer, who is going to be a good one next year. On the day, he had 8 tackles (a career best) and a nice tackle for loss. If he could pick off a few more passes he'd be all-Big 10.
3. Iowa's DBs Exposed. There's a reason the staff desperately tried to find a CB out of the portal last year. They failed, and were stuck with matching up Lee and Hall against elite talent at WR. In years past, this could be helped by having all-Big 10 safety shadow the receivers. This year, it's X back there to help with coverage. He will be featured in several WR highlight reels lying on his back and watching them do their touchdown dances.
4. The Hawks Lack a Single Big 10 WR. Wetjen is an elite return man, no doubt. But after seeing the 5'8 walkon with his alligator arms vs. the long and lanky WRs at USC, Oregon, and Indiana, you wonder how the Hawks could ever have a shot against ranked opponents again. Wetjen had two bad drops in the first two series. VanderZee, who still hasn't stepped up to become the #1 receiver, had an inopportune drop as well. On the day, Gill, VanderZee & Howard each managed just 1 catch. Huge portal get Anderson...0 catches again. By comparison, USC's top two receivers managed 17 catches.
5. Can't Beat a Good QB Without a Pass Rush. Once again, the Hawks were getting zero pressure on the QB. Maiava had all day to throw despite blitzes and stunts. You can't allow a guy to throw 32 passes while managing just 2 sacks and 0 interceptions. The Hawks lack an elite pass rusher (hopefully young Eppy will develop into one next year), and Jayden Montgomery and his 3 tackles per game / 0 sacks at LB could be the biggest drop off at a position we've seen since whoever had to replace Brad Banks.
6. Why Go Away from the Run Game? On rainy days, games are won and lost in the trenches. The Hawks had the run game cooking despite injuries throughout the OL. Yet for reasons unknown, they went away from what was working in the second half. Moulton had a solid game with 15 rushes for 90 yards (6 ypc) and Jaz, as always, didn't get nearly enough carries, with just 8 carries for 37 yards (4.6 ypc), including a few shoe string tackles away from breaking a big one. Despite the talent at RB and the struggles at QB and WR, Lester opted put the game in Gronk's hands. It resulted in yet another loss.
1. Lester Struggles Beyond His Opening Set of Scripted Plays. The Hawks usually come into games with a set of 10-15 pre-set plays that are creative and keep opponents off balance. They go against tendency. Counters. Play action. Misdirection. WR passes. But by the time the second half rolls around the scripted plays run out and the coach actually has to coach/outcoach the defensive coordinator. That's when the play calling goes stale and conservative. Way too many When that happens, unless you have an elite punter and defense, leads evaporate like water in the desert. The Hawks turtled up and couldn't muster a single point in the second half.
2. Lutmer Continues to Shine of Defense. This loss doesn't fall squarely on Iowa's bend don't break defense. Giving up 26 points against a high octane offense like USC happens to the best of em. But the lone bright spot in terms of individual play week in and week out appears to be Lutmer, who is going to be a good one next year. On the day, he had 8 tackles (a career best) and a nice tackle for loss. If he could pick off a few more passes he'd be all-Big 10.
3. Iowa's DBs Exposed. There's a reason the staff desperately tried to find a CB out of the portal last year. They failed, and were stuck with matching up Lee and Hall against elite talent at WR. In years past, this could be helped by having all-Big 10 safety shadow the receivers. This year, it's X back there to help with coverage. He will be featured in several WR highlight reels lying on his back and watching them do their touchdown dances.
4. The Hawks Lack a Single Big 10 WR. Wetjen is an elite return man, no doubt. But after seeing the 5'8 walkon with his alligator arms vs. the long and lanky WRs at USC, Oregon, and Indiana, you wonder how the Hawks could ever have a shot against ranked opponents again. Wetjen had two bad drops in the first two series. VanderZee, who still hasn't stepped up to become the #1 receiver, had an inopportune drop as well. On the day, Gill, VanderZee & Howard each managed just 1 catch. Huge portal get Anderson...0 catches again. By comparison, USC's top two receivers managed 17 catches.
5. Can't Beat a Good QB Without a Pass Rush. Once again, the Hawks were getting zero pressure on the QB. Maiava had all day to throw despite blitzes and stunts. You can't allow a guy to throw 32 passes while managing just 2 sacks and 0 interceptions. The Hawks lack an elite pass rusher (hopefully young Eppy will develop into one next year), and Jayden Montgomery and his 3 tackles per game / 0 sacks at LB could be the biggest drop off at a position we've seen since whoever had to replace Brad Banks.
6. Why Go Away from the Run Game? On rainy days, games are won and lost in the trenches. The Hawks had the run game cooking despite injuries throughout the OL. Yet for reasons unknown, they went away from what was working in the second half. Moulton had a solid game with 15 rushes for 90 yards (6 ypc) and Jaz, as always, didn't get nearly enough carries, with just 8 carries for 37 yards (4.6 ypc), including a few shoe string tackles away from breaking a big one. Despite the talent at RB and the struggles at QB and WR, Lester opted put the game in Gronk's hands. It resulted in yet another loss.
