Saturday was ugly, but the season is still young

Well Hawk fans, THAT was discouraging. Just when it looked as if the Hawks had steadied the ship, they play one of the worst games of Hawkeye football in recent memory. No touchdowns for the first time since '07. Only 169 passing yards, a measly 84 rushing yards on 30 attempts, and 3 turnovers. The Penn State defense was as good as advertised, stifling Iowa all afternoon. PSU's offense put on a sub par performance as their red zone struggles continued. They managed to score 3 out of 4 red zone visits, but only had one touchdown in those four tries.

Silas Redd had a huge game against Iowa,
rushing for 142 yards on  28 carries

Iowa's biggest issue on defense was stopping the run. They held Penn State's mediocre QB duo to 164 passing yards, but they gave up 231 total rushing yards, and 142 of those went to Silas Redd. As I mentioned in my last post, Silas Redd was a potential rushing threat to Iowa, and he definitely ran wild on Saturday. Take a look at Penn State's only touchdown drive, and you will see how poor Iowa's defense was at stopping the run.

Psu	1-10	at Iowa49	PENN STATE drive start at 14:12.
Psu	1-10	at Iowa49	Redd, Silas rush for 5 yards to the IOWA44 (Kirksey, C.).
Psu	2-5	at Iowa44	Redd, Silas rush for 8 yards to the IOWA36, 1ST DOWN PSU (Binns, B.).
Psu	1-10	at Iowa36	Redd, Silas rush for 7 yards to the IOWA29 (Morris, James;Bernstine, J.).
Psu	2-3	at Iowa29	Suhey, Joe rush for 6 yards to the IOWA23, 1ST DOWN PSU (Morris, James).
Psu	1-10	at Iowa23	Dukes, Curtis rush for 5 yards to the IOWA18 (Nielsen, Tyler).
Psu	2-5	at Iowa18	PENALTY PSU holding 10 yards to the IOWA28.
Psu	2-15	at Iowa28	Dukes, Curtis rush for 11 yards to the IOWA17 (Miller, Tanner).
Psu	3-4	at Iowa17	Dukes, Curtis rush for 4 yards to the IOWA13, 1ST DOWN PSU (Daniel, Lebron).
Psu	1-10	at Iowa13	Suhey, Joe rush for 1 yard to the IOWA12 (Binns, B.).
Psu	2-9	at Iowa12	Redd, Silas rush for 4 yards to the IOWA8 (Daniel, Lebron).
Psu	3-5	at Iowa08	Redd, Silas rush for 6 yards to the IOWA2, 1ST DOWN PSU (Morris, James).
Psu	1-G	at Iowa02	McGloin, Matt pass complete to Haplea, Kevin for 2 yards to the IOWA0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:08.
			Fera, Anthony kick attempt good.
			Penn State 13, Iowa Hawkeyes 3

Every play of the drive was a rush except for the touchdown on the final play. Penn State ran the ball 11 straight times, gaining 41 out of the drive's 49 yards simply by pounding Iowa's rush defense. That is not what Iowa defense is known for, and they definitely will be working to fix that in the weeks ahead. Lineman Adam Gettis definitely thinks Iowa will improve. Keep in mind, there are even better rushing attacks in the Big Ten.

James Vandenberg's stats took a hit. He remains 2nd in the Big Ten in Passing Average per Game, but dropped to 5th in passing efficiency. Despite the slight dip in stats, Vandenberg is still is a premiere passer in the league. Saturday's loss provided a good road test for a progressing quarterback in his first full season. Marcus Coker was productive, going for 77 yards on 18 attempts. Marvin McNutt led Iowa receivers with 4 for 73.

Overall, this loss for the Hawks is discouraging, but there is still plenty of season left. A road loss in a tough environment is bound to happen, especially with Iowa's inexperienced defense. Penn State has a pretty good team this year, so there's nothing to be ashamed of here. Iowa still has a ton of potential for this season. Look at the schedule ahead of us in the next 3 weeks:

10/15	vs. Northwestern	6:00 CT
10/22	vs. Indiana	11:00 CT
10/29	at Minnesota	TBA

If Iowa can finally beat their kryptonite of Northwestern, they can add to the winning streak with 2 straight games against two of the Big Ten's worst. Iowa really needs to take advantage of these next three games, and start a winning streak in Big Ten play. A 3-1 B1G record (2-0 Legends) would be a morale booster for players and fans going into the Michigan game.


Quick Hits:

• There is an AWESOME plan in store for crowd involvement in Kinnick Stadium this Saturday. Look for it around the time of the National Anthem...
• Brad Rogers has finally made his way back to the playing field after dealing with a heart ailment http://hawkcentral.com/2011/10/10/comeback-trail-turns-surreal-for-brad-rogers/
• Here's Adam Rittenberg's mid-season report for Iowa http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/35367/midseason-review-iowa-3
• You can win Iowa MBB season tickets and other prizes this Saturday at 12:30 in Carver Hawkeye Arena. Take a break from tailgating to stop by and watch Head Coach Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeye basketball team.