Walking the Beat: Iowa
The No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers (9-0, 6-0) will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-3) on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, so to get the inside scoop on the Hawkeyes we asked Tom Kakert of HawkeyeReport.com a few questions - and his answers are included below.
So … where the heck did that Ohio State game come from? I don’t think any of us expected that. Can you break down how the Hawkeyes got the Buckeyes to fold like a lawn chair last week? And was that a game where everything was working or a sign of bigger things to come for Iowa this year?
Tom Kakert: I think Iowa fans were wondering the same thing, where the heck did that performance come from? It literally came out of nowhere. Other than scoring 45 points against a bad Illinois team, Iowa hadn’t scored more than 19 points in the other four Big Ten games before Saturday. To see the Hawkeyes put up 55 on Ohio State, I was pretty much floored and shocked, as were many other folks in the media.
I think the key for Iowa was they got off to a great start. A pick six on the first play from scrimmage really set the tone. The Hawkeyes had been close to putting things together offensively. It was a mix of penalties, drops in the passing game, and poor offensive line play that kept the offense stalled much of the time. All those things were positives on Saturday against the Buckeyes. They didn’t make mistakes, they caught just about every pass, and the offensive line led the way giving up just one sack and the Hawkeyes rushed for 244 yards.
I think the big question is can they sustain this level of play and right now, I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that right now. We will find out on Saturday, but one key thing Iowa did was they went against the tendencies on offense. They threw more than they ever have on first down. Teams had been stacking up on the line to stop the run and Iowa had run a lot on first down. It wasn’t working. Last week they went play action a lot on first down and it worked. Now we wait to find out if that is now their chosen path the rest of the season.
Nate Stanley looks to be having quite a strong sophomore season, much to the chagrin of UW fans who wanted the Badgers to recruit him under old head coach Gary Andersen. What kind of steps forward has Stanley taken this season, and what do you think his strengths and weaknesses are?
Tom Kakert: Nate Stanley has really been a pleasant surprise this year. He’s a true sophomore and played a little bit in a reserve role last year behind C.J. Beathard. Stanley had a pretty good battle with Tyler Wiegers in the spring and into fall camp for the starting job and won it in August.
He really cemented himself as the starter in the second game of the year, leading Iowa to an overtime win over Iowa State. On that day in Ames, he threw for 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. It was great performance against what has turned out to be a pretty good Iowa State team. Then this past week, once again 5 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions against Ohio State. My guess is that performance will likely be the headline of his season given who the Hawkeyes were facing.
Stanley has a very strong arm and he’s really grown as a leader this season. He’s a pretty quiet young guy, but his presence has been better in the pocket as the season has progressed. He had a tendency to lock into one receiver earlier this year, but now he’s working through his progressions much better. One area that has been written about quite a bit this season has been his inability to connect on deep passes. He struggled much of the year in this area, overthrowing open receivers down the field. He’s also had a few drops on deep balls, but most of them have been just thrown too far. In the past few games he’s done better at putting the proper loft on the ball to match the distance needed and Iowa has had more success with deep passes.
I am kind of curious to see how he handles playing in his home state on Saturday. The natural instinct, especially for a young player, is to getting a little too anxious and nervous in this sort of situation and that could lead to mistakes. Stanley’s pretty much a flat liner when it comes to emotion, so my feeling is he will be fine, but you never know with situations like this.
Who else do Wisconsin fans need to keep their eye on when Iowa has the ball this week? And has their offense changed much with Brian Ferentz running the offense as the team’s new coordinator?
Tom Kakert: The offense looks a little bit different under Brian Ferentz. When Greg Davis was in charge, Iowa’s passing game was really pretty limited. Not as much work for the tight ends and most of the passes were outside the hashmarks. Under Ferentz, there’s a lot more work to the tight ends and much more passing in the middle of the field. For example, last week, Iowa’s top two tight ends, Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson, caught 9 passes and all of them went for a touchdown or a first down. In the passing game, those are two of the players to watch along with Nick Easley, who is Iowa’s leading receiver, and Matt VandeBerg. If Iowa’s taking a shot down the field, watch for freshman wide out Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
Iowa’s run game has really struggled much of the season. Last week was a step in the right direction when the Hawkeyes ran for nearly 250 yards. The leading back to watch is Akrum Wadley, who went over 100 yards against the Buckeyes. He’s explosive and Iowa will throw the ball to him in space out of the backfield. The other back to keep an eye on is James Butler, who had a 53 yard run last week against Ohio State. As far as the scheme, Iowa’s not going to be too exotic. The stretch play is their bread and butter. Teams have done a good job against it much of the year, but last week they really hit on that play quite a bit.
Iowa’s always had a reputation as a stout defensive team - do they live up to that reputation this year? Who are the key players to watch this week, and what do you think the group’s strengths and weaknesses are?
Tom Kakert: I think all of us have really not spent enough time praising the defensive effort this year from the Hawkeyes. If not for the crazy decision by Iowa’s punter to call a fake on his own deep in Iowa territory in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes would have held Ohio State to just 17 points. That would have meant that only Penn State would have scored more than 17 points in Big Ten play against Iowa.
This year has been pretty much typical Iowa defense. They tend to allow opponents to drive between the 20’s and bend, but don’t break in the red zone. Their rush yards and passing yards totals are not all that impressive, but they seem to have the ability to rise up when they need to around the goal line. The key for the Iowa defense is always stopping the run and also not giving up big plays over the top of the defense. If they do those two things, it’s usually a winning formula.
The Iowa defense is led by middle linebacker Josey Jewell. He came into the season as a potential All American and he has lived up to that every game this year. He leads the conference in tackles and if something is happening near the line of scrimmage, he is in the middle of it. The real breakout star for the Hawkeyes this season has been cornerback Joshua Jackson. He leads the conference in passes broken up and last week he intercepted three passes against Ohio State, including a highlight reel one handed pick in the fourth quarter. Up front, I would keep an eye on Anthony Nelson and A.J. Epenesa at defensive end, Ben Niemann at linebacker, and safety Amani Hooker has emerged as a playmaker at safety.
Finally, what do you expect to see this weekend? Who wins and why?
Tom Kakert: This game is almost always a tough one to call because in many ways the two programs are mirror images of each other, particularly on offense. The schemes are different on defense, but the goals are still pretty much the same.
I always think this game in particular is decided up front. Generally the team that wins the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball wins when Iowa and Wisconsin play each other. I also think turnovers are a real key to this game. The last time up in Madison, a fumble near the goal line essentially decided the game in Iowa’s favor.
I think it’s pretty remarkable that the last six years, the road team has won this game. You just don’t see that happen at this level of college football. Iowa has had good success in Madison over the years, but I do worry about a bit of a letdown after the big win last week over Ohio State. I think this one goes deep into the fourth quarter and Wisconsin wins by three points, 20-17.
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.