Well, that was definitely a... football game? Yes. Yes, it was. A frankly pretty ordinary football game, one that Iowa won by the comfortable score of 27-10. Look, we were promised the Sickos Game of the Week. We were sold on this game as the greatest punting showdown of the week year century. (We partook in some of that hype, as well.) But both offenses actually moved the ball (at times) in this game; there were only 10 total punts in this game. Tory Taylor was credited with only five punts in this game, a new season-low! (One of Iowa's punts was credited as a "team" punt in the box score; that might have been the one that was partially blocked by Rutgers.)
Of course... even if the game wasn't a 9-6 sicko extravaganza like many hoped/expected, it wasn't really that normal, either. The over hit in this game (for the first time all season in an Iowa game)... but not until the fourth quarter and the only reason the over was in any jeopardy whatsoever was because of two defensive touchdowns by Iowa. Iowa's defense (two touchdowns) matched the output of the Iowa and Rutgers offenses combined (two touchdowns). And not to toot my own horn too much, but...
Barring a shocking reversal of form for the offenses and defenses in this game, the total is only likely to be threatened by unconventional scoring plays -- i.e., defensive or special teams touchdowns. We can't rule those out, of course, but special teams scores figure to be difficult to come by as well. Kick return scores (mostly) require the other team to also score and set up a kickoff opportunity. Punt return opportunities should be (much) more plentiful -- but this game is also going to feature two of the very best punters in college football (more on them tomorrow), both of whom specialize in booming punts that are difficult (if not impossible) for opponents to return. That leaves just defensive scores and while those are very unpredictable, we certainly probably can't expect three or four defensive touchdowns in this game.
Er... what about two defensive touchdowns? Turns out that was enough, with the Rutgers and Iowa offenses being able to move the ball enough to muster 23 points between them.
As for the punting... what it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality for the most part. Four of Taylor's five official punts were downed inside the Rutgers 20-yard line, with three of those four downed inside the 7-yard line. That included his first punt of the game (fair caught (!) at the 4-yard line) and his last punt of the game, a beautifully placed 51-yard bomb that bounced out of bound at the Rutgers 6-yard line. He did nothing to damage his standing as the best punter in the Big Ten (and the nation) with his display tonight, although he did hurt his net punting average (42.6 tonight, down from his season average of 48.3). Korsak punted even less than Taylor -- just four times! -- and while I thought Taylor got the better of him in terms of quality punts, Korsak did drill two of his kick inside the Iowa 20-yard line. He also continued his streak of no touchbacks and of no returns on his punts this season. We didn't quite the prolific puntfest that we were promised, but we did see some pretty potent punting all the same.
The story of the game was probably the Iowa defense, though, and especially those defensive touchdowns. Without those games, the score would be just Iowa 13, Rutgers 10 and we're undoubtedly looking at a much nervier second half. While the Iowa offense again took a while to find any sort of rhythm, the defense decided to bring back some 2021 vibes and hop back on the turnover train -- and even find ways to transform those turnovers directly into points. (A savvy move on the defense's part, having watched the offense struggle to turn even brilliant field position into points in the first three weeks of the season.)
The first defensive touchdown was a simply spectacular play by Cooper DeJean, who's making a real habit of doing things like that. (This was his third consecutive game with an interception.)
PICK-6!@cdejean23 x @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/q6Vc4fONN6
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 24, 2022
There was a key assist on the play to the Iowa defensive lineman who absolutely crushes Rutgers QB Evan Simon as he releases the ball -- that made the pass a bit underthrown. But all credit to DeJean, who first made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch (any outfielder would be more than proud of that web gem), then stopped, changed direction and weaved across the field and through seemingly the entire Rutgers offense before entering the end zone to finish the pick-six. DeJean was officially credited with a 45-yard touchdown return after the interception, but he had to cover at least twice as many yards on that runback. It was an absolutely dazzling play.
The second defensive touchdown again featured a key assist from a bone-crunching hit by Sebastian Castro on Rutgers WR Joshua Youngblood that jarred the ball loose after an 18-yard catch-and-run. The ball popped loose right in front of Kaevon Merriweather, who did not look this gift horse in the mouth but instead picked it up and ran it back for a straight-shot 30-yard touchdown that pushed Iowa's lead to 14-3.
A little scoop and score action from @Kaevon02 leads to another defensive score by @HawkeyeFootball. pic.twitter.com/YV6sqcgo53
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) September 25, 2022
That was the first of two Merriweather turnovers on the day; he also had an impressive interception in the third quarter. (And he nearly pulled in a second interception in the fourth quarter, too.)
This was the aggressive and opportunistic, ball-hawking defense that we saw from Iowa so often in their 10-2 regular season last year. Considering the ongoing travails of the Iowa offense, we're probably going to need to see the defense continue to make big plays and find the end zone a few more times this season to help Iowa secure wins in Big Ten play. The pass rush certainly made things pretty miserable for Simon; Iowa's defense was officially credited with 2.5 sacks (1.5 for freshman phenom Aaron Graves, 1.0 for Lucas Van Ness, and 0.5 for Jay Higgins) as well as five QB hurries, on top of several other plays where Simon took a pounding from Iowa defenders. That said, he still managed to throw for 300 yards, albeit not with a great deal of efficiency (29/50, 6.0 yards per attempt). Iowa did stifle the Rutgers running game pretty well -- 61 yards on 24 carries (2.5 ypc) -- but there were still a few weaknesses in the Iowa defense that were exposed by Rutgers in this game. The turnovers and touchdowns more than made up for those flaws here, but I'm sure Phil Parker & Co. will be looking to try and touch up those flaws for the rest of the season.
Still, the defense held Rutgers to 10 points and out-scoured the offense (14 points to 13) in this game, so any complains about their performance are mere quibbles -- overall that unit was outstanding, as they almost always are. The Iowa offense... well, it didn't get in the defense's way. The offense didn't commit any turnovers for the first time all season and they had enough productive drives to limit Tory Taylor to just six punting attempts, which were positives. And at times they showed real progress -- the in the second and third quarters the offensive line was actually pushing the opposition around and opening some decent-sized holes for Iowa's running backs, which Kaleb Johnson and Leshon Williams were all too happy to zip through. Even Spencer Petras looked improved at times tonight; his final line of 11/17 for 148 yards, 0 TD, and 0 INT is fairly unremarkable, but his passes were more accurate (including an absolutely perfect deep ball dime to Sam LaPorta for 42 yards) and his decision-making seemed a bit stronger.
That said, there was still a lot to be concerned about with the offense. They still only managed 277 yards of total offense for the game. The improved running game still finished with a 3.4 ypc average (though both Johnson and Williams had healthier ypc averages themselves -- Johnson averaged 3.9 ypc and Williams averaged 5.8 ypc). The passing game ran almost entirely through the tight ends (six receptions, 114 yards) and running backs (four receptions, four receptions, 29 yards). The only wide receiver catch was a five-yard reception by Arland Bruce IV in the fourth quarter. Iowa also went just 1/9 on third downs. Any time a negative play hit -- a penalty or a tackle for loss -- it seemed to immediately and completely derail Iowa's drive; they might have punted as soon as they got behind schedule, because there was virtually no hope of them making up the yards when they got behind the chains. There were some things to build on from this offensive performance, but there were also a lot -- a lot -- of things that need notable improvement.
But it remains a hell of a lot more fun to work on those flaws and shortcomings after a comfortable 17-point road win than it does after a gut-wrenching defeat. The quality of opposition is going to increase enormously next week (#4 Michigan), but the basic gameplan that Iowa used tonight is pretty similar to what they'll need to do to notch a massive upset over the Wolverines: avoid crippling mistakes, do just enough on offense to put together a few scoring drives, use Tory Taylor to flip field position as much as possible, and get some big play mojo from the Iowa defense. We'll have to wait a week to see if Iowa can execute that plan against the Wolverines, but it worked like gangbusters this week. Onward.
