Hawkeyes Mic LLC

One Passion, Many Voices

Football Blogs

The Final Exam: Wisconsin 38 – Iowa 14

Hawkeyes Mic

HawkeyesMic.com – Podcasting 11 Years of Original Content on Iowa Athletics

By John Patchett (john@hawkeyesmic.com)   11/13/17

The Iowa – Wisconsin Game is in the books and the Heartland Trophy remains in the hands of the Badgers for the second consecutive year – as the Hawkeyes Offense completely disappeared vs. the Badgers. It’s time to grade that final exam…

Grades

Offense       F

Iowa’s Offense was not only the least productive in the Ferentz Era, it was apparently the worst in 73 years – you read that right – since 1944 (as near as we can tell from the record books). Couldn’t run. Couldn’t pass. Penalties. Early snaps. Yada, yada, yada. 66 yards of total offense. 66 YARDS OF TOTAL OFFENSE!!! Kirk seems clueless against this Badgers defensive scheme. I can go on and on but what’s the point? If the Offense can get an “A” last week, it certainly deserves the “F” this week. Never expected to hand out the “F” thingy this season…

  • Quarterback D
    • Nate Stanley followed his brilliant performance against the Buckeyes with his worst facing the Badgers. One pick, one fumble, 41 yards through the air. Longest completion was just 10 yards and sacked four times (not his fault, but…).
  • Running Backs D
    • Your grade isn’t going to be very high when you rush for 25 yards. Even though your O-Line was hapless.
  • Receivers (WR & TE) D
    • Nothing to write home about when you only get 41 yards passing. And too many drops in this game. The Offense had enough trouble without those drops. Tight Ends had one catch for six yards.
  • Offensive Line F
    • Iowa’s Offensive Line played its best game of the season against Ohio State – and arguably its worst game of the year at Wisconsin. Failed to keep Stanley clean (he was sacked four times) and couldn’t make any holes for Iowa’s RBs. Too many false starts. And C James Daniels snapped the ball early twice – the second time led to a “team” fumble and Wisconsin recovery for a touchdown.

Defense       B-

Iowa’s Defense got a pick six on the Badgers’ first drive (second week in a row) – but unlike the Ohio State Game this one was not a harbinger of things to come. With Iowa’s Offense serving up a complete flop, the Defense had no help whatsoever. Still, it ended up surrendering 382 yards of total offense to Wisconsin and four rushing TDs – and it failed to slow down the Badgers’ star Freshman Running Back Jonathon Taylor who racked up 157 of Wisconsin’s 247 rushing yards.

  • Defensive Line C
    • Two sacks but pressure was – at best – inconsistent.
  • Linebackers C
    • The three starting linebackers combined for 32 tackles but just two TFLs, one forced fumble, and no sacks.
  • Defensive Secondary B
    • About the only bright spot Iowa had. Josh Jackson was terrific again including two pick-sixes and a forced fumble (recovery by Manny Rugamba). Jack Gervase had another pick at the goal line. But the Badgers also finished with 135 yards two TDs through the air.

Special Teams        C

Special Teams were a mixed bag and punting and punt returns were a contributor to very bad field position for Iowa’s Offense for most of this game.

  • Place-Kicking          B
    • PK Miguel Recinos was solid on kickoffs. Unfortunately for Iowa that was all he got to do.
  • Punting D
    • Colton Rastetter handled all nine of Iowa’s punts and while his rugby punting is OK his traditional punts are not. Wondering why the redshirt was removed from Ryan Gersonde if he’s not going to be give a chance.
  • Punt Returns D
    • MVB had no returns and made some serious mistakes judging distance when trying to field punts from the team that was last in the B1G coming into this game..
  • Kickoff Return B
    • Ivory Kelly-Martin was solid – again.

Coaching

  • HC Kirk Ferentz Fail (Pass / Fail)
    • Kirk’s teams have thus far demonstrated an utter inability to cope with Wisconsin’s present defensive schemes.
  • OC Brian Ferentz F
    • Nothing he planned, schemed, or called worked. The worst offensive production in the past 19 years under Kirk Ferentz and since 1944 (if you’re counting, that’s about 73 years).
  • DC Phil Parker B-
    • Same grade as his Defense, which was too leaky even without any assistance from Iowa’s Offense. Too little pressure on QB Alex Hornibrook – just one sack. The bright spot for most of the game was Iowa’s Defensive Secondary.

Prefense Defensive Player of the Week

Cornerback Josh Jackson again – followed up on his spectacular Ohio State Game with an equally spectacular game at Wisconsin. This guy has to be climbing the NFL Draft Charts as a potential first round pick if he comes out after his junior year.

Prefense Hand Sanitizer and Surface Protectant – Remember, the best defense is Prefense.

T&K Roofing & Sheet Metal Coach of the Week

It’s Phil Parker but primarily by the process of elimination. No way either coach with the last name of Ferentz deserved it after that miserable performance at Camp Randall Stadium

T&K Roofing & Sheet Metal – Building Strong, Building Safe Since 1962.

Please remember, as always, these are subjective observations and open to debate and discussion more often than not. Agree or disagree – that’s part of the fun of college football.

The final game team and individual stats are below on the following pages.

Iowa – Wisconsin Week Content is at HawkeyesMic.com/Football.