Yeah, that was a brutal beatdown. However, Iowa has been playing its best ball of the year the past three games and Nebraska has hit a wall (which hasn't been helped by banged up--but gutsy--Tommy Armstrong). That was the Iowa team everyone thought they would be in the preseason prognostications. Took them forever to get it figured out, but they got it figured out.
Take the last three games for example: Iowa held Michigan to 201 yards and 13 points then held Illinois to 198 yards and 0 points then held Nebraska to 217 yards and 10 points. You got beat by a defense that finally woke up to its potential and has been seriously laying the wood against both good teams and bad teams.
By my count, Tommy Armstrong threw five deep bombs on third downs. Yes, he might have been able to convert one or two with perfect throws, but throwing short/intermediate routes on those plays MAY have extended drives. I couldn't believe he kept chucking the ball deep in those situations. Not a great idea. But, short/intermediate passes were not a guarantee as Iowa was batting down passes at the line of scrimmage all night and making clean, quick tackles immediately after completions. A few things about that: (1) Anthony Gair finally cracked the starting lineup at safety the past three games and only because of an injury to the previous starting safety who had been a liability all year. Why Ferentz wasn't starting him all year causes me headaches, but nevertheless he has drastically improved Iowa's run and pass defense--not saying he's Nate Gerry, but he's damn good and should have been playing all year. (2) Ben Niemann, our most athletic linebacker, finally got healthy the last three games and he has been dynamite in pass coverage, pass breakups, and cut-back run support. He had a concussion against Nebraska last year and until recently hasn't seemed like the same player at all. (3) Jaleel Johnson and Faith Ekakitie have been playing like the 4-star DTs everyone expected them to be for several games now. Almost impossible for teams to run up the middle consistently with those two beasts. Completely shut down Michigan's running game and have been lights out since then.
On offense, Iowa's O-line has been beastly the past three weeks. It apparently took an embarrassing beating against Penn State on the road to wake them up, but also some backups have been substituted for injured starters and they've played really well. Wadley and Daniels have been dynamite all year out of the backfield even when Iowa can't pass the damn ball. Perfect storm with a few clutch throws and catches at just the right times in this game. Iowa's lines on O and D just dominated. So did the TEs, FBs, and WRs when it came to blocking.
Selective blitzing by Iowa helped throw off TA in terms of masking coverages. Iowa hardly ever blitzes and they showed a few wrinkles today, with guys mirroring TA and Newby on passing downs.
Nebraska should have run Bryant more. He was running angry at times, but for some reason Nebraska went away from him every time he had an 8 yard run.
Nebraska's special teams were atrocious and Iowa has been playing good special teams all year, from punting to the return game. Iowa just whipped Nebraska in that regard.
Overall, a beatdown, but I think Iowa is playing top 10 football right now, especially on D, so the loss isn't quite as bad as it may seem. Well, yeah, it was bad, but so was the loss to OSU. Iowa's playing as well as anyone in the B10 right now as evidenced by their wins over Michigan and Nebraska.
That said, I hope Nebraska wins its bowl game. I always root for B10 teams in bowl games and I think TA will be healthier by then and with the long preparation Nebraska could be a tough team to beat. If Nebraska had played Iowa the fifth game of the season, Nebraska probably would have won. But this is the real Iowa team playing to its potential so the 8-4 overall, 6-3 B10 record is misleading. If this Iowa team had shown up all year then they'd probably be 10-2, 7-2 at this point with a leg up on WI for the B10CG. Woulda shoulda coulda. But hey, Nebraska is four games better than last year and it's only Riley's second year with the program. Good luck in your bowl.
EDIT: By the way, isn't your offensive line really young this year? That might be a reason Iowa, with two NFL-caliber DTs, whipped you up front on D.
Take the last three games for example: Iowa held Michigan to 201 yards and 13 points then held Illinois to 198 yards and 0 points then held Nebraska to 217 yards and 10 points. You got beat by a defense that finally woke up to its potential and has been seriously laying the wood against both good teams and bad teams.
By my count, Tommy Armstrong threw five deep bombs on third downs. Yes, he might have been able to convert one or two with perfect throws, but throwing short/intermediate routes on those plays MAY have extended drives. I couldn't believe he kept chucking the ball deep in those situations. Not a great idea. But, short/intermediate passes were not a guarantee as Iowa was batting down passes at the line of scrimmage all night and making clean, quick tackles immediately after completions. A few things about that: (1) Anthony Gair finally cracked the starting lineup at safety the past three games and only because of an injury to the previous starting safety who had been a liability all year. Why Ferentz wasn't starting him all year causes me headaches, but nevertheless he has drastically improved Iowa's run and pass defense--not saying he's Nate Gerry, but he's damn good and should have been playing all year. (2) Ben Niemann, our most athletic linebacker, finally got healthy the last three games and he has been dynamite in pass coverage, pass breakups, and cut-back run support. He had a concussion against Nebraska last year and until recently hasn't seemed like the same player at all. (3) Jaleel Johnson and Faith Ekakitie have been playing like the 4-star DTs everyone expected them to be for several games now. Almost impossible for teams to run up the middle consistently with those two beasts. Completely shut down Michigan's running game and have been lights out since then.
On offense, Iowa's O-line has been beastly the past three weeks. It apparently took an embarrassing beating against Penn State on the road to wake them up, but also some backups have been substituted for injured starters and they've played really well. Wadley and Daniels have been dynamite all year out of the backfield even when Iowa can't pass the damn ball. Perfect storm with a few clutch throws and catches at just the right times in this game. Iowa's lines on O and D just dominated. So did the TEs, FBs, and WRs when it came to blocking.
Selective blitzing by Iowa helped throw off TA in terms of masking coverages. Iowa hardly ever blitzes and they showed a few wrinkles today, with guys mirroring TA and Newby on passing downs.
Nebraska should have run Bryant more. He was running angry at times, but for some reason Nebraska went away from him every time he had an 8 yard run.
Nebraska's special teams were atrocious and Iowa has been playing good special teams all year, from punting to the return game. Iowa just whipped Nebraska in that regard.
Overall, a beatdown, but I think Iowa is playing top 10 football right now, especially on D, so the loss isn't quite as bad as it may seem. Well, yeah, it was bad, but so was the loss to OSU. Iowa's playing as well as anyone in the B10 right now as evidenced by their wins over Michigan and Nebraska.
That said, I hope Nebraska wins its bowl game. I always root for B10 teams in bowl games and I think TA will be healthier by then and with the long preparation Nebraska could be a tough team to beat. If Nebraska had played Iowa the fifth game of the season, Nebraska probably would have won. But this is the real Iowa team playing to its potential so the 8-4 overall, 6-3 B10 record is misleading. If this Iowa team had shown up all year then they'd probably be 10-2, 7-2 at this point with a leg up on WI for the B10CG. Woulda shoulda coulda. But hey, Nebraska is four games better than last year and it's only Riley's second year with the program. Good luck in your bowl.
EDIT: By the way, isn't your offensive line really young this year? That might be a reason Iowa, with two NFL-caliber DTs, whipped you up front on D.
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