It’s always a great moment when “Back in Black” starts up for the first game of the season at Kinnick.
I’ve been a die-hard Hawkeye fan since I was ten and each season brings high hopes.
Last Saturday was not as high of hopes I was looking for but a win is a win.
Did I underestimate the Jackrabbits or did I overestimate the Hawkeyes?
Maybe a little of both.
SDSU has been one of the top teams in the FCS for quite some time.
They are the only team that beat North Dakota State last year and the Bison won the FCS championship.
Head coach John Stiegelmeier is the all-time winningest coach in SDSU history and has coached longer than Kirk Ferentz. The Jackrabbit defense, led by Solon linebacker Adam Bock, held the Hawkeyes to 57 yards on the ground. Adam forced a fumble when Iowa was inside the SDSU 10 and led his team with 13 tackles to earn Missouri Valley Football Conference Co-Defensive Player for Week 1 honors.
Kirk Ferentz said in his weekly news conference last week that he missed out recruiting Adam.
It’s not like the Hawkeyes don’t have a few good linebackers.
Thank goodness for the defense, special teams and the crowd. The noise was so loud that the Jackrabbits had nine false starts including two on their first drive.
Iowa defense
SDSU averaged 36.1 points last year, 212 yards rushing and 228.9 passing.
The Hawks held them to 33 yards on the ground and 87 yards in the air.
The 120 total yards are the fewest the Iowa defense has allowed since giving up 118 to Maryland in 2018.
The Rabbits were 3-16 on converting third downs.
Jack Campbell was all over the field leading the Hawks with tackles including a safety in the third quarter when he manhandled the Rabbit running back on the goal line and threw him into the end zone.
Joe Evans also recorded a safety sacking the SDSU QB in the end zone with 3:58 to play in the game.
Noah Shannon had two tackles for a loss while Logan Lee and Lukas Van Ness each had one.
I really like what Quinn Schulte and Cooper DeJean did on their first starts.
“He’s been a good football player since he’s shown up,” said coach Ferentz about Cooper. “He played well on defense and special teams. Wish we had about four more like him, maybe six.”
Quinn, a junior from Xavier, had four pass breakups including two in the fourth quarter.
Cooper, starting a right cornerback had four tackles and along with Terry Roberts downed Tory Taylors punts inside the five.
“I’ve never seen seven points scored that way,” said Kirk Ferentz. “It was strange looking up on the scoreboard and seeing that. We did what we had to do. The whole team needed to get out and find out where we are at.”
The Iowa D also held the Rabbits to 10-26 passing with the longest completion at 20 yards.
Iowa special teams
Thank goodness Tory Taylor came back.
Tory did get to go back home to Australia this summer and said he got to practice with some of the instructors on punting techniques.
Boy did he ever get those right.
With a little help from the gunners, he downed six punts inside the 12.
One of the punts, which was downed at the eight, led to a Joe Evans sack on the second play.
Tory averaged 47.9 yards per punt and had no returns.
Aaron Blom missed his first field goal from 40 but connected on a 46 yard kick to put Iowa on the scoreboard.
“Tory did a great job,” said Captain Kirk. “He’s practiced really well. This is his third year playing and it shows. It was a good job with the guys covering Terry and Cooper, being smart about keeping the ball from going into the end zone.”
Tory should be the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week.
Aaron Blom missed his first field goal from the 40 but connected on a 46 yard kick to put Iowa on the scoreboard first.
Riley Moss had 41 yards on kick returns while Arland Bruce picked up 17 yards on punt returns.
The kickoff and punt teams held the Jackrabbits in check.
Iowa offense
To say the Hawkeye offense struggled would probably be an understatement.
Spencer was 11-25 for 109 yards and an interception. The 6-5 senior from California made a couple of nice throws but missed some open receivers.
Arland Bruce stepped up with five catches and 10 targets.
Sam LaPorta was well covered, was targeted seven times and caught two.
I liked the way Lashon Williams ran picking up 76 yards on 24 carries
It will be nice to get Gavin Williams and wideout Keegan Johnson back.
The Hawks have to do better than 57 yards on the ground.
The offensive line struggled against a smaller but quicker Rabbit defense.
The first games are always tough because SDSU could come up with a whole new game plan in opening fall practice.
Bottom line is the offensive line has got to get better. I don’t care who is quarterback. If the QB doesn’t have to throw, it’s tough to complete passes.
The Clones are coming to Kinnick this Saturday at 3 p.m. The Hawks better be ready.
The Iowa Hawkeyes line up along South Dakota State’s 5-yard line Saturday, Sept. 3 in Kinnick Stadium.