10/16/2019 football Edit

Opponent View: Iowa

Tom Dienhart • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com, Associate Editor

GoldandBlack.com caught up with Tom Kakert of HawkeyeReport.com to break down the Hawkeyes in advance of Purdue's trip to Iowa City.

GoldandBlack.com: Where does this team sit offensively?

Kakert: They were doing really well up until the last two weeks running the football. It was a big emphasis going into this year that they wanted to improve the run game, and they felt that was the most important thing they could do offensively. That’s kind of been one of the foundational aspects of Kirk Ferentz since he arrived at Iowa (in 1999). They want to establish the run. The last two weeks have just not been good. The Michigan game, they had one net yard running, that included 65 yards worth of sacks of Nate Stanley. But still if you take that out, they only had 66 yards running. And then this past weekend, they really couldn’t establish the run the way they needed to against Penn State. It has been a slug the last few weeks. But other than that, they were really pretty effective running the football in the first four games. There may be a step up in class (playing Michigan and Penn State the last two weeks) that revealed that maybe they aren’t as good as we thought they were after four games (Miami of Ohio, Rutgers, Iowa State, Middle Tennessee).

GoldandBlack.com: Nate Stanley has had a really good season so far. And overall, it looks this team is really relying a lot on his big right arm so far.

Kakert: In senior quarterbacks, you’re going to rely on that. The big thing with Stanley the last two weeks is he’s thrown four interceptions. And that’s a big reason why Iowa lost the last two weeks. (And it) was why they had gone the first four games with just one turnover. And that was a fumble on kind of a fluky mistake by the fullback trying to throw the ball back to Stanley while he was getting hit and he just lost the ball. The last two games, they have had multiple turnovers, a couple fumbles, and then obviously the four interceptions and that has been their undoing. It’s a different passing game with Iowa this year, with Stanley. It’s probably one of the more talented group of wide receivers that Kirk Ferentz has had with Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Brandon Smith. Smith had a great catch this weekend for the touchdown against Penn State late to give them their first touchdown in two games. Nico Ragaini has done really well. What they don’t have is a tight end. That has been kind of a staple under Ferentz with two guys going to the NFL, Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson. Both of those guys left early and they really didn’t have, as it turns out, a guy that’s kind of the next guy at tight end. I think that’s maybe shown up a little bit more in the last two weeks, that security blanket, being able to throw to a guy like Hockenson in tight situations to help you keep moving the ball.

GoldandBlack.com: Iowa has a great defensive coordinator in Phil Parker. He’s been at Kirk Ferentz’s side forever. Give us a breakdown of the Hawkeye defense.

Kakert: Phil Parker has been with Ferentz the whole time (21 seasons). He’s the last assistant that’s been through every year with Ferentz. He was the defensive back coach, and then eventually when Norm Parker (former Iowa defensive coordinator) retired, he took over. He really hasn’t missed a beat. The defense has been solid, even the last two weeks, giving up only 10 points to Michigan and 17 to a good Penn State team this past weekend. It gives you a chance to win every week with the defense that they play. The big issue with Iowa is last year, they were creating turnovers like crazy and they were sacking the quarterback. They had 35 sacks last year with Anthony Nelson on the other edge and Parker Hesse, they just had a really solid defensive line. They had two-deep of a defensive line. I remember last year, (DE) A.J. Epenesa didn’t even start for them. He had (Big Ten-high) 10.5 sacks. And this year, they’ve just had much more difficulty getting him free. He is facing more double-teams, and a lot of chipping going at him. The focus is when you’re looking at Iowa’s defensive line, you’re trying to stop Epenesa and opponents have done a pretty good job at doing that. The sack total is way down, the pressures are way down, but it’s not as bad as the sack totals. Sack totals are just down (10, which ranks 13th in the Big Ten). As a result, you’ve seen fewer turnovers and two interceptions this season by Iowa. When Iowa is really good and when they have the 30-plus turnover-type years, they’re just not having that this year. Last year, they intercepted 20 passes. I think they’ve got four now for the entire year, so they haven’t created a lot of short fields via turnovers or scoop and scores, anything like that this year.

GoldandBlack.com: Breakdown the special teams real quickly for us.

Kakert: (Kicker) Keith Duncan kind of came out of moth balls after two years. You remember a couple years back, he was the true freshman walk on that beat Michigan with the late field goal at Kinnick Stadium and then got beat out the next year by Miguel Recinos, who took the job for two years and did a terrific job. Duncan has kind of reemerged and he has better leg strength two years later. He has been incredibly accurate. He missed one this past weekend. But other than that, he’s been just about money from 50 yards and in. That’s kind of his range. They recruited a punter, graduate transfer Michael Sleep-Dalton, a kid from Australia who has been pretty solid. He didn’t have his greatest game against Michigan this past week but kicked with a big leg and that’s helped him. Ihmir Smith-Marsette is their best return guy. He won the Big Ten award last year for return man. He was one of the best in the country. The weird thing is people just don’t return kickoffs anymore. He’s had a couple of decent returns this year, but he’s an explosive player. Nico Ragaini will handle the punts, and it’s hit and miss with him. He’s averaging around 10 yards a return. Mainly, on the last game especially, it was just kind of fielding the punt and putting your hand up in the air and that was the extent of his returning game. The one thing they haven’t done this year, the last two years they were running a lot of trick plays. We have not seen anything even close to resembling a trick play from Iowa on special teams this year.

GoldandBlack.com: Give me a couple keys for Iowa to win this game Saturday.

Kakert: Jeff Brohm has really come in and just kind of owned Iowa the last two years. I remember the game two years ago where they came out in the third quarter and just started challenging one of Iowa’s corners and just blitzed them with two quick touchdown passes and that was the difference in the game. Those deep balls that Coach Brohm likes to throw really found a home. I think the big thing for Iowa, obviously, is to prevent those big plays. That’s been the number one thing that Phil Parker always has on his boards every week is you can’t give up the explosive plays down the field. That’s going to be the monster issue given the way Purdue likes to play. Two, I would cut the turnovers down. Iowa is a low-margin-for-error team. They’ve got to be able to not turn the ball over. If they can do that, that gives them a chance to win just about every game. I think the third thing is they’ve got to figure out how to get the run game going because the teams are just pinning their ears back against Stanley right now. The offensive line has been changing a lot. In the six games, they’ve had five different starting line ups there and they just haven’t had the continuity that I think they hope for. It’s been leaky. The run blocking hasn’t been as good, the pass blocking has had some holes, so they’ve got to be able to give Stanley some time. The run game sets everything up because if they can run the ball, then they can give play-action. And that’s where Stanley is at his best in the play-action game.

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