Ten Thoughts on Iowa Football and Basketball

The struggles for the Iowa Football team on the road continued on Friday night. It wasn’t surprising that they lost to Ohio State in Columbus by the margin that they did, but the last two road defeats to Michigan State and UCLA were somewhat head scratching.

The common theme in both those games?

Poor tackling. The Michigan State loss was an exhibition in not wrapping up opposing players and Friday evening at the Rose Bowl, we saw a Bruins team that came into the game averaging just 73.8 yards per game crack 200 against a usually strong Iowa defense.

Really these two games and a microcosm of this season for the Hawkeyes, but in a different way. Friday was odd in that Iowa actually started fast. They cashed in on a turnover and scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game for the first time this season and added a field goal to lead 10-0 after one quarter. Heading into the game, the Hawkeyes had only scored 27 points all season in the first quarter.

But, then things went south with turnovers on offense and poor tackling on defense. Add in injuries to quarterback Brendan Sullivan and linebacker Jay Higgins and it was a recipe for another frustrating road trip for the Hawkeyes and their fans.

Let’s dive into ten thoughts on Iowa football and basketball from this week.

1. I’d like to open this week with a salute to the Iowa fans. You wondered if a Friday game might keep a few Hawkeye fans from making the trip out west to Los Angeles, but they showed out strong. The crowd was announced at just over 52,000 and slightly over half of them were wearing black and gold. And when things were going well, Iowa fans were loud at the Rose Bowl. Also, Iowa fans did wave to the east at the end of the first quarter.

2. Now to the game itself. I think it’s fair to say Iowa’s chances of winning on Friday night were impacted by a pair of key injuries. When Brendan Sullivan went down with what Kirk Ferentz said was an ankle injury, the Hawkeyes were up against it. When Cade McNamara left the game against Northwestern, they had a pretty experienced option in Sullivan. This time it was Jackson Stratton, who had very limited reps and two weeks ago was working scout team.

Also I think Jay Higgins straining his hamstring early in the game really impacted the Iowa defense. He’s also Iowa’s best and most consistent tackler and that was an issue on Friday against the Bruins. It was a tough spot to thrust Jaden Harrell into for his first extensive playing time. Harrell did a nice job, including  fumble recovery.

3. I thought Jackson Stratton did a pretty nice job, all things considered. The California native got his first playing time as a Hawkeye in the later stages of the third quarter after Sullivan was removed from the game. His previous experience includes four passes completed out of 17 while he was at Colorado State. His teammates call him “Shaggy” after the character on Scooby Doo, but he was solid, completing 3 of 6 passes for 28 yards and rushing for 14 yards. He actually engineered Iowa’s final touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 17.

4. There weren’t many standouts to point to in this game, but one of them was certainly Jacob Gill. In fact, he might be one of the best portal surprises we have seen in a while. His numbers at his previous school, Northwestern, were pretty pedestrian. Some of that can be attributed to injuries, but he’s found his footing with the Hawkeyes. Gill had a career game with 6 receptions for 138 yards. He’s clearly been Iowa’s best wide receiver this year.

5. While it didn’t end up counting because of a personal foul on UCLA, the 57 yard field goal by Drew Stevens was super impressive. Early in the game, the Bruins kicker, Mateen Bhaghani had hit on a 57 yard field goal that barely made it over the cross bar and then he missed one later in the game from the same distance. Stevens kick from 57 yards was good with plenty of room to spare and might have been good from 67 yards yards.

6. Being at Kirk Ferentz post-game press conference it was pretty clear he’s very frustrated with the inconsistency of this team. While Iowa fans will get frustrated with the performance and offense under Ferentz, one thing you never really have to question was his team’s fundamentals and consistency. This team has been wildly inconsistent. Friday was another example. They played a pretty good first quarter and then went off the rails in the second quarter. Instead of bouncing back with a strong second half, like they did at Minnesota, it never got better. The Iowa football coach is beyond frustrated. Yes, it’s just job to get them to perform better, but when you are ten games in and the usual level of consistency has escaped you, then it’s likely just not going to magically appear in the last two games of the regular season.

7. Let’s discuss the future at quarterback because I think it’s a worthy topic to discuss. Now, this should be subject to change because of the era we are in. Cade McNamara will be done and Brendan Sullivan, who I expect to be the starter the rest of the season if he’s healthy, will return. Also returning will be Marco Lainez and Jackson Stratton. Iowa will also be adding incoming freshman signal caller, Jimmy Sullivan, who they believe is going to be a good one down the road. I suspect that Iowa is going to be doing what they can to bring in a quarterback who can compete with Sullivan for the starting job. Of course that’s easier said than done because higher level portal quarterbacks are looking for starting job and they are expensive.

8. As far as the rest of the regular season, I think the Hawkeyes will end up winning out. Both games will be challenging. Iowa won at Maryland a few years back and did so in convincing fashion. And by the way, if you have forgotten Brian Ferentz is now an analyst for the Terps so get ready for questions about that coming up next Tuesday. Then Iowa has Nebraska to wrap up the regular season. The Huskers started out 5-1 and have now lost three straight. If they don’t win at USC or at home against Wisconsin, then Nebraska getting to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016 would come down to winning at Kinnick Stadium.

9. On to Iowa men’s basketball and while I was in Los Angeles for the football game, I did watch most of the game against Southern on Thursday night. We all knew that Payton Sandfort would be a leading scorer for the team, but not many thought his younger brother would be ready to emerge to the level he has two games into the season. Last year as somewhat of a lost year from Pryce Sandfort. He never found a role off the bench and never got into a groove. Thursday night he made 6-8 from three point range and finished with 22 points. It’s early, but he’s averaging 17.5 point per game, which is second on the team and just one point behind his older brother.

10. The Iowa women’s basketball team is off to a 2-0 start after their win over Virginia Tech on Sunday afternoon. One player that has really stood out in the first two games is Addison O’Grady. Most folks, myself included, figured that it would be a matter of time before true freshman Ava Heiden took over the starting center position. O’Grady is giving us a not so fast my friends treatment. She scored 12 points in the opening game and then followed it up with 18 on Sunday against the Hokies, which was a career high. She has only three rebounds in each of the first two games, so that will need to improve, but overall O’Grady showing significant improvement this year.