Sloppy performance does in Hawkeyes
Saturday felt like a trap for the Iowa football team and almost immediately they fell right into it in a 32-20 loss in East Lansing to Michigan State. Iowa falls to 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in conference games after the loss.
Michigan State dominated the game on the line of scrimmage, rolling up 468 yards of total offense against an uncharacteristically sloppy Hawkeye defense that struggled in tackling and in pass coverage.
The Iowa offense couldn’t generate any offense in the first half of this game. Iowa was held to 58 yards of total offense and just a pair of first downs in the first thirty minutes of action.
Meanwhile, Michigan State spent the first half driving up and down the field, but they were unable to find the end zone. The Spartans took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a 42 yard field goal by Jonathan Kim. Iowa was able to get a stop on third and four to end the drive.
After a second three and out by Iowa, Michigan State hit a 37 yard pass on the first play of their second series, but once again Iowa was able to limit the damage, this time it was Kim from 43 yards out to make it 6-0 in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Michigan State tacked on another Kim field goal, this time from 36 yards and it was 9-0. On the next drive after Iowa finally achieved their a first down for the first time in the game, the Spartans got inside the ten yard line before a false start derailed their touchdown opportunity and once again, Kim hit a field goal from 29 yards.
Kim nearly had a fifth field goal in the first half, but his last second kick from 55 yards before the break missed.
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Iowa opened the second half with a purpose on offense. After being held to just 58 yards in the first thirty minutes, the Hawkeyes marched on a 58 yard dive, culminating in an 18 yard touchdown pass from Cade McNamara to Reece Vander Zee to make it 12-7 and Iowa seemed to be back in the game.
But, the Spartans did what they seemed to do every time on Saturday night, they answered with a score of their own. This time they had their own 18 yard touchdown pass to go up 19-7 in the third quarter. The Hawkeyes weren’t done with their third quarter scoring. A 28 yard completion to Luke Lachey, along with a facemask penalty helped Iowa get into the red zone and Brendan Sullivan took a high snap around the edge of the Spartan defense for a two yard score and we headed to the fourth quarter with Iowa trailing 19-14.
The Spartans answered back, this time with a field goal from Kim. It was his fifth of the game and it was a career long kick of 55 yards, stretching their lead to 22-14. Iowa suffered a backbreaking play on the second play of the next drive. Cade McNamara had miscommunication with Lachey and the pass was intercepted. Kim once again connected on a field goal, this time from 46 yards and it was 25-14.
Iowa kept fighting and trying to keep it close. Just when it looked like the game was over, Kaleb Johnson busted his first big run of the day for 75 yards and a touchdown to make it 25-20 with 7:22 left in the game.
While hope was alive, it was seemingly extinguished on the next drive as Michigan State methodically marched down the field on a 9 play and 75 yard drive capped by a one yard touchdown run to reach the final score of 32-20.
