State of Iowa Hawkeye Football on Nov. 14, 2010

So on November 14, 2010 the Iowa Hawkeye Football team is 7-3 with a one loss Ohio State Buckeye team coming to Iowa City this Saturday. The Iowa Hawkeyes came into the 2010 season as a favorite to with the Big Ten title along with Ohio State. This game was glowing on the schedule back in August, but a lot has happened since August to the Black and Gold. Back in August we didn't know how all the running backs were going to get enough touches with Robinson and Wegher returning after stellar performances last year and Jewell Hampton returning as well off of a injury. Wegher decided to do other things, Hampton got hurt versus Arizona and Robinson has been carrying the load all year with some help from Marcus Coker. The Iowa Hawkeyes laid an egg in the first half versus Arizona and almost fought back and won, but came up short. The Hawkeyes then lost to Wisconsin after Wisconsin knocked off then #1 Ohio State, but the Badgers were to tough and down-right physical for Iowa. The offensive line of Wisconsin owned the so called top rated defensive line of the Hawkeyes. Iowa then some how absolutely destroyed Michigan State the next week, but barely survived in Bloomington, Indiana. The Hawkeyes then went on to Northwestern, a team that has beaten Iowa quite a bit of late, and yet the Iowa Hawkeyes continued to struggle against the same spread that Northwestern has been running for the past 10 years.
This Iowa Hawkeye football team has so much talent, and lost some very good football players from last years team that are now playing on Sundays. The defensive line was suppose to be the strength for the Hawkeyes this year lead by Adrian Clayborn. The defensive line has been average at best. Not sure if they read too many preseason magazines about how great they are or what, but I haven't seen all the sacks and pure domination that I witnessed a year ago. I started to believe that it was the linebackers we had a year ago, by them being gone, and was making the defensive line not look as good. But this past saturday, I saw Persa getting 9 seconds at times to make a throw, and of course their was always a wide open WR at the sideline and with a defender 10 yards away. The Iowa defense was known for 6 seconds of hell, right now its 6 seconds of do what ever you want. Its not brain surgery of what Northwestern wants to do, I have been seeing them do the same thing over and over for years, yet Iowa doesn't do anything to fix it. The bend but don't break defense works in most situations, but when you are giving WR's with 10 yard cushions, they are going to catch the ball every time. When WR's are running crossing routes, LB's are not going to be able to run with them, they are LB's, not CB's.
The thing that has disappointed me a lot this year as well, is we have never had the talent we have at the WR position, yet we don't use them enough or have any strategic game plan to expose the opponents secondary. Iowa could have passed all day on Wisconsin secondary, but they didn't. Keenan Davis was a big-time WR recruit out of Cedar Rapids, and is in his second year, and hasn't made the impact that I thought he would have. The last stud WR to come out of Cedar Rapids chose Michigan over Iowa at the time, and now I know why, because he was used and progressed quickly there. What I don't get, is its the same WR coach that Arrington had at Michigan that Davis has at Iowa. The Iowa offense should be more explosive, but maybe we are so conservative, that it is what it is.
I believe for the Iowa Hawkeyes to not have a dissappointing season or underachieving season, they need to beat Ohio State this Saturday in Kinnick. Kinnick stadium was a nightmare for teams back in 2002-2005 runs. Wisconsin came in and won in Kinnick this year, but Iowa has been playing much better at home. Iowa has nothing to lose at this point, the Big Ten title is out of reach this year, might as well mess it up and take the giant of the Big Ten with you. Ohio State is very beatable, and frankly I'm just sick and tired of hearing about how good they are. Its time for this Hawkeye team, to step it up a notch, be the team we all thought they would be, and take THE Ohio State Buckeyes out!