2010 College Football: More Questions Than Answers for Iowa After Desert Letdown

I drank the Kool-Aid.  Heck, I think I even made a couple pitchers of it.  The Iowa Hawkeyes had every tool necessary to make a run at the National Championship. 

They have a veteran quarterback who is the undisputed leader of the team.  They also have a stable full of experienced running backs, a slew of talented receivers, and a couple of good tight ends who fit well with what Iowa wants to do. 

They have an All-American defensive end who anchors an experienced and tenacious defensive line.  Their defensive secondary is anchored by a couple of all-star safeties and their corners have proven to be better than expected.  Their linebackers, while a bit green, have enough experience to keep the unit from slipping too far and did, in fact, play well in their first two contests.

The contest in Tucson offered Iowa's first really difficult test, though.  While everything looked good for Iowa through two contests against Eastern Illinois and Iowa State, there were still a few questions that only a truly competitive opponent could answer.

How good was the offensive line?  How solid was the defense, really?  Was the special teams unit good enough to keep Iowa in good field position?  These were just a few questions to which we thought, perhaps, we knew the answers.

In the opening moments of Iowa's defeat at Arizona Saturday night, it looked like none of that would matter.  A blocked punt gave the Wildcats the ball on Iowa's 8-yard line. 

A bobbled pass handed the Wildcats another gift in the form of a pick-six that put the Hawks down 14-0 before they even had a chance to get moving.

Eventually, Iowa would get moving.  In fact, they would get rolling.  Capitalizing on Arizona mistakes and penalties, the Hawkeyes erased a 27-7 halftime deficit and entered the last eight minutes of play all tied up. 

Arizona put together a solid drive and reclaimed the lead 34-27 with 3:48 to go in the game.  Iowa fans knew that it was plenty of time for Ricky Stanzi to march the bumblebees downfield and ram a dagger through the Wildcats' hearts. 

It didn't work out that way, though.  Four consecutive sacks handed the ball back to Arizona with barely two minutes to run out on the clock.  Iowa didn't have enough timeouts or defensive prowess left to get the ball back, and Arizona escaped with a hard-fought victory over a Top 10 opponent.

While Arizona players and fans have a lot to celebrate, Iowa coaches, players, and fans have a lot to think about. 

The Defense Isn't as Solid as We Might Have Thought

Immediately after the game, several of my "friends" on Twitter were digging through the stat sheets for something positive to take away from the Hawkeye defeat.  There were posts that went something like, "You can't give a team like Arizona 21 free points and expect to win, but Iowa almost did" or "It's only one game and out-of-conference."

My favorit though, went something like "Take away the blocked punt and pick-six and Iowa wins."  Yes, but if you take away the blocked punt and pick-six that Iowa suffered, you also would have to take away the punt snafu that Iowa benefited from as well as Broderick Binns' pick-six.  Then where would Iowa have been? 

Those things are part of the game.  We have to deal with them.

What wasn't mentioned, however, is the fact that Iowa gave up 303 yards through the air and Nick Foles spent almost the first half in relative comfort.  The two sacks Iowa recorded both came in the second half, and one was the result of a blitz package, not just the rush of the front four.

For all of the press Adrian Clayborn and his counterparts on the line have received leading up to the Arizona game, they weren't able to put consistent pressure on Foles and force bad passes or bad decisions.

Foles completed 28 of 39 attempts (71.8 percent) and threw two touchdown passes.  Iowa's storied defense wasn't able to get past those massive offensive linemen the Wildcats used as a moving brick wall.

What's worse is that they were presenting way too many holes in the zone defense, practically handing Foles anything he wanted between five and 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. 

It's a departure from the swarming Hawkeye defense we saw last year that didn't need to bend, nor break. 

On the bright side, Iowa's defense did hold the Wildcats to only 63 yards of net rushing. 

Still, this unit has been hailed as "one of the best in the nation."  After Saturday night, I would say that assessment might be a bit premature.  They're good, but they're not one of the best, and Arizona proved that they can be beat.

The Offensive Line Isn't Ready for Big Game Play Yet

This shouldn't really be surprising.  Going back to the opening game against Eastern Illinois, I had tweeted that Iowa's offensive line looked "okay" but was leaving gaping holes as the game went on. 

It was easy to overlook any discrepancies in the play of the line against Iowa State because the Hawkeyes had the game so well in hand.

Arizona, however, has a talented defensive front.  That front helped secure six sacks of Ricky Stanzi.  Justin Washington and Brooks Reed each had two. 

The Iowa O-line was tough enough in the opening moments of the game, but as time wore on, they became thoroughly porous, giving up sacks on four consecutive plays during Iowa's final attempt at a drive.

When they weren't busy allowing white-helmeted players to bruise their quarterback, the boys up front for Iowa were also struggling to create holes for Jewel Hampton and Adam Robinson.  The Hawks only managed 29 net yards of rushing for the entire game.

In the two contests leading into the match in Tucson, Adam Robinson looked like a star in the making at running back.  A running back is only as good as his offensive line, though.  Saturday night, Robinson looked less than average.  Hampton had spurts of greatness, but mostly was ineffective as a runner and ended up injured by the time all was said and done.

With defenses like Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State still looming on the schedule, this line has very little time to improve or it will be a very long year for Iowa's offense.

There's Nothing "Special" About Iowa's Special Teams

After a quick three-and-out, Iowa's Donahue attempted to punt from Iowa's own 19.  The men in front of him meant to stop a block attempt failed, the punt was batted down, and Arizona recovered the ball inside the red zone.  Ultimately, the Wildcats would score a touchdown.

After pulling within seven points at 14-7, Iowa saw their kickoff returned 100 yards to put them back down by 14. 

Just as Iowa tied the game at 27-all, the extra point attempt that could have given them their only lead of the game was partially blocked and sailed wide.

Not to take anything away from Arizona, but not one of these incidents should have happened.  Iowa knew coming into the season that there were questions about their kicking game.  They'd been plagued with consistency for a couple of years. 

Still, there's no excuse for allowing a punt to be blocked, and even fewer excuses for allowing a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown. 

As far as the extra point that was blocked, the kick never should have been low enough for anyone on the defense to get up that high and knock it away. 

This may not be an area that will cause as many problems in Iowa's future as they did Saturday night, but it definitely has to be an area that will cause some trouble sleeping for Kirk Ferentz and his crew.  It's hard to plan the X's and O's of a game when you don't know what you're going to get on special teams. 

One thing became abundantly clear Saturday night: Iowa's special teams aren't very special right now.

It Isn't All Gloom and Doom, but There Are Questions

In fact, this is just one loss for the Hawkeyes.  There are still nine games to play in the regular season and they haven't even begun conference play yet.  Iowa can still come out of this season with a great record, a solid bowl, and a reason for people to take them very seriously.

The Hawks still have a very good defense and an offense that is as dangerous as anyone's out there.  They proved both of those things Saturday night.  They also proved that they have a ton of heart by fighting back from 20 points down to tie a game that most had written off by halftime. 

Iowa still has at least one (depending on Hampton's injury status) quality, experienced running back and they still have a bunch of good receivers.  And they still have Stanzi. 

When November closes, there's still a chance we'll see the Hawkeyes holding the conference championship trophy with pride. 

But between here and there, some very difficult questions have to be answered.  Arguably, there are more now than there were going into Saturday night.  The Hawkeyes' weaknesses were exposed like no one expected.  Now, every team in the Big Ten will have an idea of how to beat the Hawkeyes. 

They'd better find some answers quickly, too.  They get a layup against Ball State this coming week, but Penn State is waiting on deck, and you have to think that they're licking their chops for a little revenge. 

The 2010 season was set to be magical for Iowa.  It still can be, but Iowa has to regroup, address what's now obviously wrong, and get back to playing winning football.