Iowa Vs UNI : Believe It Or Not, the Better Team Played Better and Won!

Mark Farley’s No. 4 FCS ranked, superbly prepared, UNI football team came to Kinnick Stadium with an excellent game plan and all the confidence and faith of David against Goliath.  UNI clearly believed they could win, playing fearless, inspired, and confident football throughout. Their team was in position to win in the final second of the game.  This was truly an exciting, hotly contested and entertaining game to watch.

Defensively, head coach Farley used his best defenders to attack and confuse Iowa’s weakest spots on the O-Line (clearly rusty Rafael Eubanks, Dan Doering and out of position Dace Richardson)… disrupting Iowa’s untested “Replacements” running game just enough while also putting Stanzi on his back.

It was a game plan that resulted in holding Iowa to around 70 yards rushing, produced three sacks, a couple of hurries, and two fumbles all in the first half.  Yet, after all this, UNI was only up seven points at the break (10-3). 

While many Hawkeye fans were deeply disappointed, no one watching believed Iowa was “out of it” by a long shot.  However, by half time the damage was done and it was clear that this game was going to be another “dog fight” of an in-state rivalry.

Offensively, UNI capitalized on the quick feet of scat back Carlos Anderson and the strong arm of UNI QB, Pat Grace, to run a remarkably balanced spread passing attack. Farley wisely hid the speedy Anderson behind his large experienced offensive line darting to the outside of 1st time DE starter Broderick Bins. He mercilessly targeted Iowa’s inexperienced 3rd team corner Greg Castillo and exploited the space behind Iowa’s overly run-conscious LBs.

This strategy resulted in a very effective, mistake free, ball control offense that ate up most of the first half, moving the ball seemingly at will between the 30s.

Iowa ‘s offensive was inconsistent in the first half with Stanzi distributing his passes effectively to Moeaki, McNutt, Chaney, and Strous only to shoot themselves in the foot with the lack luster running of Paki O’Mara. Some key missed pass blocking assignments by Eubanks and Doering also hurt and ultimately allowed three sacks and causing one Stanzi fumble.

But, thanks to Iowa’s Defense, Iowa goes in at half time only seven points down.

In the second half, Iowa’s defense made a few adjustments and asserted itself in its typical “bend but don’t break”, “keep ‘um out of the end zone“ fashion, shutting down the UNI running game that had been so effective in the first half and sacking UNI’s Grace twice (thanks to King and Kroul's replacements at DT, Karl Klug and Christian Ballard).

Also in the second half, with Iowa’s O-Line adjustments and a change to Adam Robinson at RB in tow, Iowa scored 14 points to go ahead by four points mid-way in the fourth Quarter (six yard Toney Moeaki TD grab and 11 yard run by Adam Robinson). 

Also in the second half, Iowa missed a makeable FG attempt as it slipped slightly to the right of the upright and they also failed on a 4th-and-1 conversion attempt on the UNI 30 yard line late in the fourth quarter (instead of attempting a makeable 47 yd FG with the wind). 

If both FG opportunities were attempted and converted, the Hawkeyes could have easily increased their lead by another 6 points before UNI’s fourth Quarter heroics began (amounting to one made field goal and two blocked attempts).

Assessment:

National rankings, pre-game hype, and lofty prognostications all aside, you still have to play the game and get the “W” any way you can and sometimes it’s not pretty.

In the final analysis, UNI had two big Offensive plays that should have provided 14 points (but Iowa held them to 10). They had a very effective turnover free, time eating spread passing attack that produce only six more points (but kept the ball away from Iowa’s offense). Finally, there was a key 4th-and-1 defensive stand and a final valiant drive down the field until only 7 seconds remained ….in very makeable field goal range…culminating in a sad but complete UNI collapse in its Field Goal kicking protection.

In a tale of two halves, in spite of inspired play by the UNI and excellent execution of a well crafted game plan, Iowa’s defense never let the game get out of reach and Iowa was the only team that appeared to dominate the other team on both sides of the ball during any stretch of the game (Iowa’s 14 point run in the 2nd half that could have easily been at least 20 points).

In addition to Pat Grace and company, Ricky Stanzi  (22-34-1-0 for 242 yards) and Iowa’s entire receiving corps looked very good Saturday too, with Moeaki’s 10 grabs and McNutt’s 4 catches leading the way.  And, Adam Robinson emerged in the 2nd half as a reliable and effective RB that Iowa needs.

While Offensive O-line replacements (Eubanks and Doering) struggled to find their starting form, giving up four sacks and the primary reason Iowa was less than effective in the run game, both made good second half adjustments and both have another couple games to bust off the remaining rust to at least provide the reliable depth on the O-Line Iowa hopes they will be.

In the end, it was the Iowa Defensive performance that carried the day and it was “just fine” from a first game scoring and run stopping perspective. With solid font 7 play improving throughout including Ballard and Klug taking a giant steps toward replacing King and Kroul, Broderick Bins solid play at DE and only a couple major pass coverage mistakes, perhaps Iowa LB Pat Anger summed it up best when saying he was “not satisfied”…” but not terrified by their (Iowa’s defensive) performance” either.

 It was fitting that the outcome of the game was determined by Iowa’s defensive in perhaps the biggest tell of team character in the game…Iowa imposing its defensive will by blocking two consecutive UNI Field Goal Attempts in the final 7 seconds to preserve the victory…an unimaginable occurrence perhaps never performed prior to last Saturday and perhaps never to be performed again.

Based on this performance what can Iowa fans anticipate the rest of the year?

Stanzi’s long ball touch will return and benefit from a vastly improved host of tall fast physical and sure handed receivers. The O-line will improve the most between week one and week two. Adam Robinson will prove a more than effective running back with Brinsen, Wegher and Paki as able back-ups.

Rest assured that the two missed pass coverage assignments resulting in 10 points will be addressed by Tyler Sash and Castillo’s performance will improve. The return of Shaun Prater should help shore up the loss of corner Bradley Fletcher as well.

This week, Iowa’s players will be properly motivated in their preparation for another big in state rivalry on the road with Iowa State of the Big 12 North and ISU’s new spread offense (perhaps not as good yet as UNI’s) before returning home to face another spread offense attack  in week three against Arizona of PAC 10.  This should help the Pass Defense get much better at squeezing down the middle passing lanes….just in time for the trip to Happy Valley and play against the vaunted PSU HD Spread offense.

Regarding the Blocked FGs, on first down with seven seconds left on the clock and no timeouts left, UNI attempted a go-ahead field goal that Iowa blocked and UNI downed behind the play’s original Line of Scrimmage, stopping the clock with one second left, second down. The blocked kick/fumble/incomplete pass (I’m so confused) giving UNI a second chance to win the game.

If it takes the game Officials seven minutes to discuss and analyze the facts at the end of the play before they could determine the correct interpretation and ruling, how can we expect a player to know how to react in properly in a split second?