Iowa 35, Iowa State 3: Hawkeyes Dominate in Battle For Cy-Hawk Trophy

If there was any doubt as to whether the Iowa Hawkeyes were for real after the scare they received from Northern Iowa last week, they erased it today.

After a fairly shaky offensive start, Iowa absolutely embarrassed their cross-state rivals in a 35-3 trouncing of Iowa State on Saturday. Leading the way for the Hawkeyes, wouldn't you know it, was their defense, forcing six turnovers.

Safety Tyler Sash was all over the place today, forcing four of those six turnovers by intercepting three passes and forcing a fumble. Sash will easily be the defensive player of the week for his performance today which also included ten tackles.

The other two turnovers defensively were forced by fellow safety Brett Greenwood who hauled in two interceptions of his own. Iowa also got a much needed boost offensively from their running game, which was virtually non-existent against UNI.

Finally, the Hawkeyes saw the light and put true freshman Brandon Wegher into the game at tailback, and he did not disappoint.

On 15 carries, Wegher racked up 101 yards on the ground with a touchdown, and also added to receptions for 17 yards, including a one-handed highlight reel catch on a screen play.

Wegher was undoubtedly the player of the day for the Hawkeyes, who may have found their permanent replacement as the starting running back for the injured Jewel Hampton.

Game Recap

Iowa State started the scoring on a field goal Grant Mahoney in the first quarter, but their lead was short lived. Iowa started their own scoring rampage on a short pass from quarterback Ricky Stanzi to fullback Brett Morse, making the score 7-3.

The Hawkeyes added another touchdown before halftime on a very impressive fade route by Derrell Johnson-Koulianos whose catch increased the Hawkeye lead to 14-3.

Iowa started the scoring in the second half on a touchdown pass from Stanzi to reserve tight end Allen Reisner to make the score 21-3. Brandon Wegher really found a groove on a drive in the third quarter and capped it off with a one-yard run to give Iowa a commanding 28-3 lead.

The scoring continued in the fourth quarter when Stanzi connected on his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon to true freshman Keenan Davis to make the Hawkeye lead 35-3.

Odds and Ends

• Ricky Stanzi, though he threw four touchdown passes, has a lot of work to do.  He completed only one of what seemed like an infinite amount of deep passes, missed open receivers, and threw two very unnecessary and costly interceptions.  He has a strong arm, but he needs to be confident in it rather than over cautious.
• Brandon Wegher needs to be Iowa's starting back.  He is a beast inside the tackles, and has excellent speed.  He will pair with Jewel Hampton in 2010 to be one of the nation's top running duos.
• Iowa's receivers are good.  Keenan Davis, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Trey Stross, Marvin McNutt, and Paul Chaney have been very solid this season thus far.  Combine their play with the play of tight ends Anthony Moeaki and Allen Reisner, and this offense has the potential to be very potent.
• The Hawkeyes' defense continues to impress, although they have shown weakness on passes to the middle of the field.  Their safeties can only do so much.  They need better play from their cornerbacks and linebackers in pass coverage.
• Ryan Donahue is destined to play on Sundays.  He is a stellar punter.

This was a big win for Iowa, who improved to 2-0.  They will play Arizona next week, and if they play next week like they did today, they will be 3-0 before too long.