The Iowa football team leads Wisconsin, 10-3, at halftime.
By Danny Payne
[email protected]
MADISON, Wisconsin — Good half, all things considered for Iowa. Here are some thoughts.
- Jordan Canzeri was huge on Iowa’s touchdown drive, which was set up by a Desmond King pick. He had 25 of Iowa’s 31 yards, which set C.J. Beathard up nicely to give George Kittle a touchdown.
- Speaking of Canzeri, he’s led the rushing attack, which has been solid for Iowa thus far. The Hawkeyes were averaging 5.1 yards per carry until Beathard was sacked at the end of the half. Officially, they finished the half with a 4.5 average. Canzeri has 15 carries for 79 yards.
- Defensively, Iowa’s stuck in zone, which doesn’t seem like the way to go — all the time, at least — against this Joel Stave-led offense. The interception to King was BAD, but otherwise he’s just checking down into low-risk throws, which could add up in time. Man-to-man may force him to make tougher throws, and who knows if he’s capable of that. Stave is 8-of-14 with 99 yard and an interception on the day.
- The King pick. Thanks to our friends at BHGP.
More fun from the first half: Des King with a big interception https://t.co/rS8ue6Swew
— Black Heart Gold Pain (@BHGP) October 3, 2015
- Iowa’s rush defense has been good. The Badgers’ leading rusher is Taiwan Deal with 6 carries for 28 yards. Wisconsin is averaging 2.8 yards per carry.
- Drew Ott is a beast; to set up Iowa’s field goal, he whopped Badger tackle Tyler Martz and stripped Stave after play action. Looks like he’s back from that injury.
- By the way, bad clock management on that drive. The Hawkeyes had three time-outs and took a delay of game call on a third-and-4. Yikes.
- Canzeri is a better running back when he picks a hole and hits it. That’s not to say he shouldn’t cut back later, because he can and should if it’s there, but hitting the initial hole hard is a key for the senior.
- On Iowa’s first-quarter third- and fourth-down plays inside the Wisconsin 10: A not-100-percent LeShun Daniels Jr. was in on third down, with only Riley McCarron split wide. That’s about as telegraphed of a run play as it gets. Fourth down, the Badger defensive back did a nice job in coverage of Henry Krieger Coble. Could’ve taken the 3 points, but that’s something Joe Maddon would call “outcome bias.”
- This Beathard scramble (vine via our friends at Barstool Iowa), along with a Canzeri 15-yard run, led to a field-goal chance for Iowa, which Marshall Koehn pushed right.
Juked out of his shoes! https://t.co/nRIlHx6fgQ
— Trent (@BarstoolTrent) October 3, 2015
- Defensively, Iowa’s employing that bend-don’t-break strategy again. The Badgers have had their chances, but this offense just isn’t that great.
- America’s favorite kicker, Rafael Gaglianone, is 1-of-2 on field goals.
- Here are your halftime stats:
