The Hawkeye offense has some work to do after struggling against Wisconsin.
By Jordan Hansen
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Running back Jordan Canzeri and the rest of the Iowa offense know that only scoring 10 points won’t win Iowa many more games.
In fact, it barely won the game against Wisconsin.
“As an offense, we don’t want to put as much pressure as we did on our defense,” Canzeri said. “We let certain things slip, and the defense had to play a lot against Wisconsin.”
After being relatively competent on offense during the first half, things went downhill very quickly for the Hawkeyes offense in the third and fourth quarters. It only managed 69 yards of offense during the final two periods and went 1-of-7 on third downs.
It only gets more damning from there; quarterback C.J. Beathard was 4-of-9 for 24 yards and an interception in the final two quarters of play.
Spotty line play and a herculean effort from Badger outside linebacker Joe Schobert had quite a bit to do with Iowa’s offensive struggles. It also didn’t help matters that starting wide receiver Tevaun Smith did not play.
Wisconsin is likely one of the best defenses Iowa will face this year and struggling a bit against it isn’t unforgiveable.
Saturday’s game against Illinois will be a good time for the Hawkeyes to try to reconfigure things on offense. Beathard’s first performance after his first “bad” game also deserves some attention.
“That was a tough outing, tough environment,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “They were harassing us, and I thought the one thing that’s consistent with [Beathard] is his poise and his toughness out there. It wasn’t his best game, but he’ll bounce back.”
Albert, the Heartland Trophy
In an Instagram post after the Iowa-Wisconsin game, defensive end Drew Ott is pictured holding up the Heartland Trophy and calling it Albert in the post.
“We just kind of came up with it, and then they said there’s a big bull in Iowa,” Ott said. “It makes it even better if one already exists.”
Built in 1964, Albert the Bull, which is self-proclaimed as the World’s Largest Bull, is a 45-ton concrete and steel monstrosity that towers over a small park in Audubon.
Rankings
Sunday marked the end to No. 22 Iowa’s 1,771-day drought of being unranked in the AP Top-25 football poll.
The Hawkeyes dropped out of the poll on Nov. 28, 2010, after a 27-24 loss to Minnesota.
Ferentz has often played down the importance of rankings, but even he saw some benefit from them.
“I’m happy for our players. I think it’s probably meaningful for them,” Ferentz said. “It dawned on me for a lot of guys, this is kind of new territory, so that’s a good thing. What’s more exciting to me is that we’re playing well enough to be recognized.”
Injury updates
Barring an unforeseen circumstance, wide receiver Smith will be out the next two games, which means he won’t see the field until Iowa plays Indiana on Oct. 31, following the team’s bye week.
Ferentz also said tackle Boone Myers and running back Derrick Mitchell Jr. are both day-to-day. Backup tackle Cole Croston played fairly well against Wisconsin and may push Myers a bit when the latter comes back.
LeShun Daniels Jr. hardly played against Wisconsin and didn’t look very good when he did. Ott looked nearly full strength against the Badgers and was not mentioned as being injured.