Stanford has a formula for each drive, and there are some potential changes for the Hawkeyes.
By Danny Payne
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LOS ANGELES — We’re done for the day, media-opportunity wise, here in Southern California. Iowa’s defense and Stanford’s offense spoke Monday morning, and we watched the beginning of Iowa’s practice earlier in the afternoon.
Below are some quick-hits from Monday heading into the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl between No. 5 Iowa and No. 6 Stanford, along with what to expect Tuesday. Links to other coverage this week are also included at the bottom.
Efficiency, efficiency
Part of what make the Cardinal so good is their efficient offense. After all, we are talking about the nation’s second-best third-down offense (51.16 percent) and No. 3 fourth-down offense (85.71 percent).
A major reason for that is offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren’s (Bloomgren’s official title is the Andrew Luck Director of Offense, for what it’s worth) formula to get to third-and-short situations.
“On first and second down we’re looking for four yards or more,” Bloomgren said. “On third down, we’re looking to move the sticks, same with fourth down. The only time that varies is when you get inside the 5-yard line. The 5 to the 3, we’re looking for 2 yards. Three to the 1, we’re looking 1-yard gain at minimum.
“We call it an efficient run and make it easy to stay ahead of the sticks to make it easy the next play.”
The Cardinal have done just that. Their 5.58 yards per rush on first down is No. 12 in the country. On second down, they average 4.81 yards per rush (38th in Division 1). Third and fourth down are 4.24 (23rd) and 2.25 (T-74th).
Iowa’s defense, conversely, allows 3.77, 3.51, 2.22, and 4.67 yards per rush on first, second, third, and fourth downs, with those numbers ranking 20th, T-15th, 27th, and 85th in the nation, respectively.
Iowa is 56th and 94th in the country on third- and fourth-down defense.
“Our coach always harps on just being hungry, humble, and focused,” Hawkeye defensive end Nate Meier said. “So when [third and fourth downs] come up in the game, you have to take it upon yourself to get the stop … you have to have the mindset that you’re never going to lose.”
The future explained
In the middle of the season, true freshman Jack Hockaday joined redshirt freshman Aaron Mends as the co-No. 2 weakside linebacker on Iowa’s depth chart. Because weakside backer Cole Fisher has played so well this season, which one of those players was the first backup never really came up.
However, because Jan. 1 will mark the senior’s last game as a Hawkeye, he shed some light on the potential starter alongside Josey Jewell and Ben Niemann.
“[Mends] has the physical tools to be just crazy good, the amount of power and speed that he brings is nothing that I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Fisher said. “I remember when he came in as a freshman, he asked if he could lift with me when we were doing bench and clean. I was looking at him like, ‘You can, but I don’t really want to be taking off weight left and right the whole time.’
“And he goes to his first set, and I think he put weight on on top of mine, and it’s like, ‘What is going on right now; who are you?’ ”
Fisher also said he thinks Mends has the team squat record at 595 pounds. Jewell also called him a “freako” athlete.
As for Hockaday, Fisher said he jumped out in front of other freshmen during camp and has a bright future. Jewell praised Nick Wilson as well.
We’re talking practice
While the media’s view at practice Monday afternoon wasn’t great, and our time to watch the Hawkeyes was limited, below are some observations. Before you read on, remember that this was an open portion of practice a few days before the game, so take everything with a grain of salt.
- James Daniels was with the first team offensive line at left guard. Cole Croston was at left tackle and Sean Welsh at right tackle. Jordan Walsh at right guard and Austin Blythe at center. Boone Myers is the odd man out in that situation.
- In a quarterback/running back-only drill that was very brief, Jordan Canzeri and Macon Plewa were running with C.J. Beathard. That could mean absolutely nothing, but I just wanted to throw it out there.
- Jay Scheel was back returning punts behind Desmond King.
- Eric Church’s “Drink in my hand” and some other country song I don’t know the name of played while the Hawkeyes went through stretches. It was festive and made me think of spring break.
- Here are some videos from the afternoon:
https://twitter.com/dannyapayne/status/681577341558980608
- That’s recruiting coordinator Seth Wallace yelling in this next one, if you’re wondering.
https://twitter.com/dannyapayne/status/681579355198259200
- Some people were wearing jerseys not matching their actual numbers, so I don’t know for sure who the scuffling Hawks are at the end of this video. I’ll leave that for you to decide.
https://twitter.com/dannyapayne/status/681582347792203776
What’s Tuesday?
Media Day. Everyone from each team is available Tuesday, starting with an hour of Stanford at 8 a.m. local time, followed by Iowa at 9:30 a.m. local. Full coverage from that will be available all throughout the day. Something on Kevin Hogan is coming without a doubt, and I may expand on those by-down numbers above if anyone has good things to say, among other things. If you guys want anything in particular, shoot me an email, or Tweet me @dannyapayne or @dipregame.
Links
In case you missed any of our content today, it’s all linked below for you to see. Scroll back through our Twitter timeline to check things out, too.
Desmond King is still undecided on his NFL future
Big Ten offense, “Big Ten” defense set to collide
Duzey out for Rose Bowl, Beef Bowl fun
