Five things we learned: Purdue
By Courtney Baumann
The Iowa football team put away Purdue 49-35 Oct. 15 in West Lafayette. Here are a few things we learned from watching the game.
Iowa’s run game could really be something
Two Hawkeye running backs – Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels – each had more than 100 yards on the day. It was the first time since 2008 that multiple Iowa running backs accomplished the feat.
Wadley rushed for 170 yards and Daniels tacked on 156 more.
The rushing game was most of the team’s total offense. Iowa rushed for 365 of the teams 520 yards.
… And a lot of that can be credited to the offensive line
For the second week in a row, the Hawkeye offensive line, which looked iffy earlier in the season, has proven itself to be solid.
Even with the absence of Cole Croston, who was out with injury, the offensive line set blocks and opened paths for the running backs to break through.
Because of Croston’s injury, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz had to shuffle the o-line for the second week in a row. Ike Boettger slid into Croston’s spot, and Keegan Render made his second start of his career.
None of CJB’s targets can stay healthy
The rushing game that looked so good against Purdue will be essential if Iowa’s receivers and tight ends continue to drop off at the rate they are.
Matt VandeBerg’s absence has been obvious, and quarterback C.J. Beathard’s other targets have been doing their best to fill the hole he left.
However, senior tight end George Kittle exited the game halfway through the first quarter against Purdue, and returned to the sideline wearing a walking boot. Ferentz said the X-rays came back negative and showed it was a simple foot sprain, but was unsure as to how long recovery would take.
Kittle has been the next in line for receiving yards since VandeBerg has been out, and without him, Beathard isn’t left with very many targets.
Purdue found the weaknesses in Iowa’s pass coverage
Purdue totaled 504 yards in its homecoming game, but only 46 of those came on the ground. That means Purdue quarterback David Blough passed for 458 yards.
No, seriously, 458.
The Iowa secondary that had allowed just over 1,000 passing yards total through its first six games gave up more than two and a half times the amount of yards per game it had during the first half of the season.
The run defense was obviously good – anytime it holds a team to only 46 yards on the ground it a positive thing – but it will be vital for the Hawkeyes to figure out what went wrong against the Boilermakers.
Ross-Ade Stadium is weird
This is for a variety of reasons.
- You walk into the stadium, and there is next to no security, which is less surprising than it should be. Last year the Boilermakers’ average attendance was 37,508. To put that in perspective, Michigan averaged 110,168, and the Hawkeyes, whose stadium is around the size of Purdue’s, averaged 63,142.
- You have to walk through a dungeon-esque area to get to the press box elevator.
- Ferentz’s post-game podium interview took place in the Iowa locker room, which was a glorified shed.
- Sinkhole.
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