Hawkeye defense posts stellar showing against the pass

Iowa finished the first half on a roll through the air on offense, but it was even better on the other side of the ball.

The Hawkeyes allowed only 17 yards passing for Rutgers quarterback McLane Carter, who finished 3-of-13 with an interception.

That’s an extremely encouraging sign, given the fact the Hawkeyes are without starting free safety Kaevon Merriweather.

Coming off a week in which there was confusion in the secondary, backup Jack Koerner hasn’t made any glaring mistakes in Merriweather’s place.

The entire secondary has looked impressive thus far. There haven’t been any real holes, and the defensive line is only helping the cause with its pressure on Carter. A.J. Epenesa racked up 4 quarterback hurries and a sack in the first half, and Daviyon Nixon finished with 1 hurry. One of Epenesa’s pressures led to a pick by linebacker Djimon Colbert, which the Hawkeyes cashed in for a field goal as time expired.

Iowa finished the first half with a 171-17 advantage over Rutgers in passing yards. If the Hawkeyes continue excelling in the passing game on both sides of the ball, the score could get even more lopsided by the time the final buzzer goes off.

Iowa offense backed up for most of the first half

The Hawkeyes got off to a fast start against Rutgers.

Nate Stanley connected with the electric Ihmir Smith-Marsette for a 58-yard touchdown to cap off the first Iowa drive of the day with a touchdown.

From there, the Hawkeyes have had trouble putting long drives together, and part of that stems from the consistent poor field position Iowa has faced.

After starting at their own 25-yard line to open the game, the Hawkeyes have been backed up in their own territory to open drives for the majority of the first half.

Iowa has opened drives at its own 3-yard line twice in the opening 30 minutes, while also taking over at its own 8 and 11-yard lines.

This has been due to a combination of solid punting by Rutgers and poor execution from the Iowa punt return unit for much of the half. Rutgers is averaging 43.8 yards per punt, with five punts downed inside Iowa’s 20-yard line.

Nico Ragaini has had an up-and-down half as the punt returner for Iowa. On his first return of the game, Ragaini went in the wrong direction in an effort to elude the Rutgers punt coverage and lost five yards on the return to back Iowa up to its own 3-yard line.

On another return, Iowa was called for holding and backed up to the same place.

Iowa wound up scoring on that drive after an 11-play, 97-yard march down the field despite the poor starting field position.

The Hawkeyes are controlling this game handily, and with better starting field position in the second half, the game could get uglier than it already is.

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