 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Iowa’s special teams remain toxic
Iowa's punter Ryan Donahue (5) gets up after being tackled while running with the ball on a bad snap during a field goal attempt during the first half of their Big Ten Conference College Football game against Wisconsin Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)
IOWA CITY — Iowa’s special teams remain a sinkhole.
No other way around it. The Hawkeyes had a blocked PAT, several penalties and got caught in a punt return that ended up with Wisconsin punter Brad Nortman rushing right up the middle for 17 yards and a first down.
The body count for Iowa’s special teams is two. The blocked punt and kick return for a touchdown cost the Hawkeyes dearly at Arizona. Saturday, the blocked PAT and a high snap on a 31-yard field goal attempt kept four points off the board.
Iowa lost to No. 10 Wisconsin, 31-30. Those points mattered.
Everything else worked pretty well for the Hawkeyes. Sure, the defense buckled at crucial moments, but it also fought against bobbles that gave away field position.
Special teams chopped down just about everything Iowa did well Saturday.
“It works when if your special teams is solid,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “If you look at both those games [Arizona and Wisconsin], right now the first thing I’d point to is our special teams. We’re going to have to find a way to play a little bit better.”
The headaches started early. UW defensive end J.J. Watt blocked Mike Meyer’s PAT attempt after Iowa’s first TD, leaving Iowa up, 6-3. It was a point Iowa chased all day and never seemed to get back.
“Lining up I saw a crack. I knew it was going to be there,” Watt said. “So, I swam over the guard, (defensive tackle) Pat Butrym did a great job of occupying the guard and I swam over the guard and literally just walked into it. I put my hands up and walked into it.”
It really seemed that easy for UW against Iowa’s special teams, which employ nine true freshmen in different units.
With 3:13 left in the second quarter, Iowa lined up for a 31-yard field goal. Long snapper Andrew Schulze left a one a little high to holder Ryan Donahue, who was tackled for a 4-yard loss.
That’s four potential points off the board.
“It’s frustrating but you can’t get frustrated,” senior punt returner Colin Sandeman said. “It’s tough to swallow when you lose like that and special teams is a part of it.
“Those guys are trying as hard as they can. I think Wisconsin had a couple more answers than we did.”
Late in the third quarter, Iowa’s kick team came up with a stop that held UW at its 18. But no, true freshman Don Shumpert was called offsides. UW made Iowa kick it again and David Gilreatch took it to UW’s 49. The Badgers scored just four plays later.
The coup de grace was Nortman’s fake punt. It turned a fourth-and-4 into a first-and-10 at the 43. It eventually delivered the game-winner.
“I had a feeling something was up,” Sandeman said. “They’re down by 6, there are four minutes left. If they punt and we string together a couple first downs, the game is over. I had a feeling something was going to happen.”
Ferentz said it came down to execution. Wisconsin did; Iowa didn’t.
“They executed [the fake punt]. Nice job, good call, excellent patience by their punter,” Ferentz said.
There’s simply no more patience for Iowa’s special teams.
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Is Iowa employing all of the true frosh because they are what’s available or because they are that good?
IMO, Marshall, it’s because there’s a hole in the roster.
Where are the junior linebackers and corners? Well, there is like one, I think, and that’s Willie Lowe and he left the game, I think.
Great point – I think it shows how many injuries it takes to get the Hawks off of the championship tracks. Not too many.
Yep. Wisconsin’s depth was just a little better yesterday. It showed.
Interesting that Colin Sandemann, a 22-year-old kid, had an inkling on the fake punt that all was not right, but the Iowa coaching staff — with its much-lauded longevity — was clueless. I thought Iowa’s offense played superbly and I can’t bring myself to be critical of our defense given the strength of Wisconsin’s team, but I can find much to fault with a coaching staff that did not address the glaring troubles with the special teams so fully exposed in the Arizona game. And Ferentz not owning his mistakes postgame makes me sick to my stomach.
Sonoma, I can’t argue with the logic.
Sure, maybe it’s Colin second guessing, but a punt safe call on that play not only seems like a logical call but was the logical call.
More second guessing, though. It’s not what they called. They know live with the consequences. Another loss and the championship season is over.
I saw somewhere else where Sandeman said they hadn’t seen Wiscy do a fake punt yet this season so they didn’t really expect it. I wonder if that was the coaches mindset…if so, very sad.
Everyone seems to forget (including the Iowa team) that E. Illinois faked a punt successfully against them in the first game. That should be all they need to be on alert for it the rest of the season.
This is one time, where a follow-up question from the previous game would be appropriate at the Tuesday press conference. Here is my suggestion…
If you (Ferentz) mentioned last Saturday that the staff had discussed Wisconsin faking a punt with the team, why did you not have your team in “punt safe” mode for the Badger punt on 4th and 4 with 6 minutes to go? Why did the coaching staff have a punt return set up in that situation where there was a probability of a fake?
I’m sure Ferentz will give coach-spin, but this question needs to be asked.
It’s good to point to the Eastern Illinois fake punt for reference but, recall, also on that play Iowa wasn’t out-of-position so much as the LB (either Nielsen (Nick) or Reisen (Jake?) got freight-trained by the UpBack (EIll TE) with the ball. Marc is on the money. The strength of a special teams unit is going to be LBs and DBs. Maybe there’s an odd TE or RB who fits in as a superman but most often it’s LBs/DBs. Personnel, aside, however it was a strategic error on Iowa’s coaching staff to give that sort of play possibly better coverage. Michigan State, of course, is making a living off of special teams play. I don’t think Iowa’s special teams are going to change significantly – given this point in the season- so hold on to your hats. It’s clearly the phase in the game where Iowa is capable of beating itself. And the whole premise for winning at Iowa is eliminating the beat yourself stuff.