For The Herald
IOWA CITY — The Iowa Hawkeyes narrowly avoided a season-opening disaster at Kinnick Stadium for the second straight year.
Last year, it was two Northern Iowa field-goal attempts in the waning seconds of the game. Saturday, it was the left knee of quarterback Ricky Stanzi, buckling as he slipped while trying to plant and change direction.
“I was a little worried that maybe it was something serious, so I wanted to get off and get it checked,” Stanzi said. “I didn’t want to make a big ordeal about it.”
Stanzi missed one series, started the second half and played well into the fourth quarter. Iowa fans can rest easy, because after a 37-7 cruise over Eastern Illinois, the heart and soul of the Hawkeyes said he’s fine.
“I have no doubt that it will be fine,” said Stanzi, who returned to the field to chants of “USA, USA!” from the fans, a nod to the quarterback’s pro-America post-Orange Bowl comments. “I talked to the trainers. It’s all stable. It’s nothing to worry about. It’s just part of football — bumps and bruises.”
The Hawkeyes (1-0) escaped without many of those — middle linebacker Bruce Davis limped off in the second half, but it was just cramping — and Iowa looks to get only stronger heading into a home contest with heated rival Iowa State this week.
Jewel Hampton and Broderick Binns, both suspended for the opener, will be back. Jeff Tarpinian, slowed by a broken hand, will be further along. Kicker Daniel Murray, guard Adam Gettis and cornerback Shaun Prater all had a shot at playing against Eastern Illinois and could be back this week.
And Josh Koeppel? That was the first near-disaster the Hawkeyes faced last week. The senior center was dressed and cleared to play Saturday, and he could battle James Ferentz this week to start against Iowa State, despite being hit by a truck while riding his moped just one week ago today.
“That’s Koeppel, though,” James Ferentz said. “If there’s some sort of nutshell picture to explain Josh, that’s it. Get hit by a truck, bounce off and he’s at meetings the next day.”
That jaw-dropping incident would have served as a nearly perfect metaphor for the Hawkeyes’ 2009 campaign. No such resiliency was needed against the Panthers Saturday, a welcome change from the norm of last year.
There were some areas of concern, though.
“We got off to a good start and thought our guys were ready to play at kickoff, and (we) did an awful lot of good things and certainly some disappointing things, too, in that first half, not only giving up a fake punt but also letting it become a big play instead of just a first-down conversion,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Then, we turned around and gave up a big play right after that, and that’s something that we have to do a better job responding when something bad happens.”
There were two lost fumbles and a bout of what some players considered complacency in the middle quarters, but for the most part, things went fairly smooth for the Hawkeyes. Stanzi was efficient, going 18-for-23 for 229 yards, one touchdown, and most importantly no interceptions.
Adam Robinson had a monster game, rushing 24 times for 109 yards and three touchdowns, breaking a slew of tackles along the way and rushing with a style that wasn’t seen much last season.
“It was a phenomenal effort from him,” senior guard Julian Vandervelde said. “He was running real physical, and that’s something that I don’t think a lot of people thought that he was capable of. So for him to come out and really have a statement game, where he comes out and doesn’t dance around people, doesn’t run through clean holes but really takes it to the other team, it was impressive to say the least.”
Robinson wasn’t particularly interested in taking much of the credit.
“The o-line did a great job today,” he said. “They gave me some big holes to run through, and they really pushed the d-line back, which helped my field vision out a lot. I couldn’t have done what I did today without those guys.”
Neither did he have extra motivation to perform better with the knowledge that fellow sophomore Hampton will be back next week. He expects to split carries with Hampton, despite proving he’s capable of carrying the entire load Saturday.
“He had a lot of carries that he had to take care of because we really didn’t have another back that we could just throw in there,” Stanzi said.
You wouldn’t have known the Hawkeyes entered the opener with a badly depleted offensive line and backfield with the way they performed. Iowa outgained EIU 435-157, with 179 of those yards coming on the ground.
It wasn’t perfect, but perfect wasn’t what Iowa needed to get past Eastern Illinois and have a successful start to a season brimming with high expectations. What it was was exactly what the Hawkeyes needed — a fast start, a comfortable win, an opportunity to get some young players some playing time.
Now, they go back to the film room to get ready for instate rival Iowa State. Despite the 30-point margin of win, there will be plenty of work to do, as the level of competition will significantly ramp up from here on out.
“Like any season, any week, it’s all about what you can do to move forward as a team,” Kirk Ferentz said. “And that old axiom about week one to week two, it’s typically true. But you have to make it that way. It doesn’t just happen by showing up. We’ll look at the tape tomorrow and try to move forward from here.”
“I was a little worried that maybe it was something serious, so I wanted to get off and get it checked,” Stanzi said. “I didn’t want to make a big ordeal about it.”
Stanzi missed one series, started the second half and played well into the fourth quarter. Iowa fans can rest easy, because after a 37-7 cruise over Eastern Illinois, the heart and soul of the Hawkeyes said he’s fine.
“I have no doubt that it will be fine,” said Stanzi, who returned to the field to chants of “USA, USA!” from the fans, a nod to the quarterback’s pro-America post-Orange Bowl comments. “I talked to the trainers. It’s all stable. It’s nothing to worry about. It’s just part of football — bumps and bruises.”
The Hawkeyes (1-0) escaped without many of those — middle linebacker Bruce Davis limped off in the second half, but it was just cramping — and Iowa looks to get only stronger heading into a home contest with heated rival Iowa State this week.
Jewel Hampton and Broderick Binns, both suspended for the opener, will be back. Jeff Tarpinian, slowed by a broken hand, will be further along. Kicker Daniel Murray, guard Adam Gettis and cornerback Shaun Prater all had a shot at playing against Eastern Illinois and could be back this week.
And Josh Koeppel? That was the first near-disaster the Hawkeyes faced last week. The senior center was dressed and cleared to play Saturday, and he could battle James Ferentz this week to start against Iowa State, despite being hit by a truck while riding his moped just one week ago today.
“That’s Koeppel, though,” James Ferentz said. “If there’s some sort of nutshell picture to explain Josh, that’s it. Get hit by a truck, bounce off and he’s at meetings the next day.”
That jaw-dropping incident would have served as a nearly perfect metaphor for the Hawkeyes’ 2009 campaign. No such resiliency was needed against the Panthers Saturday, a welcome change from the norm of last year.
There were some areas of concern, though.
“We got off to a good start and thought our guys were ready to play at kickoff, and (we) did an awful lot of good things and certainly some disappointing things, too, in that first half, not only giving up a fake punt but also letting it become a big play instead of just a first-down conversion,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Then, we turned around and gave up a big play right after that, and that’s something that we have to do a better job responding when something bad happens.”
There were two lost fumbles and a bout of what some players considered complacency in the middle quarters, but for the most part, things went fairly smooth for the Hawkeyes. Stanzi was efficient, going 18-for-23 for 229 yards, one touchdown, and most importantly no interceptions.
Adam Robinson had a monster game, rushing 24 times for 109 yards and three touchdowns, breaking a slew of tackles along the way and rushing with a style that wasn’t seen much last season.
“It was a phenomenal effort from him,” senior guard Julian Vandervelde said. “He was running real physical, and that’s something that I don’t think a lot of people thought that he was capable of. So for him to come out and really have a statement game, where he comes out and doesn’t dance around people, doesn’t run through clean holes but really takes it to the other team, it was impressive to say the least.”
Robinson wasn’t particularly interested in taking much of the credit.
“The o-line did a great job today,” he said. “They gave me some big holes to run through, and they really pushed the d-line back, which helped my field vision out a lot. I couldn’t have done what I did today without those guys.”
Neither did he have extra motivation to perform better with the knowledge that fellow sophomore Hampton will be back next week. He expects to split carries with Hampton, despite proving he’s capable of carrying the entire load Saturday.
“He had a lot of carries that he had to take care of because we really didn’t have another back that we could just throw in there,” Stanzi said.
You wouldn’t have known the Hawkeyes entered the opener with a badly depleted offensive line and backfield with the way they performed. Iowa outgained EIU 435-157, with 179 of those yards coming on the ground.
It wasn’t perfect, but perfect wasn’t what Iowa needed to get past Eastern Illinois and have a successful start to a season brimming with high expectations. What it was was exactly what the Hawkeyes needed — a fast start, a comfortable win, an opportunity to get some young players some playing time.
Now, they go back to the film room to get ready for instate rival Iowa State. Despite the 30-point margin of win, there will be plenty of work to do, as the level of competition will significantly ramp up from here on out.
“Like any season, any week, it’s all about what you can do to move forward as a team,” Kirk Ferentz said. “And that old axiom about week one to week two, it’s typically true. But you have to make it that way. It doesn’t just happen by showing up. We’ll look at the tape tomorrow and try to move forward from here.”
No comments:
Post a Comment