No Hampton, no problem for Hawkeyes

By Brian Heinemann
For The Herald

IOWA CITY ––––– Running back was supposed to be a position of strength for the Iowa Hawkeyes this year.

It didn’t take long for it to become an area of concern after Jewel Hampton was lost to a torn ACL in last weekend’s 34-27 defeat at the hands of Arizona. Iowa was left with Adam Robinson and not a whole lot else.

Or so we thought. Much like last year, it was no Hampton, no problem for Iowa (3-1). The Hawkeyes ran the ball 44 times for 256 yards and throttled Ball State (1-3) 45-0 on a cold, rainy Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

“I think right now our plan is Adam will be our featured back like Shonn (Greene) was a couple years ago,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s our primary back, and we’ll do whatever it takes to fuel it around him.”

Robinson’s 115 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries were impressive. Perhaps more important was the emergence of running back-turned-fullback-turned-running back Brad Rogers, a redshirt freshman, and Marcus Coker, a true freshman. The duo ran 9 times for 66 yards and 10 times for 62 yards respectively.

Maybe, just maybe, running back is still a position of strength.

“I was very happy with the way they played,” quarterback Ricky Stanzi said of the freshmen. “Those guys, both very young, haven’t had a whole lot of experience. Marcus has had none; he had an injury in camp, so he’s seen very limited time. You can see the potential that’s there. You don’t just count on potential, you want to see production, and we were able to see that today from both of those guys.”

It helped that the offensive line was opening up “monster holes,” in Robinson’s words. It was an important bounce back from the 29 yards on 26 attempts the offense put up in the Arizona loss.

But run blocking was just half of the concern about the offensive line as we near Big Ten play. A week ago, they allowed their quarterback to get bounced around like a pinball, particularly on the final drive of the game.

Saturday, Stanzi couldn’t remember a single time he was even touched by a Ball State defender.

“We had all day to pass the ball,” he said.

With a homecoming date against Penn State looming, Iowa needed a quick turnaround after another failed trip west. 

They got it.

Special teams hunkered down, containing one of the best return men in the nation. The pass defense, torched by Arizona’s Nick Foles, allowed Ball State just 56 yards through the air.

But don’t call it bouncing back or righting the ship. Sure, the Arizona loss was a stumble.

That doesn’t mean it had to derail the Hawkeyes’ entire season. These Hawkeyes won’t let it.

“I wouldn’t say getting back on track,” Stanzi said. “I don’t think we were ever off the track – we just needed to do a couple things a little bit better. We were able to do that today and we came out with a big win.”

Iowa knows there’s still room for improvement. There were dropped passes, another fumbled snap and nine penalties. 

It’s hard to imagine the defense needing improvement after they pitched a shutout and allowed just 112 yards, thanks in large part to the play of the front four. The unit used some different looks and got huge production from junior tackle Mike Daniels, who leads the team in tackles for a loss after picking up four – and a sack – against Ball State.

“We see a lot of people have been scheming us, trying to get a bead on where we’re at,” Christian Ballard, who rotates with Daniels, said of the front four. “They’ve been sending a lot of running backs, a lot of tight ends to chip our ends. So, just to move them around a little bit so they can’t keep scheming us is going to be important going through the season.”

The Hawkeyes know their conference foes, starting with Penn State Saturday night, will be looking at what Arizona did to them, looking to exploit Iowa’s supposed weaknesses. Iowa had a chance Saturday to show improvement and tighten up some rough patches and, for the most part, they took full advantage.

The offensive line, special teams and the pass defense all looked greatly improved from where they were a week ago. And even though it was against a team that lost at home to Liberty, it was exactly what Iowa needed.

“We’ve been getting Big Ten ready,” guard Julian Vandervelde said. “It’s not something that you get in a week. I think we’re a little bit closer, and we’ve got a little more tape that we can look at now.

“We can kind of gauge the progression from Week 1 through Week 4 now, and see the sort of direction that we’re taking and the areas that we really need the most focus to improve to get ready for the Big Ten season.”