To call today's game an up and down event would be an understatement, especially when the only way to find out what was going on was on a cell phone. A slow start, two 3-and outs gaining only 7 yards in between which Michigan and Denard Robinson put together a 75 yard touchdown drive. Then the Hawkeyes got going, recording 3 consecutive touchdown drives totaling over 180 yards while holding the Wolverines scoreless due to an interception and a missed field goal. The second half was about the same as both teams struggled to keep the ball in their possession until Iowa scored with a minute and 45 seconds left in the third quarter. At this point the game got very interesting.
Denard Robinson suffered a shoulder injury on the first Michigan play of the third quarter, prompting Tate Forcier to take over at quarterback. Watching the GameCast on the phone made this even more interesting since there was no notification about the injury, I was left to wonder why Robinson had left the game. Robinson is the most dynamic quarterback in the Big-10 but the Hawkeyes had 2 weeks to formulate a game plan to stop him. The problem with this is that with an injury like we saw today, the whole game plan has to change in a matter of minutes. Forcier came into the game for Robinson and immediately drove the Wolverines down the field and into scoring position. Fortunately for the Hawks, they forced a fumble by Vincent Smith on their own 15 yard line to end the threat. After an Iowa punt Forcier took over again, this time he made his own mistake on the third play of the drive and had his pass intercepted by the Iowa defense. The offense took just under 3 minutes to cash in on this mistake and got a late game touchdown, something that I pointed out they needed more of after the last game. The next 3 drives traded touchdowns back and forth, leaving Iowa with a 35-21 lead with just over ten minutes to go. Iowa went three out and on the next drive and Forcier once again drove the Michigan offense down the field to make it a 7 point game. The next drive Ricky Stanzi stepped up with Adam Robinson to get the job done. They drove into Michigan territory and although the drive stalled, took another 4 minutes off the clock. 4th and 7 deep in Michigan territory seemed to take forever to update, the nerves of waiting to read if the freshman kicker Michael Meyer had hit the field goal were killing me. When the phone finally revealed that he had hit it I was highly relieved, a ten point lead with less than 3 minutes to go sounded much better than the simple 7 point lead the Hawks had been clinging to. The defense stepped up when Forcier took the field for the last time, intercepting his third pass of the drive to seal the game. Adam Robinson picked up a first down for good measure, allowing the Hawkeyes to kneel down and pick up a victory in Ann Arbor for the first time since 2002.
I said earlier this week that forcing turnovers was going to be the key to this week; yards were going to be gained regardless of how well the defense played. Little did I know that the yards were going to be picked up through the air and that the turnovers were going to come at the hands of last year's starting quarterback and not Denard Robinson. The Hawks were semi successful at stopping Robinson, he completed 13 of 18 passes but only for 97 yards and had one interception. Robinson also ran 18 times for 105 yards in the half that he played, both stats were on pace for the 200 passing 200 rushing that he has been averaging this season. They key for Iowa was that Michigan only had 7 points from their initial touchdown drive to show for all this success. Forcier brought a whole new aspect to the game, something that the team surely hadn't prepared for much the last 2 weeks. Forcier completed 17 of 26 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown but also threw 2 interceptions and had the costly fumble by his running back while he was in the game. The stat that worries me is the 523 total offensive yards that Michigan was able to gain. The Wolverines gained 31 first downs, including 3 by converting fourth down situations. Points were kept off the board though by the opportunistic Hawkeyes defense with the 4 turnovers and a blocked field goal.
With the exception to a very slow start to the third quarter, the offense looked as fantastic statistically as I had expected it to. Stanzi was 17 of 24 passing for 247 yards with 3 touchdown passes to Derrell Johnson-Kulianos, who had 4 total receptions for 70 yards. The ball was spread around well by Stanzi again this week, 7 teammates had receptions, Robinson and McNutt matched DJK with 4 receptions on the day. Adam Robinson did everything asked of him today, he ran 31 times for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. With Adams 61 receiving yards he was over 200 total offensive yards for the game. The thing that I was the most pleased to see about the offense was the points scored in every quarter, something that it seems there was a lack of in tight games so far.
Special teams did their job today; Michael Meyer hit all 5 extra points as well as the game clinching 30 yard field goal. Ryan Donahue was called upon 5 times and averaged 46 yards per punt, I would like to see the number downed inside the 20 higher than 1 but without actually watching the game I don't know how often that could have been asked for today. DJK handled kickoff duties today and averaged 30 yards a return, none of the Michigan punts were returned. Kick coverage was good as well today, as it has been since the Arizona game, allowing an average of 20 yards on kickoffs and only 6 total yards on 3 punt return attempts.
When all is said on done it's nice to see the W on the board for the week. We will find out how good Michigan and Penn State really are in the next few weeks. Today's offensive effort was great to see, last year I would have doubted the teams ability to score enough points to win a shootout. The next 2 weeks continue to be huge for the Hawkeyes; first Wisconsin comes to Iowa City coming off their win against number 1 Ohio State followed by Michigan State, currently undefeated and atop the Big-10 standings. These two teams will both be in contention for the Big-10 title when the end of November rolls around so a couple of wins could set the stage for the Hawkeyes. For those who are watching the standings currently, the Hawks are one of 3 teams tied for first based on the conference record.
I will have a preview later in the week of the Wisconsin game, as they come to town attempting to knock Iowa out of the way and work their way up the standings.
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