Iowa football report card: Sizing up the Hawkeyes’ squeaking past South Dakota State
After a long offseason, fans flocked back to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City to see the start of the 2022 season for Iowa. To say that the Hawkeyes’ win over FCS No. 3 South Dakota State left some mixed results would be an understatement.
Pull up a chair. Class is in session. It’s time to assign some grades for the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 7-3 season-opening win over the Jackrabbits.
Spencer Petras
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
Before anything gets taken away from the Jackrabbits by what will be said next, South Dakota State deserves its credit. Defensively, the Jackrabbits were stout.
Having said that, what the heck was that from Iowa offensively? The Hawkeyes’ offense wasn’t just bad in 2021, it registered as one of the country’s worst in total offense at No. 121 nationally. The emphasis all offseason was on improving that side of the football to pair with Iowa’s terrific defense.
With one game in the books, it looks like the offense might have actually gotten worse. Spencer Petras completed just 11-of-25 passes for 109 yards and was intercepted. The San Rafael, Calif., native didn’t look like a quarterback brimming with experience. Instead, it appears all of he and Iowa’s past offensive failures might have finally taken their toll on his mental state of mind.
This grade would’ve been worse if not for what we’ll take a peek at next.
Grade: D-
The offensive line
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Moving left to right, Iowa started out with this offensive line: left tackle Mason Richman, left guard Nick DeJong, center Logan Jones, right guard Beau Stephens and right tackle Connor Colby. Before it was over, Gennings Dunker, Tyler Elsbury and Jack Plumb had made appearances as well.
None of it worked particularly well. Though the official stat sheet has South Dakota State with a pair of sacks and just two more quarterback hurries, Petras was under regular pressure. His fumble aside that killed Iowa’s best scoring drive, starting running back Leshon Williams ran it well when given some creases.
The only problem? There weren’t many of them. Williams finished with 72 rushing yards on 24 carries. As a team, Iowa rushed for just 57 yards with a 1.6 yards per carry average. The long rush of the day was Arland Bruce’s 11-yard carry right before Williams’ fumble toward the end of the third quarter.
The averages don’t necessarily make sense, but add up Petras’ grade and the grade here, and you get an overall “F” for the offense. Everybody can share some of the blame.
Grade: D-
Jack Campbell, Hawkeye defense
Bryon Houlgrave/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK
It can’t all be doom and gloom. The Hawkeyes did in fact win the game and Iowa is 1-0 to start the season. That’s in large part because of this man and his teammates on the Iowa defense.
Linebacker Jack Campbell was a preseason first-team All-American choice by Phil Steele. That never surprised Hawkeye fans, and, after Saturday, it was just reinforced. Man, Campbell is special. He just flies around the football field making play after play.
The 6-foot-5, 246 pound linebacker collected a team-high 12 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. Oh, he also had what wound up as the game-winning safety.
Overall, Iowa was terrific defensively, stifling the Jackrabbits and holding them to just six first downs and 120 yards of total offense. Joe Evans added 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. One of those turned into another safety for the Hawkeyes. Logan Lee had a great day as well, registering 1.5 sacks and six tackles. Quinn Schulte looked like a star in the making at safety with his four pass breakups.
As bad and frustrating as Iowa was offensively, the defense was just the opposite. The only item keeping this from a perfect “A+” score is the turnover department. Iowa forced a pair of fumbles but didn’t recover either, and the Hawkeyes will have to wait at least one week to reel in their first interception of 2022 after a 2021 season in which they led all of college football with 25.
Grade: A
Tory Taylor
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Punting is winning. And the moniker of Iowa’s favorite Aussie has never been truer. Seriously, though, Tory Taylor was amazing in this game for the Hawkeyes. In a game where Iowa’s offense was anemic, Taylor was called upon to punt 10 times.
He accounted for 479 yards in punts, which was 193 yards more than the total yards combined of Iowa and South Dakota State. Seven of Taylor’s punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. That included five that were downed inside the 10-yard line at the 1, 2, 6, 8 and 8-yard lines.
Grade: A+
Kirk Ferentz
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
It’s hard to shake the frustration with Kirk Ferentz and Iowa just refusing to try something different at quarterback. Loyalty is important, but it can get this team into trouble. And that might start as early as this week versus Iowa State. That opportunity to see if Alex Padilla or Joe Labas could provide a spark for this team has come and gone and now the Hawkeyes will either improve or pay the consequences against the Cyclones.
Incredibly, the Hawkeyes picked up their 11th win since the start of the 2020 season where the team failed to pass for more than 200 yards and an FBS-leading sixth win when punting eight or more times during that same time span.
Given that the offseason was defined by Iowa looking to improve one of the nation’s worst Power 5 offenses, the marks aren’t glowing after a contest in which the Hawkeyes generated just 10 first downs, 166 yards of total offense and scored one field goal offensively against an FCS team.
Iowa won the game, and there’s something to be said for that, but these returns can’t be great after the main objective of the offseason looks like a failure through the season’s first four quarters.
Grade: D
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