Whereas it was removed from the debut any Iowa fan was in search of, in the end, the Hawkeyes did win their opener over South Dakota State, 7-3. There’s loads of trigger for concern with Iowa’s offense and grades have already been doled out right here.
Nonetheless, even with among the good marks that Hawkeyes Wire handed out, that area actually didn’t lend itself to completely rewarding among the good play that followers did the truth is witness. Let’s do this now with the 5 greatest positives for the Hawkeyes in opposition to South Dakota State.
Jack Campbell, Tory Taylor
Joseph Cress/Iowa Metropolis Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Combining these two standouts collectively as a result of each have been featured in our Report Card as gamers that acquired prime marks. Simply to reiterate what was written there, linebacker Jack Campbell and punter Tory Taylor are each simply incredible at what they do.
Taylor was known as upon repeatedly in a sport the place his crew’s offense couldn’t ever get something going and time and time once more he delivered for the Hawkeyes. The Aussie had seven punts downed contained in the 20-yard line, and 5 that have been downed contained in the 10-yard line.
In the meantime, Campbell illustrated why he was a preferred preseason Huge Ten Defensive Participant of the 12 months and first-team All-American decide. The dude was in all places with a team-high 12 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. He additionally registered what proved to be the game-winning security. Iowa has among the finest gamers in America in Campbell and Saturday was simply one other reminder of that.
Joe Evans
Defensive finish Joe Evans tied for the crew lead with seven sacks in 2021. After one sport in 2022, he’s already registered a pair of sacks. In fact, considered one of his sacks went for Iowa’s second security on Saturday. Evans was one of many two Hawkeyes that finest showcased rapidly this season why there’s a lot buzz surrounding Iowa’s defensive position.
Logan Lee
Logan Lee was the opposite participant alongside the Hawkeyes’ defensive position that basically flashed in week one. The 6-foot-5, 275 pound Orion, In poor health., product completed with six tackles and 1.5 sacks versus the Jackrabbits. Terrific begin to the season for him. It’s a deep unit for Iowa, and Lee is one other large a part of why that’s the case.
Quinn Schulte
Out of all people sporting black and gold, Quinn Schulte had far and away the very best debut. The previous walk-on registered 4 move breakups in his first profession begin. Changing Jack Koerner’s 32 profession begins and manufacturing was by no means going to be simple, however, now, it appears to be like like Iowa followers can chill out about this security spot. The Hawkeyes seem like they’ve one other good one in Schulte.
Leshon Williams
I do know, it’s sacrilegious proper now to incorporate an offensive participant on this listing, proper? Particularly a participant that was straight chargeable for killing Iowa’s finest likelihood to punch in a drive with an offensive landing, proper? Unsuitable. I actually favored what we noticed from Leshon Williams sans the fumble. He ran arduous, compiling 72 dashing yards on 24 carries on a day the place the offensive line actually struggled.
Iowa completed the day averaging 1.6 yards per carry. Clearly, there’s loads of trigger for concern offensively and that dashing ineptitude is considered one of them. Nonetheless, one of many encouraging indicators was how Williams ran it. If the offensive line comes collectively, Iowa goes to be simply high-quality at operating again with Williams squared.
Bonus: The followers
The fan base wants a pick-me-up after that offensive letdown to start out 2022. Give yourselves a spherical of applause. Iowa followers and that Kinnick issue pressured South Dakota State into a number of procedural miscues. In a sport that completed 7-3, the Iowa followers have been legitimately one of many distinction makers within the sport. Kudos to you, Hawkeye Nation.
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