Iowa Football: Three Takeaways From Loss to Wisconsin

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Takeaways from Iowa’s loss to Wisconsin on Saturday

Iowa football never held a lead over the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday, but they also were never completely out of the game. Until a late field goal in the fourth quarter that pushed the score to 17-6, the Hawkeyes were always within a touchdown of the Badgers. Despite it feeling like a comeback was far-fetched due to the lack of offense, Iowa was a big play away throughout the entire game.

Even after going down 11 with a little over a minute left, Desmond King nearly returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and the Hawkeyes still had life. The chances of Iowa mounting a comeback were still slim, however Iowa was never dead until failing to recover the onside kick with less than a minute remaining.

Despite the tough loss, that seemingly ends any hope of Iowa repeating as Big Ten West champs, Iowa didn’t play terribly and can once again continue to build off another solid performance. They’ll have an extra week before traveling to Penn State to take on the now 24th ranked Nittany Lions.

The Hawkeyes fall to 5-3 on the season and 3-2 in conference play, but they still have a lot to play for in their last four games. Here are three takeaways from the Hawkeyes loss to the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday.

Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Pass Catching Backs are a Problem

Iowa has not faced any great receiving running backs in 2016 until Saturday. It proved to be a huge problem as Dare Ogunbowale led Wisconsin with four receptions, despite never lining up outside of the backfield. He finished the game with four catches and 51 yards, proving to be a huge problem for the Hawkeyes all afternoon.

Ogunbowale had 36 catches as a junior in 2015 and came into the game with five catches over the past two games. He’s proven to be a reliable target out of the backfield for the Badgers, although Iowa still acted like they had no scouting report on him.

He only had two carries for 10 yards, so it became evident quickly that he would be used as a receiver on third downs. Plus, the Badgers usually didn’t run a two-back set with Corey Clement also in the backfield, therefore Iowa didn’t need to hone in on the run as much. Yet, Alex Hornibrook consistently connected with him on third downs, including for a 26-yard gain.

Ogunbowale kept a lot of drives alive with Iowa forgetting about him as a receiver, and it eventually turned into some decent yards for Corey Clement through the air, as well. Clement finished the game with two receptions for 11 yards, doubling his reception total on the year.

With Clement’s limited role as a pass catcher, it’s evident that Iowa’s defense honed in on stopping the run and didn’t worry about him catching passes. It worked as they held him to 3.8 yards per carry on 35 carries, however it’s still baffling that they did not game plan better for Ogunbowale considering his usage on third downs has not been minimal in 2016.

The Hawkeyes will have to do a much better job game planning and matching up with Saquon Barkley in a couple of weeks, and this serves as a wake up call. Barkley has 11 receptions on the year and can burn teams who forget about him as a receiver. HIs five catches for 77 yards against Michigan helped a pressured Trace McSorley and was the only offense Penn State saw.

The Hawkeyes focus was stopping Corey Clement on the ground, and they did that. With an extra week to prepare for Barkley and Penn State, I’d expect a higher emphasis on stopping pass catching backs because it proved to be crucial against Wisconsin.

Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa’s Run Defense is Back

Iowa has had their fair share of problems trying to stop the run. They allowed three straight teams to run for at least 190 yards and didn’t hold a team to under 125 rushing yards until week six. Although, after only allowing 149 rushing yards against Minnesota and Purdue, the Hawkeyes faced a challenge against Corey Clement to truly see their run dominance.

Even though Dare Ogunbowale torched them in the passing game, the Hawkeyes once again focused on stopping the run and did so. Clement ran 35 times for 134 yards and a touchdown, being held to 3.8 yards per carry. Plus, Clement lost a fumble trying to punch in a touchdown from one yard out.

Wisconsin tried to pound the ball with Clement early and often. Iowa had some problems stopping him early, but he eventually started running into a brick wall on every play. He did break a crucial 34-yard gain late in the fourth quarter to set up the clinching field goal, but it took him almost the whole game to break through the defense.

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Despite the constant runs by the Badgers, it’s a good sign that Iowa stopped Wisconsin late in the fourth quarter and held them to a field goal. Sure, it’s not ideal to allow Clement to break a big run or let Wisconsin pick up another first down, but the fatigue didn’t get to them like in past games and they weren’t dominated by the offensive line, either.

Plus, if you take away that 34 yard gain, Clement averaged a mere 2.9 yards per carry. The Hawkeyes still gave up 167 rushing yards, but it was mostly due Wisconsin’s high amount of runs. Iowa held them to 3.5 yards per carry a week after Clement and Wisconsin ran over Ohio State.

When it comes down to it, just a few weeks ago every team could run up the gut on Iowa’s defense for at least five yards. Now, they’re forcing teams to beat them through the air and making other team’s run games non-existent.

The secondary needs to step up and open field tackling needs to be better, however it’s safe to say that Iowa is back or close to the same dominance against the run as seen in 2015. It’s perfect timing, too, considering Penn State, Michigan and Nebraska are all run-heavy teams left on the schedule.

Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Third Downs are a Problem

Converting on third down hasn’t been a huge problem for Iowa until Saturday. They came into the game converting 40.4 percent of third downs, however only converted 2-of-13 against Wisconsin. Sure, some were long third downs where any yardage was positive, although Iowa failed on four third downs less than five yards and once in the red zone.

It’s extremely hard to beat a team while only converting 15.4 percent of third downs. SMU upset former top-25 Houston and did so with success on third down. They prolonged drives and converted on 6-of-16 third downs. 37.5 percent isn’t great, however it’s double the success Iowa had and helped them get into field goal range if nothing else.

Plus, SMU held Houston to 4-of-16 on third downs. Wisconsin converted an unprecedented 8-of-17 on third downs (47.1 percent). The Badgers converted at least one-third down on each drive they scored.

It was shocking to watch as Iowa has been very good of getting off the field on third downs this season. Usually the Hawkeyes have a hard time getting teams to third downs, but teams only converted 32 percent of third downs coming into Saturday. The Badgers’ success on third down also played a huge factor in them holding the ball for just over 14 more minutes than Iowa.

The most surprising thing, though, is that Iowa did not go for it once on fourth down. It’s not a necessity to upset a team, although it shows how conservative Kirk Ferentz played the game.

Iowa had a 4th and 1 at midfield with the game tied at zero and Ferentz opted towards punting. He also sent out Keith Duncan with 5:25 remaining in the game instead of going for it on 4th and 5 down eight.

Neither are ideal situations, however Iowa is 5-of-6 on fourth downs in 2016 and they needed to take some chances to win. Plus, the inability to convert on third downs shouldn’t have instilled confidence that Iowa would have been able to march down the field again in a pressure situation against one of the best defenses in the nation.

When it comes down to it, third downs have been a strength of Iowa in 2016 but the luck ran out at the wrong time. With three ranked teams left on the schedule, Iowa can’t expect to win if they don’t play better on third downs.