The Rewatch: Michigan

The Iowa Hawkeyes looked bad against Michigan on Saturday. Like bad, bad. Well, the offense, anyway. The defense looked bad, as in good. Or whatever it is the kids are saying these days.

And as much as I’d love to walk through each play in detail to dissect what the hell went wrong for Iowa so we can collectively come up with a solution to pass along to the Ferentzi, I value my eyeballs and my sanity far too much. No human being should be subjected to re-watching that train wreck.

For those of you who actually look forward to some analysis on each game, I’ll just say this about Michigan: the statistics were as bad as watching it was. There was nothing pretty and by now, I’m sure most of you have seen a good portion of them.

The Hawkeyes totaled just 1 yard of rushing. That’s not a typo. They ran the ball 30 times for a single yard. That also is not a typo, the offense dropped back to pass 50 times, successfully did so 42 times and only attempted to rush the ball 22 times. They averaged 3 yards per carry on those 22 runs, which were netted against 65 yards lost on the 8 sacks they OL gave up.

It. Was. Brutal.

Freshman Tyler Goodson led the backs with 34 snaps played. He rushed 6 times for 15 yards. Toren Young led the team in rushing with 40 yards on 8 carries. More than half of that came on a single series. Young played 22 snaps total. Mekhi Sargent came in second in snaps at 24, but rushed just 7 times for 12 yards.

Yuck.

Nate Stanley didn’t fare much better. He finished 23 of 42 passing (55%) for 260 yards. Most importantly, he had the 3 interceptions.

On the outside, there were plenty of reps to go around with the pass-happy play calling. Here’s a look:

Nate Weiting - 67
Brandon Smith - 64
Ihmir Smith-Marsette - 57
Nico Ragaini - 49
Tyrone Tracy - 35
Shaun Beyer - 13
Oliver Martin - 5

Despite the high rep count and passes attempted, it was Goodson who led the team in receptions (5) and yards (62).

On the OL, six guys played with Cole Banwart getting 40 snaps at guard while Levi Paulsen took 38 (one at RT for Tristan Wirfs). The group gave up as many sacks Saturday as they had all season coming into the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, A.J. Epenesa and Chauncey Golston played all 60 snaps. Cedrick Lattimore logged 49 with Daviyon Nixon at 33 and Austin Schulte at 30. Amani Jones also got in there for 7 plays.

At linebacker, Kristian Welch played all 60 snaps. Both Nick Neimann and Djimon Colbert logged 54 reps with Barrington Wade playing 5 snaps. The difference there went to additional defensive backs.

On that front, starters Geno Stone, Jack Koerner and D.J. Johnson all played the entire 60 snaps. Terry Roberts played 6 with Julius Brents and Dane Belton each playing a single snap.

The defense was not the problem Saturday.

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Now, as far as actual film breakdown, I did find something worth watching for this week.

SPOILER ALERT: it wasn’t anything related to the Michigan game, but this seems timely and relevant.

More of this, less of last week, please.