Wisconsin Game Analysis

Well so much for Beilema being 15-0 in 11 AM starts at Madison. The game last week was very much a tale of two halves. In the first half Iowa was all but dominated, but only down 7 points. In the second half Iowa controlled all aspects of the game, offense, defense, and special teams.

Offense-
In the first half, Iowa's offense was less than stellar. Wisconsin was loading the box to stop the run and aside from the first drive and the deep ball to DJK, Iowa mustered very few yards. At halftime, the Iowa coaches must have seen something and really started to gouge the Badgers with the run. One of the things that Iowa did was something that I have been calling for all season, spread the defense out. A couple times Iowa went with no backs and a couple of running plays were single back. With Robinson and Wegher's ability to catch the ball, going empty is an advantage for Iowa as the defense can't go nickle or dime defense against Iowa's personnel. One thing that I noticed on Robinson's TD run was the block by Reisner, he cleared the way for Robinson a couple of times on that drive. His blocking has become so much better this season than it was last year. It also appeared in the game that Stanzi has developed a trust in DJK, he looked for him several times on the day and DJK started, which hopefully means he is out of the doghouse.

Defense-
First half was a tape that you want to throw away if you are Norm Parker. The front seven had awful gap assignments and nobody was getting off blocks. Hunter over-pursued several times opening up the cut back and John Clay looked like a beast in the first half. Once Wisconisin had the run established, it really opened up their play-action passing attack. But just like the offensive coaches, the defensive coaches made half-time adjustments that stymied the Badgers in the second half. Iowa turned the Badgers over three times in the second half and had Tolzein completely confused about where they were coming from. The turning point of the game was in the third quarter when Stanzi fumbled deep in Iowa territory and the defense stiffened and forced Wisconsin into a FG attempt that was missed. Spievey finally got a couple of balls thrown his way and had two interceptions. The first INT was a good play by him coming off the deep man, but an even better play by Edds to get in the throwing land and forcing the wide throw. The second INT was an incredible athletic play by Spievey.