Iowa showed us first hand how hard football can be.

The Hawkeyes looked lethargic for the second straight week as they dropped their home finale to the Purdue Boilermakers 24-15.

“Told our team you win as a team, you lose as a team, and certainly tonight that’s the case,” said head coach Kirk Ferentz. “We lost as a football team.”

Mistakes cost the Hawkeyes big time in this one.

On the first Purdue possession, Iowa forced the Boilermakers to punt from their own 40-yard line, but Amani Jones and Nick Niemann met in the backfield, resulting in a roughing the kicker call. Purdue maintained possession and later scored on a D.J. Knox five-yard touchdown reception.

The roughing call was the first of six penalties called on the Hawkeyes. Most penalties were costly, including a couple false starts that stalled drives.

In the second quarter, a pooch punt from Stanley pinned the Boilermakers inside their own three, and senior Nathan Bazata recorded a sack-safety on Purdue quarterback Elijah Sindelar. Iowa trailed 7-2 at the time, and it marked the third straight game in which the Iowa defense scored before the offense.

Purdue kicked off from the 20 and the ball bounced out of bounds near the Iowa 30. By rule, the ball was placed 30 yards from the point of the kick at the 50.

The Hawkeyes took advantage of the field position and marched on a nine-play scoring drive. Stanley found Matt VandeBerg on fourth and five for a gain of 18 that set up a two-yard touchdown run for Akrum Wadley.

At the half, Iowa led 9-7, even though the offense had not looked great.

The Hawkeyes elected to receive the game’s opening kickoff and go into the wind in the first and third quarters, allowing them to get the wind to finish the game. This gave Purdue the wind to start they third quarter. The Boilermakers found a matchup they liked and exploited it.

Manny Rugamaba lined up against Purdue senior wide receiver Anthony Mahoungou most of the first half, and Purdue was adamant on not throwing the ball towards Josh Jackson. Instead, Sindelar targeted Mahoungou three straight plays.

Rugamba allowed an 11-yard catch, was flagged for pass interference, and then was beat deep for a 42-yard touchdown pass. Purdue led 14-9.

After the Iowa offense went three and out, Colten Rastetter’s short punt set Purdue up at the 50. Sindelar stayed away from Jackson and targeted Mahoungu again.

Michael Ojemudia lined up on Mahoungou to start the drive, but again, Mahoungou had the upper hand and beat Ojemudia for a 35-yard gain. Looking for answers, defensive coordinator Phil Parker sent Matt Hankins out to cover Mahoungou. Two plays later, Sindelar connected with Mahoungou for a 16-yard touchdown pass.

In just over three minutes of game clock, the Boilermakers had taken full advantage of one matchup. In a flash, they led 21-9.

“They’re a wide open offensive football team,” Ferentz said. “The real issue is we gave up some deep balls. And you can’t win doing that either, giving up big plays.”

After the series, Jackson was sent to the right cornerback position to guard Mahoungou, but the damage was done.

The Hawkeyes would struggle on offense and not muster anything in the third quarter. The offense did not score until Stanley hit Noah Fant for a six-yard touchdown completion with less than four minutes remaining in the game. Iowa trailed 24-15 and failed to covert the two-point try.

Purdue recovered the on-side kick attempt and ran out the clock to secure the victory.

The offense has gone completely missing since the 55-point output against Ohio State. Frustration was felt inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday. Fans booed on a few occasions, and even let out some sarcastic cheers after first downs.

You’ve probably never seen so few fans at a game in Kinnick. Most fans were gone before the midway point of the fourth quarter.

The Boilermakers’ defense is better this year than it has been in years past. They gave Stanley and the Iowa offense trouble from start to finish.

“It’s tough to prepare well for every single look that they have, especially when they have so many of them,” Stanley said. “They played really well all day.”

After the offense gained just 66 yards of total offense last weekend at Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes offense did a little better this week – it’d be hard to do worse – but still looked discombobulated. The Hawkeyes totaled just 14 points on offense and finished with 258 total yards of offense.

It has seemed for the past two weeks that energy was lacking from the Iowa sideline. Players and coaches couldn’t pin it down though. The team showed no signs on dropping off in practice either of the past two weeks.

“No, I haven’t seen anything,” Josey Jewell said. “I thought we practiced pretty well. I thought this week went well.”

It’s also impossible to blame just one position group for the loss. On offense, four different receivers recorded a drop, failing to take advantage of the few opportunities they had for yardage.

Special teams was as frustrating as ever, and it merely started with the early penalty from Jones and Niemann. Rastetter averaged just 29.7 yards on his six punts, albeit, most were into the wind. Regardless, the rugby-style punts couldn’t get much carry.

On the return end, VandeBerg misplayed a couple of punts again today, including a fourth quarter punt that he made a diving attempt on. He couldn’t hold on, and it set up a field goal for the Boilermakers after they recovered it.

“I thought I could field it cleanly, and obviously I was wrong,” VandeBerg said.

The offensive line has also seen better days. Stanley was sacked six times for a loss of 44 yards. Failing to recognize the blitz packages – of which, Purdue has many – led to the demise.

In all, it was just a rough day at the office, and a difficult way to say goodbye to so many impactful seniors.

“Its tough,” Jewell said. “It just shows you have to come out every week. Any team can do anything.”

With just one more game on the schedule, a Black Friday matchup with Nebraska, the Hawkeyes say they’re ready to turn their attention to the Cornhuskers in the short week.

“Your body is going to have to be physically ready,” Jewell said. “Definitely going to need a lot of sleep this week to stay on task. The thing is we don’t have school so guys should be able to put that extra time in.”

Iowa (7-5, 3-5) and Nebraska (4-7, 3-5) will kick off on Black Friday at 3:00pm CST on Fox Sports 1.

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I know it’s not what you had hoped for and it’s certainly easy to pick out the negatives by pointing the finger at the coaching staff and players. Even in the 30-3 blowout, there are a few positives to focus on.

We have to stop for a minute and recognize how lucky we have all been to watch Desmond King play in these last four seasons and especially in his senior season. King could have easily passed up his final year at Iowa for first-round money in the NFL Draft.

Instead, he chose to return to Iowa and he didn’t disappoint in his final season. Opposing offenses looked the other way early and often allowing the Hawkeyes to often neutralize the opponents best weapon.

King finished out his career and at Iowa with an interception, the 14th of his career, and a kick return out to the 50-yard line.

Although the defense struggled today, we can still look forward to seeing middle linebacker Josey Jewell back for his senior season. Jewell finished the season with 124 tackles and will be the core of this Iowa defense in 2017.

Another bright spot is safety Brandon Snyder who looks like a completely different player compared to guy we saw in September. He’s managed to become a smarter while still aggressive safety who will instill fear in opposing wide outs. Snyder had a diving interception in the first quarter against Florida.

We didn’t get to see true freshman Manny Rugumba play today due to injury. Iowa fans have plenty to be excited about in Rugumba. He impressed everyone in the final 3 games of the season including a standout performance in knocking off #3 Michigan.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Hawkeyes will lose star quarterback CJ Beathard, RB LeShun Daniels, and their top TE, George Kittle. Although CJ will certainly be missed, Iowa fans can look forward to Nathan Stanley in 2017. Stanley was good enough as a true freshman that Kirk Ferentz was willing to burn his redshirt even with Beathard still clearly ahead of him.

We haven’t had the chance to see much of Stanley but in the chances we have, he’s been impressive. He helped lead the Hawkeyes down the field for a touchdown against North Dakota State when Beathard left temporarily with against injury.

We will all miss George Kittle being a reliable target and the life of the party but true freshman Noah Fant has given us plenty to look forward to. He didn’t play a major role in 2016 but he could be Iowa’s breakout performer next season.

Probably the biggest positive of this season was the rushing attack. Iowa had two running backs finish with over 1000 rushing yards. The best part? The better of the two, Akrum Wadley, might be returning to Iowa City for his senior season. Wadley is a versatile and elusive back who finished with 1081 rushing yard on the season. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry and he was second on the team with 32 receptions. We’ve now seen Wadley outperform Daniels multiple times on the big stage. LeShun Daniel finished his senior year at Iowa with 1058 rushing yards.

“I’m fifty-fifty about coming back,” said Wadley. When asked if he felt he was ready for the NFL he responded with, “I definitely feel like I’m ready.” Make sure to follow KRUI on Twitter for more news regarding Akrum Wadley.

Did I mention that Iowa also gets Matt VandeBerg back? The wide receiver had his senior season cut short after breaking his foot but he was awarded a medical redshirt and will be a boost of experience for the 2017 team.

One last player to highlight has yet to appear in a black and gold uniform. A.J. Epenesa is a four-star defensive end that is expected to wreak havoc in the Big Ten next season. If you haven’t heard about this kid yet, you’ve missed all the hype. He received offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama, and many others but he is committed to play in Kinnick Stadium.

So was it the season that we had all hoped for? Maybe not, but it was still a successful year. Just remember the good times like the complete domination against Iowa State and the stunning upset of Michigan. And of course, there’s always next year. If that doesn’t seem to be enough, just ask yourself this. Why are you an Iowa fan?

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Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills California is home of the annual Beef Bowl, a night of competition between the two Rose Bowl teams where the team that eats the most wins.

The Iowa Hawkeyes took the victory Monday night in the 60th Beef Bowl after eating over 600 lb of meat.

Webster City native, Boone Myers thinks he had a big part in downing 600 pounds of meat. “I ate two platefuls and then somepie,” said the 300 pound offensive lineman.

Myers roomed with 180 pound wide receiver Matt VandeBerg last year and the two developed a brother-like relationship. Brothers are nothing but trouble. Well.. that’s what I’ve been told.

VandeBerg dished out smack talk to Myers when he said, “He thinks he can eat a lot but I think I can go toe to toe.”

Myers was quick with his rebuttal stating, “He might think he can but he can’t.”

The confidence and cockiness against one another resembled the relationship of two brothers bickering. The two laughed at one another but each stood his ground.

Iowa Quarterback C.J. Beathard got his two cents in on the matter. “I’d take Boone for sure in that one,” said Beathard. After a chuckle he added, “I don’t really know what Meer(nickname for Matt VandeBerg) eats.”

“I had a pretty hefty piece of prime rib. It was delicious,”responded VandeBerg.

There were a number of other laughable moments over the course of the day including C.J. Beathard and his teammates taking curious pictures in front of a green screen.

For Iowa, media day provided the opportunity for outsiders to see the camaraderie and brotherhood of the hungry team. It’s safe to assume both Iowa and Stanford are enjoying their time in Los Angeles.

Both teams will enter Friday’s game with upmost confidence and will hope to take the cherry on top for the trip.

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After the sudden death of former Hawkeye safety Tyler Sash on Tuesday, Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes have been dealing with not only preparing for a game against their biggest rival but also mourning the loss of one of the greatest players to put on an Iowa Hawkeye uniform.

“It’s tough to deal with things like this, but the support of former players and fans have been outstanding for not only us but Tyler’s family,” Ferentz said.

After the Hawkeye’s 31-17 victory inside Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Ferentz was just glad they escape Ames with a big victory.

“We had some very difficult circumstances this week, and our guys battled.”

Junior quarterback CJ Beathard, who is only starting his third game in an Iowa uniform, had himself quite the game through the air and on the ground. He completed 15 of his 25 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns on the day.

He also had 10 rushes for 114 yards on the ground, one of two 100-yard rushers for Iowa. Beathard saw good pressure from the Iowa State defensive line most of the game, and he used his legs to make something out of nothing and give Iowa a needed lift on the ground with runs of 44 and 57 yards on the day.

“Coach (Greg) Davis called a few quarterback draws and the offensive line gave me some nice holes,” Beathard said.

“I was dying after those runs though,” Beathard joked.

Beathard’s favorite target on Saturday was receiver Matt Vandeberg. Vandeberg seemed to take the role of security blanket for Beathard, especially on third down. He caught a team high nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown on a fumble recovery, including a big 48-yard catch on a 3^rd and 21 for the Hawkeyes.

Despite the win, however, Iowa did have two key players get hurt and miss the majority of the game. Senior defensive lineman Drew Ott left the game in the first quarter with a wrist injury. Ott did go to the locker room for further examination, and was back on the sidelines in the second half wearing a sling and no pads.

Also, senior running back LeShun Daniels Jr. did not play in the second half after suffering an ankle injury. Coach Ferentz said he would know more about both players and their availability for next week’s game against Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Without Ott on the defensive line, Iowa struggled at first with getting pressure on Iowa State quarterback Sam Richardson. However, they did sack the Cyclone quarterback four times. The defense also held the Iowa State offense to 67 yards on 31 plays an no points in the second half.

Nate Meier and Josey Jewell led Iowa defensively with seven total tackles apiece. Desmond King had an interception and a 50-yard punt return to overshadow his rough start to the day on special teams. The Hawkeye defense also had six tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries.

“If we want to be competitive in November like we want to, we have to win games like these and I thought our guys did an awesome job closing things out,” Coach Ferentz said.

Iowa moves to 2-0 on the season, and they will be action next Saturday at Kinnick Stadium under the lights against the Pitt Panthers. We will have the game on KRUI and krui.fm. Kickoff is set for 7:00 P.M.

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Iowa scored on their first possession capped off with a 6-yard run by quarterback C.J. Beathard. The plan early was obvious. Get the ground game with Leshun Daniels  and pass as needed to keep the ball moving.

In that first touchdown drive, Iowa went for it on 4th and 2 deep in enemy territory and converted on a pass to Tevaun Smith, their clear cut go to receiver. Ferentz said after the game, ” We’ve developed a comfort level with fourth downs going back to last season.”  Expect to see chances taken again often in 4th and short situations.

After a punt, Iowa put together their best drive of the day marching 99 yards, set up nicely with a couple of medium passes for roughly 20 yards a piece. Jordan Canzeri caught a pass out of the backfield, with blocking and speed turned it into a 21 yard gain. Canzeri then scored later in the drive on a 5 yard run to make it 14-0.

The favorite play for the fans  was a fake field goal run by the kicker Marshall Koehn, he ended up coming two yards short of the first down, giving the ball back to Illinois State. That play while unsuccessful, created a lot of buzz in Kinnick and on the Hawkeyes sideline.

Iowa added a late field goal to lead 17-0 at the half.

The first three possessions resulted in punts for both sides. Playing the field position game, Iowa started their next touchdown drive at Illinois State 43 yard line. This was another balanced attack between run and pass while converting on another 4th down to keep the drive alive. Beathard found Matt Vandeburg on a bubble screen who dove into the end-zone for a 9 yard touchdown making it 24-0.

Iowa scored  again on the following possession, primarily running the ball with LeShun Daniels. That drive was capped off with Beathard’s 2nd rushing touchdown of the day from 1 yard out to make it 31-0.

The 2nd string was brought in mid-way through the 4th quarter and gave up two touchdowns to make the final score 31-14.

I really didn’t real speak much about the Hawkeyes defense but it was outstanding creating pressure on the quarterback all day, recording 5 sacks and even blocking a field goal attempt. The defensive stars of the game were Cole Fisher with 8 total tackles, Nate Meier 6 total tackles with one sack, and Drew Ott with a couple of sacks.

The offensive stars of the game were: Beathard with 211 passing yards and 3 total touchdowns (1 passing, 2 running), LeShun Daniels being the workhorse carrying 26 times for 124 yards, Jordan Canzeri  who had 118 total yards, and Matt Vandeburg who had 59 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Game notes

Drew Ott suffered a bloody nose but did return with no issues

Jay Scheel and Derrick Mitchell are still recovering from their injuries but expect them back soon

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The biggest difference in this game was the play of Melvin Gordon, the dynamic Badger back who rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Iowa doesn’t have Gordon.

However, they do have Matt VandeBerg, a 6’1 sophomore receiver from Brandon, South Dakota. VandeBerg, who wasn’t recruited heavily, was offered a grey shirt at Iowa, meaning he wouldn’t be apart of the program until the spring semester of his freshman year.

Four days before camp started, VandeBerg got the call from the Iowa coaching staff saying he earned an immediate spot on the roster. Since then, VandeBerg has made a name for himself at Iowa for his big time catches in key situations. He snagged 67 yards on three catches today for the Hawkeyes. Two of those catches were critical 3rd down conversions that extended Iowa drives when the Hawkeyes were in danger zone. 39 of his 67 receiving yards came on 3rd downs.

VandeBerg basically came out of nowhere making plays for the Hawkeyes, but his teammates aren’t surprised. “He made some big time plays for us today,” senior wide receiver Keveonte Martin-Manley said. “But it all starts in practice, he goes hard week in and week out and when his number is called, he’s ready to make plays for us.”

Since coming to Iowa, VandeBerg and starting quarterback Jake Rudock have developed a great chemistry, which is a key component to VandeBerg’s success. “I know where he’s going to be every single time,” Rudock said. “He knows what I’m thinking and where I’m going to put the ball. He’s so consistent.”

With VandeBerg still only a sophomore, Hawkeye fans will see a lot more of him down the road, and he’s only going to get better. “He’s got incredible speed and great hands,” junior tight end Jake Duzey said. “He’s always on top of the game, he’s a great player who’s always focused and will continue to get better and better.”

The post Matt VandeBerg shines in a Hawkeye Defeat appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Hawks played with drive and passion after their bye week and eliminated the bad taste in their mouths from the Maryland game, routing the Northwestern Wildcats 48-7.

Jonathan Parker started the game off with a bang on a 54 yard kickoff capped off with a 15 yard penalty, putting Iowa in business right away. Iowa would convert that drive into early points courtesy of the first of three touchdowns Mark Weisman scored on the afternoon.

Iowa refused to take its foot off the pedal after blowing an early 14-0 lead in Maryland. Weisman rumbled in again breaking a tackle from 14 yards out to put the Hawks up 17-0 with 5:28 left.  Weisman recorded his fifth consecutive multi-touchdown game.

Both teams struggled with special teams early in the game.

With 3:39 left in the first, Northwestern was forced to punt deep in its own territory. Ben Niemann rushed off the edge, got an arm on the ball, and then was able to trot the whole one yard for a touchdown. Ferentz said, “Just a good effort for him. Good to see young guy like that make a nice play.”

Iowa was not immune to bad special teams play itself. Late in the first half, Iowa was forced to punt and had its own mishap. The snap was high, Connor Kornbrath couldn’t hang on to it, and Iowa took a 20 yard loss giving Northwestern the ball at Iowa’s 18 yard line.

Two plays into the second quarter, Justin Jackson took advantage and put up Northwestern’s only points of the afternoon.

The surprise of the day was Akrum Wadley the leading rusher of the day with 106 yards and one touchdown averaging 7.1 yards per carry. His quickness was a nice compliment to Weisman brute strength making him hard to tackle.

The offense had 483 total yards lead by Ruddock 12-19 239 passing effort with one touchdown. Weisman had 94 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns. Beathard came in and scrambled for 23 yards while going 5-6 with 23 yards. The receivers had a nice day with Matt VandeBerg leading the way with 5 catches for 90 yards. Tevaun Smith had 4 catches for 76 yards and one touchdown.  Martin-Manley had 3 catches for 66 yards.

The defense was outstanding. They forced 8 punts, had one fumble recovery,  and five sacks (three by Trinca-Pasat, one by Drew Ott, one by Perry). The defensive line did a great job of getting pressure  and the secondary shut down the passing game helping hold Northwestern to 180 total yards.

Be sure to tune in  next Saturday as Iowa travels to Minnesota as the teams fight it out for the Floyd of Rosedale. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.

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