3
Jason White ran in at running back wearing the number 3 on his jersey. He had just one carry that came late in the fourth quarter when Iowa had already wrapped things up. The message was loud and clear: Brandon Wegher is not coming back. The coaches not only gave away his number, but gave it away to another running back. Let's hope he works through what he needs to, keeps up with his school, and rejoins the team next year ready to go.
8 of 8
Ricky Stanzi had a tough time last year at the onset of games. It was pretty much the same script every week...starts out slow, throw a pick, and then play great in the 4th quarter. Saturday was different though. Stanzi came out on fire and was a perfect 6 of 6 before he went down with the knee injury scare. He came back in the next series and completes his next 2 passes before his first incomplete pass...good for an 8 of 8 start. Hopefully this is a sign on things to come. If Iowa can come out and get an early lead, I think that'd help out the heart health of Hawkeye fans every.
1.2
If you take out the fake punt that caught Iowa off guard and ended in a 36 yard gain, EIU gained only 29 yards on the ground. That's an average carries of just 1.2 yards. At times it seemed like the defensive line was rather quite, but if you look at the numbers, they really did dominate the line of scrimmage.
10
Stanzi and Vandenberg spread the ball around on Saturday. There were 10 different Hawkeyes that caught a pass. While everyone, me included, would have loved to see DJK and McNutt catching deep balls all day, I think it's more valuable to have a lot of players get involved in the offense. Especially in an early season game like this, getting the ball to some inexperience players should help their confidence for upcoming games.
6
Kirk Ferentz pulled the red-shirt of 6 true-freshmen, which is the most I can every recall for an opening game. Mike Meyer probably had the biggest impact of the freshmen, handling kick offs. He did a nice job too, kicking 4 out of his 5 kickoffs into the endzone. C.J. Fiedorowicz played some on special teams in at tight end in the 4th quarter. On defense, James Morris, Christian Kirksey, B.J. Lowery, and Tanner Miller all played on the second team and on special teams. Morris, Kirksey, and Lowery all collected 1 tackle.
1
Iowa only had 1 penalty for 5 yards. That is a very good stat for the first game of the year when mistakes usually run high. Even better news is that it wasn't even the first team that had the penalty. It was true freshman C.J. Fiedorowicz that was hit with an illegal shift. Adrian Clayborn was also called for offsides (though he clearly got back and even was reset before the ball was snapped), but the penalty was declined.