Iowa Football: Nathan Stanley And The Offense Have Room To Grow

Picking apart the 24-3 win at home in the week 1 matchup with the Wyoming Cowboys, it can be easily seen that Nathan Stanley and the offense will need to be better.

The Hawkeyes were able to get it done after a scoreless first quarter, in the running back combining for over 150 yards on the ground between Akrum Wadley (116) and James Butler (47). Wadley and Butler were running behind a line that was missing potentially its best player in center James Daniels. The numbers and production should go up, especially for Butler in the coming weeks.

But, what will be key for the Hawkeyes to make waves overall in the Big Ten will be the maturation of quarterback Nathan Stanley.

Stanley made his first start for the Hawkeyes after beating out junior Tyler Wiegers the final week of camp. Both the good and the bad stood out for the immensely talented true sophomore from Wisconsin.

The good was the touch that he was able to show on his passes. On all three of the touchdowns, two to TE Noah Fant, and one to WR Nick Easley, the placement was right on the money, and looked the part of a Big Ten quarterback. Stanley only attempted 15 passes in the game, so the sample size of one game, and that few of passes can’t certainly give any big picture ideas of his ceiling as a player.

In terms of things that Stanley will clearly need to work on, turnovers is highest on the list. Stanley coughed the ball up 3 times, but Iowa was able to get one of those back. He also threw an interception.

Four turnovers by your quarterback usually is always an ingredient in a loss for a football team. Luckily, Josey Jewell and the Iowa defense blanketed the Cowboys offense.

But, for Iowa to not face the embarrassment of having to give the Cy-Hawk Trophy to the hated Cyclones this coming weekend, Stanley cannot give the ball away. The Cyclones looked much improved in week 1 under second year coach Matt Campbell, and helping ISU out can only lead to trouble.

Other Offensive Tidbits

• The only member of the 2017 recruiting class to touch the ball in week 1 was WR Ihmir Marsette-Smith. Smith got a jet sweep which resulted in a fumble after getting four yards. Hopefully more opportunities are provided for the young Hawkeye to get that experience out of his head.
• With the release of the ‘two-deeps’ for week 2, redshirt freshmen Alaric Jackson was in at LT again. Jackson got his first start on Saturday with the shuffle from the Daniels injury. The combo of Jackson and true freshmen Tristan Wirfs could be among the Big Ten’s best for years to come.

• Only three players caught passes, including the returning senior Matt VandeBerg. The ‘Meerkat’ only caught 2 balls for 19 yards. He nearly took a punt back, but was stopped after a 23 yard return.