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Iowa football: Three areas that need improvement after win over ISU

By Andrew Wade

IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 08: Wide receiver Kyle Groeneweg #14 of the Iowa Hawkeyes bobbles a pass during the second half in front of defensive back Greg Eisworth #12 of the Iowa State Cyclones on September 8, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 08: Wide receiver Kyle Groeneweg #14 of the Iowa Hawkeyes bobbles a pass during the second half in front of defensive back Greg Eisworth #12 of the Iowa State Cyclones on September 8, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /
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LINCOLN, NE – NOVEMBER 24: Place kicker Miguel Recinos #91 of the Iowa Hawkeyes kicks an extra point against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE – NOVEMBER 24: Place kicker Miguel Recinos #91 of the Iowa Hawkeyes kicks an extra point against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

Miguel Recinos

To be fair, college kickers aren’t expected to make every single kick, especially kicks over 50 yards. In a game against your in-state rivals, however, you need to make more than 50% of your kicks. Fortunately for Recinos, this game didn’t come down to his missed field goals otherwise fans would be a lot more heated about the mistakes.

Last season, Recinos was nearly automatic. He connected on each of his 44 extra point attempts, and he only missed two field goals out of 13 for a 84.6% field goal percentage.

Through two games of 2018, he has already reached his number of misses with two. Both were in the Iowa State game. I can be much more forgiving of anything over 50 yards. That’s a tough kick.

A 38-yard field goal though? Not so much. You need to connect on those especially early in a rivalry game where every single point is going to matter.

Saturday’s win was a defensive slugfest and for a while, it looked like it was going to come down to fields goals for the win.

Kickers have bad games though, and he was put in a tough position so I have the utmost confidence this won’t be a problem going forward. I am just glad it didn’t end up being a bigger problem than it turned out to be Saturday. Losing because of missed field goals is not a good way to start a hopeful 2018 season for the Iowa football program.

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