Offensive Line
Iowa’s strong offensive line struggled in yesterday’s matchup against Penn State. As Jaden Durr alluded to in his pregame prediction article, the offensive line had been fantastic in keeping Nate Stanley clean through seven games of the season. Coming into the game against Penn State, the Hawks were third in the nation in quarterback sack percentage allowing a sack on just 1.71% of Stanley’s drop backs.
Versus Penn State, the Hawks had a sack percentage of 6.67%. The Iowa football team had only allowed six sacks in seven games. Against Penn State, they allowed three and almost had a fourth on the last play of the game that forced Stanley to heave it up to offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs on a last-ditch attempt to win the game.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just pass protection they struggled in. A week after the Hawkeyes committed zero penalties, the Iowa football team had six penalties against the Nittany Lions. Four of those were false start penalties including three on sophomore Alaric Jackson and one on sophomore Tristan Wirfs.
Jackson was particularly bad on a few plays in pass protection and Twitter noticed.
Alaric Jackson was Reggie White'd on that play. No one was open.
— Marc Morehouse (@marcmorehouse) October 27, 2018
Alaric Jackson is getting beat like he stole something.
— Quinn Douglas (@Quinn_Douglas_) October 27, 2018
Needless to say, it was a rough day for the young offensive lineman who does have a ton of potential. Yesterday wasn’t his day though.