Iowa football: Three biggest disappointments against Northwestern

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- NOVEMBER 10: Running back Isaiah Bowser #25 of the Northwestern Wildcats breaks a tackle in the second half by defensive back Amani Hooker #27 of the Iowa Hawkeyes, on November 10, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

The rush defense was non-existent in the second half

Heading into this game, Iowa’s defense should have been prepared to feast. Clayton Thorson is turnover prone (and we saw him throw two more against Iowa), and their rushing offense was abysmal by college football standards.

As we predicted, the secondary rebounded nicely against Northwestern as Thorson went 15-30 with two interceptions. It didn’t matter though as Northwestern’s rushing attack behind freshman Isaiah Bowser gashed a top-ten rushing defense in the nation.

Bowser had 165 yards on 31 carries for a 5.3 yard per carry average and Chad Hanaoka added another 18 yards on two caries.

Northwestern had their best rushing performance of the season against Iowa as the tallied 184 yards on 46 carries. The 184 yards was a season high for the team, and the freshman Bowser also had a career day. In his first three games (with significant workload) prior to playing the Iowa football team, he didn’t top 118 yards or 4.5 yards per carry.

This is a Northwestern rushing attack that put up just 8 yards against Michigan State, 23 yards against a terrible Nebraska defense, and 28 against Michigan.

Not only was this Northwestern’s best rushing performance, it was Iowa’s worst performance stopping the run, which is even more sad considering they didn’t really need to account for the passing attack that much.

For context, here’s the Iowa football rush defense’s resume this season:

Miles Sanders: 3.6 yards per carry
DJ Knox: 3.8 yards per carry
Maryland: 68 total rushing yards
Indiana: 67 total rushing yards
Minnesota: 68 total rushing yards
Jonathon Taylor: 113 yards on 4.5 yards per carry
UNI: 6 rushing yards
David Montgomery: 44 yards
NIU: 101 rushing yards

To say this was the most disappointing aspect of the game Saturday is an understatement. The Iowa football team faces another strong rushing attack when they take on Illinois next week so let’s see if they can fix their issues before then.

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