Iowa football: Five observations in win over Rutgers
By Andrew Wade
AJ Epenesa was a beast
Like last week, AJ Epenesa’s impact on today’s game goes far beyond the stat sheet. After a week where he was “quiet”, Epenesa reminded folks why he is arguably the best defensive end in the country with a great rebound performance.
He made McLane Carter’s life miserable in the first half and continued his dominance in the second half.
Despite finishing with one sack and 4 QB hurries, there were probably 10 plays where Epenesa forced the QB to make a bad throw just by his presence.
You could see it with Carter too, who quickly got happy feet in the pocket and started airmailing passes left and right. It got so bad, Chris Ash brought in last year’s starter Artur Sitkowski to try to clean up the mess. This is the same starting quarterback who threw 18 interceptions last year to just 4 touchdowns. It’s never a good sign when that guy is coming in.
As one of our contributors said in a piece before the game, Epenesa’s matchup with Rutgers left Tackle Raiqwon O’Neal was going to be one to watch, and it certainly was.
What got me most excited though was the creativity by the coaching staff to get Epenesa moving along the line calling stunts and isolating him against just the tackle. It worked, and it’s a good recipe for success going forward.