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Fansided

Iowa football: Five observations from embarrassing loss to Michigan

By Andrew Wade

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Jim Harbaugh waits to take the field to play the Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 10-3. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Jim Harbaugh waits to take the field to play the Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 10-3. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – OCTOBER 05: Nate Stanley #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes looks to throw a fourth quarter pass against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 10-3. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – OCTOBER 05: Nate Stanley #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes looks to throw a fourth quarter pass against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 10-3. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Nate Stanley doesn’t get it done

There’s a lot of Nate Stanley hate going on, and I’m not going to sit here and completely bash the guy. After all, there is a reason why he is a three-time team captain and is likely going to break the career touchdown records and has a chance of being one in a select group of quarterbacks to win three bowl games.

Is Nate Stanley perfect? No. Is he the worst quarterback in Iowa football history? No. Should he be benched? Are you freaking kidding me? Absolutely not.

The guy had a bad game. Yes, he has had plenty of them before, specifically in big-time games. Doesn’t mean he is a bad quarterback, just means he isn’t the guy who is going to win us games in spite of everything.

Yesterday was just as much the offensive line and Brian Ferentz’s fault as it was Stanley’s. However, even when Stanley had time to throw the ball, half of the time it was off target, and there were several throws that left me questioning why.

And to cover the three interceptions, the tipped one on fourth down, I’ll give to Stanley. He needed to try and make a play, and that Michigan defender honestly shouldn’t have even tried catching it because it actually hurt them. The other two though were misreads of the coverage. As a three-year starter, I expect him to see that and not make those throws.

Stanley is still a good quarterback and one who can lead this team to 9 or 10 wins, but at this point, he has failed in every meaningful game that required the quarterback to win the game for the team. Just like last year against Wisconsin, or Penn State, or Purdue, or Northwestern. He’s come up short every time.

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