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Iowa Football: Hawks win key matchups, lose close game to Michigan

By Justin Stallman

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 05: Mike Sainristil #19 of the Michigan Wolverines battles for yards after a first quarter catch against Michael Ojemudia #11 of the Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 05: Mike Sainristil #19 of the Michigan Wolverines battles for yards after a first quarter catch against Michael Ojemudia #11 of the Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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The Iowa Football team went into Ann Arbor with high expectations. They stayed close all game long, but in the end, they fell 10-3.

Saturday the Iowa football team went into Ann Arbor with one thing on their minds: prove they belong amongst the group of elite teams this year. They looked good early and kept the Wolverines out of the end zone a majority of the game, but in the end, they just couldn’t put together a successful drive.  Michigan finished the game with eight sacks on Nate Stanley and came away with a low scoring win 10-3.

Oddly enough though, they did win my key matchups heading into the game. Here is a quick breakdown of those.

Michael Ojemudia’s goal on Saturday was to shut down Michigan’s top slot receiver,  despite the loss, he did just that.  He finished the game with three total tackles, one solo, and a pass defended.

Ronnie Bell finished the game with no visible stats Saturday and was pretty much invisible the entire contest.  Even though the Hawks couldn’t get the win, Ojemudia did his part and deserves a win in this key matchup.

Winner of matchup: Michael Ojemudia 

Ihmir Smith-Marsette came into Saturday’s contest with the same mindset as the entire Hawkeye lineup. Beat Michigan. Smith-Marsette did, in fact, show up and provide a decent individual performance with four catches for sixty yards.  Despite not having a single touchdown all game, ISM played well.

Brad Hawkins finished with game with three total tackles, and despite the win for the Wolverines, Hawkins didn’t show a lot of defensive back help. He wasn’t able to put pressure on Smith-Marsette much of the game.

Despite no touchdowns, Ihmir Smith-Marsette did show up and perform, he is the clear winner of this matchup.

Winner of matchup: Ihmir Smith-Marsette 

AJ Epenesa had a mindset of pressuring Shea Patterson and forcing him into poor throws.  A majority of the game, we didn’t see a lot of that, but Epenesa did show some pressure and got a sack on Patterson later in the game.

Jalen Mayfield needed to come into this game knowing his matchup on the line was going to be difficult, Mayfield did a pretty decent job holding his ground, but what lost him this matchup was giving up a sack on Shea Patterson. His one goal was to keep Epenesa away from the Michigan QB and, unfortunately, that failed.

Winner of matchup: AJ Epenesa

Despite the Iowa football team losing a close game to Michigan Saturday, the will look to redeem themselves next Saturday as they stay home in Kinnick and take on #10 Penn State.  Penn State is coming off a lopsided victory over Purdue 35-7.

Next. Studs and duds from loss to Michigan. dark

You can catch next weekend’s game at 6:30 pm on ABC under the lights in historic Kinnick Stadium.

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