As you would expect, there weren't many positives coming out of Iowa's 42-17 loss to Michigan. The Wolverines rolled up over 500 yards of total offense on a Hawkeye defense that seemingly had no answers. One bright spot was the play of tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz, who had eight catches for nearly 100 yards.
GAME BALLS
OFFENSE: C.J. Fiedorowicz - The much hyped tight end for the Hawkeyes had the best day of his career on Saturday. Fiedorowicz caught a career high 8 passes for 99 yards against Michigan. Fidorowicz was the bulk of the Hawkeyes offense in the first half with seven receptions. Iowa really targeted their tight ends on Saturday with Fiedorowicz and Henry Krieger-Coble combining for 11 receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown.
DEFENSE: None -You give up 513 yards of total offense and allow your opponent to score touchdown on every possession until early in the 4th quarter, it's hard to find anything positive to say. I will say this, I would hate to have seen what would have happened without Christian Kirksey out there today. Kid played hard and gave a great effort.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Jordan Cotton - Let's give some recognition to Cotton, who has really made his mark on special teams as a return man and a gunner on kick coverage. The junior wide receiver racked up 117 return yards on four kickoff returns and he also finished with one tackle on punt coverage. Cotton is giving a great effort and it deserves to be recognized.
NEWS AND NOTES
LINEUP CHANGES
Mark Weisman returned to the starting lineup for the Hawkeyes. Wiesman last started for the Hawkeyes in the Northwestern game, where he injured his groin. Wiesman replaced Damon Bullock, who did not play on Saturday due to a lower back injury.
Henry Krieger-Coble made his first career start for the Haweyes. Krieger-Coble started as Iowa went to a two tight end set early in their first series. He caught a 4 yard pass in the first series. Later in the quarter, he caught a 16 yard pass for his first career touchdown.
In the second quarter, Colin Sleeper replaced Nico Law in the lineup. The changed occurred right after Iowa had given up a 37 yard touchdown pass on a 3rd and 17 play. Sleeper stayed in and started the 2nd half. Law returned to the field in the fourth quarter and played with Johnny Lowdermilk, who had replaced Tanner Miller in the final quarter.
Quinton Alston started at middle linebacker for the Hawkeyes. He was replaced in the 2nd quarter by the usual starter for the Hawkeyes, James Morris, who was playing with a heavily taped right arm. Morris had started 16 straight games before today.
Linebacker Travis Perry received his first collegiate start against Michigan. The redshirt freshman replaced the usual starter, Anthony Hitchens. Following the game, Kirk Ferentz said that Hitchens did not practice much this week due to injury.
DRESS LIST
QB: Vandenberg, Rudock, Sokol, Beathard
RB: Bullock, Garmon, Weisman, Gimm, Reisen, Canzeri, Rogers
TE: Feidorowicz, Derby, Kreiger-Coble, Duzey, Hamilton
WR: K. Davis, Martin-Manley, Cotton, Staggs, Shumpert, T. Smith, Hillyer, Nielsen
OL: Tobin, Boffeli, J. Ferentz, Blythe, Van Sloten, , Clark, Walsh, Croston, Gaul, Ward
DL: Bigach, Gaglione, Trinca-Pasat, Alvis, Ott, Spears, Cooper, C.Davis, Hardy, McMillan
LB: Alston, Hitchens, Fisher, Kirksey, Perry, Collins, Plewa, Morris
DB: Lowery, Hyde, Law, Miller, Lowerdermilk, Draper, Castillo, Sleeper, Donatell, Campbell, Swanson, G. Smith
P/K: Meyer, Kornbrath, Wienke, Koehn, Mossbrucker, Kreiter
MEYER CONTNUES STRONG SEASON
PK Mike Meyer made a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter. Meyer is 17-of-20 this season and 45-of-57 for his career in field goal attempts. He extended his school record PAT streak to 80 today. Meyer, who ranks fifth in Iowa career scoring, increased his career scoring total to 234 points. Meyer's five points today increased his single-season scoring total to 75 points, surpassing his freshman total of 73 points. His single-season high in scoring is 86 points (2011).
BAD NUMBERS
The Hawkeyes string from poor defensive performances continued on Saturday. After giving up an average of 475 yards of total offense in the previous four games, the Hawkeyes gave up 513 today to Michigan. The 42 points by the Wolverines were a season high against the Hawkeyes. The last time an opponent scored 42 points against the Hawkeyes was Iowa State last year, but that games took three overtimes to complete. The last time Iowa gave up more than 40 points in a regulation game was back in 2004 to Arizona State. The last time Iowa gave up more than 40 points in a Big Ten game was 1999 against Michigan State.
HYDE GETS INTERCEPTION
CB Micah Hyde intercepted his first pass of the season and eighth of his career in the fourth quarter. Iowa was unable to convert the Wolverine turnover into points. The eight career thefts tie eight others for 18th in Iowa history. The Hawkeye defense has collected at least one takeaway in 10-of-11 contests this season and 75 of its last 86 games, dating back to 2006. Iowa's offense did not have a turnover for the fifth time this season. The Hawkeyes improved their turnover margin to +12 this season.
WEISMAN RETURNS
RB Mark Weisman returned to the starting lineup today, starting his fifth contest of the season. Weisman finished the contest with 16 carries for 63 yards. He also tied his career high with three receptions, including the first touchdown reception of his career, a 13-yard score in the fourth quarter.
TACKLE LEADERS
Micah Hyde and Christian Kirksey led Iowa with 8 tackles each. Kirksey also joined Hyde in the 200 career tackle club today. Hyde and Morris both went past 200 tackles for their career earlier this season. B.J. Lowery finished with six tackles and Nico Law finished with five stops.
NEXT UP
The Hawkeyes will wrap up the 2012 season on Friday with a date with Nebraska. The game will be played at Kinnick Stadium with kickoff set for 11:00 a.m. (Central Time). ABC will televise the game.
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