Anatomy of a Touchdown: Sebastian Castro's Pick-Six vs. ISU
Looking at a pivotal play every week, through the Hawkeye players and coaches involved.
During the second quarter of Iowa's 20-13 victory at Iowa State on Saturday, the Hawkeyes led 10-0 but had just given the ball back to the Cyclones after an interception on, to put it charitably, a controversial no-call.
In one of the rivalry's all-time great Ball Don't Lie moments, Iowa's defense scored two snaps later on a pick-six by starting cash Sebastian Castro, the first touchdown of the defensive back's career.
Iowa's pick-six came on a 2nd-and-15, after ISU tailback Abu Sama was dropped for a big loss on a run to the far boundary on the first play of the drive.
"We've got to do a better job of getting our opponent into 'off-schedule' second downs and then 3rd-and-7 or greater, and that's when you'll start to see more pressure on the quarterback," said linebackers coach Seth Wallace on Wednesday.
To Wallace's point, Iowa State ran 30 plays on first down on Saturday and earned 19 first downs on those series. On those 19 first-down plays, ISU gained an average of 5.5 yards on 1st down; on the 11 first downs that eventually resulted in forced stops, ISU gained just 0.7 yards per play.
Accordingly, the 5-yard loss by Sama was ISU's worst first-down result of the day, and the 2nd-and-15 put Iowa in prime position to attack freshman quarterback Rocco Becht in the pocket.
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