Hawkeyes drenched, dominant during 45-0 victory

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Sept. 25, 2010

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Even rain storms take a awhile to build momentum.

No. 18 University of Iowa (3-1 overall) overcame a sluggish first quarter before rolling to 562 yards and a convincing 45-0 win over a flabbergasted Ball State (1-3) today inside waterlogged Kinnick Stadium.

“It was great to get the win and it was even better to get out clean on the injury front,” UI head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We did a lot of things well today, but we were a little sloppy in the first half, so there will be plenty to work on.”

For the Hawkeyes, it was a day when Adam Robinson turned in an admirable performance at running back (22 carries, 115 yards, two touchdowns), but he also received courtesy breathers from Brad Rogers (nine carries, 66 yards) and Marcus Coker (10-16). Quarterback Ricky Stanzi was even more impressive than his final statistics. Despite having four passes dropped, Stanzi completed 19 of 25 for 288 yards and three touchdowns. Derrell Johnson-Koulianos hauled in four passes for 87 yards and two scores and Keenan Davis emerged with four grabs for 50 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Allen Reisner was Stanzi’s primary target, catching five passes for 53 yards.

“He did a good job throwing the ball around,” Ferentz said of Stanzi. “He’s using his experience and savvy in general to his advantage. He’s off to a real good start.”

The Iowa defense limited Ball State to eight first downs and 112 total yards. Sticking out in the throwback gold and back was Mike Daniels, who would have made George Harrell (1957-60) proud wearing the No. 93.

“If you go out and hustle as fast as you can, the plays will come,” Daniels said.

Daniels had six tackles, four stops for loss and a quarterback sack.

“He’s really been disruptive,” Ferentz said. “He has great acceleration off the ball and he keeps his foot on the gas pedal.”

Iowa ran 23 more plays (73 to 50) than the Cardinals and held the ball nearly 10 minutes longer (34:06 to 25:54). The Hawkeyes scored five of six times on trips to the red zone.

It was an error-filled opening drive for the Hawkeyes with two dropped passes and a delay of game penalty on fourth-and-inches from the Ball State 40. After throwing passes on seven of the first nine plays, Iowa went to Robinson, who carried the ball seven consecutive times for 28 yards and scored on 1-yard run with 6:34 left in the first quarter. The point-after kick was good by freshman Michael Meyer, giving the Hawkeyes a 7-0 lead.

Davis was a spark on a 7-play, 48-yard drive that gave Iowa a 14-0 lead. He caught three passes for 33 yards during the series, including an 8-yard scoring reception from Stanzi at the 5:40 mark.

Micah Hyde forced a fumble that was recovered by UI linebacker Jeremiha Hunter on Ball State’s next possession, and three plays later, the Hawkeyes went ahead 21-0. Stanzi found Johnson-Koulianos twice, the first for 11 yards and the second a 22-yard touchdown reception with 1:54 left in the half.

Perhaps Iowa’s MVP of the first half was Daniels, who continually disrupted the Cardinals’ offensive plans. Daniels compiled three tackles for loss and had a quarterback hurry early in the second period on pass play that was picked off by Hyde.

Robinson rushed for 105 yards by intermission and Stanzi completed 16 of 21 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Three Stanzi pass attempts were dropped. Iowa accumulated 281 yards and 15 first downs in the first 30 minutes and held the Cardinals to 54 and three, respectively.

Iowa extended its lead to 28-0 when Robinson rushed for his second score of the day from a yard out on Iowa’s first offensive drive of the third quarter. Stanzi had two completions on the drive — the first for 17 yards to Davis and then a 48-yard middle screen to Robinson that took the ball from the Iowa 45 to the Ball State 7.

Rogers received his first extensive playing time of the season at running back in the third quarter, carrying the ball five straight times for 39 yards. That set up a 45-yard touchdown pass from Stanzi to Johnson-Koulianos for a 35-0 Hawkeye lead. The preceding drive by Ball State was stopped because of a quarterback sack by Daniels on third-and-11.

One series after highlighting Rogers, the Hawkeyes lifted the redshirt off Coker, who did the bulk of the work during a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Coker rushed six times for 41 yards, but it was a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback James Vandenberg to Colin Sandeman making it 42-0 with 10:28 left.

“If I was happy about one thing it was that our backs all came out healthy,” Ferentz said. “Both (Rogers and Coker) did a good job. They got valuable experience and it was good from them to get tackled. It was a good start for them and we’re going to need all three of those guys.”

Meyer’s first career field goal (from 25 yards) put the Hawkeyes ahead, 45-0.

Linebacker Jeff Tarpinian led Iowa with nine tackles (two for a loss).

It was the largest margin of victory for the Hawkeyes since a 55-0 shutout at Minnesota on Nov. 22, 2008.

Iowa opens the Big Ten Conference season Oct. 2 by hosting Penn State (3-1). Iowa has won the last two meetings and the last three times inside Kinnick.

“It amps up a little bit now with Penn State coming to town,” Ferentz said. “If that doesn’t get your motor going, you shouldn’t be playing.”

Ball State00000 Iowa Statistical Leaders Passing: Ricky Stanzi 19 of 25, 288 yards, 3 touchdowns
Rushing: Adam Robinson 22 carries, 115 yards, 2 touchdowns Receiving: Allen Reisner 5 catches, 53 yards Tackles: Jeff Tarpinian 9 total tackles, 2 tackles for loss