4 Takeaways From The Iowa / Northern Iowa Game

Another week, another win for the Hawkeyes. Although Northern Iowa scored some touchdowns during garbage time, Iowa throttled the Panthers from the very start and finally had a dominating game where you can exhale and just enjoy the beatdown. Iowa should always beat a team like Northern Iowa in that manner, but as we know, it doesn't always work that way. Here are five big takeaways from Saturday night's game.

1. Nate Stanley Is the Best QB of the Kirk Ferentz Era...and the Worst Fit
Nate Stanley has the most talent of any quarterback Iowa has had on its roster during the Ferentz era. I would be very surprised if he wasn't the highest draft pick in a couple years, but although the talent is there, it's still very raw. That leads to total inconsistency, so although the ceiling is the highest, the floor is Jake Christiansen levels. The guys that have been successful under Ferentz haven't had the biggest arms, but they were accurate and quick decision makers. During Saturday's game, Stanley showed what he could he could be as outside of the interception, he looked great all game long. This is going to sound like a massive insult, but he kind of reminds me of Josh Allen with less arm strength and mobility. He still has a really good arm, but it's not a howitzer. His mobility, uh, yeah, that's not going to win any games. It's possible that he can gain consistency and accuracy in his throws, but in the meantime, he will guarantee that Iowa fans yell at their TV, sometimes in celebration, sometimes...not so much.

2. Iowa Doesn't Need a Lead Back
Ivory Kelly-Martin was supposed to be the starter this season, but due to an injury in game one, those plans have changed. In his place, Toren Young has taken over the lead role with Mekhi Sargent right behind him. It was always supposed to be a time share, but the percentages have changed. Luckily, the production hasn't. Iowa has two, and possibly three when IKM returns, backs that can be trusted to get in the game and make plays happen on the ground. In this game, Young led in rushing yards with 84 on the ground, including a touchdown, but Sargent had the more standout day as he had 72 yards, two touchdowns, and a 48-yard reception. The Iowa offensive line appears to be a lot closer to good than great, but these backs will get yards if given some holes, so even with an injury, there is enough depth to still keep the ground game churning.

3. Good God, This Defensive Line
Is it fair to ask whether this is the best defensive line during Kirk Ferentz's tenure? I know it's a bit absurd at first glance, but even if the starters can't quite be considered the best, Iowa has never had this amount of depth at all positions of the defensive line. Right now, the starters are Matt and Anthony Nelson, Sam Brincks, and Parker Hesse. If you swapped to the reserves of AJ Epenesa, Cedric Lattimore, Brady Reiff, and Chauncey Golston, that would still be a really good defensive line. There isn't a single one of those guys that I feel bad about when they are in the game, and that ability to swap guys out and keep them fresh may make this the most effective defensive line that Ferentz has ever had. As with all things Iowa, the big test comes this week, but even with the big hogs up in Wisconsin, they can't be feeling great about their chances on neutralizing this Iowa defensive line.

4. Tyrone Tracy Had 1 Catch, and I'm All In
Tyrone Tracy Jr. caught a pass from Peyton Mansell, and the fact that he caught the ball and looks fairly fast is enough to sell me on him being Iowa's best receiver. The wide receivers did have BY FAR their best game of the season, but I still don't have overwhelming confidence in any of them. Brandon Smith seems to be the most talented, and somehow Nick Easley emerged from the darkness to get ten receptions and a touchdown, but I haven't seen any of them reliably finding ways to get open. When Iowa can stretch the field with the vertical passing game, they are legitimately dangerous on offense. It gets them away from predictability where opposing defenses actually have to line up guys more than five yards off the line of scrimmage. I have no way of knowing whether Tracy can be that guy, but Iowa still needs one, so I'm just going to keep my wishful thinking.

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: Northern Iowa Defensive Back - Deiondre' Hall

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida
Fourth Round Pick: Nick Kwiatkoski, Linebacker, West Virginia
Fourth Round Pick: Deon Bush, Safety, Miami

And today we move to the Bears final fourth round pick, a guy near and dear to my heart hometown state, Deiondre' Hall, a defensive back from the University of Northern Iowa. The first thing that you may notice is that I'm using the vague term of defensive back instead of cornerback or safety, because it's still unclear where he might fit in. He's not only 6'2", but he is long. I mean, just look at that picture up top. He is Stretch Armstrong come to life (with a little bit of a tan as well). He fits the mold of the big corner, but he did dabble at safety last year as well, so his role is still up in the air. For a mid-round pick, Hall is actually a very good athlete. His 40 time at the combine was only 4.68, but he was able to run a 4.55 during his pro day, and I think had he done that at the combine, he may have gone a round earlier. Thanks to Draft Breakdown, I was able to check out his games against Portland State and North Dakota State. One of these is not actually a state. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know which one.

If you want a safety who is going to lay a punishing hit on anybody coming over the middle, well, Hall probably isn't your guy. He's a bit of a Deion Sanders tackler, as he seems to avoid the big contact and goes for the ankles of running backs. Sometimes it works better than others.

I will admit that he did seem more willing to lay a hit on people during the Portland State game, but there were still examples of him trying to make the tackle with as little contact as possible, and that's not a recipe for tackling success.

He had 13 interceptions in college, but it was tough to judge his coverage skills as Northern Iowa played a lot of soft zone coverages where Hall gave guys plenty of cushion. I can't say whether this was by design or he was super cautious, but I would assume it was more the former than the latter. What I did see was a guy who had a good backpedal and appeared to be fairly fluid in turning his hips when necessary. With that, I think he fits better as a safety than he would as a corner as he seems more used to playing in a zone than man coverage.

Overall, well, it's defensive back tape. There wasn't a whole lot there. He seems like a fairly fluid athlete, and since he played both corner and free safety in college, it wouldn't be too surprising if the Bears saw him in a similar role where he could fill in where they were weakest. I think he's a depth guy to start out, and hopefully he can develop into a starter down the road.