Bohnenkamp: Iowa-SDSU Takeaways

Recapping Saturday's 7-3 Hawkeye Victory in Season-Opener

Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell (31) calls out a play during a game against South Dakota State on Sept. 3, 2022 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Jack Campbell wasn’t going to go down the road of criticizing Iowa’s offense.

The Hawkeyes’ 7-3 win over South Dakota State on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium was all about the defense, which produced four of the points with two second-half safeties.

Iowa’s offense spent the day getting booed for its struggles — the Hawkeyes had just 166 yards of offense and the same number of punts (10) as first downs.

But asked if the defense felt it was their responsibility to secure the win, Campbell said it was a team effort, even if the statistics didn’t show it.

“When you’re in the locker room, you’re one team, one unit,” said the senior linebacker, who had 11 tackles and produced one of the safeties — a tackle of South Dakota State running back Isaiah Davis in the end zone. “I’m never going to point fingers.

“I’m never going to complain.”

Campbell wasn’t pleased at the boos that got louder as the offense bogged down — “I hate to break it to you guys, but they’re more than just football players,” he said.

There were, of course, the online rumblings from Iowa fans about replacing quarterback Spencer Petras, who was just 11 of 25 passing for 109 yards.

Coach Kirk Ferentz, though, isn’t interested in the replacement talk.

“I still have a lot of confidence in him,” Ferentz said of Petras. “I think the noise on the outside is probably a lot louder than it is inside. I have total confidence.”

Petras has his own confidence.

“The trick is, we will get it down,” he said. “We have our first game, we got our first win, now let’s get back to who we are.”

WHO THEY ARE, PART 1

If anything, this game was exactly who the Hawkeyes are — a defense that comes up with points (we’ll get to that shortly), and special teams that control field position.

Of Tory Taylor’s 10 punts, seven were downed inside the Jackrabbits’ 20-yard line. One was corralled at the 2-yard line, one was stopped at the 1, which led to Campbell’s tackle of Davis one play later.

“At one point, I said, ‘This kid is a freak,’” South Dakota State coach John Stiegelmeier said. “That is a powerful weapon. That is part of their defense, and the reality is our field position was really tough a lot of the time.”

“I’m a pretty relaxed guy out there,” Taylor said. “I just try and catch it and kick it as far and as high as I can.”

WHO THEY ARE, PART II

Iowa’s defense had four touchdowns last season, one of the more prolific defenses at scoring.

Getting two safeties is a good way to start this season.

“We put a couple of fires out,” cornerback Terry Roberts said.

But the Hawkeyes did a good job of just keeping the Jackrabbits from doing anything, no matter the field position. South Dakota State didn’t have a drive longer than seven plays, and the longest drive was just 26 yards.

It got to the point where Stiegelmeier said the Jackrabbits were going to consider anything on the Iowa side of the 50-yard line to be four-down territory.

“We never had that chance,” he said.

Iowa’s offensive struggles didn’t put any heat on the defense, Campbell said.

“We just do what we’re told to do,” Campbell said. “We signed up for this. There shouldn’t be any pressure. No matter the score, (the game) is on our shoulders.”

“We are always trying to bring a physical brand of defense,” said safety Quinn Schulte.

MISSING PIECES

The Hawkeyes were without wide receiver Keagan Johnson and Nico Ragaini, along with running back Gavin Williams.

But Petras said missing those players shouldn’t affect the offense.

“I don’t necessarily think that affected how we called the game,” he said. “I’d say we did a pretty good job of applying some of the concepts that look great on tape and as we started to go, we had some really nice plays out there. I don’t think we were limited at all from a play-calling standpoint.”

“Certainly we're better with everybody healthy,” Ferentz said. “We've never been deep enough really on either side of the ball, and I hate to have anybody out.

“The reality is that if guys aren't there and if you don't think they're going to be there, then you just have to find another way to get the job done, if you will.”

FILLING IN

Leshon Williams replaced Gavin Williams, and rushed for 72 yards on 24 carries.

The only complaint he had was with the one lost fumble he had deep in South Dakota State territory.

“I ran the ball hard,” he said. “I had one little you-know-what.”

Arland Bruce IV was the only wide receiver with a reception. He was targeted 10 times, with five catches for 68 yards.

He knows help is on the way once Johnson and Ragaini get back.

“We probably have 12-13 games left,” Bruce said. “Those guys are going to be back in the next few weeks. The guys that we had in today, they did a great job and it was their first time getting game experience. I think moving forward we are going to be just fine.”