Iowa at Michigan: Grades

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The No. 15 Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday inside “The Big House,” 38-28. Iowa moves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, while Michigan falls to 5-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play.

Below are the grades I would give each group of players after Saturday’s game:

Quarterbacks — A-

I thought Ricky Stanzi made some real good decisions with the football in this game. He completed 17-of-24 passes for 248 yards. He also threw three touchdown passes — all of them to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos — and more importantly, did not throw any interceptions against the Wolverines.

Running Backs — A-

One player who came up enormous for the Hawkeyes against Michigan was Adam Robinson. The sophomore rushed for 143 yards on 31 carries and had two touchdowns on the ground. He also had 61 yards receiving for the Hawkeyes. Also of note, freshman Brad Rogers filled in the place of fullback Brett Morse and helped create some holes for Robinson to run through.

Wide Receivers — A

Both Johnson-Koulianos and Marvin McNutt caught four passes each from Stanzi. McNutt led the team with 78 yards receiving, but it was Johnson-Koulianos who shined brightest, as three of his four catches resulted in Hawkeye touchdowns. The third score also moved him ahead of Tim Dwight as Iowa’s all-time leading receiver.

Tight Ends — A-

Allen Reisner had two catches for 15 yards, but both he and Brad Herman did a nice job of blocking downfield when Iowa did run with the football.

Offensive Line — A-

As a team, the Hawkeyes had a total of 383 yards of offense. The guys up front created enormous holes for Robinson to run through, and Stanzi had time in the pocket to make good throws down the field.

Defensive Line — B+

The highlight from the D-Line came when tackle Karl Klug forced a Michigan fumble that was recovered by Lebron Daniel. Adrian Clayborn came up big on special teams blocking a Michigan field goal attempt. The numbers aren’t enormous, but these guys did a solid job of containing Denard Robinson. They did struggle a bit against Tate Forcier when he came in for the injured Robinson.

Linebackers — A-

I’m basing this grade purely on numbers, especially when both Jeremiha Hunter and Troy Johnson each record 13 tackles on the afternoon. Nine of Hunter’s 13 tackles were unassisted. Tyler Nielsen also played well with six tackles, two of which were for a loss of yards.

Secondary — B+

There was a lot of good, and a little bad. Both Tyler Sash and Micah Hyde came up with interceptions, and Sash also made a heads up play on special teams. However, Forcier carved Iowa’s defense through the air in the fourth quarter.

Special Teams — B+

Michael Meyer made all of his kicks — five extra points and a field goal late in the game. Ryan Donahue had a couple of bad punts, but a couple of really good ones as well. Kickoff coverage is getting better, and there were a few decent returns as well. Clayborn’s blocked field goal was the highlight from football’s third phase.

Overall — A-

This ended up being a much closer game with Michigan scoring 21 fourth-quarter points. But nevertheless, a road win at “The Big House” is nothing to sneeze at. Iowa found a way to bounce back right away after the game got off to an ugly start. Big plays were made in all three areas, and this is a solid victory as the Hawkeyes now have their next two games at Kinnick Stadium, beginning with Wisconsin visiting on Oct. 23.

“BIG UPS”

My player of the game will get “Big Ups” from me (For those new toHawkeyeDrive.com, I’ll give these out on Twitter every now and then). After No. 15 Iowa’s 38-28 win over Michigan, this decision was easy. “Big Ups” to senior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

The man known among Hawkeye fans as “DJK” caught four passes for 70 yards, three of which were touchdowns. The 19-yard touchdown pass he caught in the fourth quarter moved him ahead of Tim Dwight as Iowa’s all-time leading receiver with 2,275 yards receiving for his career. He now only needs six more catches to become Iowa’s all-time career receptions leader as well.

2010 BIG UPS TALLY:

9/4/2010: Iowa 37, Eastern Illinois 7 — Adam Robinson

9/11/2010: Iowa 35, Iowa State 7 — Ricky Stanzi

9/18/2010: Arizona 34, Iowa 27 — Jeff Tarpinian

9/25/2010: Iowa 45, Ball State 0 — Mike Daniels

10/2/2010: Iowa 24, Penn State 3 — Christian Ballard

10/16/2010: Iowa 38, Michigan 28 — Derrell Johnson-Koulianos