The good, bad and ugly key moments in Hawkeyes’s dominant win over UMass

IOWA CITY — Saturday was about more than just a football game.

The Hawkeyes’ 47-7 win over UMass put head coach Kirk Ferentz atop the mountain as the winningest head coach in Big Ten football history, and the celebration lasted all night long.

The 24-hour rule, however, is still very-much in effect. Ferentz won’t let the Hawkeyes think on this game any longer. Instead, it’s time for Big Ten action.

“I feel pretty fortunate,” Ferentz said postgame. “And we'll enjoy it here for the next hour and probably go to bed, and get back here tomorrow.”

There still are takeaways to be had from the nonconference finale. A handful of positives, including a legitimate passing game appearance for the first time this season.

“Guys showed up tonight, and I thought they were ready to go,” Ferentz said. “We made improvement, no question about that.”

With a short week ahead, pin-pointing what needs improvement is the priority. The clock is ticking until it’s wheels up to New Jersey in just a few days.

Here are the key good, bad and ugly moments of the Hawkeyes’ nonconference win over UMass.

The good

Iowa’s opening drive

It took 91 seconds and three plays for the Hawkeyes to find the end zone against UMass. Two of those plays were passes, including a 20-yard touchdown reception by Seth Anderson.

One of, if not the, best offensive drives Iowa put together this season.

The Hawkeyes have opted to receive the ball in every game so far this season, but until Saturday night they hadn’t found the end zone. An opening drive like Iowa put together is how quarterback Mark Gronowski can make a quick strike in Big Ten play.

“We got to continue to take shots,” Gronowski said. “I think we built a little bit of confidence in our receivers.”

Not every game in conference play will be as successful, but Iowa’s offense just proved it can put together explosive plays — and do so early.

That’s a much-needed boost, and a well-timed one. Now it’s a matter of carrying it over moving forward.

“We were talking about it all week that we needed to start fast,” Gronowski said. “We showed it on that first drive. We brought a lot of energy in this one and it was great to take a couple shots to start off the game.”

The bad

Still no turnovers

Iowa’s defense has now gone five consecutive games without forcing a turnover. It’s a streak that’s been on the Hawkeyes’ minds, particularly the “Ball-Hawk” secondary unit.

Against UMass, Iowa had five sacks for a loss of 31 yards. There were 11 tackles for loss, but still no dice.

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“We’re definitely itching a little bit as a defense,” linebacker Jaden Harrell said. “But if we keep doing our job, keep doing what we’ve got to do, it’ll eventually come to us.”

It might be a little frustrating now, but it’s not an impossible task for Iowa to get one turnover. It’s also three games into the season, so there’s definitely time for a few to appear.

The defense may just end up having to wait one more week, even if it would rather have seen the drought end Saturday night.

The ugly

A blocked punt

Iowa’s special teams unit rarely makes mistakes, but there was one UMass took advantage of.

The Hawkeyes were set to punt and the Minutemen not only came up with a block, but set themselves up in the red zone for a touchdown. It was the only score UMass had the entire night, but one that capped off a rather wonky Hawkeye second quarter.

It’s not very often Iowa is on the bad side of a blocked punt. In fact, the Hawkeyes are usually the ones making those plays.

It’s also a play that could easily be brushed off as a random, one-off issue. UMass saw an opportunity with just three blockers for punter Rhys Dakin, and the sophomore didn’t see UMass had broken through.

However, it’s something to circle on tape. Review it, fix it quickly and move on. Just like Iowa had some mistakes against Iowa State in Week 2, that’s a mistake that could be costly for the Hawkeyes at the wrong time.

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