It was ‘good, old’ Iowa O-line play

IOWA CITY - Let's just try to focus on the bubbly joy and smile that you couldn't have lifted off Boone Myers' face with a crane during Saturday's postgame.

Was it a sense of relief or accomplishment for Iowa's sophomore left offensive tackle?

'Accomplishment,” Myers said with a five-alarm grin after the Hawkeyes' 31-14 season-opening victory over Illinois State. 'We're here, we're here. We've got it.”

If there was an offseason human hot spot for the Hawkeyes, 1-0 going into Iowa State next week, it was Myers and fellow sophomore offensive tackle Ike Boettger, both of whom made their first starts Saturday. You saw some tough if not downright brutal moments for them in the spring and summer against veteran defensive ends Drew Ott and Nate Meier.

In fact the 'Boooooone!!!” that offensive line coach Brian Ferentz let rip during the open scrimmage on Aug. 15 might still be echoing in Kinnick Stadium.

You saw the struggles. They certainly were written about. Really, how could you not? If it was a 'tear 'em down, build 'em up” ploy from head coach Kirk Ferentz, he sure executed the second part of that in postgame.

'Yeah, just joked with (Hawkeye radio crew) Gary (Dolphin) and Ed (Podalak) on the radio that for two tackles who have never played, I've never read so much about two tackles in my career,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz did maintain throughout spring and summer that he believed in Myers and Boettger and later in the interview explained why.

'The quality of those guys, the way they think, their integrity levels, their work ethic, and watching them play against good players in practice, you know that in time they're going to become good,” Ferentz said. 'They're going to have some ups and downs, there's no doubt about that; every player does, every coach does. But they'll stay the course, and I'm really confident they're both going to do a good job here.”

Iowa was bigger and stronger than Illinois State, an FCS school, up front. The Hawkeyes did what was expected of a Big Ten school in a home opener against an FCS school, even a really great FCS that finished national runner-up last season and was ranked No. 2 in FCS preseason polls.

Still, there were superlatives.

Iowa had one negative rushing play all day and that didn't come until LeShun Daniels, who gained 123 yards on 26 carries in his first career start, was stopped for a loss of 1 with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. Iowa wide receiver Matt VandeBerg called it 'good, old Iowa football.” Surely, he meant physical and, definitely, he was correct.

And, it also might help in that the easiest thing for a young offensive line to do is run block, hit and play straight ahead.

'As long as you're not thinking too much,” Boettger said. 'We got through some of that early and just more comfortable in there. Every game, it's going to be different. There are going to be different dynamics, so we have to be ready for those.”

Iowa also didn't allow any sacks. No, it didn't have to block its own defense, which riddled the Redbirds with five sacks, and that helped.

Still, the nerves here might've shaped Iowa's gameplan. Quarterback C.J. Beathard wasn't put in a lot of danger situations. There was only one traditional 7-step drop called. Beathard threw the majority of his passes out of three- and one-step drops. Most of the passing downs came out of a shotgun formation.

The most the ball traveled in the air on a completion was 15 yards to wide receiver Tevaun Smith, which came from the seven-step drop and off a play-action fake.

Pass protection concerns may or may not have driven this. Iowa was good, old Iowa physical again and offensive coordinator Greg Davis didn't need to hit that button.

The bar only goes up every week now. Let's allow Boone Myers this moment. He learned Saturday that, hey, he can do this. Coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally), Myers and Boettger room together in the hotel in Cedar Rapids the night before the game. It didn't sound as if they were up all night climbing the walls.

'We just talked about, ‘Let's go, this is our time to prove ourselves out there and help our team win,'” Boettger said. 'We just want to go out and do this for the team.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com