Lynch: Iowa ‘beat us just about every way’ Saturday

Following a 45-9 loss to Iowa in Bloomington, IU coach Bill Lynch played it straight.

“You have to do something in the kicking game. Go get a turnover, do something offensively” he said. “They beat us just about every way.”

It would be hard to disagree.

On offense, IU capped off only two drives in a dozen with scores, and the Hoosiers were only in Hawkeye territory five times.

“We just didn’t make the plays when they were there,” sophomore quarterback Ben Chappell said after the game.

Before the match-up, junior wide receiver Ray Fisher said IU was going to attack the Hawkeyes in the flats, saying their defense was weakest there. The tactic didn’t appear to work, evidenced by seven Hoosiers tallying receptions, but none averaging more than 14 yards per catch.

The running game didn’t fare any better. The Hoosiers’ leading rushers were quarterbacks Chappell and Kellen Lewis.

Three different running backs carried the ball a combined 13 times for only 21 of IU’s 95 total rushing yards. Senior Marcus Thigpen had a net gain of minus-two yards.

IU went into the half down by just eight points after Lewis connected with Fisher for a 17-yard strike. After the break, however, the Hoosier attack was held scoreless.

“I think it was somewhat even at halftime,” Lynch said. “I thought we had a little bit of juice going in after scoring late, but the second half, they just absolutely dominated us in every phase.”

As the offense failed to break double digits in the scoring column for the second straight week, the defense let up more than 40 points for the third time in the last four games.

Iowa’s offense had its way on the ground, rushing for four touchdowns. The brunt of the Hawkeyes’ ground attack came from a duo of runners, Shonn Greene and Jewel Hampton, who accounted for the four scores and 229 yards. Greene and Hampton – who attended powerhouse Warren Central High School in Indianapolis – averaged 5.0 and 5.2 yards per carry, respectively.

“We didn’t do a good job of coming up and stopping the run,” junior safety Nick Polk said.

Long drives by Iowa and quick three-and-outs led to the Hawkeyes maintaining possession of the ball for over 16 minutes more than the Hoosiers.

IU returns to action Saturday, when they head to Illinois to take on a team that earned a Rose Bowl bid last year.

And Illinois will be the beginning of what will be a difficult second half of the season for the Hoosiers.

Of its next six opponents, IU will take on five teams that earned bowl bids last season and Northwestern, a team that is 5-1 and receiving votes in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.