Iowa QB Takes Advantage

Christensen makes Orange pay for focusing on the run

By Dave Rahme
Staff writer

Iowa City, Iowa- A door slammed shut, and a whole new world opened up for Iowa's Jake Christensen.

The sophomore quarterback watched as Syracuse University's beleaguered run defense sold out to stop senior Hawkeye tailbacks Albert Young and Damian Sims, who had combined to run for 250 yards in a 16-3 victory over Northern Illinois a week earlier. He saw the SU safeties crowding the line of scrimmage, the SU cornerbacks sitting back to cover the deep routes. He noted the huge gaps in the defense.

He proceeded to fill them with passes. Accurate passes.

The left-hander, coming off a debut in which he completed only 12-of-29 passes (a .411 completion percentage) for a paltry 133 yards and one touchdown last week, completed 23 of 32 passes (.719) for yards and four TDs on Saturday night as the Hawkeyes routed the Orange 35-0.

"I'm inexperienced still," Christensen said. "I'm sure that was the plan. We knew we'd get a chance to throw the ball around a little bit. I had all day back there."

Specifically, he had all day to find junior tight end Tony Moeaki, who got behind SU linebackers into open space the entire game to catch a career-high eight passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns.

"I don't think I've ever caught that many," Moeaki said. "Maybe once in high school. Maybe."

Christensen balanced his high-percentage passes to Moeaki with equally easy throws to wideout Andy Brodell (seven receptions for 54 yards) on quick outs and slants in front of SU's corners.

"The focus all week was on eliminating the dropped passes we had last week," said Brodel, who also averaged 19.5 yards on four punt returns. "It was a big improvement."

While Young and Sims were held to 48 first-half yards on 17 carries (2.8-yard average) by an Orange defense that had been singed for 302 rushing yards in a 42-12 loss to Washington, Christensen calmly passed for 192 yards and three scores to turn the game into a rout. He connected with tight end Moeaki for a 52-yard TD pass midway through the opening quarter and flipped a screen pass to Young for a 36 yards later in the period, producing more offense in two plays than SU's anemic West Coast was able to string together until Iowa sent in the reserves in the fourth quarter.

"They had a lot of guys in the box," Christensen said. "We knew coming in they were going to do that. We knew if we could take advantage of it and see things early we'd be able to get some big plays, and it worked out that way for us.

"They came down pretty hard on Tony on that touchdown play, and I just waited for him to come open. He's hard to miss. It was just, 'Don't overshoot him, don't overshoot him.' He did the rest."

Christensen did more than complete passes, though. He used his legs to scramble out of several sacks, wisely throwing the ball out of bounds instead of throwing it up for grabs or taking sacks. One time, on a second-and-goal play from the SU 5-yard line and his team already leading 21-0 early in the second quarter, he shook off potential sacks from Orange rushers Jameel McClain and Nick Santiago and flipped a TD pass to a wide-open Moeaki in the back of the end zone.

"He missed a couple throws," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "But he took a step forward, and we counted on that. I think we'll see him take another step forward next week."

While Christensen was taking a step forward, his counterpart, Syracuse sophomore Andrew Robinson, went the other way during one of the worst displays of offensive football in SU's history. With his team also unable to establish the run, Robinson went 7-for-20 for 79 yards, absorbed six sacks and threw an interception that set up Young's TD reception.

In his defense, his receivers had at least six passes bounce off their hands, and Iowa's defense did the rest, holding the Orange to one yard of offense and zero first downs in the first half.

"Our defensive line was ridiculous," said cornerback Adam Shada, who recorded one of the sacks on a blitz."

They basically never crossed the line of scrimmage," said linebacker Mike Humpal, who made the Hawkeye interception. "Our defensive line was remarkable."

Perhaps Christensen would have looked more human, too, had the Orange been able to turn his lone interception - returned by Syracuse safety Joe Fields to the Iowa 26 - or his lone fumble - recovered by SU's McClain at the Orange 38 into points. Considering SU had failed to even make a first down at those points in the game, there was no chance of that happening.

"It was unbelievable how many three-and-outs Syracuse had," Christensen said. "We looked up at the board and they had one yard after the first half. That's remarkable."

Equally remarkable was Christensen, who saw one door slam shut and then gave the Orange a world of trouble.

Dave Rahme can be reached at 470-2148 or drahme@syracuse.com ml10,tag,tag;ad(X),tag,(M);SU schedule Washington 42, SU 12 Iowa 35, SU 0 Sept. 15: Illinois, noon Sept. 22: at Louisville, TBD Sept. 29: at Miami, Ohio, TBD Oct. 6: West Virginia, TBD Oct. 13: Rutgers, TBD Oct. 20: Buffalo, TBD Nov. 3: at Pittsburgh, TBD Nov. 10: South Florida, TBD Nov. 17: at Connecticut, TBD Nov. 24: Cincinnati, TBD