Tagovailoa forced too many throws

Heading into the season, Locksley said he wanted Tagovailoa to be a more disciplined quarterback and avoid forcing plays that were not there.

After making strides in the first four games, Tagovailoa, the brother of former Alabama star and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua, took a step backward against the Hawkeyes. The Alabama transfer forced throws the entire night, and Iowa made him pay.

With 10:24 to go in the second quarter, Tagovailoa threw a pass to sophomore tight end Corey Dyches, who had three defenders around him. Iowa defensive back Dane Belton jumped in front of Dyches and made the interception.

During the final seconds of the first half, Tagovailoa scrambled out of the pocket and threw into triple coverage, which resulted in another takeaway. In the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa threw into double coverage, resulting in his pass getting picked off by Iowa defensive back Kaevon Merriweather.

“The first interception across the middle, he didn’t get the ball up enough in terms of the right trajectory on the throw, but these are some of the same throws that he’s made over the last four games and so it was one of those games where the ball didn’t bounce our way,” Locksley said.

Tagovailoa’s performance was quite alarming, as he had the highest passer rating under pressure (150.0) in Week 4 and was the second highest graded quarterback when throwing under pressure this season, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I’ve still got a lot of faith in him as a quarterback,” Locksley said. “For four games, he played really, really well. And this was a poor game, not just on his part but on all of ours.”