Sep 15, 2018; Evanston, IL, USA; The Akron Zips football team celebrate after defeating the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports
Get to know the Akron Zips, Iowa State’s opponent for Saturday morning at 11 in Jack Trice Stadium on Fox Sports Network, in this week’s Know the Opponent feature, a compilation of links, quotes, videos and notes from the week leading up to the game.
Links
*** Akron’s win over Northwestern was spurred along after a halftime speech from senior defensive back, and team captain, Kyron Brown. (Akron Beacon Journal)
*** People within Akron’s program believe the win over Northwestern is another step in the process of taking the program to the next level. (Akron Beacon Journal)
Video
*** If you plan to click on only one thing contained in this article, make it this video. Terry Bowden’s press conference from this week is a thing to behold. He uses the words ornery and cantankerous in the first two minutes. He raves about Iowa State, too.
Notes
- The win over Northwestern Akron’s first win over a Big Ten team since 1894 (Ohio State) and second win all-time. UA’s only win came over Ohio State in 1894, 12-6. The win was Akron’s first since moving up to Division I-A [FBS] in 1987.
- The last time Akron opened the season at 2-0 was in 1993 (25 years) under head coach Gerry Faust.
Quotes
*** Terry Bowden on Iowa State in his opening statement to his press conference this week.
“They’re as good or better (than Northwestern). They are talented in different ways. They’ve got a veteran quarterback, outstanding quarterback, outstanding running back, a 6-foot-6 receiver that you just have to hope you can minimize the damage he’s going to do because he’s going to do some damage. They’ve got a cornerback that is one the best in the conference. They’ve got a defense that in all but three games held their opponents to 20 or less points last year.”
“They’re 0-2 and they’re probably pretty ornery. They’re probably pretty cantankerous right now because they’ve lost to their rival in a nice close game and they almost beat a top-three or four team in the country in Oklahoma, which they beat last year. So we’ve got a tough road to hoe but we are excited about it. The kids, obviously, have as much confidence about it as they can have because of the way they played last week.”
*** Bowden on his players being overconfident after the win over Northwestern.
“This is a team that won eight games last year, went to a bowl game last year. Matt Campbell’s been, I don’t know if he was conference coach of the year, but he’s done a great job turning that program around. Again, they lost a couple of close games against teams that beat them last year when they had a great year. Oh no, they beat Oklahoma, but they lost very close.”
*** Bowden on limiting big plays against the Cyclones.
“They’re an explosive ball-club. They’ve got a 6-foot-6 receiver, and other good receivers, that make big plays. We’ve got to make sure that we limit the big plays. It’s a huge challenge. Northwestern doesn’t matter, that games over. We’ve got to win this game on our own merits this week. It will take a great week of practice and I think we’ll have that. We won’t sneak up on them. We had a big win. They’re 0-2 and they’re a very good football team. This will not be a sandwich game. This will be one that both teams will want to go out there and try to win.”
*** Bowden on Iowa State’s offense
“He’s outstanding. Their quarterback, now, it’s kind of like Northwestern. They use two quarterbacks, it’s the same system. If they use a different quarterback, they’re running the same system. Sometimes you have a second quarterback that they change what they’re doing to use the things that he does well. These two quarterbacks both run the same offense. You really don’t have to say which one you’re going to play because they’re both going to be effective. Both can run the same offense just like at Northwestern.”
“But it’s the weapons that the quarterback gets it to. The running back can break it at any time. The receiver is 6-foot-6, 225 so he doesn’t necessarily have to outrun you. He out-jumps everybody and he catches an awful lot of toss-ups. That’s what they look forward to. We’re going to have a task on our hands because our tallest cornerbacks are 6-foot tall.”
