***Iowa Pregame Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
I’ll fully admit it; everything weird that’s happened over the last 10 years in this series is absolutely coloring how I feel about this game.
Yes, Iowa out rushed us in last year's game, but we averaged 5.6 yards per play against them while Iowa averaged only 4.5 against us. I'm fine with that.
If Rocco was deep fried ass like Grabowski, I'm sure we would run Sama/Hansen/Lee 40 times a game too. Their OL is the best it's been since Dr. Rhabdo left, but let's not pretend they're anything more than just dudes after Johnson left.
ISU was awful in the game but the 2010 CyHawk game was iirc one of the sharpest I've seen from an Iowa team.
They were on point, crisp and beat ISU handily, up like 35-0 at half.
Then they went 8-5 on the season.
I was worried that Iowa team wouldn’t lose a game all year after that game with us. Then the next week, they went on the road to Tucson and their whole season started unraveling.
I felt pretty confident earlier in the week but the more I think about this game I think it's going turn into a Kirk Ferentz special. Muck it up. Keep it close until something breaks your way. Ugh.
People always do this, they act like Iowa defense is the steel curtain or something. It's a college defense, plenty of teams score on them all the time. It's fine, but this idea you can't move the ball on them is crazy. Teams move it all the time.
We put up 20 in the second half last year and that was against Higgins and Castro.
*insert comment about 2 NFL receivers here*
I want to absolutely roll these bastards tomorrow. Should we? Yes. Can we? Yes. Will we? No. F***ing clue
The key for both teams will be turnovers. For the Squawks they have to be +2 for them to win the game, anything less or if ISU is up in that stat, we will win. I expect their QB will be better than what he showed last week, he could not be worse, but can he make enough plays to keep them in the game. They lost their starting RB, and their best WR is also out. Their TDs are a shadow of what they used to be, keep the QB in the pocket do not allow him to scramble and sell out vs the run. No screw ups like we gave to KSU over the top.
Keep the honest when we are on offense, they will be gearing up to stop the run, so throw the ball, TE over the middle forcing their young LB to chase our TEs.
Keep the honest when we are on offense, they will be gearing up to stop the run, so throw the ball, TE over the middle forcing their young LB to chase our TEs.
One team is coming off an 11 win season. The other hasn’t won 11 games in a decade.
One team has a New Years Six Bowl win in 2020. The other hasn’t done it since 2009.
The better program wins this one.
One team has a New Years Six Bowl win in 2020. The other hasn’t done it since 2009.
The better program wins this one.
They're generally very good in the red zone as things tighten up, and are what I call 'cagey' in pursuit of the ball which leads to them turning teams over.
The elite teams are about the only ones to light them up and other teams tend to get impatient and make mistakes.
I'll say it again: one team outgaining the other is easy to point out but doesn't tell the story of the rest of the game.
Our first 6 drives last year:
1- 3 plays, 4 yards, punt
2- 3 plays -4 yards, punt
3- 3 plays, 6 yards, INT
4- 5 plays, 19 yards, punt
5- 6 plays, 27 yards, punt
6- 8 plays, 58 yards, missed FG
Our offense started off shaky and inept, and we were clearly intimidated by the crowd and environment.
Iowa is not as good as they were last year, and the quivering Iowa State offense that took the field last year simply doesn't exist anymore. They have been replaced with a team that fears no game situation, and cold blooded QB.
H
