There is some relevance in that Iowa controlled much of the CMU game but CMU caught some breaks in the last 90 seconds and stole the game.
Similarly, even if Iowa plays very well and thoroughly controls the LOS (which I believe will be our game plan), this game will likely be very close in the 4th Q. If NIU catches some breaks late, we could easily lose this game even if it feels like one we should have ran away with.
Such is the nature of our generally tight, conservative game plan under KF. It plays well when we are underdogs, but also keeps physically outclassed opponents within striking distance. The outcome is always one mistake/big play/strange bounce from turning the other way.
I think this aids NIU in a similar manner as it helped CMU last year.
