Iowa
As most of you know, I live in Iowa and have a Hawkeye wife. Needless to say I've seen my fair share of Iowa football this season. Are they as good as advertised? Sort of. They're a legitimate Top 15-20 team who has both received enough favorable bounces and made their own luck, so here they are, looking to go 8-0 for the first time in program history.
I'll run through their defense and special teams first, which are obviously their strengths. Their DL is outstanding -- Clayborn is A-A material and a potential first-round NFL pick in my book (maybe not this year, but he's only a junior). He has a lot of take-over in him. Binns and Klug can play as well, and Ballard is often overlooked but plenty talented.
LB's are solid if not spectacular. Angerer makes plays everywhere. Edds is a savvy veteran. Hunter has the highest ceiling of the bunch.
DB's are very good. Spievey is, like Clayborn, NFL-worthy. He could be a starting pro corner right now. Prater is getting there as well at the other corner. Sash is already making a push for the career INT mark at Iowa and he's just a sophomore. Greenwood is an opportunistic safety.
In other words, their D is legit. Their performances so far haven't been a fluke, and against our line and running game, I'm not exactly confident. Iowa runs a base 4-3 no matter what. When they have the personnel, like this year, they look very, very good. When they don't, fans like to get angry at Parker for being too vanilla.
If I were
and Treadwell, I'd actually open things up and run as much spread stuff as possible. If we try to just line it up and beat their best with our best up front, it ain't gonna happen, folks. As Spielman says, sometimes you have to establish the pass to open up the run instead of the other way around. We're not going to win this game by running 40+ times. If we can throw some wrinkles at Iowa and be accurate about it (we have the personnel to do it, as long as the execution is there), we can get to them, relatively speaking.
If Bates isn't the best punter in the conference, Donahue is. They're both outstanding. Murray's really developed into a reliable threat at K.
Their offense is anchored by their line, which is a trademark of Iowa football. Calloway and Vandervelde are solid. Bulaga's the best of the bunch, but he's been plagued by a mysterious illness (I've heard either heart or thyroid issues), and since his return, got a little worked over by Graham and Schofield (who hasn't, though?) Reiff's a youngster, but he's going to be a good one.
Stanzi makes a few brutal mistakes a game, but he's also sneaky dangerous and can really deliver when needed. Ferentz calls Moeaki his best TE ever when healthy -- even better than Dallas Clark. Robinson and Wegher are functional RB's, but not game-breakers (Wegher may be someday, but he's been struggling and may not play in this one due to a hand injury). McNutt's a good, but raw, WR. DJK is a threat when he's on, but you never know. Reisner's one of the best blocking TE's I've seen at Iowa.
It sounds obvious, but MSU really needs to get off to a relatively big start. The Hawkeyes have fallen behind quite a bit, but they eventually wear the other team down, catch them, then pass them. The Spartans really need to use an electric night atmosphere to their advantage and score as quickly and often as possible before Iowa makes their adjustments. I like having
around for night games, because I guarantee he keeps the kids focused for what winds up being a very long day and wait.
I like the fact that Iowa hasn't won in EL since the mid-1990's, but that won't mean anything on Saturday night. I heard a stat the other day about the Hawks having outscored their last 5 opponents away from Kinnick like 136-33 or some ungodly amount. It also concerns me that Iowa has been unbeatable in close games this year -- a start contrast to last season -- while MSU already has narrow setbacks vs. CMU and ND (Wisconsin too, but that score was deceiving).
My heart says MSU will win and the law of averages works in our favor, but my head says the Hawks have the better, more experienced personnel at this point.
Iowa 23, Michigan State 13.
__________________
GOD BLESS ERNIE HARWELL
As most of you know, I live in Iowa and have a Hawkeye wife. Needless to say I've seen my fair share of Iowa football this season. Are they as good as advertised? Sort of. They're a legitimate Top 15-20 team who has both received enough favorable bounces and made their own luck, so here they are, looking to go 8-0 for the first time in program history.
I'll run through their defense and special teams first, which are obviously their strengths. Their DL is outstanding -- Clayborn is A-A material and a potential first-round NFL pick in my book (maybe not this year, but he's only a junior). He has a lot of take-over in him. Binns and Klug can play as well, and Ballard is often overlooked but plenty talented.
LB's are solid if not spectacular. Angerer makes plays everywhere. Edds is a savvy veteran. Hunter has the highest ceiling of the bunch.
DB's are very good. Spievey is, like Clayborn, NFL-worthy. He could be a starting pro corner right now. Prater is getting there as well at the other corner. Sash is already making a push for the career INT mark at Iowa and he's just a sophomore. Greenwood is an opportunistic safety.
In other words, their D is legit. Their performances so far haven't been a fluke, and against our line and running game, I'm not exactly confident. Iowa runs a base 4-3 no matter what. When they have the personnel, like this year, they look very, very good. When they don't, fans like to get angry at Parker for being too vanilla.
If I were
If Bates isn't the best punter in the conference, Donahue is. They're both outstanding. Murray's really developed into a reliable threat at K.
Their offense is anchored by their line, which is a trademark of Iowa football. Calloway and Vandervelde are solid. Bulaga's the best of the bunch, but he's been plagued by a mysterious illness (I've heard either heart or thyroid issues), and since his return, got a little worked over by Graham and Schofield (who hasn't, though?) Reiff's a youngster, but he's going to be a good one.
Stanzi makes a few brutal mistakes a game, but he's also sneaky dangerous and can really deliver when needed. Ferentz calls Moeaki his best TE ever when healthy -- even better than Dallas Clark. Robinson and Wegher are functional RB's, but not game-breakers (Wegher may be someday, but he's been struggling and may not play in this one due to a hand injury). McNutt's a good, but raw, WR. DJK is a threat when he's on, but you never know. Reisner's one of the best blocking TE's I've seen at Iowa.
It sounds obvious, but MSU really needs to get off to a relatively big start. The Hawkeyes have fallen behind quite a bit, but they eventually wear the other team down, catch them, then pass them. The Spartans really need to use an electric night atmosphere to their advantage and score as quickly and often as possible before Iowa makes their adjustments. I like having
I like the fact that Iowa hasn't won in EL since the mid-1990's, but that won't mean anything on Saturday night. I heard a stat the other day about the Hawks having outscored their last 5 opponents away from Kinnick like 136-33 or some ungodly amount. It also concerns me that Iowa has been unbeatable in close games this year -- a start contrast to last season -- while MSU already has narrow setbacks vs. CMU and ND (Wisconsin too, but that score was deceiving).
My heart says MSU will win and the law of averages works in our favor, but my head says the Hawks have the better, more experienced personnel at this point.
Iowa 23, Michigan State 13.
__________________
GOD BLESS ERNIE HARWELL
