As Hunter S Thompson said in "Where the Buffalo Roam"..."I think third downs are going the tell the story in this one". Last year CJ Beathard made damn near every throw, every play with his feet, to keep the chains moving. This year, it's a vastly different story. Our time of possession is in the tank, and it's exposed weaknesses that haven't had time to be shored up yet (DL). Beathard making plays on third down won damn near every game last year...think about ISU, PITT, Indiana, etc. The only game he didn't was Nebraska. The offense has to get better on third down and move the chains. When they do our defense will also improve as we won't need to see them as much.
The good news...the offensive line looked vastly different yesterday than the week previous. Granted, it was Rutgers, but the run game (if Davis would have exploited it) could have been completely dominate. Improvements in pass protection should happen also. If this occurs, and CJ gets his swagger back, well...Iowa has a chance to be a very very tough out. Time is of the essence though. The Minnesota game is looming on the road as right now, I'd say that's a loss if we can't protect the QB and we can't improve on 3rd down. Minnesota appears to be able to run the football and Leidner has a boner for us.
Leidner is Minnesota's Steele Jantz. Superhero against Iowa, sucktitude elsewhere.