My Thoughts on Iowa Vs. ISU & Prediction

[hawkfan]

Game week is here. After watching the Iowa game for a second time, and coming to some conclusions based on listening to the ISU game on the radio/reading ISU fan's impression of last nights game, these are my thoughts on Saturday, plus my prediction.

Thoughts on Iowa:

- This DL will be wildly inconsistent early in the year. There is some good talent there, especially Mike Daniels (who will be in the offensive backfield all game Saturday), and I expect it will improve as the year progresses, but the group as a whole will be inconsistent until Big Ten play at least. They got eaten up for a couple of big runs yesterday that they shouldn't have let happen. This DL will be better than the 05 DL, but it won't be as good as last years.

- Iowa will have a really good OL this season. James Ferentz, Riley Reiff, & Marcus Zusevics all impressed me yesterday. A lot. They could perhaps all three be all Big Ten caliber players. Adam Gettis (RG) played as well as I've seen him play in his career, so that was good to see as well. I'm really confident that Iowa will be VERY good on 4/5ths of the offensive line. Matt Tobin (LG) got worked over hard yesterday. He is a liability. He started yesterday primarily because Brandon Scherff & Nolan MacMillan both are suffering from injuries.....I hope one of those two is ready to go by Saturday, because I am not comfortable with Tobin in there. It was his first start, so it may have just been a bad game, but he got worked over pretty good.

- Vandenberg impressed. It was horrendous weather and he made some good throws. Much stronger arm than Stanzi &, most importantly, he made some really good decisions. I have been much more worried about his decision making ability than his physical skills, and yesterday he made good choices.

- Thank god McNutt came back. He is just an absolute freak. We already knew that though. More importantly, I saw some really good things out of Keenan Davis yesterday, most notably, JVB seemed to target him regularly, indicating that he feels really comfortable with the chemistry that he and Davis has. If ISU tries to key on McNutt, which I would expect, I fully believe that Davis is the guy that has a monster game because of it....or Brad Herman, who I'd expect to have a monster game anyway.

- Iowa's best RB yesterday, without any doubt, was Mikail McCall, who is now lost for the season due to a broken ankle. Coker did not look good yesterday. He hadn't been hit all through camp (wore a red shirt the entire camp), and it showed. He fumbled the ball twice and got sat down, which even further threw him off his game. He ran tentative yesterday, he didn't even look like the same guy who we saw in the Insight.com Bowl. I'm chocking it up to a bad game out of Coker, but this week will be huge for him- I'm anxious to see how he rebounds. Due to McCall's injury, I fully expect to see Jordan Canzeri this week as a change of pace back. The coaches were debating on redshirting him, but given the current situation, he will need to play this year...he's easily the hawkeye recruit that I was most anxious to see, and I'd expect to see him this week.

- This LB core is just as athletic/versatile as Angerer/Edds. I was really impressed with our LB core - very fast. Tyler Nielsen & James Morris looked very good, and Christian Kirksey is extremely fast. Iowa is built to shut down spread passing attacks this year....I'm somewhat concerned about Iowa's ability to shut down run first teams though.

- The DB's are good. Jordan Bernstine perhaps looked the best out of everyone yesterday and he was a reserve....given his performance yesterday, I'd expect he will be starting at SS come Saturday. Shaun Prater was Shaun Prater....QB's should avoid throwing his way this year. Micah Hyde saw his first action at FS yesterday....and while he is athletic as heck, he did have a couple of blown coverages....I expect the coaches to work through that with him this week.

Now for ISU, these are all things I gathered via the radio guys last night and from what fans have posted here today:

- The OL looked bad. Real bad. Hicks & KO were out, assuming they are back, that will make a ton of difference, but 3/5ths of the OL sounds questionable at best.

- Sounds like the DL looked bad, and to make matters worse, Maggit got injured, so it is possible that a back up will be starting on that unit Saturday.

- Steele looked solid in the 4th quarter. As expected, he was wildly inconsistent, especially in the first part of the game, but he is a QB in a new system....that is to be expected during the first part of the season.

- Knott looked like a beast...I didn't hear much from Klein...did he have a quite game?

- From what it sounded like, Lenz had a good game, but the rest of the WR core under performed, especially Money Reynolds, who it sounds like dropped a number of passes.

- LJ looked like LJ, but the DB's did get beat deep on a few plays.

So, based on the above statements, this is what I'd expect come Saturday:

ISU will have to load the box with 8 or 9 to stop the run. Even though Coker had an off day yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind that the Iowa OL will own the LOS Saturday if ISU tries to defend the box with 7. They will try and force JVB to beat the Cyclones, and due to the wealth of weapons that Iowa has a WR & TE, he'll be able to.

I think ISU should be able to run the ball on Iowa much better this year than any year since 2005, as the Iowa DL is still gelling. I expect a much closer game than the last two years, but I think Iowa pulls away a little bit in the second half.

I'll take Iowa this year 31-17.

 

[cyhawkdmb]

Game week is here. After watching the Iowa game for a second time, and coming to some conclusions based on listening to the ISU game on the radio/reading ISU fan's impression of last nights game, these are my thoughts on Saturday, plus my prediction.

Thoughts on Iowa:

- This DL will be wildly inconsistent early in the year. There is some good talent there, especially Mike Daniels (who will be in the offensive backfield all game Saturday), and I expect it will improve as the year progresses, but the group as a whole will be inconsistent until Big Ten play at least. They got eaten up for a couple of big runs yesterday that they shouldn't have let happen. This DL will be better than the 05 DL, but it won't be as good as last years.

- Iowa will have a really good OL this season. James Ferentz, Riley Reiff, & Marcus Zusevics all impressed me yesterday. A lot. They could perhaps all three be all Big Ten caliber players. Adam Gettis (RG) played as well as I've seen him play in his career, so that was good to see as well. I'm really confident that Iowa will be VERY good on 4/5ths of the offensive line. Matt Tobin (LG) got worked over hard yesterday. He is a liability. He started yesterday primarily because Brandon Scherff & Nolan MacMillan both are suffering from injuries.....I hope one of those two is ready to go by Saturday, because I am not comfortable with Tobin in there. It was his first start, so it may have just been a bad game, but he got worked over pretty good.

- Vandenberg impressed. It was horrendous weather and he made some good throws. Much stronger arm than Stanzi &, most importantly, he made some really good decisions. I have been much more worried about his decision making ability than his physical skills, and yesterday he made good choices.

- Thank god McNutt came back. He is just an absolute freak. We already knew that though. More importantly, I saw some really good things out of Keenan Davis yesterday, most notably, JVB seemed to target him regularly, indicating that he feels really comfortable with the chemistry that he and Davis has. If ISU tries to key on McNutt, which I would expect, I fully believe that Davis is the guy that has a monster game because of it....or Brad Herman, who I'd expect to have a monster game anyway.

- Iowa's best RB yesterday, without any doubt, was Mikail McCall, who is now lost for the season due to a broken ankle. Coker did not look good yesterday. He hadn't been hit all through camp (wore a red shirt the entire camp), and it showed. He fumbled the ball twice and got sat down, which even further threw him off his game. He ran tentative yesterday, he didn't even look like the same guy who we saw in the Insight.com Bowl. I'm chocking it up to a bad game out of Coker, but this week will be huge for him- I'm anxious to see how he rebounds. Due to McCall's injury, I fully expect to see Jordan Canzeri this week as a change of pace back. The coaches were debating on redshirting him, but given the current situation, he will need to play this year...he's easily the hawkeye recruit that I was most anxious to see, and I'd expect to see him this week.

- This LB core is just as athletic/versatile as Angerer/Edds. I was really impressed with our LB core - very fast. Tyler Nielsen & James Morris looked very good, and Christian Kirksey is extremely fast. Iowa is built to shut down spread passing attacks this year....I'm somewhat concerned about Iowa's ability to shut down run first teams though.

- The DB's are good. Jordan Bernstine perhaps looked the best out of everyone yesterday and he was a reserve....given his performance yesterday, I'd expect he will be starting at SS come Saturday. Shaun Prater was Shaun Prater....QB's should avoid throwing his way this year. Micah Hyde saw his first action at FS yesterday....and while he is athletic as heck, he did have a couple of blown coverages....I expect the coaches to work through that with him this week.

Now for ISU, these are all things I gathered via the radio guys last night and from what fans have posted here today:

- The OL looked bad. Real bad. Hicks & KO were out, assuming they are back, that will make a ton of difference, but 3/5ths of the OL sounds questionable at best.

- Sounds like the DL looked bad, and to make matters worse, Maggit got injured, so it is possible that a back up will be starting on that unit Saturday.

- Steele looked solid in the 4th quarter. As expected, he was wildly inconsistent, especially in the first part of the game, but he is a QB in a new system....that is to be expected during the first part of the season.

- Knott looked like a beast...I didn't hear much from Klein...did he have a quite game?

- From what it sounded like, Lenz had a good game, but the rest of the WR core under performed, especially Money Reynolds, who it sounds like dropped a number of passes.

- LJ looked like LJ, but the DB's did get beat deep on a few plays. not true at all....:skeptical:

So, based on the above statements, this is what I'd expect come Saturday:

ISU will have to load the box with 8 or 9 to stop the run. Even though Coker had an off day yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind that the Iowa OL will own the LOS Saturday if ISU tries to defend the box with 7. They will try and force JVB to beat the Cyclones, and due to the wealth of weapons that Iowa has a WR & TE, he'll be able to.

I think ISU should be able to run the ball on Iowa much better this year than any year since 2005, as the Iowa DL is still gelling. I expect a much closer game than the last two years, but I think Iowa pulls away a little bit in the second half.

I'll take Iowa this year 31-17.

 

[huntt26]

I think that's a good assessment. I think the score you posted is going to be about right too.

 

[isuno1fan]

42-13 Iowa.

More of the same from the last couple years. Didn't see anything last night to give me too much hope it would be different.

 

[Swanson10]

decent analysis, your ISU breakdown needs work.

However, I will not disagree with your prediction.

 

[ISUCyclone06]

Thats a pretty fair accessment I would say. Thee really was only one play where we got beat deep and that was a LB caught 1 on 1. Also the D-Line against the run is suspect, everyone in the staduium knew Rennie was going to run the ball and our D couldn't stop him for under 5 yards. That worries me as Coker is much better than Rennie. Stacking the box will leave our DB's on an island against Mcnutt and Davis. I don't even know where to start with predicting the score at this point.

 

[Tredici]

If we play as bad as we did vs UNI then I expect the score to be something similar to 42-10 Iowa

 

[CyBroncos]

With our offensive line and Herman calling the plays we'll be lucky to get to 10 points.

 

[cyson]

With our offensive line and Herman calling the plays we'll be lucky to get to 10 points.

Iowa didn't have much of a test. Difficult to assess.

 

[acgclone]

Well, I think that due to less talent on Iowa's DL, that we'll finally be able to score a TD or two. That is about it however. I see something in that same neighborhood of 35-17, with the game being more lopsided than the score would appear.

 

[CyRyder]

The level of opponent between what Iowa played and what Iowa State played isn't even comparable. UNI is head and shoulders better than Tenn Tech.

If it wasn't for a horribly under thrown ball late in the 2nd quarter, the score at half may very well have been 20-7, versus 27-0. 20-7 and the ball in the 2nd half gives a lot of more confidence to the opposing team, than a demoralizing 90 yd pick six right before half.

If Tennessee Tech defenders just push McNutt out of bounds on his 88yd td reception, he doesn't score (obviously). Horrible fundamentals, and McNutt took advantage, but that type of thing doesn't happen vs DIV I teams.

I think Iowa has just as many questions as Iowa State does right now. I think Iowa State is in a much better position having finished their game clicking the way they were. Jantz finally started hitting receivers in stride and on the money late in the game. It took him 3 1/2 qtrs to do it. Most of the first half, he had open receivers, he just couldn't the ball anywhere near them. I think that just comes with 1st game jitters.

One thing for Cyclones fan to bear in mind is that K.O. missed much of the game, but when he was in (most notably late), Iowa State drove the ball well. Also, having Hicks out didn't help either. Without that experience playing with a freshmen center in his first game, the O-line is going to have some problems. I don't anticipate the O-line will be as bad next week. As for the D-line, the coaches had to move Neal inside to make up for Rump having knee surgery 8 days ago! Has Neal ever played DT in a game before tonight?

Not going to predict Iowa State will win next week, but definitely don't think the Hawks are going to win either just based on some struggles of Iowa State, with several key players not playing. I'll just keep telling Hawk fans they are unstoppable, since that's what they think every year anyway.

 

[cayin]

also keep in mind ISU was without Rump last night too. ISU just has to many injuries and not enough depth to compensate. Even the guys that will be back next week will have rusty skills and won't be in football shape. I hate to say, but iowa rolls 34-7 or something like that.

 

[CyFan987]

I'm actually going to disagree, I think Jantz has the ability to be a very good, very scrappy QB. He had absolutely no protection whatsoever last night yet still was able to make plays, and especially showed promise once he had gained some confidence in the 4th quarter. Thinking back, scrappy QBs seem to be what Iowa has the most trouble against historically and I think if our OLine play improves (which if Hicks and KO are back it should, plus coaching from week one to week two should substantially help to) Jantz will be an extremely effective QB and could roll out and scramble only when he needs to, not every play making it look like thats how its designed to be. Plus considering the poor play by Iowa's D-Line I think our O-Line should have some more success which could also open up the run game, taking a lot of pressure off of Steele.

Additionally our defense did an exceptional job last night with everything minus containing the QB. Other then the one 80 yard goof up our secondary didn't let up, our D-Line held their RB's to an avg of 3 yards and Knott was a beast.. as usual. Our one difficulty was containing the QB when he ran, which isn't what Iowa does so I'm not concerned in that regard.

Personal fouls also killed us and I'd assume Rhoads will run the player's ***es so hard they won't even think about it. (that being said it is a rivalry game so there probably will be some heated fouls).

Basically this game comes down to improved offensive play, which I think will happen. That being said I still think Iowa has an edge, but it will be muchhhh more competitive then recent years, 38-31 Iowa.. an ISU win would not surprise me a ton though.

 

[edr247]

I think both WR corps underwhelmed in their first games, no? From what I heard, ISU's receivers didn't do Jantz any favors. And there were certainly occasions when Vandenberg threw good passes, that were dropped (including potential touchdown that ended up turning into a field goal).

Iowa's DL was in the backfield against TTU, yes, but we only brought down their QB once. Considering Jantz is a scrambler, that could be trouble. Granted, throwing on the run can lead to bad decisions and weird throws, so if he plays like he did for 3/4ths of the game, it could mean costly INTs against the likes of Morris, Hyde and Prater. Speaking of those guys, Iowa's LBs and DBs played well, and looked faster than previous years, though that doesn't necessarily mean better.

Iowa's RB situation is real sketchy. Coker isn't bad, but I think the fumbles got to him mentally. If ISU forces a fumble early in the game, it could lead him to run conservatively and really cost us in the run game. That may force Iowa to go to the air, which going back to the drops could put us in a tough spot.

Something that hasn't been mentioned much is the special teams. It was okay for Iowa (nothing eventful happened, I guess). Meyer kicked well throughout, even in bad weather, but really wasn't tested with long FGs. Guthrie had 3 punts, two of which were inside the 20...no real returns. Iowa's KR team gave up a return of 37 yards, with an average of 20 yard returns (and I think KOs were getting out to ~10yd line). I really haven't heard much about ISU on that side of the ball.

 

[cyhawkdmb]

The level of opponent between what Iowa played and what Iowa State played isn't even comparable. UNI is head and shoulders better than Tenn Tech.

If it wasn't for a horribly under thrown ball late in the 2nd quarter, the score at half may very well have been 20-7, versus 27-0. 20-7 and the ball in the 2nd half gives a lot of more confidence to the opposing team, than a demoralizing 90 yd pick six right before half.

If Tennessee Tech defenders just push McNutt out of bounds on his 88yd td reception, he doesn't score (obviously). Horrible fundamentals, and McNutt took advantage, but that type of thing doesn't happen vs DIV I teams.

I think Iowa has just as many questions as Iowa State does right now. I think Iowa State is in a much better position having finished their game clicking the way they were. Jantz finally started hitting receivers in stride and on the money late in the game. It took him 3 1/2 qtrs to do it. Most of the first half, he had open receivers, he just couldn't the ball anywhere near them. I think that just comes with 1st game jitters.

One thing for Cyclones fan to bear in mind is that K.O. missed much of the game, but when he was in (most notably late), Iowa State drove the ball well. Also, having Hicks out didn't help either. Without that experience playing with a freshmen center in his first game, the O-line is going to have some problems. I don't anticipate the O-line will be as bad next week. As for the D-line, the coaches had to move Neal inside to make up for Rump having knee surgery 8 days ago! Has Neal ever played DT in a game before tonight?

Not going to predict Iowa State will win next week, but definitely don't think the Hawks are going to win either just based on some struggles of Iowa State, with several key players not playing. I'll just keep telling Hawk fans they are unstoppable, since that's what they think every year anyway.

um keep in mind isu got beat on a 80 yard rb wheel route..........

 

[CyFan987]

With our offensive line and Herman calling the plays we'll be lucky to get to 10 points.

I don't think you can really blame Herman's play calling, you have to be able to run the ball to be a successful offense and he tried to set that up, we just flat out didn't execute on the OLine

 

[CycloneVet]

Well my prediction is 520-0 Iowa we shouldnt be on hte same field as themI am absolutely positive they will win the NC this year, Kirk Ferentz will be resurrected to sit at the left hand of the lord. Hawk fans always always think that drubbing the Tennessee Techs of the world will translate into pounding us. Last 2 years it hasnt been a contest I admit. We didnt have 6 starters out there last night people, and not has-beens either, all quality big 12 players. Maggitt is a huge loss I'm afraid. Quit hitting the panic, button.

 

[burky247]

I don't think either team's performance yesterday has anything to do with next week. We've seen both teams in the past have bad opening weeks only to look pretty solid in the rivalry game. And vice versa.

Should be a great game.

 

[ISU4ME]

Game week is here. After watching the Iowa game for a second time, and coming to some conclusions based on listening to the ISU game on the radio/reading ISU fan's impression of last nights game, these are my thoughts on Saturday, plus my prediction.

Thoughts on Iowa:

- This DL will be wildly inconsistent early in the year. There is some good talent there, especially Mike Daniels (who will be in the offensive backfield all game Saturday), and I expect it will improve as the year progresses, but the group as a whole will be inconsistent until Big Ten play at least. They got eaten up for a couple of big runs yesterday that they shouldn't have let happen. This DL will be better than the 05 DL, but it won't be as good as last years.

- Iowa will have a really good OL this season. James Ferentz, Riley Reiff, & Marcus Zusevics all impressed me yesterday. A lot. They could perhaps all three be all Big Ten caliber players. Adam Gettis (RG) played as well as I've seen him play in his career, so that was good to see as well. I'm really confident that Iowa will be VERY good on 4/5ths of the offensive line. Matt Tobin (LG) got worked over hard yesterday. He is a liability. He started yesterday primarily because Brandon Scherff & Nolan MacMillan both are suffering from injuries.....I hope one of those two is ready to go by Saturday, because I am not comfortable with Tobin in there. It was his first start, so it may have just been a bad game, but he got worked over pretty good.

- Vandenberg impressed. It was horrendous weather and he made some good throws. Much stronger arm than Stanzi &, most importantly, he made some really good decisions. I have been much more worried about his decision making ability than his physical skills, and yesterday he made good choices.

- Thank god McNutt came back. He is just an absolute freak. We already knew that though. More importantly, I saw some really good things out of Keenan Davis yesterday, most notably, JVB seemed to target him regularly, indicating that he feels really comfortable with the chemistry that he and Davis has. If ISU tries to key on McNutt, which I would expect, I fully believe that Davis is the guy that has a monster game because of it....or Brad Herman, who I'd expect to have a monster game anyway.

- Iowa's best RB yesterday, without any doubt, was Mikail McCall, who is now lost for the season due to a broken ankle. Coker did not look good yesterday. He hadn't been hit all through camp (wore a red shirt the entire camp), and it showed. He fumbled the ball twice and got sat down, which even further threw him off his game. He ran tentative yesterday, he didn't even look like the same guy who we saw in the Insight.com Bowl. I'm chocking it up to a bad game out of Coker, but this week will be huge for him- I'm anxious to see how he rebounds. Due to McCall's injury, I fully expect to see Jordan Canzeri this week as a change of pace back. The coaches were debating on redshirting him, but given the current situation, he will need to play this year...he's easily the hawkeye recruit that I was most anxious to see, and I'd expect to see him this week.

- This LB core is just as athletic/versatile as Angerer/Edds. I was really impressed with our LB core - very fast. Tyler Nielsen & James Morris looked very good, and Christian Kirksey is extremely fast. Iowa is built to shut down spread passing attacks this year....I'm somewhat concerned about Iowa's ability to shut down run first teams though.

- The DB's are good. Jordan Bernstine perhaps looked the best out of everyone yesterday and he was a reserve....given his performance yesterday, I'd expect he will be starting at SS come Saturday. Shaun Prater was Shaun Prater....QB's should avoid throwing his way this year. Micah Hyde saw his first action at FS yesterday....and while he is athletic as heck, he did have a couple of blown coverages....I expect the coaches to work through that with him this week.

Now for ISU, these are all things I gathered via the radio guys last night and from what fans have posted here today:

- The OL looked bad. Real bad. Hicks & KO were out, assuming they are back, that will make a ton of difference, but 3/5ths of the OL sounds questionable at best.

- Sounds like the DL looked bad, and to make matters worse, Maggit got injured, so it is possible that a back up will be starting on that unit Saturday.

- Steele looked solid in the 4th quarter. As expected, he was wildly inconsistent, especially in the first part of the game, but he is a QB in a new system....that is to be expected during the first part of the season.

- Knott looked like a beast...I didn't hear much from Klein...did he have a quite game?

- From what it sounded like, Lenz had a good game, but the rest of the WR core under performed, especially Money Reynolds, who it sounds like dropped a number of passes.

- LJ looked like LJ, but the DB's did get beat deep on a few plays.

So, based on the above statements, this is what I'd expect come Saturday:

ISU will have to load the box with 8 or 9 to stop the run. Even though Coker had an off day yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind that the Iowa OL will own the LOS Saturday if ISU tries to defend the box with 7. They will try and force JVB to beat the Cyclones, and due to the wealth of weapons that Iowa has a WR & TE, he'll be able to.

I think ISU should be able to run the ball on Iowa much better this year than any year since 2005, as the Iowa DL is still gelling. I expect a much closer game than the last two years, but I think Iowa pulls away a little bit in the second half.

I'll take Iowa this year 31-17.

I just hope your team is as confident as you on Saturday.

 

[ClaybornSmash]

The level of opponent between what Iowa played and what Iowa State played isn't even comparable. UNI is head and shoulders better than Tenn Tech.

If it wasn't for a horribly under thrown ball late in the 2nd quarter, the score at half may very well have been 20-7, versus 27-0. 20-7 and the ball in the 2nd half gives a lot of more confidence to the opposing team, than a demoralizing 90 yd pick six right before half.

If Tennessee Tech defenders just push McNutt out of bounds on his 88yd td reception, he doesn't score (obviously). Horrible fundamentals, and McNutt took advantage, but that type of thing doesn't happen vs DIV I teams.

I think Iowa has just as many questions as Iowa State does right now. I think Iowa State is in a much better position having finished their game clicking the way they were. Jantz finally started hitting receivers in stride and on the money late in the game. It took him 3 1/2 qtrs to do it. Most of the first half, he had open receivers, he just couldn't the ball anywhere near them. I think that just comes with 1st game jitters.

One thing for Cyclones fan to bear in mind is that K.O. missed much of the game, but when he was in (most notably late), Iowa State drove the ball well. Also, having Hicks out didn't help either. Without that experience playing with a freshmen center in his first game, the O-line is going to have some problems. I don't anticipate the O-line will be as bad next week. As for the D-line, the coaches had to move Neal inside to make up for Rump having knee surgery 8 days ago! Has Neal ever played DT in a game before tonight?

Not going to predict Iowa State will win next week, but definitely don't think the Hawks are going to win either just based on some struggles of Iowa State, with several key players not playing. I'll just keep telling Hawk fans they are unstoppable, since that's what they think every year anyway.

You think ISU is in a better position then Iowa? Why, because Jantz started hitting a few receivers after running all over the field and throwing 3 picks? I think Iowa is in a better position with Vandenburg then ISU is with Jantz. I dont think that UNI is head and shoulders above TT. TT had 21 returning starters and they were an experienced team. They played Arkansas last year and were beating them after the 1st quarter. I dont think the Hawks are unstoppable and it really hurts them that Micall is out. He is a true freshman but he is physically ready to play and definately could have contributed this year.