There are a lot of story lines as we head towards opening weekend against Tennessee Tech. The big question is can Vandenberg live up to the hype surrounding him. He has some experience playing in big games as he nearly helped us defeat Ohio State in 2009 in the Horse shoe. Also if you didn't see the big ten football preview of the Hawkeyes Howard and Gerry said James had the chance to be the best pure passer in the BIG Ten. We have an experienced QB to a point that still hasn't gotten solid playing time but it's his turn now to show what he has. If you don't remember the Ohio State game here is a link to a youtube video to remind you of how good he was there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72Oj-uw4B8
We know who the running back will be as Marcus Coker is clearly the starter but who is going to come in and back him up, will it be Jason White who has the experience or will one of the younger players emerge and take over the role. I believe that McCall will be the one that takes over this spot with Coker and McCall we should be able to punish defenses late in the game sort of like Wisconsin did this past year. They are both big backs and watch out for Jordan Canzeri too as he could get a chance to get on the field.
At Wide Reciever we have some experience coming back and some newcomers that will need to step up this season. McNutt is back and should have a great season that puts him on draft boards next year. Keenan Davis is finally going to get a chance to play a lot of minutes where he has shown glimpses of potential this over the years. The other 2 recievers to watch out for are Kevonte Martin Manley and Don Shumpert both of these guys have deep ball speed. We should be relying on our tight ends too as Brad Herman and CJ Fedorowictz should provide us a spark in the passing game.
Offensive line should be the strength of team this season which is very exciting because when you look at the good Iowa Teams in the past they have one thing in common a good offensive line. This should be on of our better groups on the line but will they live up to the hype?
Defensive line is a Huge question mark we have two guys that are experienced in Mike Daniels and Broderick Binns then a lot of new contributors. Dominic Alvis, Carl Davis, Darian Cooper all newer players that will see the field this season. The Defensive line is the key to whether this team has a breakout season or if it looks more like last season.
Linebackers we get some experience back with James Morris and Tyler Nielsen coming back from his injury last season. The other linebacker spot should be between Christian Kirksey and Anthony Hitchens. The linebackers should be much improved this season and make our cover 2 defense that much better because all of these guys have a lot of speed. With the loss of Shane Dibona for the season we don't have much depth at the linebacker position so we don't need any big injuries in the linebacker core.
The Secondary is what I'm most interested to see because if you haven't heard Micah Hyde has made the switch over to Free Safety. With Shaun Prater returning he should be one of the best corners in the Country this season. The big question is who will be opposite of him will it be Greg Castillo who has always done a good job while in the game or will it be BJ Lowery the younger player that takes control of this job? At Strong Safety there are 2 players battling for the job with Jordan Bernstine and Colin Sleeper trying to win the job. Will Bernstine finally rise to the top and show the potential he has when he isn't injured.
Special teams is one of the biggest keys to this season we will have a new punter in Guthrie who has been around for a long time. We still won't know about him till we see him in some game situations after losing a great punter in Donahue, we have to be able to trust Guthrie to change field position for us. At Kicker we have Meyer who kicked pretty well last season and should be able to continue his success this season. It is nice to have a returning kicker with some experience that we should be able to trust in key situations.
There is the preview breaking down every position. The next thing we need to look at is the schedule which is pretty favorable this season. We have two big nonconference games with traveling to Iowa State which is always dangerous and hosting Pittsburg at home. Other than those 2 games we should get through undefeated at 4-0. OCT 8 we have a trip to Penn State to start the Big Ten season for some reason we have dominated the Nittany Lions so I have to believe we get it done in Happy Valley again. We have our 2 letdown games that every year we seem to have Northwestern and Indiana where we should have a chip on our shoulder since these teams have seemed to have are number especially the Wildcats. This schedule sets us up very well for a Big ten title run this season. We get Michigan and Michigan State at home then we have to travel to Purdue and Minnesota. I think everything comes down to the Nebraska game to see who wins our side of the conference. We are flying under the radar right now which has historically been a good thing for us. We do have a young team which could cause us to fall short of a BIG Ten Championship appearance but everything is set up for us to have a decent chance to be in this game. I for one am super excited for the season to get started.
Sept. 3, 2011 Tennessee Tech (Big Ten Network) 11:00 am CT
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Sept. 10, 2011 at Iowa State (FSN) 11:00 am CT
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Sept. 17, 2011 Pittsburgh (ESPN) 11:00 am CT
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Sept. 24, 2011 ULM TBA
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Oct. 8, 2011 at Penn State TBA
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Oct. 15, 2011 Northwestern (Big Ten Network) 6:00 pm CT
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Oct. 22, 2011 Indiana 11:00 am CT
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Oct. 29, 2011 at Minnesota TBA
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Nov. 5, 2011 Michigan TBA
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Nov. 12, 2011 Michigan State TBA
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Nov. 19, 2011 at Purdue TBA
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Nov. 25, 2011 at Nebraska (ABC) 11:00 am CT
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