Whats up Hawk fans I haven't wrote about Iowa Sports in a while so I thought I would give some thoughts on the Football and Basketball team. The football team is coming off a bye week after they got their 6th win in impressive fashion 38 to 14 over Purdue. Iowa now has a big game against Michigan at home this Saturday. Michigan has been struggling a lot lately only scoring 6,13, and 9 in regulation games even though they put up 27 due to the triple Overtime win over Northwestern. Iowa needs a signature win for this season beating Michigan would be a great win for this program even though Michigan is a little down this year they are still Michigan. So lets recap the Purdue victory before we move on to previewing the Michigan game.
Offensively Iowa had one of their best games totaling 509 yards on 72 plays while rushing 52 times for 318 yards. This was the first game Iowa was able to run the football but it was Purdue so I don't exactly know what this tells us about the team. Jake Rudock had a very solid game going 12 for 20 with 191 yards 2 Touchdown passes with 0 interceptions. This was the first game where Jake didn't throw an interception in a long time so hopefully this means he has turned the corner. Jordan Canzeri started at running back and was a big success carrying the ball 20 times for 165 yards 1 Touchdown. Damon Bullock had 10 carries for 85 yards and Mark Weisman had 9 carries for 30 yards. I really liked how Iowa used their running backs on Saturday they basically used Jordan Canzeri and Damon Bullock for the majority of the carries with Weisman getting the short yardage carries. Now there were some big holes for all the backs to run through but over the last 2 games Wisconsin and Purdue Jordan Canzeri has looked like the best running back on the team. I expect we will see him starting when the Wolverines come to town this Saturday. From the receiver position Iowa had catches from George Kittle 3 for 37 yards Don Shumpert had his best game with 2 catches for 69 yards maybe this means he has finally getting it. Tevaun Smith had 2 receptions for 33 yards and CJ Fiedorowicz also had 2 catches for 19 yards. Kevonte Martin Manley only had one catch but it was a big one a 19 yard Touchdown reception. I still need to see the offense perform against a good defense, they will get that chance this weekend vs Michigan's defense.
Defensively Iowa was very good only allowing 53 yards rushing to Purdue completely shutting down the Boilermaker rushing attack. Iowa didn't really give up to many big plays on defense which has been a problem for this secondary all season but in this game they only allowed one long touchdown. Iowa forced one turnover and sacked the quarterback twice. This will be a big factor this weekend as Michigan's offensive line has been pretty bad allowing a number of sacks to all of there last 3 opponents. I see Iowa being able to get some pressure on Devin Gardner forcing him to make some bad decision with the football. Now that we looked at Purdue lets preview what we will be seeing on Saturday against the Michigan.
Offensively Iowa is the team we thought they were they run the football a lot to set up the Play action pass. On the season Jake Rudock is throwing for 204 yards per game with 14 Touchdowns and 9 interceptions. For Iowa to win this game they need Rudock to make smart decisions in each of Iowa's losses this year he has thrown a big interception. Usually when he has a clean game throwing the football Iowa is going to win. Michigan is 75th vs the pass allowing 236 yards passing per game. Iowa ran the ball better vs Purdue and averaging 193 yards rushing per game. Michigan is 13th in the nation against the run only allowing 111.2 yards rushing per game so they will be focused on stopping the run forcing us to try to beat them through the air. Iowa's offense on the season is averaging 26.6 points per game while Michigan is allowing 25.2 points per game. I don't really know how good this defense is they have had games where they shut down the opposing offense but other games like vs Indiana where they gave up 47 points. I believe Iowa can take advantage of this defense but the receivers need to step up this weekend to make some plays down the field. The running game needs to continue to be successful like vs Purdue hopefully this gives us some momentum vs Michigan. I believe Jordan Canzeri will start at Running back with Bullock and Weisman splitting carries with him. I've been impressed with Jordan's vision he has always had the speed but over the last 2 weeks he showed great vision to find the right hole it also helps that he has that breakaway speed.
Defensively Iowa has been very solid for the most part, they have given up a lot of big plays this season. Devin Gardner is a dual threat quarterback just like Colter and Braxton Miller who gave Iowa some fits when they ran the football. He isn't as good of a passer as Miller so that should help us a little but he is still throwing for 247 yards per game the problem with Gardner is that he doesn't always make the smartest decision. Gardner's numbers are similar to Rudocks with 15 Touchdown passes and 11 interceptions he has also ran the ball 146 times for 461 yards 10 rushing touchdowns. He is a legit dual threat so containing him will be extremely important because he is at his best when he gets outside the pocket to make plays. Iowa is a very good pass defense only allowing 189.2 yards passing per game but they are susceptible to the big play and Michigan has two big play receivers Devin Funchess a very athletic Tight end who has 42 catches for 684 yards 5 Touchdowns, Jeremy Gallon is their other big play guy with 65 catches 1062 yards 7 touchdowns. Iowa's safety play has to be better this weekend I have watched Michigan play a little and while the offense is struggling right now they still have some guys that can make plays down the field. Michigan is 95th in rushing averaging 135.6 yards per game but the last few games they have had negative yardage rushing while Iowa only allows 130 yards rushing per game. Michigan has allowed 31 sacks so Iowa should be able to put some pressure on Devin Gardner this weekend. Iowa has blitzed a lot more this season than previous years so I expect to see this continue also the Raider package should be in play again this weekend. If Iowa gets pressure on Gardner he will make bad decisions with the football. Now Michigan can score averaging 34.3 points per game while Iowa only allows 18.7 points per game. This should be another defensive battle it's going to be cold and windy perfect football weather in the Midwest the team that controls both lines of scrimmage will win the football game.
Special teams as always can turn a game completely around so Iowa's kickoff coverage which has been better lately will have to continue to contain the Wolverines return men. Michigan averages 22 yards per kick return. Michigan allows 21.3 yards per kick return so maybe Jordan Cotton will be able to make some plays this weekend. Iowa's kick coverage is allowing 24 yards per return. Turnovers can also be a big factor Iowa has turned the ball over 15 times this season while Michigan 18 times. The kicking game can always be a factor in a close game both kickers are very good Mike Meyer is 14 of 18 while Brendan Gibbons 15 for 20 so if it comes down to a kick either team could win this game.
Prediction I like Iowa this weekend Michigan has been struggling on the offensive side of the ball I think Iowa will get some pressure on Gardner intercepting him 2 times. Last week he got a way with at least 5 passes that should of been intercepted. I think Iowa wins this one 24 to 10 it could be a lower scoring game but coming off the bye and Michigan having played 3 straight physically tough games. I see the Hawkeyes winning the turnover battle and Rudock making enough plays with his arm to help Iowa get to win number 7. The biggest key in this game will be containing Devin Gardner he has the ability to cause havoc with his arm and legs. I just think Iowa will be able to make enough plays to win the game Saturday Michigan got very lucky against Northwestern so if the Hawks don't turn the ball over they should win this game going away. This is my football prediction for this weekend but another sport started that is College Basketball so I'm going to give a few thoughts on the team.
I'm very excited about this team they have a chance to be a very special they are probably the deepest team Iowa has had in a long time. They also just became ranked 25th in the USA Today poll for the first time since the Alford days so this is very exciting. Iowa is undefeated 4-0 even though they haven't played a lot of competition but they played a very solid Nebraska Omaha team that came in not scared led at the half but Iowa battled back to get the win. The team is averaging 94 points per game 20 assists per game but again they haven't really played anybody too good yet. Iowa has one game left vs Penn on Friday before they have a big preseason tournament, the games in this tournament will tell us how good this team will be. Iowa will play Xavier on Thanksgiving night I believe the games will be on the NBS Sports network if they win that game they play the winner of Tennesse and Utep at 1p.m on Friday, if they happen to win that game they could play Kansas in the Championship. The top half of the bracket is Kansas vs Wake Forest and Villanova vs USC. We will know a lot about this team during this stretch of games than we host Notre Dame. I think this could be a very special team that should make the NCAA tournament and possibly compete for a Big Ten Championship but I still have to see us do it vs some good teams. I'll have a review of the Iowa Michigan game while touching on the basketball team next week so be sure to check back. Thanks for reading
Go Hawks.
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