We've finally made it to Saturday and that means we are just hours away from the kickoff as Iowa invades Jack Trice Stadium to take on Iowa State. This is one of the most exciting days of the year in the State has thousands of people will be in Ames just tailgating outside the Stadium. I'm going to run through a few keys to an Iowa Victory.
My Biggest key to an Iowa Victory is the Hawkeyes have to run the ball. My key player this week is Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson, he has the potential to be a game changer in this game. Iowa has to be able to rush for over 100 yards as a team today. Iowa State has a very aggressive defense so they will be run blitzing a lot which could open up some lanes for the running game to make some big plays.
Another big key in my mind is the Iowa Receivers have to make some plays. Iowa doesn't need McNamara to go out and throw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns or anything like that all though that would be amazing. I think Iowa State will likely try and take away Luke Lachey so that will open the door for Eric All, Nico Ragaini, Seth Anderson, Diante Vines, Kaleb Brown to make some plays. I would guess we will see some things this week that Iowa didn't show last week against Utah State. Iowa State has a terrific secondary so it's not going to be easy to pass but Iowa still has to make some plays down the field.
Defensively I have two keys one putting some pressure on the young Iowa State QB's with the front four. Also they have to shut down the Iowa State Rushing attack. QB Rocco Becht threw the ball just 13 times in week one vs UNI going 10-13 for 113 yards 2 TDS. Iowa State Rushed for 134 yards on 27 carries led in rushing by Cartevious Norton. Iowa State didn't run no huddle last week which seems like the first time in several years and maybe they will run it today. If Iowa can get some pressure on the QB I think they can force Becht into some mistakes. Iowa State doesn't have Xavier Hutchinson anymore so they don't have that one guy you have to worry about. Now I could be wrong but this is one of the worst Iowa State offense's at least on paper in a long time. That doesn't mean Iowa will crush Iowa State but I just have a hard time seeing them be able to put multiple scoring drives together.
The other big thing is Iowa QB Cade McNamara's Experience. He's been through the tough games. He's played in big time stadiums. His health is a bit of a concern, but I think he will be the difference in this game. Both Defenses are very good so this could be a low scoring game I could see 17 points being enough to win this game. Either way we should be in for a very physical battle today.
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