Iowa a Big Question Mark in the Big Ten
It has almost become the punch line of a joke, how many running backs do the Iowa Hawkeyes even have left on their roster? The top four rushers from last year are not going to see the field this year. Mik'il McCall and Marcus Coker were suspended by Kirk Ferentz at the end of last season and ended up transferring out. De'Andre Johnson was just kicked off the team because of a couple police run-ins (disorderly house, speeding and eluding). Jordan Canzeri tore an ACL in the spring. For those counting at home, only 1 back returns with a college carry.
Looking at the schedule, the path is not littered with land mines. No Wisconsin and no Ohio State means that their toughest opponents are divisional only. Iowa has to hope that Nebraska, Michigan, and Michigan State beat up on each other enough to leave a crack in the door to Indianapolis this year. Coupling that with 9 fairly winnable games on the schedule, a few breaks, and they could be headed to the Conference Championship Game.
The other important piece of the puzzle will be leadership. Senior QB Vandenberg had an exceptional 2011 campaign, topping 3000 in the air with a 25-7 TD-int ratio. While the loss of number one target Marvin McNutt may hamper some of those numbers this year, Junior TE C.J. Fiedorowicz returns, and is looking to make an impact. With him, three of the top four receivers will be back.
On defense, the biggest question mark is on the line. They will have a wide range of experience as there will a RFr, So, Jr, and Sr as expected starters. The offensive line coach was switched over to this unit after Rick Kaczenski left to coach the D Line for the Huskers. The linebacker department will be stout as they return 220 tackles between the top two tacklers. In the secondary, the loss of an All Conference corner will have an impact, but their experience level is near to what it was last year. They need positive play from these groups to bring down that 28 ppg allowed last season.
Iowa has a good shot to surpass last year's 7 win total. The question remains whether or not the Hawkeyes will compete for a division title this year. If they do manage to stay in the race into November, it will be because of two things: the friendlier schedule and play of quarterback James Vandenberg.
See also:
Other resources:
- Ferentz to shake things up
- Best and Worst Case for Hawkeyes
- OC Davis needs to utilize TE Fiedorowicz
- RB Johnson Dismissed
- FB Rogers may be backfield answer
- Stassen: Consensus #4 in Legends
8/17/2012
It would be nice to have Iowa’s schedule this season…
I’d be curious to hear what game the rest of you Husker fans are looking forward to the most? I personally can’t wait for the opener vs. Wisconsin.
8/17/2012
I am also looking forward to the Wisci game. However, my most anticipated game will be @ MSU on 11/3. They will have a good D and I am eager to see if we can play better this year on the road against a good D and home team (I think MSU has a 14 game win streak at home). Plus, the Huskers will be coming off a good 4 game test preceeding the MSU game.
California
8/17/2012
After the “N Baptism by Fire” period has ended, the B1G needs to make an effort to promote equality in scheduling.
It’s bad enough that Iowa’s crossover rival is Purdue… but also not adding Wisconsin or OSU to their schedule? What a joke.
8/17/2012
I agree Iowa’s Cross over should be wisky if u want fareness the big 10 did this 2 nebraska because they sure the hell didn’t want nebraska coming in to big 10 and being there champion!!! That’s allright thoe I think this is the the year it backfires in their face!!! GO BIG RED!!!!! looking for some payback this year!!!
Austin, TX
8/17/2012
Looking at the schedules, we get Michigan after their emotional home game against MSU, we get Ohio State after their emotional away game with MSU, and MSU right after their two road tests against Wisky and Michigan. Thus, I would say the game with the least baggage involved on either end, is the Wisconsin game. Plus, it is the first conference game…a home night game, special uni’s (pajamas?)...a statement game. I think this is the biggest game to me, probably followed by the Michigan game. Hopefully we can enact some revenge on both! All of our road tests will definitely be interesting too!
PS - Our black helmets are going to be BA! Hopefully they plan on dusting those off for future alternate uniforms.
8/18/2012
As a longtime Hawk fan, I can tell you this is Iowa’s least experienced team in at least 7 years. We are incredibly thin at RB, have 3 new O-linemen, and no fulltime starters back on the D-line—which has been the backbone of our success for years. (Note the condition our D-line now after multi-years of Nebraska’s new coach.) Our LBs and WRs are average. The strength of the team is the secondary, where we do have 2 potential shut-down corners and 2 good safeties. With a new D-coordinator look for Iowa to blitz the safeties more to provide run support until the D-line gets some experience. This looks like a 2-6 BTen year (6-6 overall) for the Hawks, altho by the end of the year Big Red will get a good test at Kinnick in what should be a doozy. The good news is that other than losing our QB next year, almost everyone will return. We’ll be back in the hunt then. By the way, I have NB going 11-1 this year (7-1 in the BTen).