Game To Watch: Iowa State at Iowa: September 10, 2022

Iowa State will visit Iowa for an early season match-up between in state rivals this Saturday at 4:00 EST. The Cyclones beat up on SE Missouri State 42 – 10 last week and will attempt to carry over that momentum into this rivalry game. The Hawkeyes struggled offensively, but beat South Dakota State 7 – 3 behind their excellent defense. The CY-Hawk game is always a bitter rivalry that will bring out the best in both teams.

Recent History

Iowa has won 46 of 68 games in the series overall and the last six in a row. Though Iowa has been on a winning streak, three of those six wins have come by three points or less. The Cyclones last win came in Iowa City in 2014, a 20 -17 win for the Cyclones. Most of the recent games have been close and dominated by strong defensive play and that seems like a trend that will continue on Saturday.

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What To Watch For…

Plenty of Defense

If the week one games for these two teams are any indication, defense will rule the day. Both Iowa and Iowa State have the talent on defense and seem to already be clicking on that side of the ball. In a rivalry game, where the energy level is already high, these two defenses should be fired up and ready to go.

Iowa’s defense was spectacular in the season opener. They scored twice on safeties and dominated the South Dakota State offense. The defense allowed only 2.1 yards per play and would not have allowed any points if South Dakota State did not get a field goal after an interception set them up within field goal range. While this was against South Dakota State, it continues a trend for the Hawkeyes’ defense, not only do they limit opponents but they also make big plays and score points. Iowa State saw this first hand last year and will have an emphasis on protecting the ball.

Iowa State’s defense may not be as prolific scoring points as Iowas, but they also proved to be tough to score on in their season opener. The Cyclones held SE Missouri State to 10 points and 3 of those were off an interception that set SE Missouri State up inside the Iowa State 10 yard line. While they are replacing some key players, Iowa State has a star on the defensive line in Will McDonald who will have to be accounted for on every play. His ability to create pressure can prove crippling for the offense.

Points will be at a premium Saturday with these two defenses on the field. The game may even be decided by whose defense is able to create the most offense for their team.

Iowa State’s New Faces on Offense

Facing Iowa’s defense is a daunting task in and of itself, but Iowa State will be doing it with new starters at key spots on offense. With three stars, quarterback Brock Purdy, running back Breece Hall and tight end Charlie Kolar, moving on to the NFL there are new faces in key place for the Cyclones. Those three players were a big part of the turnaround of the Iowa State program and leave tremendous shoes to fill.

At quarterback, sophomore Hunter Dekkers has taken over the reigns of the offense. He flashed the last two years in a back-up role and impressed in his debut this year, passing for 293 yards and 4 TD with just 1 interception. Junior Jirehl Brock is the new running back, he played sparingly his first three years on campus, but turned in a 100 yard performance in the season opener. At tight end there is nobody who appears ready to replace Kolar and instead the burden may fall on star receiver, Xavier Hutchinson to produce even more. He was up to the task last week with 128 receiving yards and three touchdowns. While it was good for Iowa State’s new offensive play-makers to get a game under their belt this will be their first real test of the season.

What Can Iowa’s Offense do to Score?

Iowa’s offense was putrid in week 1, averaging just 2.7 yards per play and contributing nothing to Iowa’s 7 points on the scoreboard. There is plenty of blame to go around and changes that probably need to be made. There is always going to be a gap between what should happen, what can happen (because if injuries and prep time) and what the coaching staff is willing to do, but something has to be done immediately.

For starters the offensive line did not play well and was inconsistent at best during the game. This put pressure on Spencer Petras and made it difficult for him to find open receivers. The receivers struggled to separate and when they did get open, Petras wasn’t able to hit them with the pass. The running backs had little room to run, and were not very elusive or able to get yards after contact. To top it all off, the game-plan did not seem to fit the personnel and there were few adjustments made during the game.

From looking at the Week 2 depth chart, Iowa has shook up the offensive line a bit and will try a new alignment this week. That unit has to perform better because Will McDonald and company can be very disruptive. Spencer Petras will remain the starting quarterback, but the leash should not be very long with him, he has struggled his last seven games and at some point the team is better off giving a younger player a chance to develop and make plays. Injuries have limited what Iowa can do at receiver and running back, help may be on the way, but it may not get here this week.

The biggest area where a change can be made is the game-plan. The coaching staff has to get the balls to their tight ends and create space for their running game. This will help the offensive line and make things easier on the quarterback. The problem is that, with the Hawkeyes unwillingness to take deep shots downfield the defense is able to squeeze the middle of the field and effectively eliminate the tight ends and play the running game at the same time. Iowa has to stretch the defense, even if only for show, to give their offense space to operate. It will be a tough test against a good Iowa State defense, but change has to start this week.

Prediction

Iowa and Iowa State will be fired up for this game and the two defenses should set the tone early. There won’t be much scoring early on, but Iowa State does have the better offense on paper and will try to find weaknesses in the defense to get points on the board. Iowa’s defense will make plays and probably take advantage of a young quarterback to set-up a score. In the end it will be another close game with Iowa State finally breaking Iowa’s winning streak. Iowa State 14 Iowa 13.

Iowa Beats Iowa State image taken by Phil Roeder is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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