Heinemann on the Hawkeyes - Iowa at Iowa State

Brian Heinemann, who covers Iowa football for the Herald, previews this week's game.

IOWA CITY ––––– It would be easy to look at last week’s games and assume that Iowa will have an easy time with Iowa State in Ames this weekend.

One can look at Iowa’s dominant 34-7 win over Tennessee Tech and compare that to Iowa State’s 20-19, comeback, squeaker of a win over Northern Iowa and think that that tells the whole story.

It doesn’t.

It’s a different year and different teams, but UNI is a team that Iowa barely scraped by, 17-16, two years ago. That’s the same year the Hawkeyes went on to have a fantastic season, narrowly missing winning the Big Ten and picking up an Orange Bowl victory.

One team struggling against UNI hardly diminishes the importance of this intrastate rivalry game.

“It’s definitely an important game,” Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt said. “It’s going to be an intense one. It’s always a good matchup and a great rivalry.”

That whole “good matchup” part hasn’t really been the case in recent years. Iowa won 35-7 last year, allowing only a late touchdown as the second- and third-string defense closed out the game. The Hawkeyes won 35-3 in 2009 and 17-5 in 2008.

There were some warning signs and negatives in Iowa’s opening win over Tennessee Tech, though. Iowa State likely isn’t as bad as they looked at times against the Panthers, either.

“(We’ve) got a lot of guys I think that are capable of playing a lot better,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That’s going to be the thing we have to do not only this week but this month to push forward.”

Fumbles were an issue for Iowa, as were dropped passes. Another problem Ferentz saw was with the defensive line. While they played well and created plenty of pressure, the front four couldn’t seem to get Tech quarterback Tre Lamb on the ground often enough.

“Credit to our guys for getting some disruption in there, but you still have to finish the play,” Ferentz said.

Iowa can take several positives out of the opener as well, most notably the fact that they’ve had several extra weeks to prepare for Iowa State’s offense and their use of the no-huddle. That helps both with conditioning and the mental factor of getting ready to face a faster-paced offense.

“It’s good for us,” defensive tackle Dominic Alvis said. “It’s high-tempo. It’s good to practice for that. In practice we’ve been preparing all week for their 15-second plays. It’s good. We like that tempo.”

The area Iowa looked the sharpest was in the passing game. New full-time starter James Vandenberg looked crisp against Tech, making no mistakes and having an efficient afternoon despite the near-monsoon conditions.

His immediate connection and chemistry with McNutt certainly helped him along, as the two hooked up six times for 140 yards and both of Iowa’s passing touchdowns.

“It’s nice having him out there,” Vandenberg said of McNutt. “He puts a lot of fear in a lot of guys and they’re going to play off him.”

Iowa State won’t fear the Hawkeyes as a whole. This rivalry is far too important and heated for that, and this Iowa team isn’t as highly regarded as it has been the past few years.

That doesn’t mean Iowa State is going to beat the Hawkeyes, though. While this game should be a bit closer than the previous two blowouts, Iowa should still make this four in a row and bring home the new, “improved” interim Cy-Hawk Trophy.

Who: Iowa (1-0) at Iowa State (1-0)

When: 11:00 a.m. Saturday

Where: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa

The series: Iowa leads 39-19, and is 16-7 in Ames

Last meeting: Iowa won 35-7 at Kinnick Stadium last season

This week's challenge: Protecting the football. Iowa put the ball on the ground four times (not counting dropped passes) last weekend. Doing that against an FBS opponent isn’t going to get you very far. If Iowa holds on to the ball, they have the talent to overwhelm Iowa State. If they don’t, it’s anyone’s game.

To pull off an upset: Iowa State will need a significantly better performance than they got last week and will need to find ways to put the ball in the end zone against an Iowa team that has allowed that to happen just once in the last three years. The Cyclones will need to harass Vandenberg throughout, forcing errant throws and creating turnovers, and they will need a flawless offensive performance to pull off the victory. Another case of fumblitis from Iowa would help as well.

Players to watch: Iowa running back Marcus Coker and Iowa State left tackle Kelechi Osemele. Coker will be looking to bounce back in a big way from an extremely disappointing opener. Osemele is one of the nation’s premier left tackles and a likely first-round pick in the NFL Draft, and this year he won’t be looking across the line at Adrian Clayborn. He is, however, nursing a sprained ankle that he has been fighting throughout camp and tweaked in the opener.

Gettin' down with Brian (four keys for Saturday):

First down — Osemele’s health. It will be a totally different game depending on how Osemele’s ankle holds up. Having a less-than-100% left tackle – Osemele left the UNI game early – could make it a long day for Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz.

Second down — Coker’s hands. Iowa’s running back ran for just 41 yards in the opener, a disappointing performance for the Hawkeyes feature back. His legs weren’t the problem, though. Coker has to hold onto the ball Saturday to both regain his own confidence and to prevent his coaches from benching him again in favor of Jason White or De’Andre Johnson.

Third down — Hitting Jantz. Iowa State’s quarterback didn’t have the best of openers, throwing three interceptions and having a relatively miserable game until the final five minutes. Getting Jantz on the ground and keeping him jittery will go a long way toward Iowa’s defense shutting down the Cyclones’ offense.

Fourth down — Keeping contain. Jantz showed last week that he wasn’t very good at dumping the ball off to his underneath routes or his backs – he prefers to run. Jantz ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns against UNI, so Iowa’s front seven will need to make sure Jantz moves sideline to sideline, not vertically.

Trivial tidbit: This game features the last two winners of the Insight Bowl. Iowa defeated Missouri last December, and Iowa State defeated Minnesota the previous year.

Did you hear?: Iowa is bucking the trend many schools have jumped on (most famously – Oregon. Most hideously – Maryland). Ferentz said Tuesday that Iowa has not been approached about or considered changing their uniforms or going with alternate uniforms.

Bottom line: With the questionable health of Osemele and an unproven quarterback coming off a rough first game, Iowa State doesn’t appear to have the firepower to score much against the Iowa defense. Offensively, the Hawkeyes won’t have as strong of a performance as last week, although Marcus Coker should bounce back with a nice game on the ground. Expect to see Vandenberg’s first interception of the season, and for Iowa’s tight ends to be more actively involved this week. Iowa’s defense is too strong and Iowa State’s defense is not quite strong enough, which adds up to another Iowa win over their state rivals.

Final score: Iowa 24, Iowa State 13