BleedGopher
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Per Harty:
Here is a look at how both teams matchup at each position:
Quarterback: Iowa has two quarterbacks in Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan that have started multiple Big Ten games, while the Gophers have none.
McNamara started two Big Ten games for Iowa last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Michigan State in the fifth game.
In 2021, McNamara led Michigan to the Big Ten title, and to the college playoff, while starting every game that season.
Sullivan started eight games for Northwestern, including four games last season, before transferring to Iowa in June.
McNamara started the first three games for Iowa this season and is completing 63.9 percent of his passes. He also has 526 passing yards and three touchdowns, and is coming off a game against Troy last Saturday in which he completed 19 of 23 passes.
Sullivan was used in goal-line packages against Troy and completed a two-yard shovel pass for a touchdown to tight end Addison Ostrenga.
Minnesota will counter with New Hampshire transfer Max Brosmer, who has completed 53-of-77 passes for 627 yards and three touchdowns this season.
Brosmer spent five seasons at New Hampshire and played in 36 games overall. He passed for 8,713 yards and 70 touchdowns in his career, and he also rushed 191 times for 263 and 10 touchdowns.
However, Brosmer hasn’t faced a defense of Iowa’s caliber, while McNamara has faced some of the best defenses in the country.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Running back: Minnesota has had the advantage at this position way more times than not versus Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes, but it is nearly impossible to make a case for that this season.
Yes, it’s only been three games, but Iowa junior Kaleb Johnson leads the nation in rushing with 479 rushing yards.
The Ohio native has scored six touchdowns and is averaging a whopping 7.9 yards per carry.
Johnson is hardly a solo act, though, even without last season’s leading rusher Leshon Williams, who will miss Saturday’s game in Minneapolis due to an injury that he suffered against Troy late in the second half.
Redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton has rushed for 124 yards, while sophomore Jaziun Patterson saw his first action of the season in the fourth quarter against Troy last Saturday and gained 72 yards on eight carries, with more than half of his yards coming on a 39-yard touchdown run.
Minnesota is not without talent at this position.
Sophomore Darius Taylor has rushed for 188 yards and scored three touchdowns while playing in two of the first three games this season. The Detroit native is averaging 7.5 yards per carry, and also has eight catches for 85 yards and one touchdowns.
Oklahoma transfer Marcus Major has gained 129 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Wide receiver: The Gophers always seem to have a dynamic wide receiver, or two, and this season is no exception with Daniel Jackson.
The fifth-year senior from Kansas City, Kansas leads the Gophers with 12 catches and 156 receiving yards, but he has yet to score a touchdown. Jackson had 59 catches and 831 receiving yards last season.
Charlotte transfer Elijah Spencer is developing into a nice complement to Jackson as Spencer has 10 catches for 144 yards in three games.
Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill leads Iowa with 12 catches for 137 yards, while true freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee has two touchdown receptions.
Iowa has six wide receivers that have at least one reception, including junior Kaleb Brown whose one catch this season gained 18 yards.
Brown came on strong down the stretch of last season, but he was suspended for the 2024 season opener against Illinois State after having been charged with drunken driving in late June.
Look for Brown to play a bigger role as the season progresses.
This was a close call that mostly came down to Jackson’s star power versus Iowa’s depth.
Advantage: Minnesota
**********
Tight end: Iowa senior Luke Lachey ranks second on the team with nine catches for 88 yards despite facing numerous double teams.
Lachey played in slightly more than two games last season before suffering a season-ending lower leg injury against Western Michigan in the third game. He was showing signs of having a special season with 10 catches for 131 yards when he was injured in 2023.
Iowa is known for having quality depth at tight end, and that appears to be the case again this season.
Junior Addison Ostrenga has nine catches for 43 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore Zach Ortwerth has two catches for 35 yards.
Jameson Geers leads the Minnesota tight ends with four catches for 57 yards.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Offensive line: Just the fact that Kaleb Johnson leads the nation in rushing after three games is testimony to the big guys blocking for him up front.
The five offensive linemen listed as starters for Iowa this week have combined to start 141 games, led by Mason Richman’s 42 career starts at left tackle.
Minnesota’s starting offensive line consists of one graduate transfer, three redshirt seniors and one sophomore.
Redshirt senior Aireontae Ersery starts at left tackle for the Gophers is a considered a potential first-round NFL draft pick.
The 6-6, 330-pound Ersery was named first-team All-Big Ten last season by the Associated Press and is starting for the third straight season.
This was another close call that mostly came down to rushing statistics.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Defensive line: Iowa’s four starters on the defensive line have combined for 40 career starts, led by defensive end Deontae Craig and defensive tackle Yahya Black with 17 starts apiece.
Senior defensive end Ethan Hurkett is in his first season as a full-time starter and the Cedar Rapids native leads the Iowa defensive lineman with 10 tackles, while backup defensive ends Brian Allen and Max Llewellyn both lead the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.
Iowa has seven defensive linemen that have at least five tackles in three games this season.
Minnesota also has some playmakers on its defensive line, including Jah Joyner, who has 11 tackles and a team-high four quarterback hurries.
Defensive tackle Danny Striggow has 10 tackles, two quarterback hurries and 1.5 sacks. He started 12 of 13 games last season and finished the 2023 season with 51 tackles.
Senior Jalen Logan-Redding started against Rhode Island and recorded six tackles and forced one fumble against Nevada.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Linebacker: The Gophers, much like Iowa, have a productive tandem at linebacker in Maverick Baranowski and Cody Lindenberg.
They rank first and second on the team with 17 and 16 tackles, respectively.
Devon Williams also has eight tackles from his linebacker position.
Iowa will counter with arguably the best linebacker tandem in the country in fifth-year senior Jay Higgins and graduate student Nick Jackson.
Higgins leads the team with 25 tackles, while Jackson has 17 tackles in three games.
Higgins tied the Iowa single season record with 171 tackles last season, earning first-team All-Big Ten.
Jackson, who played his first four seasons for Virginia, has 481 career tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks and 23 games with at least 10 tackles.
Iowa’s third linebacker is graduate student Kyler Fisher, who has played in 50 games with four starts.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Defensive backfield: Both units have a chance to be rock solid, although Iowa’s secondary already has been burned by some big plays, which is highly unusual for a Phil Parker-coached secondary.
Iowa’s top five defensive backs have combined for 92 starts, led by graduate free safety Quinn Schulte with 30 career starts.
Fellow graduate student Sebastian Castro is considered one of the top safeties in the county, and he also plays the Cash position for Iowa.
Castro has started 23 games and played in 44 games overall. The Illinois native excels in both pass coverage and making tackles in open field.
Jermari Harris, a third graduate student in Iowa’s secondary, has started 21 games as a cornerback and has seven career interceptions, including a pick-six against Troy last Saturday.
Junior T.J. Hall emerged as the starter at the other cornerback position coming out of preseason practice, and the California native held his own in the first two games against Illinois State and Iowa State before allowing touchdowns catches of 63 and 62 yards against Troy.
Junior Xavier Nwankpa has started 15 games at strong safety and played in 29 games overall. The former five-star recruit from Southeast Polk has four tackles this season.
But he also was burned on a long touchdown pass by Iowa State.
Minnesota also has a deep and talented secondary that includes Kerry Brown, who has 13 tackles and two interceptions, and Ethan Robinson, who has 12 tackles and two pass break-ups.
Veteran cornerback Justin Walley has eight tackles this season and he also sealed the win over Iowa last season with a late interception.
Assuming Walley is healthy enough to play on Saturday, he could be a problem.
Redshirt junior Darius Green missed the first two games of the season with an injury, but he returned to action against Nevada and made three tackles and had one sack.
The Georgia native started 11 of the games he played in last season and finished with 51 tackles and three tackles for loss.
This was yet another hard choice between two good units.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Special teams: Iowa junior kicker Drew Stevens struggled down the stretch last season, but he has bounced back this season by making all five of his field-goal attempts.
Stevens has made 39-of-49 career field goals and has converted on 48 of 49 point-after kicks. He is also 4-for-6 on field goals from 50 yards or beyond in his career.
Freshman Rhys Dakin, who has the daunting task of replacing fellow Melbourne, Australia native Tory Taylor as Iowa’s punter, has punted 18 times for a 42.0 average. Seven of his punts have been downed inside the 20 and three have traveled at least 50 yards.
Minnesota kicker Dragen Kesich has only made five of his nine field-goal attempts this season after having made first-team All-Big Ten last season.
Kesich missed a last-second field goal that would have won the season opener against North Carolina.
Gopher punter Marc Crawford has punted nine times for a 44.67 average. His ability to flip field position could be a huge factor in Saturday’s game, especially if it’s low scoring.
Iowa also has a dangerous return specialist in Kaden Wetjen, who has come close to breaking a few punts this season.
Advantage: Iowa
hawkfanatic.com
Go Gophers!!
Here is a look at how both teams matchup at each position:
Quarterback: Iowa has two quarterbacks in Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan that have started multiple Big Ten games, while the Gophers have none.
McNamara started two Big Ten games for Iowa last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Michigan State in the fifth game.
In 2021, McNamara led Michigan to the Big Ten title, and to the college playoff, while starting every game that season.
Sullivan started eight games for Northwestern, including four games last season, before transferring to Iowa in June.
McNamara started the first three games for Iowa this season and is completing 63.9 percent of his passes. He also has 526 passing yards and three touchdowns, and is coming off a game against Troy last Saturday in which he completed 19 of 23 passes.
Sullivan was used in goal-line packages against Troy and completed a two-yard shovel pass for a touchdown to tight end Addison Ostrenga.
Minnesota will counter with New Hampshire transfer Max Brosmer, who has completed 53-of-77 passes for 627 yards and three touchdowns this season.
Brosmer spent five seasons at New Hampshire and played in 36 games overall. He passed for 8,713 yards and 70 touchdowns in his career, and he also rushed 191 times for 263 and 10 touchdowns.
However, Brosmer hasn’t faced a defense of Iowa’s caliber, while McNamara has faced some of the best defenses in the country.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Running back: Minnesota has had the advantage at this position way more times than not versus Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes, but it is nearly impossible to make a case for that this season.
Yes, it’s only been three games, but Iowa junior Kaleb Johnson leads the nation in rushing with 479 rushing yards.
The Ohio native has scored six touchdowns and is averaging a whopping 7.9 yards per carry.
Johnson is hardly a solo act, though, even without last season’s leading rusher Leshon Williams, who will miss Saturday’s game in Minneapolis due to an injury that he suffered against Troy late in the second half.
Redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton has rushed for 124 yards, while sophomore Jaziun Patterson saw his first action of the season in the fourth quarter against Troy last Saturday and gained 72 yards on eight carries, with more than half of his yards coming on a 39-yard touchdown run.
Minnesota is not without talent at this position.
Sophomore Darius Taylor has rushed for 188 yards and scored three touchdowns while playing in two of the first three games this season. The Detroit native is averaging 7.5 yards per carry, and also has eight catches for 85 yards and one touchdowns.
Oklahoma transfer Marcus Major has gained 129 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Wide receiver: The Gophers always seem to have a dynamic wide receiver, or two, and this season is no exception with Daniel Jackson.
The fifth-year senior from Kansas City, Kansas leads the Gophers with 12 catches and 156 receiving yards, but he has yet to score a touchdown. Jackson had 59 catches and 831 receiving yards last season.
Charlotte transfer Elijah Spencer is developing into a nice complement to Jackson as Spencer has 10 catches for 144 yards in three games.
Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill leads Iowa with 12 catches for 137 yards, while true freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee has two touchdown receptions.
Iowa has six wide receivers that have at least one reception, including junior Kaleb Brown whose one catch this season gained 18 yards.
Brown came on strong down the stretch of last season, but he was suspended for the 2024 season opener against Illinois State after having been charged with drunken driving in late June.
Look for Brown to play a bigger role as the season progresses.
This was a close call that mostly came down to Jackson’s star power versus Iowa’s depth.
Advantage: Minnesota
**********
Tight end: Iowa senior Luke Lachey ranks second on the team with nine catches for 88 yards despite facing numerous double teams.
Lachey played in slightly more than two games last season before suffering a season-ending lower leg injury against Western Michigan in the third game. He was showing signs of having a special season with 10 catches for 131 yards when he was injured in 2023.
Iowa is known for having quality depth at tight end, and that appears to be the case again this season.
Junior Addison Ostrenga has nine catches for 43 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore Zach Ortwerth has two catches for 35 yards.
Jameson Geers leads the Minnesota tight ends with four catches for 57 yards.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Offensive line: Just the fact that Kaleb Johnson leads the nation in rushing after three games is testimony to the big guys blocking for him up front.
The five offensive linemen listed as starters for Iowa this week have combined to start 141 games, led by Mason Richman’s 42 career starts at left tackle.
Minnesota’s starting offensive line consists of one graduate transfer, three redshirt seniors and one sophomore.
Redshirt senior Aireontae Ersery starts at left tackle for the Gophers is a considered a potential first-round NFL draft pick.
The 6-6, 330-pound Ersery was named first-team All-Big Ten last season by the Associated Press and is starting for the third straight season.
This was another close call that mostly came down to rushing statistics.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Defensive line: Iowa’s four starters on the defensive line have combined for 40 career starts, led by defensive end Deontae Craig and defensive tackle Yahya Black with 17 starts apiece.
Senior defensive end Ethan Hurkett is in his first season as a full-time starter and the Cedar Rapids native leads the Iowa defensive lineman with 10 tackles, while backup defensive ends Brian Allen and Max Llewellyn both lead the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.
Iowa has seven defensive linemen that have at least five tackles in three games this season.
Minnesota also has some playmakers on its defensive line, including Jah Joyner, who has 11 tackles and a team-high four quarterback hurries.
Defensive tackle Danny Striggow has 10 tackles, two quarterback hurries and 1.5 sacks. He started 12 of 13 games last season and finished the 2023 season with 51 tackles.
Senior Jalen Logan-Redding started against Rhode Island and recorded six tackles and forced one fumble against Nevada.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Linebacker: The Gophers, much like Iowa, have a productive tandem at linebacker in Maverick Baranowski and Cody Lindenberg.
They rank first and second on the team with 17 and 16 tackles, respectively.
Devon Williams also has eight tackles from his linebacker position.
Iowa will counter with arguably the best linebacker tandem in the country in fifth-year senior Jay Higgins and graduate student Nick Jackson.
Higgins leads the team with 25 tackles, while Jackson has 17 tackles in three games.
Higgins tied the Iowa single season record with 171 tackles last season, earning first-team All-Big Ten.
Jackson, who played his first four seasons for Virginia, has 481 career tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks and 23 games with at least 10 tackles.
Iowa’s third linebacker is graduate student Kyler Fisher, who has played in 50 games with four starts.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Defensive backfield: Both units have a chance to be rock solid, although Iowa’s secondary already has been burned by some big plays, which is highly unusual for a Phil Parker-coached secondary.
Iowa’s top five defensive backs have combined for 92 starts, led by graduate free safety Quinn Schulte with 30 career starts.
Fellow graduate student Sebastian Castro is considered one of the top safeties in the county, and he also plays the Cash position for Iowa.
Castro has started 23 games and played in 44 games overall. The Illinois native excels in both pass coverage and making tackles in open field.
Jermari Harris, a third graduate student in Iowa’s secondary, has started 21 games as a cornerback and has seven career interceptions, including a pick-six against Troy last Saturday.
Junior T.J. Hall emerged as the starter at the other cornerback position coming out of preseason practice, and the California native held his own in the first two games against Illinois State and Iowa State before allowing touchdowns catches of 63 and 62 yards against Troy.
Junior Xavier Nwankpa has started 15 games at strong safety and played in 29 games overall. The former five-star recruit from Southeast Polk has four tackles this season.
But he also was burned on a long touchdown pass by Iowa State.
Minnesota also has a deep and talented secondary that includes Kerry Brown, who has 13 tackles and two interceptions, and Ethan Robinson, who has 12 tackles and two pass break-ups.
Veteran cornerback Justin Walley has eight tackles this season and he also sealed the win over Iowa last season with a late interception.
Assuming Walley is healthy enough to play on Saturday, he could be a problem.
Redshirt junior Darius Green missed the first two games of the season with an injury, but he returned to action against Nevada and made three tackles and had one sack.
The Georgia native started 11 of the games he played in last season and finished with 51 tackles and three tackles for loss.
This was yet another hard choice between two good units.
Advantage: Iowa
**********
Special teams: Iowa junior kicker Drew Stevens struggled down the stretch last season, but he has bounced back this season by making all five of his field-goal attempts.
Stevens has made 39-of-49 career field goals and has converted on 48 of 49 point-after kicks. He is also 4-for-6 on field goals from 50 yards or beyond in his career.
Freshman Rhys Dakin, who has the daunting task of replacing fellow Melbourne, Australia native Tory Taylor as Iowa’s punter, has punted 18 times for a 42.0 average. Seven of his punts have been downed inside the 20 and three have traveled at least 50 yards.
Minnesota kicker Dragen Kesich has only made five of his nine field-goal attempts this season after having made first-team All-Big Ten last season.
Kesich missed a last-second field goal that would have won the season opener against North Carolina.
Gopher punter Marc Crawford has punted nine times for a 44.67 average. His ability to flip field position could be a huge factor in Saturday’s game, especially if it’s low scoring.
Iowa also has a dangerous return specialist in Kaden Wetjen, who has come close to breaking a few punts this season.
Advantage: Iowa
Iowa vs. Minnesota; which team has advantage at each position - Hawk Fanatic
By Pat Harty IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa and Minnesota will meet for the 118th time on Saturday in a border rivalry that dates back to 1891. The Big Ten opener for both teams will start at 6:34 p.m. and will be played at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Iowa has won 10 of the […]
hawkfanatic.com
Go Gophers!!
