The difference? More depth and size at the defensive tackle position. TC is coming into his own. Wilson is 250 in the middle, and now Campbell has become a freak at Outside Linebacker. We have shown pretty good interior lane discipline. And have tackled well on boundary. But most importantly Tracy Claeys has seen Iowa twice in Big 10 play, possibly has seen them at Northern Illinois and the staff knows them. I am confident in the staff to not only have a game plan, but also make half time adjustments. Let me say that again, this staff has made half time adjustments. That has not happened at Minnesota in decades.
if your having to make halftime adjustments then you've already lost. Iowa runs the ball and uses play action passing, if your D doesn't already know exactly what the hawks are gonna do on every play then they watched the wrong game film for the last 15 yrs.
for IOWA: we run the same zone blocking scheme we have since 2001, you'll see ALOT of Weismann and bullock off left tackle with a few counters to the right when your DLine starts to cheat over. in the passing game Ruddock is getting better, he's a more efficient passer than he was vs NIU and MIzzou St. his pass attempts and yrds have been going down because of how well the RBs have running the ball. In the CMU game he only played a series or 2 in the 3rd qtr. as for our receivers Powell is our burner, KMM is the catch-em-all guy, and cotton is the other "trust worthy" guy, youll see some tevan smith but like Powell hes still a little fresh to trust in crucial situations. Our TEs are in the same mode as they have been since Dallas Clark, CJF is our big stud do it all guy, Ray Hamilton is a very very good backup (may have NFL potential when its all said and done).
On D: our DL is not very good at pressuring the QB but they seem to be pretty good in the run game. our 3 LBs are all on the Butkis watch list, by far and away the strength of our team, unlike the past decade we've actually been blitzing with our LBs. Our DBs are not ready for B10 play, Lowry has finally grown in to B10 CB and Tanner Miller fits the bill of an Iowa Safety (5? drafted in the last 10 yrs) but the other 2 spots are very iffy. We've been using a lot more nickel unlike yrs past when we would put a LB on the other teams best WR and hope it turns out for the best (or hope the QB forgets hes on the team).
on ST: KMM had a great game vs CMU, but its the 1st time this season hes actually not fair caught the ball, maybe its a hint of the future, or maybe it was a 1 game fluke? Jordan Cotton is our kick returner, hes a lot more scary than KMM but doesn't have the stats to back it up. Hes had a few that seemed to be 1 defender away from being 6 but that only means something if it actually happens.
coaching: you and everyone else in the country knows exactly what KF is gonna do, there are no secrets or gameplanning for the matter needed when playing IOWA, its line up and see who wins. We've been really bad in the penalty game (just a lot of dumb ones), we haven't had a clean game yet. We'll need that if we want to compete this weekend so that's something to keep an eye on.
Im a born and rasised hawkeye (CR and Iowa City) then moved with my wife to Bismarck back in 2009 and became a bison fan (her alma mater) so you guys get to hate me from 2 sides. I think Kill is a great guy and seems to be a pretty good coach but the health thing really worries me (as well as a lot of other people) as an outsider. Siezures are a very scary thing to itness as you guys have seen far too many times, I just hope its not the stress of B10 football that's making things worse, hopefully JK can get things under control and limit anything that may help trigger those unfortunate events. Everytime he has one all I can think of is that Urban Meyer series of events from a few yrs back when he knew football life would harm him.
hoping for a good game but for my sake I hope ours is just a little better
