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Iowa vs. Tennessee Tech (What to expect)

Posted on 02. Sep, 2011 by in Iowa Football

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By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

To get you all ready for Saturday’s game between Iowa and Tennessee Tech, I put together a list of things you ought to know before heading to Kinnick Stadium.

At the end, I’ll provide what I think are three keys to an Iowa victory.

Iowa Hawkeyes (0-0) vs. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (0-0)

Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, Iowa

Sept. 3, 2011

11 a.m. Central

TV: Big Ten Network (Tom Werme, Danan Hughes, Stacy Paetz)

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin, Ed Podolak, Rob Brooks)

Weather: 78 degrees

Brendan’s Three Keys to the Game:

1. Set the tone

Given the opponent, this is the kind of game where if Iowa wants to look convincing, it needs to impose its will from the get-go. Tennessee Tech head coach Watson Brown raved about the Hawkeyes’ physicality earlier in the week, and on paper, that should be a likely factor in Saturday’s outcome. The two players I would look at as the guys that could set the tone for Iowa here are Mike Daniels and Broderick Binns. Also factoring in the Golden Eagles’ experience across the board, the last thing the Hawkeyes want to do is let a team like that hang around deep into the second half.

2. Keep a limit on Coker’s carries

As I’ve been saying for a few weeks now, I fully expect Marcus Coker to be the key to Iowa’s offense, at least during the non-conference portion of the season as some of the inexperienced wideouts are developing a rapport with James Vandenberg. However, this is one game where the Hawkeyes don’t want to overuse a guy like Coker. This is a game where they’ll want to get Jason White some carries and one or even two of the true freshmen running backs some carries as well.

3. Clean special teams play

Think back to this time last season when Iowa played Eastern Illinois. The lone touchdown scored by the Panthers that afternoon came following a fake punt. That fake punt was the inspiration for Wisconsin to pull it off against Iowa in a game last October won by the Badgers. Even though this game might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, coaches take notice of even the slightest mistakes, and one crack against a team like Tennessee Tech could be a season-defining moment in a game against a team like Northwestern.

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