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Iowa at Purdue (What to expect)

Posted on 18. Nov, 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 Purdue, I put together a list of things you ought to know before these two face off at Ross-Ade Stadium.

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

Iowa Hawkeyes (6-4, 3-3) at Purdue Boilermakers (5-5, 3-3)

Ross-Ade Stadium; West Lafayette, Ind.

Nov. 19, 2011

11 a.m. Central

TV: BTN (Tom Hart, Derek Rackley, Lisa Byington)

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

Weather: 49 degrees

Brendan’s Three Keys to the Game:

1. Solid special teams play

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said his biggest concern was special teams because Purdue enters this contest with the top kick return of any Big Ten team as well as a kicker in Carson Wiggs who made a 67-yard field goal during the Boilermakers’ spring game last April. Wind is expected to play a heavy role in Saturday’s contest, so how the Hawkeyes fare on special teams is going to play a major factor in the outcome of this game.

2. Capitalize in the red zone

Purdue has one of the worst red zone defenses in the entire Big Ten having given up 31 of 34 scoring drives when teams cross its 20. Of those 31 scores, 23 are touchdowns and 16 of those 23 touchdowns have come on the ground. This means Iowa, when it gets down there, needs to feed the ball to running back Marcus Coker and let him add on to the 13 touchdown runs he has this season, all of which have come in the red zone.

3. Stay disciplined

With this being Purdue’s Senior Day, the Boilermakers will have an emotional edge and virtually all of the same intangibles Iowa had in its favor heading into last week’s game against Michigan State. Purdue has also been called for 77 penalties through 10 games, the most of any Big Ten team. Between this and being on the road, staying disciplined and not committing some of the dumb penalties Iowa had against Michigan State will be crucial if the Hawkeyes are going to leave West Lafayette with their first road win of the season.

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