Thursday, 28th March 2024

Iowa at Nebraska (What to expect)

Posted on 28. Nov, 2013 by in Iowa Football

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By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

To get you all ready for Friday’s game between Iowa and Nebraska, I put together a list of things you ought to know before these two face off at Memorial Stadium.

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

Iowa Hawkeyes (7-4, 4-3) at Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-3, 5-2)

Memorial Stadium; Lincoln, Neb.

Nov. 29, 2013

11 a.m. Central

TV: ABC (Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich)

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

Weather: 33 degrees;sunny skies; winds from S/SE at 9-11 MPH

Brendan’s Three Keys to the Game:

1. Establishing the run

If there’s one area where Nebraska’s defense can be had, it’s on the ground. This is something Iowa has struggled to do each of the past two seasons and as a result, it has to only seven points scored on both occasions. This has also resulted in the Cornhuskers being able to control time of possession and wear out the Hawkeye defense. Simply put, Iowa has to improve significantly on offense if it’s going to leave Memorial Stadium with a win. That starts with the Hawkeyes being able to do something in terms of running the ball on this Nebraska defense.

2. Force turnovers

Iowa was very fortunate last week to win despite having a minus-3 turnover margin. Don’t expect a similar outcome if Iowa’s minus-3 again in turnovers on Friday. Given how well the defense has played of late, plus the fact Nebraska’s last loss featured five Cornhusker turnovers, takeaways are going to be critical toward Iowa’s success. Whether it’s forcing lost fumbles or causing either of Nebraska’s quarterbacks on Friday to throw interceptions, the defense needs to do itself a favor and create a couple of turnovers that maybe the Hawkeye offense can capitalize on.

3. Continued growth

Following Iowa’s 24-21 win over Michigan last weekend, head coach Kirk Ferentz made a comment about how his team grew up during the domination during a second half consisting of 17 unanswered points. These younger players on both sides of the ball that were alluded to last week need to step up again here Friday. Not only would that give the Hawkeyes a boost entering this regular-season finale, but success both here and in the bowl game later this winter could go a long way toward 2014 being a successful year. If Iowa gets similar contributions for four quarters against Nebraska like it did for two quarters against Michigan, then the Hawkeyes have a real chance of leaving with a win.

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