By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa junior wide receiver Damond Powell had two catches for a team-high 83 yards receiving and hauled in his first career touchdown reception in the Hawkeyes’ 59-3 win over Western Michigan on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa junior running back Mark Weisman rushed for 43 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries in the Hawkeyes’ 59-3 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa junior running back Damon Bullock rushed for 37 yards on 10 carries and also hauled in a 16-yard reception in the Hawkeyes’ 59-3 win over Western Michigan on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa sophomore running back Jordan Canzeri rushed for a team-high 73 yards on 13 carries and scored his first career rushing touchdown in the Hawkeyes’ 59-3 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — As he does every Friday morning before a home football game, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz spoke at the Johnson County I-Club Breakfast inside the Sheraton Hotel. This week, he discussed the Hawkeyes’ upcoming game against Western Michigan.
Ferentz was introduced this week by Iowa baseball head coach Rick Heller.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
To get you all ready for Saturday’s game between Iowa and Western Michigan, I put together a list of things you ought to know before these two face off at Kinnick Stadium.
At the end, I’ll provide what I think are three keys to an Iowa victory.
Iowa Hawkeyes (2-1) vs. Western Michigan Broncos (0-3)
Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, Iowa
Sept. 21, 2013
11 a.m. Central
TV: BTN (Wayne Larrivee, Jon Jansen)
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin, Ed Podolak, Rob Brooks)
Weather: 62 degrees; sunny skies; winds from NW around 9 MPH
Brendan’s Three Keys to the Game:
1. Keep the ground attack going
Last week, Iowa rushed the ball 60 times against Iowa State, with 35 of those carries coming courtesy of Mark Weisman. On Saturday, the Hawkeyes will face a Western Michigan defense ranked 105th nationally against the run, allowing an average of 245 yards per game on the ground. This week provides Iowa an opportunity to continue its success in the ground game, not only with Weisman, but with some of their other running backs as well.
2. Be aware of Davis
Corey Davis is a true freshman that also happens to have led Western Michigan in receiving during each of its first three games so far this season. Last week against Northwestern, he hauled in a 75-yard touchdown reception that at the time put the Broncos ahead before they ultimately lost that game. Iowa’s defense has had a tendency of not only giving up big scoring plays, but doing so to one particular receiver (see Northern Illinois’ Tommylee Lewis, Iowa State’s Quenton Bundrage). This is someone the Hawkeye secondary can’t afford to let get behind it on Saturday.
3. Finish strong
A likely hypothetical situation here: Let’s say Iowa possesses a fourth-quarter lead Saturday like it has in each of its previous three games, but not such an advantage that leads to both teams playing back-ups. The Hawkeyes have had a problem of putting teams away in the fourth quarter and this is something that has to change for Iowa before it enters Big Ten play because after Saturday, everything is only going to become more difficult for this team on both sides of the football. The last thing Iowa needs before going up to Minnesota is another instance where it sees a three-possession lead in the fourth quarter suddenly dwindle down to single digits like the last two weeks specifically.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
Every Thursday during the 2013 football season, HawkeyeDrive.com will feature “Talkin’ Hawks,” a podcast to get you ready for the Hawkeyes’ upcoming game and other college football action.
This week, we preview Iowa’s upcoming game against Western Michigan, which takes place Sept. 21 at Kinnick Stadium. Former Iowa defensive back Chris Rowell joins me to provide insight on the Hawkeyes and share his thoughts on all the games featured in this week’s HawkeyeDrive.com Pick ‘Em. Rowell will be a part of the podcast every week all season long.
Joining as a guest this week in the podcast’s middle segment is David Drew, who covers Western Michigan football for The Kalamazoo Gazette. This week’s edition is approximately 70 minutes long, so enjoy:
Twitter handles:
HawkeyeDrive.com – @HawkeyeDrive
Brendan Stiles – @thebstiles
Chris Rowell – @Crowell34
David Drew – @Drew_on_WMU
*Intro sound byte credit to my former Daily Iowan colleague Ryan Young for putting that together.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz discusses the Hawkeyes’ upcoming game against Western Michigan during his weekly press conference held Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, at the Hayden Fry Football Complex in Iowa City.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — As precipitation began to sprinkle from the sky last Saturday night in Ames, the odds of something raining on the Iowa Hawkeyes’ celebration after beating Iowa State 27-21 appeared unlikely.
Unfortunately for nine members of the Iowa football program, they were struck with the disturbing news that someone had snuck past security into the visitors’ locker room at Jack Trice Stadium and ran off with personal items such as cell phones and cash. As of Tuesday, only one victim — co-linebackers coach LeVar Woods — has publicly acknowledged being robbed of personal belongings and the case is still being investigated by Iowa State University police.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz made his first comments on the matter during his weekly press conference Tuesday, one day after Iowa State issued a statement saying its athletics director, Jamie Pollard, had been in touch with both Ferentz and Iowa athletics director Gary Barta and that the nine victims would all be reimbursed should no suspect emerge from the ongoing investigation.
“It sounds like everything is being worked on right now,” Ferentz said. “Things will be replaced, but it’s just — as you might imagine — a real inconvenience for all of the people involved.”
Barta, who occasionally makes appearances at Ferentz’s weekly press conferences, wasn’t on hand for comment Tuesday at the Hayden Fry Football Complex.
Iowa senior offensive lineman Brett Van Sloten — one of the Hawkeyes’ four team captains this season — said he wasn’t among those who had personal items stolen, but acknowledged what took place did dampen the mood in the locker room during the team’s post-game celebration.
“It definitely brings it down a little bit. That’s not a class act,” Van Sloten said. “But with that being said, their university is handling it. I don’t know all the X’s and O’s. Nothing of mine was taken.
“But Coach Ferentz, Mr. Barta and the staff over in Ames, they’re all working on getting it resolved and I have confidence that they will. I’m sure whoever did it will be punished for it.”
Weisman carrying the load
On a more pleasant matter for the Hawkeyes, there’s the play of junior running back Mark Weisman. Through three games, Weisman ranks third nationally in rushing yards with 425 yards on the ground. This mark currently leads the Big Ten and he has rushed for over 100 yards in all three contests, including 145 yards rushing against Iowa State.
What is a bit surprising though is Weisman has done this on 85 carries, the most to date of any player in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The last two games specifically have shown Weisman getting 30 and 35 carries, respectively, leading to some concern on the outside as to whether he can remain this durable for the Hawkeyes for nine more games (10 more if Iowa reaches a bowl).
“He’s going to get hit and I think he knows that,” Ferentz said. “But I’ll tell you, fortunately for us, he takes really great care of himself and that helps at least.
The one thing Weisman said he attempts to combat more than anything else is muscle soreness upon waking up Sunday mornings. Among the things he’ll do for recovery following games are take a 10-15 minute ice bath and then get stretching in with trainers.
With all those carries, yards and hits endured though has been more of a spotlight. Weisman said he notices his peers taking note of who he is, but also doesn’t seem too phased by the added responsibility of his role both on and off the field.
“You always have to be level-headed no matter what, be humble no matter what,” Weisman said. “That’s what I’ve been taught. Those are the values my parents have taught me and I’ve continued to use them.”
Receiving progress
The only change made to Iowa’s 2-deep this week was a swap of first and second-string receivers between senior Don Shumpert and sophomore Tevaun Smith. Until Monday, Shumpert had been listed first-string and started all three of the Hawkeyes’ games thus far alongside junior wideout Kevonte Martin-Manley.
But Smith now finds himself listed at the top following a game where his lone reception was good for 25 yards.
“He’s getting a lot more confident,” Martin-Manley said about Smith. “He has a few plays under his belt now and getting used to the game tempo. It’s so much different than practice.
“It’s different in the games where it’s live and it’s full speed, so he’s getting a lot of confidence now.”
Ferentz made mention of how Smith has practiced well lately and that the next big thing he wants to see out of his Canadian wideout is consistency. For Smith, part of that consistency is holding onto the ball whenever it comes his way.
“I think my play has been O.K.,” Smith said. “Obviously, I have a lot of stuff to work on. I had a drop last game and I’m going to be working towards not dropping at least one during a game.”
Lowery’s pick
The play that had everyone talking after Iowa’s win over Iowa State was the fourth-quarter interception made by senior cornerback B.J. Lowery. It came shortly after the Cyclones recovered an onside kick that followed them trimming Iowa’s lead to 27-14. Lowery leaped in the air, caught the pass thrown by Iowa State quarterback Sam Richardson one-handed, and came down maintaining possession of the football to give it back to the Hawkeye offense.
His highlight pick was good enough to be ranked fourth on ESPN’s “SportsCenter’s Top 10” over the weekend. Lowery said the only highlights he has seen of his interception have come courtesy of Instagram and YouTube. He also heard back from plenty of friends and family during the team’s bus ride home from Ames.
“I was texting the whole way and my phone actually went dead on the bus ride back,” Lowery said. “That’s how busy it was.”
The other interesting comment Lowery made Tuesday was that he didn’t really give himself a chance to appreciate what he did, even when the play was shown while the team reviewed game film on Sunday and his teammates were going crazy watching it.
“Of course they liked it. I mean, even during the game when it happened, them guys were more excited about it than I was,” Lowery said. “I was still kind of p-ed off about the plays I had given up.
“That’s something I expect myself to do. I’ve done it a couple of times before, but doing that on that big of a stage just kind of brought it to everybody else’s attention.”
Scouting Western Michigan
The Broncos enter Saturday’s contest at Kinnick Stadium with an 0-3 record. But the winless mark isn’t what immediately grabbed the Hawkeyes’ attention spans as players began watching film on Western Michigan.
Two of those three defeats came on the road to Michigan State and No. 18 Northwestern, both of whom are in the Big Ten’s Legends Division along with Iowa. Last weekend against the Wildcats, Western Michigan actually held a 10-7 lead during the second quarter following a 75-yard touchdown reception from true freshman wideout Corey Davis, who had 112 yards receiving on 5 catches and has led the Broncos in receiving during all three of their games.
“Both of those programs are good, especially Northwestern,” junior defensive tackle Carl Davis said. “They hung with them. They made some plays out there against them. Western Michigan is impressive.”
One weakness Iowa should be able to exploit though if the past three weeks are any indicator is the Broncos’ run defense. Western Michigan has surrendered an average of 245 rushing yards per game, which ranks 105th nationally out of 125 FBS programs. While it held Northwestern under 500 yards of total offense last weekend, Western Michigan also allowed 447 yards of total offense to Nicholls State in a game it lost to the FCS program at home, 27-23, the weekend prior.
“They’re going to come in with different wrinkles to try and stop our offense and rightfully so,” Van Sloten said. “We’re going to come up with different ways to beat their defense. But with that being said, they’re going to bring a lot of energy and excitement to Kinnick and we’ve got to be ready to go. We can’t take anyone lightly.”
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — On Tuesday, 11 members of the Iowa football team spoke with the media to discuss the Hawkeyes’ upcoming game on Sept. 21 against Western Michigan at Kinnick Stadium.
Below is audio from each of the following players — sophomore center Austin Blythe, junior running back Mark Weisman, senior free safety Tanner Miller, senior offensive tackle Brett Van Sloten, junior defensive tackle Carl Davis, senior cornerback B.J. Lowery, senior linebacker James Morris, sophomore wide receiver Tevaun Smith, sophomore defensive tackle Darian Cooper, sophomore quarterback Jake Rudock and junior wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley:
Austin Blythe, Sept. 17, 2013
Mark Weisman, Sept. 17, 2013
Tanner Miller, Sept. 17, 2013
Brett Van Sloten, Sept. 17, 2013
Carl Davis, Sept. 17, 2013
B.J. Lowery, Sept. 17, 2013
James Morris, Sept. 17, 2013
Tevaun Smith, Sept. 17, 2013
Darian Cooper, Sept. 17, 2013
Jake Rudock, Sept. 17, 2013
Kevonte Martin-Manley, Sept. 17, 2013
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
Below is a PDF from the Iowa sports information department featuring the complete transcript from Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz’s press conference on Tuesday in Iowa City: