By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa junior wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley hauled in a team-high nine catches for 79 yards receiving in the Hawkeyes’ 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa sophomore cornerback Jordan Lomax made his first career start on Saturday and finished with three tackles and two pass break ups in the Hawkeyes’ 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa senior linebacker James Morris recorded six tackles, including two for a loss of yardage, in the Hawkeyes’ 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz addressed the media in a post-game press conference following the Hawkeyes’ 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa is now 0-1 for the first time since 2000 as a result.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa senior kicker Mike Meyer connected on field goal attempts of 28 and 44 yards and also recorded five touchbacks on kickoffs in the Hawkeyes’ 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois 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 Northern Illinois.
Ferentz was introduced by UI president Sally Mason. In addition to that, Ferentz formally introduced his 2013 class of true freshmen players to the crowd on hand at the Sheraton.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
To get you all ready for Saturday’s game between Iowa and Northern Illinois, 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 (0-0) vs. Northern Illinois Huskies (0-0)
Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, Iowa
Aug. 31, 2013
2:30 p.m. Central
TV: BTN (Paul Burmeister, Chuck Long, Danan Hughes)
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin, Ed Podolak, Rob Brooks)
Weather: 88 degrees; sunny skies; winds from N around 6 MPH
Brendan’s Three Keys to the Game:
1. Convert in red zone
Looking back at last season’s meeting in Chicago, one thing Iowa did well was keep the ball away from Northern Illinois. Obviously, the Hawkeyes’ best recipe for success on Saturday will come with establishing the run with guys like Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock and being able to execute play-action passes off of that. But the reason why Iowa nearly lost this game last year was because it continued stalling in the red zone and having to settle on Mike Meyer making field goals. If the offense is going to prove to be better in 2013, red zone touchdowns have to be there and getting them against an opponent like the Huskies would be a good indication of things bouncing back in Iowa’s favor as an offense.
2. Stay simple schematically on defense
Just about all of Jordan Lynch’s big plays for Northern Illinois in last year’s game came on third down when Iowa showed nickel or dime packages defensively (his 73-yard touchdown run came against the dime and after the Hawkeyes had to adjust their dime personnel because of an injury to corner B.J. Lowery a few plays prior). Eventually, Iowa stuck with its base 4-3 and Lynch had nowhere to go. While personnel groupings for nickel and dime this year should be better now versus a year ago, I still thinking staying 4-3 as much as possible Saturday will play to Iowa’s advantage, unless Lynch is just completing every pass in sight (he was only 6-of-16 last year, by the way). Defensively, Iowa should expect him to run almost every time it does throw an additional defensive back or two on the field (if any nickel or dime gets presented).
3. Use depth to advantage
With the heat reportedly in Saturday’s forecast, a lot has been made about what type of affect this will have. To me, the biggest factor related to the heat is depth. Keep in mind that Northern Illinois is only allowed to travel 70 players (as is any other college football team playing on the road; this is something that has been around for years, by the way). If Iowa does attempt to push the tempo offensively, Northern Illinois might not have as many options at its disposal in terms of rotating guys on defense and giving players breathers between reps. Conversely, that depth will be there on Saturday for the Hawkeyes whenever the Huskies attempt to push the tempo. This is something that isn’t going to go away with more teams playing this type of offense regardless of the week and regardless of the opponent. But throw in the scorching temperatures outside and this becomes an ever bigger issue, in my opinion.
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 season opener against Northern Illinois, which is taking place Aug. 31 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 Steve Nitz, who covers Northern Illinois football for The Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, Ill. This week’s edition is approximately 66 minutes long, so enjoy:
Twitter handles:
HawkeyeDrive.com – @HawkeyeDrive
Brendan Stiles – @thebstiles
Chris Rowell – @Crowell34
Steve Nitz – @HuskieWire
*Intro sound byte credit to my former Daily Iowan colleague Ryan Young for putting that together.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
The final day of the 2013 NFL preseason is Thursday. After teams had to trim rosters down to 75 players by Aug. 27, there currently remain 33 former Iowa football players listed on NFL rosters. Two of those 33 players — Patriots offensive tackle Markus Zusevics and Packers offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga — have been officially placed on injured reserve (IR) for the remainder of the 2013 season. Two former quarterbacks were cut following last weekend’s games, as Ricky Stanzi was let go by the Chiefs and James Vandenberg was cut by the Vikings. Stanzi has since been claimed off waivers by the Jaguars.
Below is a list of Thursday’s preseason games in the NFL, including which former Iowa players are with which teams. Included is a list of television stations in Iowa carrying preseason games of four Midwest teams — the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings. With the Packers and Chiefs playing each other, there will be two stations in Des Moines carrying the game with KDSM-TV being the Chiefs’ affiliate and KCWI-TV the Packers’ affiliate.
In addition, there is a nationally televised preseason contest on NFL Network Thursday evening between the Giants and Patriots, a game featuring a trio of former Hawkeyes. Former tight end Brandon Myers and safety Tyler Sash will suit up for the Giants, while former linebacker Jeff Tarpinian will be among those suiting up for the Patriots.
Thursday, Aug. 29:
Detroit at Buffalo, 6 p.m. — Lions: Riley Reiff, Amari Spievey; Bills: Scott Chandler
Indianapolis at Cincinnati, 6 p.m. — Colts: Pat Angerer; Bengals: Shaun Prater
Philadelphia at NY Jets, 6 p.m. — Eagles: Bradley Fletcher, Matt Tobin, Julian Vandervelde
Jacksonville at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m. — Jaguars: Allen Reisner, Ricky Stanzi; Falcons: Jonathan Babineaux
Pittsburgh at Carolina, 6:30 p.m. — Panthers: Colin Cole, Charles Godfrey
New Orleans at Miami, 6:30 p.m. — Dolphins: Keenan Davis, Marvin McNutt
NY Giants at New England, 6:30 p.m. (NFL Network) — Giants: Brandon Myers, Tyler Sash; Patriots: Jeff Tarpinian, Markus Zusevics (IR)
Washington at Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m. — Redskins: Adam Gettis; Buccaneers: Adrian Clayborn
Cleveland at Chicago, 7 p.m.
*TV stations in Iowa carrying Browns/Bears: KFXA-DT 28.1 (Eastern Iowa); KLJB-DT 18.1 (Quad Cities); KDMI-THS 19.1 (Des Moines); KPTM-DT 42.1 (Council Bluffs/Omaha)
Houston at Dallas, 7 p.m.
Green Bay at Kansas City, 7 p.m. — Packers: Mike Daniels, Micah Hyde, Bryan Bulaga (IR); Chiefs: Greg Castillo, Tony Moeaki
*TV stations in Iowa carrying Packers/Chiefs: Packers: KGCW-DT 26.1 (Quad Cities); KCWI-CW 23.1 (Des Moines); KMTV-DT 3.1 (Council Bluffs/Omaha); WXOW-DT 19.1 (NE Iowa/La Crosse); Chiefs: KDSM-DT 17.1 (Des Moines); KTVO-DT2 33.2 (Ottumwa/Kirksville)
Tennessee at Minnesota, 7 p.m. — Titans: Shonn Greene, Karl Klug; Vikings: Christian Ballard, Chad Greenway, Seth Olsen
*TV stations in Iowa carrying Titans/Vikings: KGAN-DT 2.1 (Eastern Iowa);WHBF-DT 4.1 (Quad Cities); KCCI-DT2 8.2 (Des Moines); KPTH-DT 44.1 (Sioux City); KTTC-CW 10.2 (Mason City/Austin/Rochester); KSFY-DT 13.1 (NW Iowa/Sioux Falls); WKBT-DT 8.1 (NE Iowa/La Crosse)
Baltimore at St. Louis, 7 p.m. — Ravens: Dallas Clark, Marshal Yanda
Arizona at Denver, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at San Diego, 9 p.m.
Oakland at Seattle, 9 p.m.
*All times listed are Central Standard Time
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz discusses the Hawkeyes’ upcoming game against Northern Illinois during his weekly press conference held Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013, at the Hayden Fry Football Complex in Iowa City. Ferentz is beginning his 15th season as Iowa’s head coach.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The words “quarterback” and “Iowa” have gone hand-in-hand now for the past week. Two former Hawkeye signal-callers — Paul Burmeister and Chuck Long — are among the BTN’s announcing crew for Iowa’s game against Northern Illinois on Aug. 31. Long and Randy Duncan are among nine players who will appear on Kinnick Stadium’s Wall of Honor and Brad Banks will be inducted later this week into Iowa’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
Even a pair of recently former QBs have been in the news with Ricky Stanzi and James Vandenberg both being cut by Kansas City and Minnesota respectively earlier in the week (Stanzi has since been claimed off waivers by Jacksonville).
In the middle of all these former Iowa quarterbacks being in the news was the announcement made Aug. 23 of current sophomore signal-caller Jake Rudock being anointed the Hawkeyes’ starter by head coach Kirk Ferentz.
When asked about what separated Rudock from his competition — redshirt freshman C.J. Beathard and junior Cody Sokol — Ferentz described him as being “the most consistent” throughout the entire offseason.
“We wanted to give it time, plenty of time,” Ferentz said. “There was no sense rushing to a conclusion because things do change and can change. We wanted to wait as late as we could, but we also wanted to start preparing for this game a little bit, which we did at the end of the last week.”
The news about Rudock becoming the starter became official last week. But it wasn’t news that really caught others off guard. Beathard said it started to dawn on him midway through fall camp that the job was becoming Rudock’s to lose. Others could sense it even earlier as Rudock began to work more and more with the first-string unit throughout fall camp.
“I think we all kind of knew all along. No one said anything because we didn’t want him to start getting a big head, going out there thinking he has got that spot,” senior tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz said. “You could tell early on in spring ball he was making a move and from early on in camp, he was running and doing a lot of 1s reps, making a lot of big plays and leading the offense.”
In one sense, Saturday’s contest against Northern Illinois will be the apex of a two-year journey for Rudock, who redshirted in 2011 and then spent all of last year learning a new offense under offensive coordinator Greg Davis. He’s also banking on it being a new beginning for him as well.
“You came to Iowa to play football, just like all these guys here,” Rudock said. “I want to do the best I can.”
Getting to know Rudock
So who exactly is Rudock? This is a question on the minds of many in the Hawkeye State, especially when one considers that the Florida native didn’t take a single snap as Iowa’s back-up quarterback a year ago.
Talk to him and talk to his teammates and one trait stands out — Rudock’s intelligence. Off the field, Rudock is listed as a microbiology/pre-medicine major. He currently takes 14 semester hours at the UI, which includes courses such as Organic Chemistry II, Physics I and Anthropology.
“I didn’t take many of those courses, I could tell you that,” Ferentz said. “Probably none of those courses, to be specific. He’s on a different planet. But that’s a good thing.
“He’s a smart guy, but he’s also a guy who prepares and he’s very serious about what’s in front of him.”
On the gridiron, that same intelligence carries over. His command of the offense — whether it’s in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage whenever Iowa opts to push the tempo — has resonated with his peers.
“Once it’s time to go, he gets everybody together and tells everybody what to do,” junior running back Damon Bullock said. “He knows what the tight ends have to do, the line, everybody.”
In high school, Rudock led St. Thomas Aquinas to a national championship his senior season. He said his coach there once referred to him being “business-like,” a description Rudock wants continuing to apply to him now as Iowa’s starter.
“I’m smiling with all you guys right here, but in the game, I’m not really smiling until hopefully after we win,” Rudock said. “I kind of stay to myself, but I do go around the team and talk to the team and focus on that.”
Preparing for Lynch
Iowa had the fortune of handing Northern Illinois its only regular-season loss of 2012 in last season’s opener at Soldier Field, but the 18-17 victory was far from flawless. One play in that game from Huskie quarterback Jordan Lynch still sticks in the minds of many along the returning members of the Hawkeye defense.
In the third quarter and with Iowa lined up in dime as opposed to its base 4-3 defense, Lynch ran a designed quarterback draw and proceeded to scamper 73 yards for a Northern Illinois touchdown. It was the first of many highlights last season for Lynch, who finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting and is currently the one player nationally with his school promoting him for the honor during the preseason.
If there’s reason for encouragement that Iowa might fare better when running nickel or dime packages against the Huskie offense this weekend, the personnel in the secondary will be noticeably different. On that particular touchdown run, neither of the Hawkeyes’ current starting cornerbacks were on the field (B.J. Lowery had just exited the game with an injury shortly beforehand and Jordan Lomax missed all of last season with a shoulder injury).
“We’re coming in expecting that, so that’s what we’ve been practicing,” senior linebacker Anthony Hitchens said. “We’ll be all right.”
Regardless of what type of defense is used to keep Lynch and the rest of Northern Illinois’ offense in check, one of the big things being stressed this week is not letting him break contain.
“If the guys are in man coverage behind us, we got to know that we can’t get too crazy going up-field with the pass rush,” senior defensive end Dominic Alvis said. “We’ve just got to be mindful of where our support is and be mindful at all times when’s a good time to pass rush and when’s a good time to not.”
Kirksey, Lowery with gameday birthdays
A pair of seniors in the defense’s back seven will be celebrating their birthdays by starting in the Hawkeyes’ season opener on Saturday.
While sharing the same date, cornerback B.J. Lowery and linebacker Christian Kirksey are separated in age by one year — Lowery will turn 22 on Saturday while Kirksey turns 21. After spending their birthdays cooped up in a Chicago hotel preparing for Northern Illinois last year, they both are more excited about actually getting to play on the date this year and in front of 70,500 fans at Kinnick Stadium to boot.
“That’s a great way to bring it in, with the first game your senior year,” Kirksey said. “Just going out there and battling with my teammates, that’s the best thing that could happen on your birthday. I’m looking forward to it.”
Captains named
Ferentz announced his four captains for this week’s game and the names aren’t too surprising. Kirksey and fellow senior linebacker James Morris — both of whom served time as team captains last season — were given those honors on the defensive side while the offensive captains are senior offensive tackle Brett Van Sloten and junior running back Mark Weisman.
Learning the news shortly after his arrival at the Kenyon Practice Facility on Tuesday, Weisman was beaming. The captaincy is yet another feather in his cap this year. Weisman was placed on scholarship following last season after he initially joined Iowa as a walk-on transfer from the Air Force Academy.
“It’s what you always want and what you shoot for, but yeah, it’s tough to see sometimes as a walk-on,” Weisman said. “You never know where it’s going to take you, so you got to just keep working hard and see where that takes you.”