Intro to the Hawkeyes

[KnightHawk]

Just know this about our safety, Abrams. He shut down the spring game early last year by absolutely laying out our RB. Pissed our former coach off so badly he just sent the team to the locker room. He has no conscience. None. He's a land based missile with very bad intentions out on the field. Think Ronnie Lott in a bad mood.

We had one of those in Bob Sanders as well. They kept him out of contact drills to prevent him from injuring any of his teammates. Love those kind of players.

[Todd4State]

Just know this about our safety, Abrams. He shut down the spring game early last year by absolutely laying out our RB. Pissed our former coach off so badly he just sent the team to the locker room. He has no conscience. None. He's a land based missile with very bad intentions out on the field. Think Ronnie Lott in a bad mood.

He'll always have a special place in my heart for bitch slapping AJ Brown.

[Jack Lambert]

Yep. I think your defense is probably a bit better than ours, but our balanced offense might be a bit more effective than your run-heavy offense. Haven't watched enough of MSU to know a ton of what to expect yet, just going off of stats and what you guys have said.

Game will probably come down to mistakes/turnovers/special teams.

if you are going off stats our offense has gone up against the defenses of LSU, Auburn, A&M, Bama and Florida. Look up the defensive stats of those teams and throw in having a new play book dropped on the offense you will know why the offensive numbers are low. However the offense is a lot better today. I am not taking away from your defense because they are good but there is no way they have the speed of those five defenses.

[dawgday166]

Just know this about our safety, Abrams. He shut down the spring game early last year by absolutely laying out our RB. Pissed our former coach off so badly he just sent the team to the locker room. He has no conscience. None. He's a land based missile with very bad intentions out on the field. Think Ronnie Lott in a bad mood.

I'm gonna miss that dude. Safeties like that aren't a dime a dozen.

[Recreationalgynecologist]

Iowa does well against running QBs that aren't a real danger to throw deep downfield. It'll be tough to run wide on our base 4-3 but guys like Trace McSorely at PSU or Martinez at Nebraska who can run and throw will give us issues.

[Dawg61]

Made some changes

Lol bruh we play Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Ole Miss every year. We have to have a roster filled with athletes to handle an SEC schedule. Iowa won't have the best athletes on the field vs MSU. Our defense gave up 12 tds all season. Bama gave up 21. Will Iowa have smarter players? Yes you will. Stick to that for your smack talk.

[bulldawg28]

Yep. I think your defense is probably a bit better than ours, but our balanced offense might be a bit more effective than your run-heavy offense. Haven't watched enough of MSU to know a ton of what to expect yet, just going off of stats and what you guys have said.

Game will probably come down to mistakes/turnovers/special teams.

Your offense might be balanced , prolific, and even extraordinary . However, Iowa isn't scoring more than 13 points.

[Commercecomet24]

Your offense might be balanced , prolific, and even extraordinary . However, Iowa isn't scoring more than 13 points.

Right on, I don't think they'll score more than 7 though

[Political Hack]

I don't think they'll see the end zone more than once to be honest. 12 TDs all season against SEC speed. That spells trouble for the Hawkeyes.

I do think we'll struggle to move the ball consistently against them too, but we'll hit a few big plays to get us into scoring position. We just have to convert in the red zone and we win.

[Recreationalgynecologist]

Lol bruh we play Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Ole Miss every year. We have to have a roster filled with athletes to handle an SEC schedule. Iowa won't have the best athletes on the field vs MSU. Our defense gave up 12 tds all season. Bama gave up 21. Will Iowa have smarter players? Yes you will. Stick to that for your smack talk.

It wasn’t really smack talk. Don’t be so sensitive. Alabama and LSU I can understand but adding Kentucky and Ole Miss to that comparison? They’re not generally regarded as overly decent programs by any stretch of the imagination. We can compare NFL numbers if you want to dismiss Iowa completely. These two teams are awfully even talent-wise. I just brought up #94 because he has a chance to be a top 5 NFL draft pick after the ?19 season.

[Bothrops]

Many teams show up flat in bowl games, you see it every year. That will get you beat, or make it too close for comfort. We need to be motivated to play, and not let having fun get us out of football mode. Happened to us in Miami.

[Pit Bull]

Mr. Hawkeye....I think all this narrative you're reading here basically boils down to a low scoring hard hitting physical game. Neither Iowa or MSU offense is going to scare anybody, but both of our defensive units will. So, look for maybe some key turnover or breakdown in the kicking game to be the difference. I see a 17-14 type game either way.

[Dawg61]

It wasn’t really smack talk. Don’t be so sensitive. Alabama and LSU I can understand but adding Kentucky and Ole Miss to that comparison? They’re not generally regarded as overly decent programs by any stretch of the imagination. We can compare NFL numbers if you want to dismiss Iowa completely. These two teams are awfully even talent-wise. I just brought up #94 because he has a chance to be a top 5 NFL draft pick after the ?19 season.

I'm not dismissing Iowa I know you have a tough program. I picture this year's Iowa kinda like LSU but with a worse offense and a much slower defense but every bit as tough. That's reflected in your scores this year where you hung tough with teams like Wisconsin and Northwestern but came up short. That's kinda how I picture this bowl game going. Iowa hanging tough and giving us a great game but in the end it's MSU 31 and Iowa 13.

[Commercecomet24]

Iowa has always been a tough physical team. That being said while they may have a good defense our defense is elite and it's not that close. We have given up 12 tds against the #5 sos, Iowa 26 tds against #34 sos. Our offenses maybe comparable but the defenses, big edge to us. I can't see Iowa scoring more than 7.

[msbulldog]

It wasn’t really smack talk. Don’t be so sensitive. Alabama and LSU I can understand but adding Kentucky and Ole Miss to that comparison? They’re not generally regarded as overly decent programs by any stretch of the imagination. We can compare NFL numbers if you want to dismiss Iowa completely. These two teams are awfully even talent-wise. I just brought up #94 because he has a chance to be a top 5 NFL draft pick after the ?19 season.

We gave Alabama all they could handle the last 2 years. Put that in your pipe.

[Bubb Rubb]

Yep. I think your defense is probably a bit better than ours, but our balanced offense might be a bit more effective than your run-heavy offense. Haven't watched enough of MSU to know a ton of what to expect yet, just going off of stats and what you guys have said.

Game will probably come down to mistakes/turnovers/special teams.

Our defense is better by a long shot. Offense, well, I'm less confident there.

The big difference between big 10 and sec football is defensive line play. Down here, almost all of them are 300 lbs and can run, and are virtually unblockable. Ours is the best in the country with two all Americans on it. We have a headhunting safety and some outstanding LBs that make a lot of tackles because they are free to the ball...and that is usually because it takes most teams at least 6 guys to block our front 4.

[RocketDawg]

It wasn’t really smack talk. Don’t be so sensitive. Alabama and LSU I can understand but adding Kentucky and Ole Miss to that comparison? They’re not generally regarded as overly decent programs by any stretch of the imagination. We can compare NFL numbers if you want to dismiss Iowa completely. These two teams are awfully even talent-wise. I just brought up #94 because he has a chance to be a top 5 NFL draft pick after the ?19 season.

You can say that again. Kentucky really surprised us this year, even though our longtime record against them is about even. There are weak spots in the SEC, and Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and us are generally the considered weaker teams. We've been better than "normal" the last few years, and Kentucky was a huge surprise, I think, for most of our fans.

[Liverpooldawg]

He is a beast, and a second string DE at that. He will start his last 1-2 years at Iowa, for sure. Great pass rusher, but needs to be better in contain and run stopping.

He isn't talking about your 94.

[Tbonewannabe]

Iowa does well against running QBs that aren't a real danger to throw deep downfield. It'll be tough to run wide on our base 4-3 but guys like Trace McSorely at PSU or Martinez at Nebraska who can run and throw will give us issues.

Nick Fitzgerald is the best running QB in SEC History. He just broke Tim Tebow's rushing record and he broke MSU's rushing TD record held by our former RB who actually led the SEC in rushing the year that Mark Ingram for Bama won the Heisman.

Fitz is a less accurate Lamar Jackson. He is 6'5" 230-240 lb but probably runs a 4.5-4.6. Prior to his ankle injury in the last regular season game in 2017, he was pretty much fast enough to never get caught from behind but strong enough to drag LBs for an extra 5 yards after contact. He has a cannon for an arm but that might lead to as many issues as it benefits him. He is just as liable to overthrow someone 60 yards downfield as actually complete the pass. He doesn't really have touch on the ball so his completion percentage isn't great. He also doesn't read defenses very quickly. He rarely throws to the checkdown man even if he is wide open. He would more often throw into double coverage or just run (we prefer that he run).

[Tbonewannabe]

It wasn’t really smack talk. Don’t be so sensitive. Alabama and LSU I can understand but adding Kentucky and Ole Miss to that comparison? They’re not generally regarded as overly decent programs by any stretch of the imagination. We can compare NFL numbers if you want to dismiss Iowa completely. These two teams are awfully even talent-wise. I just brought up #94 because he has a chance to be a top 5 NFL draft pick after the ?19 season.

Kentucky would normally not be in that conversation except this year. They have a top 15 type defense and have one of the better Running backs in the SEC. They won 9 games by wearing people down with their running game and let their defense win games. That is actually how we won against Auburn and A&M. I don't understand why the poster included Ole Miss because they aren't good this year.