So......are we gonna beat Vanderbilt?

[SecretHBOTer]

If this was a 6-day prep, I would be worried.

But with 3+ weeks to prepare, I think we hold them in check. I could see Vandy doing fine between the 20’s, but then we bow up in the red zone where space gets tight. I think we’ll be in a light box alot, conceding some rushing yards to make sure they get little through the air (similar to the game against Tennessee) and to have all eyes on Lil’ Diego to make sure we can come up quickly in run support. However, we can actually counter with an effective offense, so it won’t resemble the 35-0 Tennessee beatdown that has ZERO relevance to this game but somehow has led people ITT to thinking that “We aLwAyS gEt BlOwN oUt bY tHe SeC!!1!”

So, I think we win 31-23. Once team totals come out, I will be on Iowa’s over, which will be somewhere in the 21.5-22.5 range.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

We gonna curb stomp the SOBs.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Let’s play rock ‘em sock ‘em on that a hole.

 

[Jonesy5960]

we'll probably put up points...about 40 in fact. i'm worried we'll give up more

Yeah. Neither one of these things is going to happen.

 

[Palmerhawk]

They have 1st team AA at QB and TE.
Hawks could win but it would be a big upset.

 

[JerseyCityHawk]

Spanking time for Iowa

Meaning Iowa is going to be the spanking on Vandy…

 

[Outbackbowl2017]

Iowa finds a way to win with scores on special teams and defense, 27-17.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Ummm....yes.
Wait.....no.
Errr....maybe.


Could you repeat the question?

 

[Iron Doc]

Us not having a passing game is problematic.

 

[HoggI74]

Iowa will come out firing jumping to a 17-0 lead. Captain turtle will go full conservative, and Vandy will take a 21-17 lead into half.

Iowa regains the lead midway through the 3rd quarter 24-21 and then the defense forgets how to tackle and gives up back-to-back touchdowns and hawks fall behind 35-24.

Mark G throws two INT's in the 4th and hawks lose 38-24.

Just when I thought I couldn't hate you any worse...

 

[Jonesy5960]

What da hell is a ReliaQuest anyway?

My son works there. They're a cybersecurity firm. I can't tell you exactly what they do or for who because then I'd have to kill you.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Us not having a passing game is problematic.

Nah. We had one at Nebraska and we did fine with passing. MG was on with his targets in that one.

 

[Iron Doc]

Might as well be realistic.
We don't have the firepower to beat them.
No passing attack means they will load up against the run.
Phil will keep the score respectable.

 

[r_desihawk]

Might as well be realistic.
We don't have the firepower to beat them.
No passing attack means they will load up against the run.
Phil will keep the score respectable.

just have the feeling that the D is gonna lay a pasadena type egg but the offense will explode as lester uses december to slightly overweight the passing game and send off mark on a high note

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Might as well be realistic.
We don't have the firepower to beat them.
No passing attack means they will load up against the run.
Phil will keep the score respectable.

81 is coming into his own as a receiving TE. We gonna roll.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

Since the 4th quarter against Mich State game, MG has been on target.

 

[Opie Oids]

Us not having a passing game is problematic.

Being ranked 129th out of 134 teams ain’t bad

 

[Jonesy5960]

Might as well be realistic.
We don't have the firepower to beat them.
No passing attack means they will load up against the run.
Phil will keep the score respectable.

I think you might lean more pessimistic than realistic.

 

[Kg3]

Or are we gonna lay down to another SEC team?

It will be tight until Pavia gets his bell rung a couple of times, then he’ll make mistakes. Maybe he’ll take off on a scramble get hit high & low and tweak a knee. Nothing career ending, just out of the game.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

It will be tight until Pavia gets his bell rung a couple of times, then he’ll make mistakes. Maybe he’ll take off on a scramble get hit high & low and tweak a knee. Nothing career ending, just out of the game.

 

[yrunvs]

It is interesting the effect that one player can have on a football team. Here you have Vanderbilt......an annual bottom dweller as far as football is concerned presumably going to run rough shod on the Hawkeye's.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

It is interesting the effect that one player can have on a football team. Here you have Vanderbilt......an annual bottom dweller as far as football is concerned presumably going to run rough shod on the Hawkeye's.

To be fair............one good QB and a good HC.

Lea is gonna be a name tossed around for other jobs for a while. At least as long as he has Vanderbilt competitive in the SEC.

 

[yrunvs]

To be fair............one good QB and a good HC.

Lea is gonna be a name tossed around for other jobs for a while. At least as long as he has Vanderbilt competitive in the SEC.

I sometimes wonder if it's the star QB the cause for winning or the coach? I wonder where Vandy would be without a Heisman finalist?

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I sometimes wonder if it's the star QB the cause for winning or the coach? I wonder where Vandy would be without a Heisman finalist?

I wouldn't mind seeing that again for a little while.

 

[AnonymousNolonger]

Being ranked 129th out of 134 teams ain’t bad

To be fair, Vandy’s passing defense is 120th out of 134 teams.

 

[BunchofAholes]

To be fair, Vandy’s passing defense is 120th out of 134 teams.

If only we had a passing offense that could capitalize on that.

 

[AnonymousNolonger]

Iowa has the superior Defense and Vandy the superior Offense.

In rushing defense, which is ranked by total rushing yards given up. Vandy is ranked ahead of Iowa. Until you look at how many rushing attempts there were against each defense.

Iowa has a slightly better yards/carry average than Vandy does.

In passing defense, Iowa is the vastly superior Defense. #8 in the country with only 1,898 yards given up. Vandy is #120 with 3030 yards given up. Iowa defense is better in yards/attempt and yards/completion also.

Iowa Defense is also better at completion percentage allowed at 56% to Vandy’s 66%.

 

[TheChosen]

 

[DukeSlater]

Pavia plays an unorthodox backyard scramble game which can create problems for defenses opening up running lanes and receivers. Contain Pavia and you win if he runs wild then.......who knows?

Parker's Iowa defense is one of the most disciplined in college football. And Iowa has faced plenty of dual threat QBs. Not saying it'll be easy, but I think with all this time to prepare, Iowa's D will have one of its best games of the season. Maybe Buffington and Epenesa make an impact. And likewise with the offense. With all this time to prepare, Lester should have a great game plan that should feature some down field passing to the likes of a healthy Vander Zee, Hudson, Parker and, especially, the tight ends.

 

[DukeSlater]

we'll probably put up points...about 40 in fact. i'm worried we'll give up more

When does Iowa give up points? The #1 team in the country barely managed 20. The #5 team barely managed 18. Iowa will be ready on both sides of the ball, and on special teams. Look for Woods to come up with something really special in his final game. And I hope Lester will have a trick play or two as well.

 

[HawksRule25]

My son works there. They're a cybersecurity firm. I can't tell you exactly what they do or for who because then I'd have to kill you.

More than just a game!

 

[AnonymousNolonger]

If only we had a passing offense that could capitalize on that.

Well, I think MG got a little better as the year went on. And we never faced a defense that was rated in the hundreds like Vanderbilt.

We faced defenses ranked the following in passing yardage allowed:


#92,#75,#67,#64,#63,#55,#46,#22,#18,#3,
#2

So I don’t know that it is a forgone conclusion that we won’t be able to have success against #120.

Admittedly, the #120 ranking might be skewed somewhat if the SEC is more of a passing conference compared to the B10?


48,83,235,186,192,109,68,141,138,137,147,
166 Iowa Passing Yardage per game(does not line up with rankings above)

The last 4 games of 138,137,147,166 came against the following ranked teams in passing yardage: 3,46,92,2. So we were pretty consistently in the upper 140 yards/game range, against 2 teams in the top 5 rankings. And average ranking of #36 in defensive passing yards allowed.

Against Oregon we got about what they give up on average. Against Nebraska we got a little more than what they give up on average.
We were well under what USC gives up on average. And well under what MSU gives up on average.

Summary: Positives, You would think we should be able to pass for more than 150 yards against the #120 ranked passing defense. And we got better as the year went on in passing, considering the quality of defenses we faced late in the year.

Negatives: We didn’t really take advantage when we faced the worst passing defense of the year #92 MSU. Was that just a bad game outlier? Or suggest that we are only good for about 150 yards/game regardless of the opponents passing defense?

I don’t see the passing game dominating a poor Vandy pass defense. I think this game will come down to our Defense being able to limit the Vandy Offense.

And our Offense will need to be able to be balanced. Some success both running and passing to keep the Vandy D honest, and so we can sustain drives and keep their Offense off of the field.

 

[PinkShizzle]

Nah. We had one at Nebraska and we did fine with passing. MG was on with his targets in that one.

This is nitpicking a bit, but it was still just 166 yards passing. I don't know that I'd ever call that a legit passing game. It's a lot for Iowa and it's fair to say Iowa doesn't have a real passing game. Our Hawks have not had a single 200 yard passing game all year.

The argument against my argument is that Iowa didn't need to pass a ton in that Nebraska game.

 

[AnonymousNolonger]

This is nitpicking a bit, but it was still just 166 yards passing. I don't know that I'd ever call that a legit passing game. It's a lot for Iowa and it's fair to say Iowa doesn't have a real passing game. Our Hawks have not had a single 200 yard passing game all year.

The argument against my argument is that Iowa didn't need to pass a ton in that Nebraska game.

I think the argument I would make in the Nebraska game is that we actually passed for more yardage than they give up on average.

And against the other top 5 passing defense we faced, Oregon, we passed for about what they give up on average.

Good against the top ranked defenses.

Where it gets ugly is against lower rated passing defenses, we still just get about 140-150 yards per game.

There were games where we didn’t need to pass, Minnesota and Wisconsin because the run game was dominant. Does the Iowa philosophy of limiting possessions play into it? Maybe to a degree.

But overall , I think the Passing game just isn’t quite there yet to make poor passing defenses pay. If the passing game can just complement the run game enough to be an effective offense, is our ceiling at the moment.

 

[Kceasthawk@77]

This is nitpicking a bit, but it was still just 166 yards passing. I don't know that I'd ever call that a legit passing game. It's a lot for Iowa and it's fair to say Iowa doesn't have a real passing game. Our Hawks have not had a single 200 yard passing game all year.

The argument against my argument is that Iowa didn't need to pass a ton in that Nebraska game.

Exactly, and to add when MG HAD to pass the ball late in games he had several great throws in the later part of the year.

 

[BunchofAholes]

I sometimes wonder if it's the star QB the cause for winning or the coach? I wonder where Vandy would be without a Heisman finalist?

It's the star QB and the coach's ability and willingness to use him properly.

 

[oldxbbc]

Exactly, and to add when MG HAD to pass the ball late in games he had several great throws in the later part of the year.

Part of this, I think, is being in the system just one year. Wish he had a second year. Next years about at this point will be”have been in the Black and Gold” for a while and knows the system.

 

[WeBeHerkin]

This is nitpicking a bit, but it was still just 166 yards passing. I don't know that I'd ever call that a legit passing game. It's a lot for Iowa and it's fair to say Iowa doesn't have a real passing game. Our Hawks have not had a single 200 yard passing game all year.

The argument against my argument is that Iowa didn't need to pass a ton in that Nebraska game.

Kirk is always shooting for a 50/50 offense.

 

[PinkShizzle]

Kirk is always shooting for a 50/50 offense.

Yes he does, but I'm sure he'd be happy to have a more reliable passing game. One that he can trust to get the job done if needed. It improved, but still is near the bottom of FBS.

 

[o_Pepsicock]

Yes Iowa31 Vandy 21