Pregame Postage: Week 11, Iowa
So, here it is! The next game in Ohio State’s brutal November gauntlet is upon us: the Iowa Hawkeyes come to town to battle the Buckeyes for the Big Ten’s coveted Rose Bowl bid. I am biased as a TP stan, but I truly do feel the Buckeyes win this one.
Taking a look around the blogosphere, I’ve seen many calling for a blowout or even a shutout of the Hawkeyes. That’s not the way I see this game going down. Don’t get me wrong! I’d love nothing more than one or both of those options. I just don’t think that’s how Saturday afternoon is going to play out. Iowa is a very good and well coached team with a solid defense.
Much like last week, I think this game comes down to how the Oline produces. Last week, they got to listen to the ESPN talking heads talk about how terrible they were and how they were going to lose the game for their team. It fired them up as Jimmy Cordle informed the media after the game.
“You have to thank Kirk Herbstreit and Todd McShay for getting the line all fired up. When you have a 3:30 game you can watch GameDay, and those guys were talking about how the O-line was going to be the reason we were going to lose today. That got us fired up and we contributed to the win, big time.”
Those boys did tha damn thing last week! TP wasn’t sacked a single time! Think about that. When’s the last time a Buckeye QB went a full game without being sacked? That is impressive, not just because of the statline, but against the defense they accomplished said feat. PSU always has a great defense, so way to go Oline! Herbie has already changed his tune re: the way OSU’s offense is playing, so there’ll be no more of that type of criticism come tomorrow morning’s Gameday show. Just go back and re-read it. College Football is “what have you done for me lately?” and lately y’all have been great. Don’t give that tool Mark May & co. any reason to talk bad about you. Not that you have to give him a reason. He’ll do that all on his own.
Anyway, the Oline may be at its healthiest tomorrow. Big Mike Adams is back and JB Shugarts (seriously, how huge is he?) is fine after leaving the PSU game with a leg injury. Andy Miller continues to find his form after the flu and Jimmy Cordle is versatile. He can pretty much play anywhere on the line. Iowa has some good DEs, so the tackles need to bring their A game to keep them away from TP and blowing up plays.
TP has continued to improve week after week and I don’t think tomorrow will be any different versus Iowa. He’s made better decisions and taken what the defense has given him. That’s all he needs to do. Iowa has also got a pretty solid secondary, so his passing will be tested. This is where the receivers need to make those catches. If it goes off their hands, it could land in the hands of a Iowa defender. We don’t want that, now do we?
I’m not even remotely worried about the defense’s performance. I was confident before Iowa QB Stanzi was injured, and even moreso now. They will control Iowa’s defense provided an offensive slip-up doesn’t put them in a bad position.
In all, one never knows what to expect from Iowa. They seem to play to the level of their competition. Teams that they were head and shoulder better than, they allowed to stay in the game. The close calls in their OOC games is what really threw me. Needing miracle punt blocks and 4th quarter runs in order to win left me scratching my head. They should have killed half of the teams on their schedule. That’s how good I think they are.
So which Iowa team shows up tomorrow? A freshman QB making his 1st start? Who knows! I’m not sure it matters. But if he is the type that runs a “dink-dunk and move down the field” type offense, things could get interesting. That is especially if Heacock calls for that terrible soft zone defense. That’s what happened during the Purdue loss when they moved the ball at ease. Please also see the Fiesta Bowl vs. Texas for how Colt McCoy moved the ball on us. Teams can’t run on this defense, so they need quick passes to move the chains. I hope we defend that better this time around.
What I Want to see:
- No 3-and-out on the first offensive possession. Pretty please.
- A 1st quarter score or two.
- MORE JORDAN HALL! Come on, staff!
- Solid games from all the seniors
- A defensive and special teams score
- No injuries on either side of the ball
- A boobird-free ‘Shoe
- Roses in the mouths of the team around 6:45 PM
What Will Happen?
The end result is a Buckeye win. Not expecting a shutout or blowout, but a win. I don’t care how it’s done, to be honest. I’d rather not be stressed out for 3.5 hours, but I’m not picky. Ideally, I’d like to see it play out like the Toledo game, but the odds of that are extremely low.
Go Bucks!
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