This is Part 3 of 3:
IOWA DEFENSE, THE MICRO
* Iowa's ILBs and safeties don’t seem to be the instinctive hammers they’ve been in the past. They’re reasonably athletic, but have been late to arrive, play after play, on some of the long, sustained drives that Purdue and Northwestern have had against Iowa, especially with ground gainer after ground gainer of 3, 8, 4, 2, 7 yards.
* Coverages:
* They will mix it up with some press, into quarters bail. But you don’t know if it’s quarters or cover-two halves until you’re a few steps into your route. And sometimes they latch on and it becomes man-to-man. Very good at seeming simple but being complex in pass defense, and they’ve always been that way, with hard hitting just for good measure.
* They love to play with two deep, if they can stop the run with the standard 7 and pressure with a standard 4.
* They used a third CB in the slot against Purdue like a true nickel more than I can remember from them in past years. But they didn’t do it that way against Northwestern.
* Two DB assignment busts in first half vs Purdue, more than you usually see from Iowa.
* They play more zone inside the 15-yard line than most teams. Had a tip drill INT in the red zone vs Purdue by LB Barrington Wade.
* Not a heavy blitz team but they blitzed on consecutive plays vs Purdue when they had Purdue backed up inside their own 12-yard line.
IOWA PASS RUSH
* No scary guys, but they get you with coverage sacks and coverage pressures.
EXOTICS?
* Iowa is the least-exotic defense in the Big Ten. But even Iowa will mix things up a little - usually on third down. Almost never on first down, unless you are deep in your own territory.
On a third-and-7 in the 3Q vs Purdue, Iowa went with a five-man rush zone blitz with stand-up DE Golston dropping into coverage. Iowa was in cover-three behind him. That’s not terribly exotic, but Golston as a stand-up DE has some flexibility. The blitzing LBs didn’t get home in time at the Purdue QB connected on a 15-yard out route in front of a cover-three CB.
* Against Northwestern, they did some of the Narduzzi “chaos” stuff, which basically means no d-linemen are in a three-point stance. They’re standing up, milling around, and you don’t know who is going to come from which gap. But I never saw them do anything terribly creative out of this. It usually ended up being a standard four-man rush.
THE PERSONNEL
DEFENSIVE LINE
The Skinny: Firm inside with their usual assortment of two-gapping brawn. Not super disruptive. No ransackers. Just good, solid. They began losing the line of scrimmage to Purdue late in the game, possibly due to Purdue’s usage of occasional uptempo. Still, that was surprising to see. Purdue was dead last in rush offense in the Big Ten last year, but kind of took ownership of the line of scrimmage against this unit for key plays late in the game.
Interesting that three of the four starting d-linemen are transfers, including two Michiganders.
LDE 97 ZACH VANVALKENBURG (6-4, 270, Sr., Zeeland, Mich.)
* In February of 2019, he transferred from Hillsdale College to Iowa, also considered Michigan State.
* He won two state titles as a LB at Zeeland West.
* Was a no-star recruit when he went to Hillsdale.
* Had two tackles last season in 11 games.
* First-year starter.
* Huge for a 4-3 defensive end.
* Smart, squeeze his gap, then quick first two steps.
+ Caused fumble, and recovered it, in 1Q vs Northwestern.
(DE 92 John Waggoner, 6-5, 271, Soph., decent inside swipe move, but missed the tackle on the sack in the 3Q against Purdue).
(DE 13 Joe Evans, 6-2, 248, Soph., coverage sack vs NW).
DT 54 DAVIYON NIXON (6-3, 305, Jr., Kenosha, Wis.)
* Juco transfer from Iowa Western CC.
* 29 tackles as a second-stringer last year.
+ Good job staying low, disengaging and hunting with grappling-hook arms to make tackles.
+ Good rip move on the pass rush for a DT.
+ 99 Shannon and Nixon got home for a sack on third-and-medium in the 3q vs Purdue. Coverage sack, three man rush. First time they went with a three-man rush all day.
+ Coverage sack vs NW in the third quarter. Just kept chuggin’.
+ Good lateral quickness to cross face on pass rush, shown on half-sack with Golston in 4Q vs NW. Golston with a good counter move.
DT 96 JACK HEFLIN (6-4, 312, Sr., Prophetstown, Ill.)
- Transfer from Northern Illinois.
* Second-team All-MAC last year.
* Kind of a Mike Panasiuk type of guy. Sturdy.
- Facemask penalty negated a sack by Golston and gave Purdue first-and-10 in the red zone with 3:18 to play for the winning score.
DL 57 CHAUNCEY GOLSTON (6-5, 270, Sr., Detroit East English Village)
* Was a 5.6 three-star recruit, ranked No. 16 in Michigan. Spring commitment. Michigan State had not offered.
* HM All-Big Ten by coaches last year.
* 47 tackles last year, 9.5 TFLs, three sacks.
* Will play a stand-up DE at times.
* Active motor, good size at DE, not necessarily a speed rush force, but a good all-around player.
LINEBACKERS:
The Skinny: Decent group, somewhat similar to Michigan State.
They don’t have the AJ Edds consummate big Iowa guy in the slot anymore. Edds was so good, and the poster child for old school football transitioning vs the new school. However there just aren’t many guys of his size that can smart-move all over the place like he did.
So Iowa is going more in the direction that Michigan State is headed, with a slot LB playing more towards the slot receiver and less in the tackle box. This leaves Iowa with less personnel in the box vs the run than used to be the case, only by a half step or so, but it makes a difference. Iowa is out-numbered in the box vs the run more often this year than in the past. Also, the safeties don’t support the run as well, and ILB Nick Niemann doesn’t seem to have great instincts and knack; he’s often a downstream type of guy, not hammering the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage and instead is latching on two or three yards downstream.
Djimon Colbert, who started last year, opted out due to COVID.
SLOT (CASH) LB 35 BARRINGTON WADE (6-1, 236, Sr., Skokie, Ill.)
* Sturdy strong. Sack vs Purdue as a blitzer, turned blocking back into a blocking sled and piled him back into the QB for a sack. That was impressive.
- Assignment error in zone allowed game-winning 6-yard TD pass to Purdue with 2:17 left.
* Although he’s technically a “cash” LB, kind of their version of a “star” or nickel, he still has linebacker size. But they position him out toward the slot WR a little further than past Iowa teams.
MLB 44 SETH BENSON (6-0, 231, Soph., Sioux Falls, SD)
* Did not play against Purdue.
* First-year starter. Maybe a Joe Bachie type, a little shorter.
* No strong opinion on him. Runs okay sideline to sideline. But Iowa just doesn't log-jam you up the middle like they used to, and I thought he might help with that when he returned to the lineup against Northwestern but it just didn't happen. Not yet anyway.
WLB 49 NICK NIEMANN (6-4, 233, Sr, Sycamore, Ill.)
* 13 career starts.
- Looked a little bit soft as a middle plugger in the fourth quarter against Purdue. Not of the usual Iowa quality. Became a downstream guy.
- Kind of plays like Noah Harvey did against Rutgers. Not an instinctive hammer like Iowa usually has as inside linebackers.
* Had a pick six in the Holiday Bowl against USC.
DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD
* The Skinny: The usual Iowa coverages. Northwestern didn’t throw a lot. Purdue had success with the usual zone beaters: little sit-down routes, the smash concept to the cover-two window, and intermediate routes.
No strong opinions on the CBs, other than No. 20 struggled as a tackler in the opener and then didn’t start against Northwestern.
CB 33 RILEY MOSS (6-1, 191, Jr., Akeny, Iowa)
* Started one game last year, started five games as a freshman in 2018.
* Good open-field tackler.
* No opinion on his coverage skills.
CB 8 MATT HANKINS (6-0, 180, Sr., Lewisville, Texas)
* Will play some slot LB/CB. Played slot CB/LB against Purdue because Benson was out and everyone slid over a position.
* 18 career starts.
* Dabbled at slot LB kind of like Michigan State is doing with Shakur Brown. Iowa doesn’t call it a LB, neither does Michigan State against some formations this guy ends up being the seventh man in the box, like a linebacker.
* When Iowa had him in the slot, Iowa did it with two deep safeties, leaving Iowa light in the box with five defenders. Michigan State doesn’t leave two deep safeties when putting the fifth DB in the slot.
* He had two INTs last year.
+ Nice, diving INT dropping back into coverage vs Purdue to stop a 12 yard dig route.
CB 20 Julius Brents (6-2, 204, Soph., Indianapolis)
- Started against Purdue but missed three tackles in 1H. Didn’t start the next week.
WHAT PURDUE DID
* Purdue fed the ball to its four-star sophomore WR David Bell. Combined with last year, he had 23 catches for 304 yards in his first six quarters of football against Iowa. They hit him with intermediate routes - square-outs into the cover-four window, and square-ins behind the linebackers. When they tried to go deep to him, they couldn’t quite connect this year.
WHEN PURDUE WENT DEEP
* Purdue didn’t go deep in the 1H against Iowa, but went deep three times in the 3Q.
* Purdue tested Brents (20) deep on the first play of the 2H. Purdue’s David Bell went deep vs Brents’ press coverage. Brents turned his hips pretty well and had him well-covered, but was flagged for interference for hand-fighting at the end of the route. Physically and athletically, Brents didn’t look like a coverage weakness on this play.
* On the third play of the 2H, Purdue went deep vs the other CB, Moss, on a deep post vs a two-deep coverage. I think it was zone, but Moss went with the WR on the route and didn’t pass him off to a safety, so it might have been two-man. Anyway, the Purdue QB ended up throwing deep into triple-coverage for an incompletion. The route drew CB Moss and the two safeties.
* Went with deep 20-yard fly route vs cover-three LB blitz. The Iowa CB was in cover-three bail, but on deep ball down the sideline, everything becomes man-to-man match, right/ On this play, CB Brents had it well-covered vs Purdue’s four-star WR David Bell. Bell made a circus catch but was flagged for offensive pass interference. Again, Brents had it well-covered.
SS 26 KAEVON MERRIWEATHER (6-2, 205, Soph., Belleville, Mich.)
* Was a 5.3 two-star, unranked in Michigan and a signing day commitment.
* First-year starter.
* Didn’t really notice him vs Purdue but made a mammoth hit in the red zone vs Northwestern vs the run.
S 4 DANE BELTON (6-1, 205, Soph., Tampa)
* Four starts last year.
+ Excellent hit out of 2-deep zone broke up a pass on a dig in 2Q vs Purdue.
* In the slot as the nickel back against Northwestern on third down.
FS 28 JACK KOERNER (6-0, 205, Jr., Des Moines, Iowa).
* Second-year starter.
+ INT in fourth quarter vs Northwestern, when QB Payton Ramsey was flushed from the pocket by good pressure from second-string DE Evans.
* Purdue 9-yard TD pass to slot WR (David Bell), open due to miscommunication between 8 Hankins and 4 (back-up safety) Dane Belton.
* Bell and Koerner with a communications bust left Purdue WR Bell wide open deep on a post but QB overthrew him. Should have been an 80 yard TD.
SPECIAL TEAMS
* 16 Jones: Decent punt returner, transfer from Buffalo.
24 yard punt return vs Purdue. 89 Ragaini has been good at it too.
* Iowa notoriously sets up for returns, making them susceptible to fakes. But they have tried to keep two safety edge monitors to prevent fakes while setting up for returns.
PK DUNCAN has hit on 84 percent of his field goals, No. 1 in school history.
ADD IT ALL UP
Iowa had a terrible off-season with accusations of racial bias levied against current and former coaches by former players. Eight former threatened a lawsuit and asked for $20 million in damages. The school rejected the demands.
There have been other transfers since then. Their strength coach stepped down at the outset of these troubles. And now they have gotten off to an 0-2 start.
Iowa is good, well-structured, established, proud program that is on its heels. If Ferentz is ever going to get a willful, physical performance out of this year’s team, it’s right now. They’re cornered. They NEED to win this game. Michigan State NEEDS to follow up last week’s victory with another good performance. Which team needs it more? Iowa.
Michigan State was far better last week than Iowa has been at any time this year. That by itself, you would think, would make Michigan State the favorite in this game. I was surprised to see Vegas list Iowa as an 8- or 9-point favorite at the beginning of the week. There is not much on paper of film to support that, other than a hunch that Iowa is going to fight hard off the ropes right now because they have to, and a hunch that Michigan State is going to have an adrenalin dump after last week’s victory over Michigan.
Michigan State needs to rise up and contain the run.
Iowa will likely contain MSU’s run game.
That puts it on the pass game. Both teams are solid in pass protection. Both teams are tricky in pass defense. Both teams are merely okay in pass rush.
That puts it on the QBs. Lombardi is more consistent and reliable than Petras at this point.
If special teams and turnovers are equal, I would expect that Lombardi has a great chance to be the difference in his homecoming game.
IOWA DEFENSE, THE MICRO
* Iowa's ILBs and safeties don’t seem to be the instinctive hammers they’ve been in the past. They’re reasonably athletic, but have been late to arrive, play after play, on some of the long, sustained drives that Purdue and Northwestern have had against Iowa, especially with ground gainer after ground gainer of 3, 8, 4, 2, 7 yards.
* Coverages:
* They will mix it up with some press, into quarters bail. But you don’t know if it’s quarters or cover-two halves until you’re a few steps into your route. And sometimes they latch on and it becomes man-to-man. Very good at seeming simple but being complex in pass defense, and they’ve always been that way, with hard hitting just for good measure.
* They love to play with two deep, if they can stop the run with the standard 7 and pressure with a standard 4.
* They used a third CB in the slot against Purdue like a true nickel more than I can remember from them in past years. But they didn’t do it that way against Northwestern.
* Two DB assignment busts in first half vs Purdue, more than you usually see from Iowa.
* They play more zone inside the 15-yard line than most teams. Had a tip drill INT in the red zone vs Purdue by LB Barrington Wade.
* Not a heavy blitz team but they blitzed on consecutive plays vs Purdue when they had Purdue backed up inside their own 12-yard line.
IOWA PASS RUSH
* No scary guys, but they get you with coverage sacks and coverage pressures.
EXOTICS?
* Iowa is the least-exotic defense in the Big Ten. But even Iowa will mix things up a little - usually on third down. Almost never on first down, unless you are deep in your own territory.
On a third-and-7 in the 3Q vs Purdue, Iowa went with a five-man rush zone blitz with stand-up DE Golston dropping into coverage. Iowa was in cover-three behind him. That’s not terribly exotic, but Golston as a stand-up DE has some flexibility. The blitzing LBs didn’t get home in time at the Purdue QB connected on a 15-yard out route in front of a cover-three CB.
* Against Northwestern, they did some of the Narduzzi “chaos” stuff, which basically means no d-linemen are in a three-point stance. They’re standing up, milling around, and you don’t know who is going to come from which gap. But I never saw them do anything terribly creative out of this. It usually ended up being a standard four-man rush.
THE PERSONNEL
DEFENSIVE LINE
The Skinny: Firm inside with their usual assortment of two-gapping brawn. Not super disruptive. No ransackers. Just good, solid. They began losing the line of scrimmage to Purdue late in the game, possibly due to Purdue’s usage of occasional uptempo. Still, that was surprising to see. Purdue was dead last in rush offense in the Big Ten last year, but kind of took ownership of the line of scrimmage against this unit for key plays late in the game.
Interesting that three of the four starting d-linemen are transfers, including two Michiganders.
LDE 97 ZACH VANVALKENBURG (6-4, 270, Sr., Zeeland, Mich.)
* In February of 2019, he transferred from Hillsdale College to Iowa, also considered Michigan State.
* He won two state titles as a LB at Zeeland West.
* Was a no-star recruit when he went to Hillsdale.
* Had two tackles last season in 11 games.
* First-year starter.
* Huge for a 4-3 defensive end.
* Smart, squeeze his gap, then quick first two steps.
+ Caused fumble, and recovered it, in 1Q vs Northwestern.
(DE 92 John Waggoner, 6-5, 271, Soph., decent inside swipe move, but missed the tackle on the sack in the 3Q against Purdue).
(DE 13 Joe Evans, 6-2, 248, Soph., coverage sack vs NW).
DT 54 DAVIYON NIXON (6-3, 305, Jr., Kenosha, Wis.)
* Juco transfer from Iowa Western CC.
* 29 tackles as a second-stringer last year.
+ Good job staying low, disengaging and hunting with grappling-hook arms to make tackles.
+ Good rip move on the pass rush for a DT.
+ 99 Shannon and Nixon got home for a sack on third-and-medium in the 3q vs Purdue. Coverage sack, three man rush. First time they went with a three-man rush all day.
+ Coverage sack vs NW in the third quarter. Just kept chuggin’.
+ Good lateral quickness to cross face on pass rush, shown on half-sack with Golston in 4Q vs NW. Golston with a good counter move.
DT 96 JACK HEFLIN (6-4, 312, Sr., Prophetstown, Ill.)
- Transfer from Northern Illinois.
* Second-team All-MAC last year.
* Kind of a Mike Panasiuk type of guy. Sturdy.
- Facemask penalty negated a sack by Golston and gave Purdue first-and-10 in the red zone with 3:18 to play for the winning score.
DL 57 CHAUNCEY GOLSTON (6-5, 270, Sr., Detroit East English Village)
* Was a 5.6 three-star recruit, ranked No. 16 in Michigan. Spring commitment. Michigan State had not offered.
* HM All-Big Ten by coaches last year.
* 47 tackles last year, 9.5 TFLs, three sacks.
* Will play a stand-up DE at times.
* Active motor, good size at DE, not necessarily a speed rush force, but a good all-around player.
LINEBACKERS:
The Skinny: Decent group, somewhat similar to Michigan State.
They don’t have the AJ Edds consummate big Iowa guy in the slot anymore. Edds was so good, and the poster child for old school football transitioning vs the new school. However there just aren’t many guys of his size that can smart-move all over the place like he did.
So Iowa is going more in the direction that Michigan State is headed, with a slot LB playing more towards the slot receiver and less in the tackle box. This leaves Iowa with less personnel in the box vs the run than used to be the case, only by a half step or so, but it makes a difference. Iowa is out-numbered in the box vs the run more often this year than in the past. Also, the safeties don’t support the run as well, and ILB Nick Niemann doesn’t seem to have great instincts and knack; he’s often a downstream type of guy, not hammering the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage and instead is latching on two or three yards downstream.
Djimon Colbert, who started last year, opted out due to COVID.
SLOT (CASH) LB 35 BARRINGTON WADE (6-1, 236, Sr., Skokie, Ill.)
* Sturdy strong. Sack vs Purdue as a blitzer, turned blocking back into a blocking sled and piled him back into the QB for a sack. That was impressive.
- Assignment error in zone allowed game-winning 6-yard TD pass to Purdue with 2:17 left.
* Although he’s technically a “cash” LB, kind of their version of a “star” or nickel, he still has linebacker size. But they position him out toward the slot WR a little further than past Iowa teams.
MLB 44 SETH BENSON (6-0, 231, Soph., Sioux Falls, SD)
* Did not play against Purdue.
* First-year starter. Maybe a Joe Bachie type, a little shorter.
* No strong opinion on him. Runs okay sideline to sideline. But Iowa just doesn't log-jam you up the middle like they used to, and I thought he might help with that when he returned to the lineup against Northwestern but it just didn't happen. Not yet anyway.
WLB 49 NICK NIEMANN (6-4, 233, Sr, Sycamore, Ill.)
* 13 career starts.
- Looked a little bit soft as a middle plugger in the fourth quarter against Purdue. Not of the usual Iowa quality. Became a downstream guy.
- Kind of plays like Noah Harvey did against Rutgers. Not an instinctive hammer like Iowa usually has as inside linebackers.
* Had a pick six in the Holiday Bowl against USC.
DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD
* The Skinny: The usual Iowa coverages. Northwestern didn’t throw a lot. Purdue had success with the usual zone beaters: little sit-down routes, the smash concept to the cover-two window, and intermediate routes.
No strong opinions on the CBs, other than No. 20 struggled as a tackler in the opener and then didn’t start against Northwestern.
CB 33 RILEY MOSS (6-1, 191, Jr., Akeny, Iowa)
* Started one game last year, started five games as a freshman in 2018.
* Good open-field tackler.
* No opinion on his coverage skills.
CB 8 MATT HANKINS (6-0, 180, Sr., Lewisville, Texas)
* Will play some slot LB/CB. Played slot CB/LB against Purdue because Benson was out and everyone slid over a position.
* 18 career starts.
* Dabbled at slot LB kind of like Michigan State is doing with Shakur Brown. Iowa doesn’t call it a LB, neither does Michigan State against some formations this guy ends up being the seventh man in the box, like a linebacker.
* When Iowa had him in the slot, Iowa did it with two deep safeties, leaving Iowa light in the box with five defenders. Michigan State doesn’t leave two deep safeties when putting the fifth DB in the slot.
* He had two INTs last year.
+ Nice, diving INT dropping back into coverage vs Purdue to stop a 12 yard dig route.
CB 20 Julius Brents (6-2, 204, Soph., Indianapolis)
- Started against Purdue but missed three tackles in 1H. Didn’t start the next week.
WHAT PURDUE DID
* Purdue fed the ball to its four-star sophomore WR David Bell. Combined with last year, he had 23 catches for 304 yards in his first six quarters of football against Iowa. They hit him with intermediate routes - square-outs into the cover-four window, and square-ins behind the linebackers. When they tried to go deep to him, they couldn’t quite connect this year.
WHEN PURDUE WENT DEEP
* Purdue didn’t go deep in the 1H against Iowa, but went deep three times in the 3Q.
* Purdue tested Brents (20) deep on the first play of the 2H. Purdue’s David Bell went deep vs Brents’ press coverage. Brents turned his hips pretty well and had him well-covered, but was flagged for interference for hand-fighting at the end of the route. Physically and athletically, Brents didn’t look like a coverage weakness on this play.
* On the third play of the 2H, Purdue went deep vs the other CB, Moss, on a deep post vs a two-deep coverage. I think it was zone, but Moss went with the WR on the route and didn’t pass him off to a safety, so it might have been two-man. Anyway, the Purdue QB ended up throwing deep into triple-coverage for an incompletion. The route drew CB Moss and the two safeties.
* Went with deep 20-yard fly route vs cover-three LB blitz. The Iowa CB was in cover-three bail, but on deep ball down the sideline, everything becomes man-to-man match, right/ On this play, CB Brents had it well-covered vs Purdue’s four-star WR David Bell. Bell made a circus catch but was flagged for offensive pass interference. Again, Brents had it well-covered.
SS 26 KAEVON MERRIWEATHER (6-2, 205, Soph., Belleville, Mich.)
* Was a 5.3 two-star, unranked in Michigan and a signing day commitment.
* First-year starter.
* Didn’t really notice him vs Purdue but made a mammoth hit in the red zone vs Northwestern vs the run.
S 4 DANE BELTON (6-1, 205, Soph., Tampa)
* Four starts last year.
+ Excellent hit out of 2-deep zone broke up a pass on a dig in 2Q vs Purdue.
* In the slot as the nickel back against Northwestern on third down.
FS 28 JACK KOERNER (6-0, 205, Jr., Des Moines, Iowa).
* Second-year starter.
+ INT in fourth quarter vs Northwestern, when QB Payton Ramsey was flushed from the pocket by good pressure from second-string DE Evans.
* Purdue 9-yard TD pass to slot WR (David Bell), open due to miscommunication between 8 Hankins and 4 (back-up safety) Dane Belton.
* Bell and Koerner with a communications bust left Purdue WR Bell wide open deep on a post but QB overthrew him. Should have been an 80 yard TD.
SPECIAL TEAMS
* 16 Jones: Decent punt returner, transfer from Buffalo.
24 yard punt return vs Purdue. 89 Ragaini has been good at it too.
* Iowa notoriously sets up for returns, making them susceptible to fakes. But they have tried to keep two safety edge monitors to prevent fakes while setting up for returns.
PK DUNCAN has hit on 84 percent of his field goals, No. 1 in school history.
ADD IT ALL UP
Iowa had a terrible off-season with accusations of racial bias levied against current and former coaches by former players. Eight former threatened a lawsuit and asked for $20 million in damages. The school rejected the demands.
There have been other transfers since then. Their strength coach stepped down at the outset of these troubles. And now they have gotten off to an 0-2 start.
Iowa is good, well-structured, established, proud program that is on its heels. If Ferentz is ever going to get a willful, physical performance out of this year’s team, it’s right now. They’re cornered. They NEED to win this game. Michigan State NEEDS to follow up last week’s victory with another good performance. Which team needs it more? Iowa.
Michigan State was far better last week than Iowa has been at any time this year. That by itself, you would think, would make Michigan State the favorite in this game. I was surprised to see Vegas list Iowa as an 8- or 9-point favorite at the beginning of the week. There is not much on paper of film to support that, other than a hunch that Iowa is going to fight hard off the ropes right now because they have to, and a hunch that Michigan State is going to have an adrenalin dump after last week’s victory over Michigan.
Michigan State needs to rise up and contain the run.
Iowa will likely contain MSU’s run game.
That puts it on the pass game. Both teams are solid in pass protection. Both teams are tricky in pass defense. Both teams are merely okay in pass rush.
That puts it on the QBs. Lombardi is more consistent and reliable than Petras at this point.
If special teams and turnovers are equal, I would expect that Lombardi has a great chance to be the difference in his homecoming game.
