The Minnesota Golden Gophers hit the road to tackle one of their most heated rivalries in the Big Ten: The Iowa Hawkeyes.
Both teams enter the game with 4-3 records on the season, recording great wins and gut-wrenching losses alike. While the Hawkeyes come into the game with an established quarterback, the Gophers boast a top-25 total defense. So after going toe-to-toe with Penn State, but losing to Northwestern, what does this Hawkeyes team bring to the table?
Iowa Offense: The Late Night Show
The Hawkeyes have flipped the script on the Iowa stereotype, displaying an offense that has proven themselves successful in high-scoring affairs behind the efforts of Nathan Stanley. So far this year, he has thrown for 1,513 yards and tossed 16 touchdowns. The team’s win over Iowa State in overtime showed the capability Stanley has to win in shootout games.
The offense also beat up on teams like North Texas and Illinois, taking advantage of weak competition by putting up 31 and 45 points, respectively.
The passing attack of Stanley is fueled specifically by two players: Wide receiver Nick Easley and tight end Noah Fant. Easley has 326 receiving yards this season along with four touchdowns, while Fant has racked up 232 yards with four scores. Both receivers pick up yards in large portions, averaging 10.2 and 14.5 yards per reception, respectively.
However, the biggest key to the offense is running back Akrum Wadley. He is one of the more underrated running backs in the conference, placing himself amongst Big Ten names like Saquon Barkley and Jonathan Taylor. He has 573 rushing yards, 263 receiving yards and seven total touchdowns. He is the safety blanket for Stanley in the passing game and stays consistent running the ball. He averages 119.5 total yards per game.
Both he and Stanley give this team confidence in clutch situations. Iowa has endured bad losses to Northwestern and Michigan State, but nearly knocked off Penn State in Week 4 with 14 fourth-quarter points. Against Iowa State, the Hawkeyes scored 17 fourth-quarter points to force overtime. This team is by no means put away if they are down in the fourth quarter.
Look out for Wadley and Stanley to heat up late in the game and score points in the final quarter. Against a Minnesota squad that has really struggled at putting teams away late, leaving the door open for the Hawkeyes could prove to be a big problem.
Iowa Defense: Bend, But Not Break
The defense ranks 55th in total defense, allowing 381 yards per game. However, the team only allows 18.4 points per game, which is the fewest allowed by any team outside the top 45. They are also the only team outside the top 50 to allow fewer than 20 points per game.
This team does not give up a lot of points in wins, and fewer in losses. This team survives in grit-and-grind contests. The defense is led by sack master Anthony Nelson, who has five sacks, seven tackles for loss and 25 tackles this season. Nelson disrupts opposing backfields and keeps quarterbacks from finding a consistent rhythm.
In the secondary, Josh Jackson leads the team with two of the eight total interceptions for the Hawkeyes. He also has 30 tackles and 11 passes batted down, making him the likely candidate to take on Gophers receiver Tyler Johnson.
This team is a very sound defensive group that does not miss a lot of tackles. Trying to run against them will go right into the teeth of a linebacking group that has 40-plus tackles each. Bouncing outside will put you amongst a secondary that has racked up 30 tackles each.
Overall
This is another team that will really give the Gophers trouble by the end of the game. Much like Michigan State, the Gophers will be pushed to perform their best in the fourth quarter, after slugging the first three quarters out.
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