CFI: HAWKEYES NEED TO WIN TO GET TO .500

BY JJ PESAVENTO
IOWA INSIDER

When the Iowa Hawkeyes meet the Northwestern Wildcats this weekend in Evanston, IL, both teams will be looking to keep their bowl hopes alive. The Wildcats enter the contest at 5-4 after losing to Purdue last week. The Hawkeyes come in at 4-5 after coming back from a 14-point deficit to beat Michigan State in double overtime.

The last two meetings between the two teams have been less than pleasant for Iowa. In 2005, the Hawkeyes saw a 24-7 halftime lead evaporate as the Wildcats scored 21 second half points led by quarterback Brett Basanez, who threw for 338 yards and two touchdowns on the day. Northwestern scored twice in less than two minutes to pull out the win and become bowl eligible. Iowa running back Albert Young rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the game.

Last season, running back Tyrell Sutton was unstoppable for Northwestern as he rushed for 168 yards with a touchdown on the Iowa defense. The Wildcats amassed over 440 yards of total offense in the game and left Iowa City with a 21-7 win.

Fast forward to this season and the two teams are decidedly different. Northwestern lives by throwing the ball. Led by quarterback C. J Bacher (2,806 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions), the pass offense is the best in the Big Ten, averaging 313 yards per game. The running game isn't as potent, partially due to the fact that Sutton has missed a good portion of the season due to injury. Still, Sutton may not find as much room to run as he did a year ago with a more experienced Iowa front seven. If there were any weakness in the Iowa defense, it would be defending the pass. The Hawkeyes have struggled at times shutting down the pass and it has cost them dearly. The trio of Eric Peterman (47 receptions, 556 yards, three touchdowns), Ross Lane (42 receptions, 518 yards, six touchdowns) and Kim Thompson (32 receptions, 508 yards, one touchdown) will test them severely.

The Iowa defense will be led by Mitch King, Brian Mattison and Kenny Iwebema up front. The three have combined for 13 sacks thus far this season and pressure on Bacher will be key. Linebacker Mike Klinkenborg may go once he gets the cast on his broken hand that he suffered against Michigan State altered. Klinkenborg and fellow linebacker Mike Humpal lead the linebacking corps and can fly to the ball. Iowa will be without cornerback Adam Shada, who is injured his ankle last week against Michigan State. Bradley Fletcher will step up in his place across from Charles Godfrey, who is among the leading tacklers, and has four interceptions on the season. Brett Greenwood and Harold Dalton man the safeties but look for Norm Parker to give Bacher a lot of different looks with his secondary.

The Iowa offense is just the opposite of the Northwestern offense. The Hawkeye’s strong suit is running the ball with seniors Albert Young (722 yards, three touchdowns) and Damian Sims (403 yards, one touchdown). Young led the second half charge last week in the comeback win over MSU. He had his best game of the season rolling up 179 yards with two touchdowns. Northwestern has had their problems against the run. Purdue, normally a pass happy offense, rolled up 220 yards rushing on the Wildcats a week ago. Senior linebacker Adam Kadela (92 tackles, one sack, five TFL) leads the Wildcat defense in tackles. The four behind Kadela in tackles are all members of the secondary, which is never a good sign. Defensive tackles John Gill (39 tackles, 5.5 TFL, two sacks) and Corey Wooten (28 tackles, six TFL, one sack) will be key if the Wildcats plan on shutting down the Iowa running attack.

The Iowa passing game has struggled all season mainly due to inexperience. Quarterback Jake Christensen (1,564 yards, 12 touchdowns, three interceptions) is in his first season as the starter and is operating with a young offensive line and inexperienced receivers. Iowa has been trying to operate without both their starting receivers plus tight end Tony Moeaki since early in the season. Redshirt freshmen James Cleveland (26 receptions, 380 yards) and Darrell Johnson-Koulianos (23 receptions, 258 yards, two touchdowns) are now the starting receivers for Iowa. If there is a bright side, Christensen may have more time to look the field over since Northwestern has only nine sacks the entire season. And the Wildcats rank even lower nationally defending the pass than they do the run.

Northwestern can obviously move the ball and put up points. They average over 26 points per game. The problem lies with the Wildcat defense. Iowa is anything but an offensive machine at this point but they will be facing a defense that allows over 413 yards of total offense and 30 per game. Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense. For Iowa, that may work. The more the Hawkeyes can ground the ball out and control the tempo of the game, the longer the Northwestern offense will be on the sidelines. And if memory serves correctly, no offense has scored from the bench.

Beyond that, the Hawkeyes have lost two straight to Northwestern in dismal fashion. With their season and bowl hopes on the line, if there were ever a time for payback, this would be it.