If I had written this story a week ago, I would have told you that Iowa would beat Iowa State convincingly. But after the first game, my confidence level in the Hawkeyes plummeted. Last week was probably the worst game (at least on offense) that I have ever seen them play, and there have been many bad games over the years. They played South Dakota State last Saturday and won by a score of 7-3, but it certainly did not feel like a win. Iowa needed to get two safeties and a field goal just to get by with a victory.
When you must rely on your defense being the best one in the country because the offense cannot do anything right, that would certainly give fans a reason to be upset. Iowa State on the other hand played well and won their first game by a score of 42-10 over Southeast Missouri State. Now it is just the first game for Iowa and hopefully, all their games will not be that bad, but this will be the year Iowa State finally gets their sweet revenge in this one-sided series.
This Saturday will mark the 69th total game in this series, and Iowa is way ahead of Iowa State who is 46-22 all-time against the Cyclones. The Hawkeyes have won 6 straight games in this series dating back to 2015 when their win streak began. If Iowa State manages to win this weekend, it will be the first-time beating Iowa since 2014. Iowa may have a great defense, but Iowa State, unlike Iowa, can light up a scoreboard offensively. In last week’s game, Iowa State had 469 yards of total offense whereas Iowa only had 166 total yards.
Both teams played schools well below their division level as well. Iowa State has a new quarterback under center this year named Hunter Dekkers, taking over for 4-year starting quarterback Brock Purdy who went to the NFL, and a new starting running back named Jirehl Brock, taking over for Breece Hall who left after his junior season to play in the NFL.
Dekkers played well in his first career start completing 25/31 passes for 293 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, with 3 of them coming in the first half. Brock also had a nice game with 16 rushing attempts for 104 yards and a touchdown. Even though both players did well in their first game, they will be tested against Iowa’s defense on the road. When you have a defense who has had 3 safeties in the last two games they played, you know that you will have a challenge ahead. If Iowa wins this game, the defense will play a large part in it. I would love for my prediction to be wrong, but unless Iowa makes some substantial changes on offense, it will be another disappointing game and a long season for the Hawkeye faithful.
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