The Breakdown
Will the Hawkeyes take the Cy-Hawk Trophy home from Ames for the fourth straight time?
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
@hawkeyereport
The Cy-Hawk Trophy and bragging rights for another year will be on the line on Saturday when Iowa State hosts Iowa. We have your full preview and breakdown on both sides of the ball, plus our prediction for the final score and the pick to click for the Hawkeyes.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Kickoff: 3:05 p.m.
TV: FS1 – Brian Custer, Robert Smith, and Sarah Kustock on the call.
Last Meeting: Iowa defeated Iowa State 13-3 in Iowa City.
The Weather: Generally sunny skies with a stray thunderstorm possible. Temps around 80 and winds 10-20 mph.
The Line: Iowa is a 2 point favorite.
History: Iowa leads the overall series 44-22. Iowa has won the last four meetings and five of the last six. The Hawkeyes have won the last three in Ames and Kirk Ferentz is 5-5 in games played at Jack Trice Stadium. Overall, Iowa is 19-8 at Iowa State.
THE BREAKDOWN
Iowa rush offense vs. Iowa State rush defense
After struggling to consistently run the ball last season, Iowa’s rushing attack is clicking early on in 2019. The Hawkeyes are averaging 203 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry in the first two games. Starting running back Mekhi Sargent is leading the rushing attack with 150 yards through two games and he’s averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Toren Young has 107 yards rushing on 18 carries and is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Tyler Goodson has gotten some work in the first two contests and has 89 yards rushing.
The Cyclones come into this game with a very solid run defense. Last season they really turned things around against the run and held opponents to just 115 yards per game. Against UNI in their opening game, Iowa State held them to just 34 yards and only 1.1 yards per carry. Now, UNI wasn’t expected to run the ball well against Iowa State and they didn’t. The Cyclone rush defense is keyed by a strong line, led by Ray Lima, a run stuffing defensive tackle. They also have strong end play from JaQuan Bailey and Enyi Uwazurike. Mike Rose is a terrific middle linebacker and O’Rien Vance played very well in the opening game for the Cyclones and Marcel Spears was their leading tackler.
This is really strength vs. strength and how this battle goes might tell us the outcome of the game. ADVANTAGE: PUSH
Iowa pass offense vs. Iowa State pass defense
The Hawkeyes passing game has been very solid in the first two games of the season. Nate Stanley is completing nearly 64% of his passes, which is continued growth in that category. Stanley has thrown for an average of 244 yards per game and has six touchdown passes. Just as important, he has zero interceptions.
Stanley has spread the ball around at a good clip this season. Eleven different players have caught a pass this season. In the opening game, ten different Iowa players had a reception. Ihmir Smith-Marsette leads the way with eight receptions, 148 yards gained, and three touchdowns. Smith-Marsette is Iowa’s clear top deep threat. Brandon Smith is another top option with five receptions for 48 yards and one score. The roles of wide receivers Nico Ragaini and Tyrone Tracy continue to have growing roles in the passing game. Iowa is also throwing to their backs more often. Sargent has six receptions for 77 yards this season and Ivory Kelly-Martin had a nice 25 yard reception against Rutgers. One area that was missing in the last game, passes to the tight end. No passes to the position in the last game, but Shaun Beyer had three catches for 30 yards in the first game of the season.
In the opening game against UNI, the Cyclones allowed 228 yards passing. The Panthers did complete 59% of their passes, which is something to take away from that game. The Cyclones have a pretty experienced secondary, led by returning starters Braxton Lewis and Anthony Johnson. One thing that Iowa State does do on defense against offenses in the passing game is play very aggressively. Vance had two sacks in the opener and Spears had three quarterback hurries. What that tells you is Iowa State will be blitzing and they have had some success in that area. Bailey is a very good edge rusher coming off a season where he had eight sacks.
Iowa has done well in protecting Stanley this year and that’s going to be very important on Saturday. ADVANTAGE: SLIGHT TO IOWA
A.J. Epenesa looks to make an impact against the ISU offense.
Iowa State rush offense vs. Iowa rush defense
Last year the Cyclones rushing attack was led by David Montgomery. He’s now in the NFL and thus far it’s more of a committee at running back for Iowa State. They list five different running backs on their depth chart and four of them had carries in the opening game. ISU rushed for 185 yards and averaged 4.1 yards per carry in their first game. They were led by Johnnie Lang, who had 60 yards rushing. Sheldon Croney had 56 yards and freshman Breece Hall finished his first game with 47 yards rushing. Interestingly, quarterback Brock Purdy was a non-factor in the running game, but I suspect that will be different on Saturday.
Iowa’s rush defense has been strong in the first two games of the year. Iowa has allowed only 137 yards rushing in two games and only 2.9 yards per carry. The longest run Iowa has allowed is just 10 yards. The defensive line is always key up front and Cedrick Lattimore and Brady Reiff has been solid at stuffing up the middle and linebackers Kristian Welch and Djimon Colbert have been good at cleaning things up. Welch has a team high 16 tackles and Colbert has 13 stops, including 1.5 for loss. Given the question marks for the Cyclone run game and Iowa’s ability to stop the run, this favors the Hawkeyes. ADVANTAGE: IOWA
Iowa State pass offense vs. Iowa pass defense
Iowa State’s Brock Purdy has a terrific freshman year last season. His opening performance of the 2019 season was pretty good. He threw the ball 41 times and completed 73.2% of his throws for 278 yards. It was a lot of shorter passes in the game and not much yards after catch with the long of 21 yards. His clear favorite target is Deshaunte Jones, who caught nearly half of the completions in the opener. Jones had 14 receptions for 126 yards. LaMichael Pettway is a bigger veteran receiver who appears to be a favorite red zone target. He had a pair of touchdown receptions in the opener, but only three catches.
Iowa’s pass defense has done a nice job early in the season. Last week they exploited a poor Rutgers passing attack, intercepted a pair of passes, and held the Scarlet Knights to just 41 yards passing. Michael Ojemudia has an interception in each game this season and he leads what is right now a banged up secondary. Iowa will be without safety Keavon Merriweather for the second straight game. Geno Stone was banged up in the second half of the Rutgers game, but cornerback Matt Hankins may miss the game with the leg injury. He’s certainly questionable at best.
With a banged up secondary, Iowa’s pass rush will need to create more pressure than they have in the first two games of the season. After 35 sacks last year, Iowa has only two this season. A.J. Epenesa had an outstanding second game of the season with a sack and four quarterback hurries. But, other than an Amani Jones sack in the first game, Iowa hasn’t gotten home much or created a whole lot of pressure. You have to wonder if this weekend Phil Parker breaks out a few different looks to create pressure on Purdy. ADVANTAGE: SLIGHT TO ISU
Special Teams
The Iowa special teams have performed pretty well so far this year. This past weekend we saw exactly why they took Michael Sleep-Dalton as a graduate transfer. He averaged 48 yards per punt against Rutgers. Keith Duncan remains perfect on the year on field goals and this past weekend it included a career best 46 yarder. Ihmir Smith-Marsette has only one kickoff return opportunity and Nico Ragaini is averaging 6.8 yards per punt return.
We only have limited data on the Cyclone kickers with just one game under their belt. Placekicker Connor Assalley made 3 of 4 field goals in the opener with a long of 42 yards. Joe Rivera handles the punting duties and averaged 38.3 yards per punt. The Cyclones did not have a punt return in their first game and only one kickoff return for 23 yards by Kene Nwangwu. Iowa seems to have an edge in the punting game and probably an edge in the return game. ADVANTAGE: IOWA
Will the Hawkeyes take the Cy-Hawk Trophy home from Ames for the fourth straight time?
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
@hawkeyereport
The Cy-Hawk Trophy and bragging rights for another year will be on the line on Saturday when Iowa State hosts Iowa. We have your full preview and breakdown on both sides of the ball, plus our prediction for the final score and the pick to click for the Hawkeyes.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Kickoff: 3:05 p.m.
TV: FS1 – Brian Custer, Robert Smith, and Sarah Kustock on the call.
Last Meeting: Iowa defeated Iowa State 13-3 in Iowa City.
The Weather: Generally sunny skies with a stray thunderstorm possible. Temps around 80 and winds 10-20 mph.
The Line: Iowa is a 2 point favorite.
History: Iowa leads the overall series 44-22. Iowa has won the last four meetings and five of the last six. The Hawkeyes have won the last three in Ames and Kirk Ferentz is 5-5 in games played at Jack Trice Stadium. Overall, Iowa is 19-8 at Iowa State.
THE BREAKDOWN
Iowa rush offense vs. Iowa State rush defense
After struggling to consistently run the ball last season, Iowa’s rushing attack is clicking early on in 2019. The Hawkeyes are averaging 203 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry in the first two games. Starting running back Mekhi Sargent is leading the rushing attack with 150 yards through two games and he’s averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Toren Young has 107 yards rushing on 18 carries and is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Tyler Goodson has gotten some work in the first two contests and has 89 yards rushing.
The Cyclones come into this game with a very solid run defense. Last season they really turned things around against the run and held opponents to just 115 yards per game. Against UNI in their opening game, Iowa State held them to just 34 yards and only 1.1 yards per carry. Now, UNI wasn’t expected to run the ball well against Iowa State and they didn’t. The Cyclone rush defense is keyed by a strong line, led by Ray Lima, a run stuffing defensive tackle. They also have strong end play from JaQuan Bailey and Enyi Uwazurike. Mike Rose is a terrific middle linebacker and O’Rien Vance played very well in the opening game for the Cyclones and Marcel Spears was their leading tackler.
This is really strength vs. strength and how this battle goes might tell us the outcome of the game. ADVANTAGE: PUSH
Iowa pass offense vs. Iowa State pass defense
The Hawkeyes passing game has been very solid in the first two games of the season. Nate Stanley is completing nearly 64% of his passes, which is continued growth in that category. Stanley has thrown for an average of 244 yards per game and has six touchdown passes. Just as important, he has zero interceptions.
Stanley has spread the ball around at a good clip this season. Eleven different players have caught a pass this season. In the opening game, ten different Iowa players had a reception. Ihmir Smith-Marsette leads the way with eight receptions, 148 yards gained, and three touchdowns. Smith-Marsette is Iowa’s clear top deep threat. Brandon Smith is another top option with five receptions for 48 yards and one score. The roles of wide receivers Nico Ragaini and Tyrone Tracy continue to have growing roles in the passing game. Iowa is also throwing to their backs more often. Sargent has six receptions for 77 yards this season and Ivory Kelly-Martin had a nice 25 yard reception against Rutgers. One area that was missing in the last game, passes to the tight end. No passes to the position in the last game, but Shaun Beyer had three catches for 30 yards in the first game of the season.
In the opening game against UNI, the Cyclones allowed 228 yards passing. The Panthers did complete 59% of their passes, which is something to take away from that game. The Cyclones have a pretty experienced secondary, led by returning starters Braxton Lewis and Anthony Johnson. One thing that Iowa State does do on defense against offenses in the passing game is play very aggressively. Vance had two sacks in the opener and Spears had three quarterback hurries. What that tells you is Iowa State will be blitzing and they have had some success in that area. Bailey is a very good edge rusher coming off a season where he had eight sacks.
Iowa has done well in protecting Stanley this year and that’s going to be very important on Saturday. ADVANTAGE: SLIGHT TO IOWA
A.J. Epenesa looks to make an impact against the ISU offense.
Iowa State rush offense vs. Iowa rush defense
Last year the Cyclones rushing attack was led by David Montgomery. He’s now in the NFL and thus far it’s more of a committee at running back for Iowa State. They list five different running backs on their depth chart and four of them had carries in the opening game. ISU rushed for 185 yards and averaged 4.1 yards per carry in their first game. They were led by Johnnie Lang, who had 60 yards rushing. Sheldon Croney had 56 yards and freshman Breece Hall finished his first game with 47 yards rushing. Interestingly, quarterback Brock Purdy was a non-factor in the running game, but I suspect that will be different on Saturday.
Iowa’s rush defense has been strong in the first two games of the year. Iowa has allowed only 137 yards rushing in two games and only 2.9 yards per carry. The longest run Iowa has allowed is just 10 yards. The defensive line is always key up front and Cedrick Lattimore and Brady Reiff has been solid at stuffing up the middle and linebackers Kristian Welch and Djimon Colbert have been good at cleaning things up. Welch has a team high 16 tackles and Colbert has 13 stops, including 1.5 for loss. Given the question marks for the Cyclone run game and Iowa’s ability to stop the run, this favors the Hawkeyes. ADVANTAGE: IOWA
Iowa State pass offense vs. Iowa pass defense
Iowa State’s Brock Purdy has a terrific freshman year last season. His opening performance of the 2019 season was pretty good. He threw the ball 41 times and completed 73.2% of his throws for 278 yards. It was a lot of shorter passes in the game and not much yards after catch with the long of 21 yards. His clear favorite target is Deshaunte Jones, who caught nearly half of the completions in the opener. Jones had 14 receptions for 126 yards. LaMichael Pettway is a bigger veteran receiver who appears to be a favorite red zone target. He had a pair of touchdown receptions in the opener, but only three catches.
Iowa’s pass defense has done a nice job early in the season. Last week they exploited a poor Rutgers passing attack, intercepted a pair of passes, and held the Scarlet Knights to just 41 yards passing. Michael Ojemudia has an interception in each game this season and he leads what is right now a banged up secondary. Iowa will be without safety Keavon Merriweather for the second straight game. Geno Stone was banged up in the second half of the Rutgers game, but cornerback Matt Hankins may miss the game with the leg injury. He’s certainly questionable at best.
With a banged up secondary, Iowa’s pass rush will need to create more pressure than they have in the first two games of the season. After 35 sacks last year, Iowa has only two this season. A.J. Epenesa had an outstanding second game of the season with a sack and four quarterback hurries. But, other than an Amani Jones sack in the first game, Iowa hasn’t gotten home much or created a whole lot of pressure. You have to wonder if this weekend Phil Parker breaks out a few different looks to create pressure on Purdy. ADVANTAGE: SLIGHT TO ISU
Special Teams
The Iowa special teams have performed pretty well so far this year. This past weekend we saw exactly why they took Michael Sleep-Dalton as a graduate transfer. He averaged 48 yards per punt against Rutgers. Keith Duncan remains perfect on the year on field goals and this past weekend it included a career best 46 yarder. Ihmir Smith-Marsette has only one kickoff return opportunity and Nico Ragaini is averaging 6.8 yards per punt return.
We only have limited data on the Cyclone kickers with just one game under their belt. Placekicker Connor Assalley made 3 of 4 field goals in the opener with a long of 42 yards. Joe Rivera handles the punting duties and averaged 38.3 yards per punt. The Cyclones did not have a punt return in their first game and only one kickoff return for 23 yards by Kene Nwangwu. Iowa seems to have an edge in the punting game and probably an edge in the return game. ADVANTAGE: IOWA
