I think the good thing about this game is that I honestly believe, after the NDSU game 6 years ago...KF has changed the way they approach these games. I think they do way more specific game opponent stuff in the weeks prior to the game...not just during game week. I believe the old method was that the weeks leading up to game week were strictly focused on Iowa stuff. Now, I'm pretty sure they are prepping over the past two weeks.
Certainly the 2020 loss to Purdue hurt in the opener...but we haven't lost in a game like this since NDSU. I think they've added a bit more focus on the opponent during camp. It's important to start off on the right foot. I expect our gameplans to be spot on...and the team to be ready.
As many folks have rightly said ... oddly enough, Iowa lost the '16 game (against NDSU) in the trenches. You don't often hear that about the Hawks ... particularly in the context of a game against a non-conference foe. That season saw the emergence of Anthony Nelson ... but, back then, the Hawks only really had a 3-man rotation at DE.
On the interior, Bazata was a solid technician and Johnson was a talented "big-body." However, Ekakitie was still an enigma at that point ... in the season prior, he still wasn't really consistently productive. As the '16 season wore on, Ekakitie finally "found his groove." Anyhow, again, this illustrates that at DT, the hawks only had a 3-man rotation.
The point? The '16 DL was limited to a 6-man rotation ... with one of those guys being a redshirt freshman, albeit a talented one (in Anthony). Our most experienced "firepower" on the DL that year was our SR DT, Jaleel Johnson.
As we look at the '22 DL ... I think that we all know that the potential is there for them to be phenomenal. We'll have to see if they can "prove it" on the field. I'm pretty confident that we'll see the '22 DL be able to work with around a 10-man rotation. Guys are going to be FRESH ... and probably pretty HUNGRY too!
In '16, the Iowa OL had all sorts of injury issues - if memory serves, Myers may have been playing dinged to start the season (something they learned from and didn't repeat the following season). Furthermore, two of our top players on the interior, Welsh and Daniels, were BOTH out for that game!
From the off-season ... it sounds like the '22 squad might be coming off some injury issues too. However, truth be told - the '22 squad still seems to be "deeper" (compared to the '16 group) ... although it isn't necessarily more experienced. We'll see if it's coming into the SDSU game healthier ... that remains to be seen.
Anyhow, I expect Iowa to "win in the trenches" against SDSU ... even though the score-board may make the game look "uglier" (closer) than that.