Number 11 Indiana comes to Iowa City fresh off almost scoring 70 on Illinois last Saturday as Iowa celebrates Homecoming in a 2:35 kickoff. Coverage is brought to you by Muscatine Power and Water, Morse Chevy, Buick GMC and Community Health Care Dental Clinic. You can hear the game on MC 93 starting with the pregame at 1:30pm.
This is the biggest game of the Hawkeyes season so far with Indiana appearing to be ready to make another run at a playoff spot. The Hoosiers, led by the boisterous Curt Cignetti, are playing confident, fearless football and mowing through any team in their path. The Iowa Hawkeyes have found a bit of an offensive groove as of late, which is a sentence that was unspeakable for the past few seasons.
This is an opportunity for Mark Gronowski to cement his short legacy at Iowa. If he can command the Hawkeyes’ offense against a stout Indiana defense that is playing just as good, if not better, than their offense, he could be remembered for this matchup, which is going to test him. He isn’t going to throw the ball 40 times but the Hawkeyes will need him to move the ball through the air and maybe with his feet in the red zone.
Iowa’s offensive line has been okay, but not great. It blasted away for a stretch against Rutgers to take over the narrative, but for the most part, it had a hard time getting the ground game going against both Iowa State and Rutgers. Indiana brings so much heat from all sides that the pressure will be on Gronowski to make plays to keep Iowa in the game.
Here’s one key thing to remember, though. Indiana has yet to play on the road this year, and it didn’t beat a team that finished with a winning record away from Bloomington last year. It hammered three Big Ten teams that won less than six games, lost to Ohio State, and lost at Notre Dame in the CFP.
This is a chance for the Hawkeyes to knock off a top opponent and change the trajectory of the season and next few years. This is a big one for Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes. With Penn State and Oregon remaining at home later this year, the Kinnick Stadium magic will need to be in full effect for the Hawkeyes to pull off the first of potentially three big upsets.
