The Hawkeyes look to repeat what they did two years ago: destroying North Texas on September 16th, 2017.
On September 26th, 2015, the Iowa Hawkeyes put one of their biggest beat-downs on North Texas. This year, things may be a little different. The Hawkeyes have a whole new squad since their last meeting with the Mean Green. What’s at stake, and what will happen?
North Texas’ last meeting was with the SMU Mustangs on September 9th. They got completed manhandled, losing 54-32. Iowa’s last game was played on the same day, to an in-state rival Iowa State, 44-41 in overtime. Comparing these two teams, Iowa has a clear edge and quite a favorable game in their hands.
Hawkeyes will need to make key adjustments from what we learned in the Cy-Hawk game on September 9th.
The Hawkeyes last meeting was with Iowa State, ending in overtime. The game was quite sloppy offensively, overthrowing receivers, and just simple-but costly-mistakes. Those mistakes cannot happen again, especially against a team like North Texas, where this game is heavily in our favor. The biggest mistake that needs correcting is most of the passing plays.
Stanley has overthrown countless receivers, and misread routes. This cannot happen going into the season and this game will be a perfect game for “testing” heading into conference action. Of course, there’s going to be a few plays here and there that are off, but cannot be like the game we saw against the Cyclones.
North Texas’ this season can be very deadly and explosive when it comes to the passing game.
Defensively, the Hawkeyes look to annihilate this Mean Green offense. They accounted for an interception which lead to a field goal against Iowa State. North Texas committed three turnovers against SMU on September 9th, which are two interceptions and a fumble.
The Mean Green had a very good day passing, throwing 424 yards (9.6 per pass), on 32-47 (68%) completion rate. The defense gave up 99 yards rushing on 2.9 yards per rush. What does this mean for the Hawkeyes? They need to stop the passing game. North Texas looked amazing offensively through the air against SMU, and that is one of Iowa’s weaknesses coming out of the Iowa State game on September 9th.
The key for winning this game for the Hawkeyes, maybe not in a blow out fashion like two years ago (62-16), will be stopping the passing game defensively, and throwing good passes. This game will be very one-sided, and I believe this game will end up in a lopsided Iowa victory by at least three touchdowns.
Prediction: the Hawkeyes win this game 38-14, Nate Stanley throwing for two touchdown passes and the backfield scoring three rushing touchdowns. This game will be very interesting to see how our offense plays come post-game adjustments from the Cy-Hawk rivalry on September 9th.