Iowa Football: Four things we want to see in Evanston

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IOWA CITY, IOWA- OCTOBER 19: Defensive end A.J. Epenesa #94 and defensive back Geno Stone #9 of the Iowa Hawkeyes walk off the field together following their match-up against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 19, 2019 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /

Continue Elite Play on Defense

I don’t want to be cynical, but Hawkeye fans have experienced this before.

For long stretches of time, Iowa football plays elite defense. Then, they face a team like Purdue or Northwestern and some unknown skill player has a career day.

Last week, David Bell broke through the Iowa defense and nearly helped Purdue to a major upset in Iowa City. Luckily, the Hawkeyes survived.

I understand that David Bell is hardly an unknown skill player, but Anthony Mahoungou (2017 breakout player on Purdue against Iowa) certainly qualifies.

Against a team that may be Iowa football’s equal on defense, scares like last week cannot happen. I assure you, against Northwestern, a scare will become a nightmare.

Phil Parker’s defense is much closer to full strength than they were against Michigan and Penn State. While the Hawkeyes are not facing a team with the weapons on offense that Purdue has, they are going to need to keep the pressure off of the offense.

The over/under for this game is 37.5, which seems a bit high considering the ineptitude of each offense.
The defense is going to need to keep Northwestern to fewer than 14 on Saturday. Luckily, they allow an average of 13.5 points per game on the road.

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