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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
2-Minute Drill: Illinois State Redbirds
Marc Morehouse
Sep. 3, 2015 5:13 pm, Updated: Sep. 3, 2015 5:38 pm
IOWA RUSH OFFENSE VS. ILLINOIS STATE RUSH DEFENSE
Illinois State's offense deserves your attention. It's fun, exciting and scores a ton of points. The Redbirds defense can stand alongside of the offense. The front seven features all-Missouri Valley first-team selections linebacker Pat Meehan and defensive end Teddy Corwin. It also has two FBS transfers in defensive end David Perkins (Ohio State) and strong safety Oshay Dunmore (Oregon), who moved to safety from outside linebacker this spring.
ISU head coach Brock Spack earned Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz's attention when Spack served as longtime Purdue coach Joe Tiller's defensive coordinator. Spack runs a fairly traditional 4-3 defense, but will play to personnel strengths. You will see a share of run blitzes and you'll see discipline. The Redbirds allowed just 121.9 rushing yards a game last season.
Iowa's rush offense sure will be different in 2015. Last season, you had running back Mark Weisman, who really was a fullback, rolling behind an O-line that included tackles (Brandon Scherff and Andrew Donnal) who turned out to be Outland Trophy winner and No. 5 pick in the NFL draft and a fourth-rounder to the St. Louis Rams. It didn't work. Iowa had just three 100-yard rushing performances.
How will it work in 2015? Iowa will have a running back at running back, although junior LeShun Daniels, the expected workhorse, rushed for just 49 yards last season. And now Iowa will have two first-year starters at the tackle spots (sophomores Boone Myers and Ike Boettger).
How this is going to go is totally up in the air. Expect some hit and miss. Also, expect some running plays to go Myers' way early. It will play to the first-time starter's strengths and allow him to build some confidence.
Advantage: Push
IOWA PASS OFFENSE VS. ILLINOIS STATE PASS DEFENSE
Yes, Spack's 4-3 defense is Iowa-like. It's a steady standard, but Spack will mix in creative blitzing and coverages. With his 2015 personnel, he might not have to do that. The Redbirds have a pair of top-flight defensive ends in Corwin (7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss in ‘14) and Perkins (8 sacks, 12 tackles for loss). Corwin (6-5, 260) plays with great range (he finished second on the team with 98 tackles last season). Not only did Perkins (6-2, 245) commit to Ohio State, the South Bend, Ind., native had one of those ridiculous offer lists (18 overall, including Oregon, LSU and Iowa).
Spack's ISU program isn't unlike a lot of FCS schools in that it is constantly in the transfer market. Former Iowa linebacker Reggie Spearman, former Indiana defensive end David Kenney and former Oregon corner Stephen Amaoko transferred in at semester. None have won a spot in the starting lineup.
We saw in spring as Iowa's offensive tackles failed to keep a clean edge for QB C.J. Beathard. We saw a rerun in August. And so what will we see today? Ferentz has expressed confidence in Myers (6-5, 300) and Boettger (6-6, 300). He's also said junior Cole Croston (6-5, 295) will play. He's also said he expects the trio to endure an 'education” on the field.
Iowa's major offseason move and conversation changer was Beathard's insertion into the starter's role at QB. We've been over this. Beathard has the tools to raise Iowa's offense (quick release, big arm, great feet), but he's going to need help, namely he's going to need a somewhat clean pocket. Iowa's OTs are simply going to have to come through. If they don't, Iowa's big offseason move and conversation changer won't get off the runway.
As for Beathard, there has to be more aggression (attempts at explosive plays) from this offense and the playcalling. Otherwise, why unseat a two-year starter for a QB making his first home start?
Advantage: Push
ILLINOIS STATE RUSH OFFENSE VS. IOWA RUSH DEFENSE
Between running back Marshaun Coprich (5-9, 205) and QB Tre Roberson (6-0, 205), the Redbirds return something like 99 percent of an offense that set records for rush yards (3,619), rush TDs (41), total offense and total points. Those are all really good things, pretty much what an offense is shooting for.
Coprich rushed for 2,274 yards and 27 TDs last year. He finished fifth in the Walter Payton Award voting, which is the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Roberson rushed for 1,029 yards. ISU's O-line will be less experienced. Center Mark Spelman (6-3, 280) and left guard Kyle Avaloy (6-5, 330) return with 32 starts between them, but that's it. Left tackle Dan Pawlak (6-5, 305), right guard Cameron Lee (6-6, 310) and right tackle Ryan Gelber (6-5, 295) are new starters.
Just as the offense is breaking out new tackles, so is the Hawkeyes' defense. Junior Jaleel Johnson (6-4, 310) and sophomore Nathan Bazata (6-2, 284) are the new guys. Along Iowa's front seven, there will be four new starters, including linebackers Cole Fisher and Ben Niemann. That's a lot of new.
Iowa will be triggered on defending the perimeter, an element that collapsed against Minnesota and Tennessee (two of the more definitive losses of 2014). The players have been answering this question since spring. If it's not there, heads will roll and/or explode.
Roberson will try to create mismatches through the read-option game. Coprich can just flat out run the football. While relatively new up front, Illinois State is more proven than Iowa here. It's set up to pick up where it left off.
Advantage: Illinois State
ILLINOIS STATE PASS OFFENSE VS. IOWA PASS DEFENSE
Roberson transferred from Indiana after the 2012 season mainly because IU coach Kevin Wilson favored a spread passing attack. That favored QB Nate Sudfeld, who'll assume his starter's role again after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against Iowa last year.
Don't go thinking Roberson's game is one-dimensional. He threw a school-record 30 pass TDs last season. He also amassed a school record 4,250 yards total offense, including 3,221 passing yards. He threw just 10 interceptions and completed 57.9 percent of his passes. The receiving corps? Finally, here's a spot where a team that finished 13-2 and one drive from the FCS national title does have significant turnover. The Redbirds lost their top three receivers, who combined for 140 receptions. Wide receiver Anthony Warrum and Jon-Marc Anderson are the top returners.
The flip side of Iowa's offense being stymied by its defense this spring and summer is, of course, the defense should spread that love to its opponents this fall. Senior DEs Drew Ott (6-4, 272) and Nate Meier (6-1, 255) seem springloaded for a big 2015. Last season, they combined for nine sacks (Ott had 7.5) and 18 tackles for loss (Ott had 12). Those numbers need to increase and/or another defensive end or, preferably, a linebacker needs to join that hunt.
Iowa should be able to generate a pass rush in this game with the front four. With returning corners Desmond King and Greg Mabin, the Hawkeyes are set up to be solid in the secondary. The new guy is strong safety Miles Taylor, who ran through camp hitting everything. His coverage skills are an unknown, for the most part, beyond the practice fences.
Advantage: Iowa
SPECIAL TEAMS
Iowa figures out punting or someone gets thrown into hot lava. OK, overstatement city there, but assistant coach Chris White said a few times this offseason that it's a mission to figure out the punting game. Obviously, the flaming wreck that was the Nebraska game in punt return brought this on.
Senior Dillon Kidd (38.5 yards on 46 punts) won a camp punt-off with senior kicker Marshall Koehn. He had inconsistent swings in his first year on the job. Ferentz wanted to keep the jobs separate - Koehn is plackicker and kickoff specialist - and Kidd did enough in practice to hang in.
Further punctuating Ferentz's desire for special teams improvement across the board is King taking the punt and kick return jobs. Or maybe not. King has no history (OK, he did return one punt for minus-1 yard and a fumble against Maryland last year) doing this and you already know Ferentz's default is fair catch-o-rama.
Expect Iowa's special teams core to be on the uptick. Assistant coach Seth Wallace dove in. Tight ends coach LeVar Woods had a section. These groups have been drilled.
ISU is looking for a new punter and placekicker.
Advantage: Iowa
INTANGIBLES
1. Something might give
- Illinois State hasn't played a Big Ten opponent since 2010 and is 0-for-7 against the league. Iowa is 12-0 all-time against FCS opponents, including the miracle double-blocked FG victory over Northern Iowa at Kinnick in 2009. Spack's team did everything an FCS team can do in 2014 except win the national title and . . . beat an FBS opponent (Redbirds didn't have one on their schedule). Those are the two big crowns for an FCS school. Here's your chance, ISU.
2. Loose and free vs. not-so loose and free
- Hey, this is an FCS school going into a Big Ten stadium to open the season, so assume the logical assumptions. Well, for this particular FCS school and this Big Ten team, that logical assumption is the Redbirds are going to play the living daylights out of Iowa and very well could win. ESPN.com's Brian Bennett, who covers the Big Ten, picked this game as his week 1 upset special.
3. Kinnick atmosphere
- As of Thursday afternoon, Iowa sold just 57,598 tickets for this game. Basically, Iowa is on track for the smallest home crowd in 12 seasons. Kinnick has a capacity of 70,585. This can work two ways: It can drain the souls of the team, especially if it reads less than 60,000 as abandonment. Or, and more likely, this energizes a team that knows it has to win you back.
IOWA WILL WIN IF . . .
Let's just go to the heart of this and say if Iowa gets off a semi-decent running game and the defense can make Roberson semi-one dimensional, Iowa wins. Both of those need to happen.
ILLINOIS STATE WILL WIN IF . . .
Roberson walked into Kinnick as a true freshman at Indiana and put nearly 300 yards of total offense. Now, he's a senior and a some sort of QB ninja. He does ninja things and ISU defense stymies a hardly proven Iowa offense, the fourth quarter might be played in front of friends and family.
PREDICTION
: Iowa 31, Illinois State 24
l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com