The Walk Through

Good morning from Minneapolis.

It's cold. Maybe 35, but it's really, really windy. The Weather Bug wind speed map says between 20 and 30 and it's at least that.

It will be a factor. Cold? These guys are all tough maniacs.

- The Fiesta and Holiday Bowls are here.

Why? Well, they want to indicate interest. If one of these two teams does win the Big Ten West and then takes the B1G championship game in Indianapolis, it will be available to the Fiesta Bowl or, maybe, the Cotton Bowl. The Rose Bowl would likely be out. These two teams have two losses and are out of the final four hunt. The next tier of bowls is Cotton, Fiesta and Peach (Chik-Fil-A).

Holiday is part of the next tier, so today's loser, or perhaps if today's victor eventually loses, it would be a good candidate for the San Diego bowl game.

So, there's that. It's way too early for bowl talk. I don't swim in the bowl projection mud hole. I try not to waste your time.

- Floyd of Rosedale is 98.3 pounds, BTW.

- The Iowa pregame radio is talking to former Iowa wide receiver/kick returner Jordan Cotton. He followed his dad, Marshall, into the corrections officer field and is a prison guard in Mount Pleasant (or was it Fort Madison?).

Oh, he'll also be a wide receiver soon for the Cedar Rapids Titans, an indoor football team that plays a the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

- OK, I'm having trouble with the wind.

Marshall Koehn just ripped a 52-yarder through the uprights on the north end of TCF Bank. He tried twice from 55 and it was ugly. I think the wind is coming out of the west.

Neither kicker has done a lot of business in the east end. (I hope I'm getting these right, BTW, the east and west end zones.)

- Iowa radio signs on with Gary Dolphin giving a few words on analyst Ed Podolak's 400th broadcast in the Iowa radio booth.

It all started on a hunch from the legendary Jim Zabel, who 33 years ago asked Podolak to come up to the booth and 'relate” the game to fans.

Well, that worked exceedingly well.

- Koehn's kickoffs from west to east are reaching the end zone. The goalposts are shaking. It's windy here.

- Iowa women's soccer will play for the Big Ten title at Purdue tomorrow. Game is at Purdue.

- RB Jonathan Parker is in uniform and looks like a go. He left early last week after slamming into a road case on the Northwestern sideline.

- TE George Kittle is back in the lineup. He missed last week after suffering an ankle injury at Maryland.

- RB Jordan Canzeri is back after missing last week with an ankle injury.

- DE Riley McMinn is here and looks healthy. I don't think he plays.

- KF on Rudock last week: There was no question he was clicking on all cylinders.

- KF believes 25 to 35 carries for UM RB David Cobb. He'll be a better player than he was last year, when Iowa held him to 30 yards.

- Would Minnesota QB Mitch Leidner be a tight end at Iowa? Probably.

- UM will play a lot more man coverage than Iowa is used to. Could that make this a Damon Powell game?

- In a game where every yard will be hard-earned, can Iowa afford to giveaway invisible yards with punt and punt return. Ferentz said this week he was undecided on punter. Junior Connor Kornbrath took over for junior Dillon Kidd after a fumbled snap handed a TD to Northwestern last week. Iowa's 38.38 yards a punt is 11th in the league (compared to UM's 44.09 that sits No. 2). Punt return remains a risk that Ferentz is unwilling to take. Iowa's 4.13 yards per return is last in the Big Ten. Minnesota averages 10.2 yards a return. The invisible yards are certainly up for grabs here. Those turn into first downs and, eventually, points.

- 'We hate Iowa” - You have to admire Minnesota's earnestness here. Last year, a school-promotional print piece showed a picture of a chubby guy wearing a yellow T-shirt with 'We hate Iowa” in maroon letters. UM athletics director Norwood Teague had that stricken from school material, but you know it's coming from the TCF Bank Stadium crowd.

- I mostly think this for today: Both teams want to run the ball and run it on every down with as much vigor and oopmh as they can possibly muster. When you have a team like Oregon that runs plays like it eats tater tots at training table - seemingly two at a time - you question whether or not time of possession means anything. Iowa and Minnesota aren't Oregon. Time of possession means a lot. Last year, Iowa put up a nearly 13-minute advantage. Minnesota won the TOP in 2012, but lost 31-13. Iowa won it in 2011, but lost 22-21.

Beyond time of possession is simple offensive success and sustaining drives. In each of the last three years, Iowa has averaged 6.8, 6.7 and 6.6 yards a play against UM.

This season, Iowa has maintained possessions better than the Gophers. Iowa has run 604 offensive plays to 517 for Minnesota (last in the Big Ten). Also, Iowa has converted 43.9 percent of is third downs compared to 37.9 for the Gophers.

Body copy ragged right: The numbers say Iowa is the better grind team going into a game of grinders.

- No changes in Iowa's starting lineup.

Let's get it on.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com