Fun Facts: Troy vs. Iowa. The Hawkeyes’ first 4-letter word battle in 46 years

Fun Facts for Saturday’s Iowa football game against Troy.

1. This is the first time Iowa has played a team from Alabama. Speaking of which, Alabama is at Wisconsin Saturday.

2. Troy is the two-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion.

3. This game is on FS1. The Hawkeyes have won in their last 18 appearances on that network.

4. Troy was 10th in the nation in scoring defense last season and eighth the year before. It is 94th this year.

5. Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson has back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. The last Hawkeye with three in a row was Shonn Greene, who topped 100 yards in all 13 games in 2008.

6. Troy tight end Trae Swartz is from Ottumwa, Iowa. He was named Ottumwa High’s Male Athlete of the Year as a senior. He scored a school-record 42 points in a 2019 basketball game.

7. The Trojans are 1-8 against Big Ten teams. The win was 24-19 at Nebraska in 2018.

8. Troy defensive end Javon Solomon led the nation in quarterback sacks last season with 16. He is now with the Buffalo Bills.

9. Troy’s streak of five straight bowl wins was snapped last year with a 17-10 loss to Duke in the Birmingham Bowl.

10. The probable starting quarterbacks have played for a total of five schools. Troy’s Matthew Caldwell was at Jacksonville State and Gardner-Webb. Iowa’s Cade McNamara began at Michigan.

11. Only two lettermen in Hawkeye football history are named “Troy.” They are Troy Johnson (2017-20) and Troy Wilkes (1989).

12. The Hawkeyes’ 20-19 loss to Iowa State last week was the second game in that series decided by one point in its 71-game history. The other was Iowa’s 18-17 win in 2019.

13. Troy kicker Paddy McAteer handles the Trojans’ kickoffs. He is a freshman from Mullaghbawn, Ireland. He kicked an American football for the first time in April and arrived in the U.S. on Aug. 21. He played goalkeeper for Mullaghbawn Cúchulainns GFC.

14. Iowa is 98th in the nation in punting. Troy is 112th.

15. Troy is 3-13 over the last two seasons in pregame coin tosses.

16. Iowa hasn’t scored more than 22 points in its last 10 games against FBS opponents.

17. The Hawkeyes have allowed minus-1 yards of punt-returns this season.

18. Troy is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which is 0-5 and has been outscored by 24.2 points per game against Power 4 conference teams.

19. Iowa hasn’t played a fellow four-letter team (acronyms don’t count) since it lost to Utah in 1978. The Hawkeyes have never played Army, Duke, Navy, Ohio or Rice.

20. Iowa City averages 27 inches of snow per year. Troy, Ala., averages 0.0.

Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com