The Pylons -- Michigan State

A look at the look at Iowa-Michigan State.

1. "Tommy gets his Tonsils out"

The flu passed through Iowa last week. Probably some residue, but the noise in the system is much quieter than it was last week.

WR Marvin McNutt missed most of last week's game with a jammed thumb. RB Brandon Wegher suffered a bruised hand. Kirk Ferentz said on his radio show Wednesday night that both were fine. If we were NFL-ing it, I'd say probable. The wildcard, of course, is the fact that they're hand injuries and as skill guys they sort of need those.

Michigan State quarterbacks Kirk Cousins (ankle) and Keith Nichol (elbow) are dinged but good to go. DE Trevor Anderson suffered an ankle injury at the end of the Northwestern game, but he'll play. RB Larry Caper also left the game with something lower body, but he re-entered.

These should be relatively healthy football teams.  

2. Where you should point your binoculars.

Iowa's O-line -- I hate coming back to this, but MSU's front seven is among the Big Ten's best. Tackles Oren Wilson (our spellcheck changed that to "Owen" earlier this week) and Jerele Worthy are 300 pounds and good pass rushers. End Trevor Anderson is all-Big Ten caliber. Of course, linebackers Greg Jones and Eric Gordon are considered frontrunners for first-team all-Big Ten. The last two weeks, coach Kirk Ferentz has been asked about O-line struggles. This isn't going to go away. In a lot of ways it feels like the last piece to the puzzle for Iowa's offense. In fact, that's exactly what it is.

Running backs -- This game will have four running backs. All four are freshmen, with MSU's true frosh duo of Larry Caper and Edwin Baker. Caper is MSU's leading rusher with 48.3 yards a game. That's not a lot. The Spartans replaced three O-line starters from last season. Maybe that's the deal. Iowa counters with Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher. They combine to average 115.9 yards a game. That's a decent number. They're also solid in the passing game, a notion that's been reintroduced (somewhat) into Iowa's offense this season.

Sophomore QB -- Kirk Cousins probably gets the nod and goes the distance. Last season, Ricky Stanzi was the sophomore QB in this game. He fumbled twice and threw an interception.

Kicker extraordinaire -- Probably haven't given enough love to MSU's Brett Swenson. He's 10 of 11 on field goals this season. The one miss was a 51-yarder against Notre Dame.

3. Who's number _?

Greg Jones is No. 53. Let's just get that one out of the way right off the bat. He leads the nation with 12.1 tackles a game. He's always around the ball. The Spartans love to blitz him off the edge and up the middle. You'll see No. 53 a lot.

Strongside linebacker Eric Gordon (43) is the ying to Jones' other linebacker. Last week, he had 15 tackles and 2.5 for loss. These two give MSU two experienced field generals who don't get caught out of position.

Strong safety Marcus Hyde (11) is the older brother of Hawkeyes freshman Micah Hyde. Marcus has 31 tackles for the Spartans. Micah is a special teamer in his true freshman season.

Cousins (8) has a bad ankle in last week's game. He said it affected his throws. He wasn't able to throw full weight on the injured leg and it left his throws short. He leads the Big Ten with a pass efficiency of 146.6. He has a bit of a sidearm delivery, but it doesn't seem to matter. He's completing 63.5 of his passes and has nine TDs to just four interceptions.

Caper (22) and Baker (4) are young but skilled. MSU's coaching staff showed it really believes in Baker when it pulled his redshirt off last week. Either that or desperation.

Blair White (25) is eventually headed to dental school. He might want to start thinking NFL with his 45 catches for 635 yards and six TDs. He caught 12 passes and two TDs last seek. At 6-2, he's a tough matchup. He's got excellent hands and is fearless in his routes.

4. Iowa defensive backs coach Phil Parker goes all neck vein . . .

At the core of the Hawkeyes' 7-0 start is turnovers. At Iowa State, it was five interceptions. At Penn State, it was three interceptions and a fumble recovery. At Wisconsin last week, three interceptions.

Everytime Iowa's defense forces a turnover percentages of an Iowa victory climb. It's how the football calculator works.

The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten with a plus-11 turnover margin. Iowa leads the nation with 15 interceptions. This defense gets its hands on an average of six passes a game. On the other hand, the Hawkeyes have fumbled just three times this season, with two of those coming in the opener against Northern Iowa.

Michigan State hasn't gotten a lot of turnovers this season. The Spartans are minus-4, ninth in the Big Ten. They have just four interceptions and a league-low eight takeaways.

Can Iowa continue to make a living (and count on) turnovers?