Iowa v. Iowa State
Kinnick Stadium — Saturday, Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
This Saturday, the whole state will be captivated by a tale of two cities — Ames and Iowa City — as fans in black, gold and red take over Kinnick Stadium. The infamous Iowa v. Iowa State football game takes place at 6:30 p.m. under the lights at Kinnick Statdium. With the Cy-Hawk Trophy up for grabs, both teams will be looking to break the stalemate — since 2010, each team has won three of the six matchups. Historically, the Hawkeyes hold the advantage, 41-22 over the Cyclones, with the first match-up being an Iowa State victory back in Iowa City in 1894.
After their season-opening win against MAC opponent Miami of Ohio, the Hawkeyes are looking to pick-up where they left off — racking up yards on the ground, score big early and park the bus. The Iowa rush totaled 212 yards and 5 TDs in last week’s victory, with 3 of those scores coming in the first quarter. Senior running back, LeShun Daniels Jr. was especially impressive with his swift 43-yard touchdown and another score from one yard out. Right alongside him, redshirt junior Akrum Wadley replied back with two touchdowns of his own — five and 11-yard rushes that gave the Hawks up 28 to 7 lead heading into the half.
The passing game was efficient (Beathard went 13/20 for 192 yards and a TD), but lacked the same explosiveness as the run game. Sophomore receiver Jerminic Smith did however emerge as a player to watch, making his first career score Saturday afternoon off astounding passes from last season’s second-team All Big Ten quarterback C.J. Beathard.
But by far the biggest question mark looming after the Hawks first game: the defense. The Hawks defense gave up 424 yards to the Redhawks of Miami, in addition to allowing their opponents to achieve 25 first downs, compared to Iowa’s 17.
Iowa State however had problems of their own against the Panthers of Northern Iowa last weekend, suffering a devastating 25-20 loss to a FBS opponent.
The game started off bright for the ‘Clones, with junior quarterback Joel Lanning hitting senior wide receiver Dondre Daley for a touchdown pass, putting ISU up 7-0. However, the Panthers pounced back in the second quarter, racking up 16 points by halftime. The third quarter saw some faulty execution from Lanning behind a nervous looking offensive line, and the Cyclones seemed to be down for the count. Lanning restored some hope for the ISU fans however, with a powerful pass to junior wide receiver Allen Lazard, bringing the score to an anxiety-inducing 20-19. Ultimately, it looked like the Cyclones were going to come out on top, but UNI struck the final blow with a touchdown in the final three minutes.
Each team is coming to Saturday’s match with extremely different levels of confidence, but both are eager to claim the Cy-Hawk Trophy for themselves. Though the Hawks’ claimed last year’s trophy in a 31-17 romp at Ames, no one can say who will prove victorious this rivalry until the lights come up and the whistle blows.
