The one thing Perry Hills also has going for him is his positive experience he had previous year against Iowa.
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The official game time for the Iowa – Maryland football game of 2:36 p.m. wasn’t announced until October 19.
Maryland, which is just a few weeks removed from firing Randy Edsall, showed some fight for interim coach Mike Locksley in last week’s 31-30 to Penn State. Maryland will be a -2 – at best – Iowa will capitalize on both giveaways, and that might be more than enough.
“So where does Iowa actually stand in the Big Ten race, and in the race for a major bowl, or, really, the College Football Playoff?” The good news is they have not been very good at it, as they are one of the worst defenses in college football. Maryland Terrapins rank at 54 for 173.0 road rushing yards where as Iowa Hawkeyes rank at 27 for allowing 91.0 rushing yards at home.
“We’re going to have to be more efficient in the passing game with how they load the box and how their interior front plays”, Maryland junior wideout Amba Etta-Tawo said. Right tackle Ike Boettger will also be out with an ankle injury suffered against Illinois earlier this month. Maryland’s pass defense (144.7 rating) is just a tick better than Indiana’s. Yeah, the Hawkeyes had two weeks to prepare, and they’re third in the nation against the run, but they haven’t faced anyone like him. But the Hawkeyes will return a number of key contributors, including running back LeShun Daniels (ankle), offensive tackle Boone Meyers (neck) and wide receiver Tevaun Smith (knee). On the ground, Akrum Wadley rushed for 204 yards and four touchdowns in 26 attempts while Derrick Mitchell added 79 yards and one touchdown. Ross is eighth among all Big Ten rushers, averaging 69.9 yards per game. A 12-0 regular season suddenly looks possible for these improbable Hawkeyes, whose final five games are against teams that are a combined 2-14 in Big Ten games.
No. 11 Iowa leads Maryland 21-0 at halftime, looking to stay undefeated.
“I could have played 30-plus minutes a year ago”.
The bye week clearly paid off for Iowa in terms of getting healthy. Not only is the schedule easy, but beyond Ott, injuries should become less of a problem.
“I think all of that talk is really premature”, Ferentz said.
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We don’t know what that means yet, or just how good Iowa truly is. He has nine on the season all by himself.
