(courtesy of photo.net)
The wait is over and the selections have been made. Iowa is headed to Miami for a January 5th date with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the FedEx Orange Bowl. It's a great day to be a Hawkeye! Here's a rundown of the rest of the BCS picture. On New Year's Day, Ohio State will face off against Oregon in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. A few hours later, Florida will take on Cincinnati in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. On January 4th, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will feature TCU and Boise State at 7:00 PM Central. The BCS will round out with the Citi National Championship Game featuring the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 7th in Pasadena, California. A complete schedule of all the bowl games can be found on
ESPN.com.
As we begin the countdown to January 5th, we will be giving updates as well as previews of Iowa's matchup with Georgia Tech and all the other BCS games. Without getting too much into the details, here's a quick preview of what you can expect when Iowa's defence is on the field against the option attack of the Yellow Jackets (I think we all know which one is the Hawkeyes).
12 comments:
I love Iowa's draw in the BCS game. This is a game that we can easily win. I have two big reasons why the Hawkeyes will win. Number 1 being that Iowa has a superior coach and with that much time to game plan for georgia tech Ferentz will have all kinds of schemes and stunts to mess with georgia tech. Number 2 reason Iowa will win is because what type of offense does our defense stuff above all others... the option. Iowa is the option killer and without the option georgia tech will catch a beatdown.
I was disappointed with the TCU vs. Boise State game though. Those are two teams who are trying to look like they're legitimate and I did not like having them play each other. If one of those two teams thinks that they are seriously the best team in the country then let one of them play Florida. Besides Iowa, and the national championship game I'm not too interested in any of the other games. I'll watch the Rose Bowl and the Florida Cincy game but I could care less who wins. Just my opinion.
Tyler,
I am a GT fan and I have a feeling that you are going to be very disappointed, my friend. Have you watched any of the Jackets' games this year? Paul Johnson has been named ACC's Coach of the Year 2nd year in a row and is a finalist for the National Coach of the Year award. He doesn't use a playbook to call plays..its all in his head. He is great at making adjustments and that is why Georgia Tech is where it is in his 2nd season at GT. The game against Georgia should never have been lost. We just didn't show up to play that night. Don't think this is the same team LSU killed last yr in the bowl game cuz its not.
This Tech team has many playmakers on both sides of the ball...Nesbitt (he is a beast), Dwyer (RB, projected top 15 pick..some say best RB in the draft), Allen (10+ yds/carry), Thomas (WR, 24+ yds/catch), Derrick Morgan (DE, All American, Hendricks award finalist, leads the nation in sacks) and Morgan Burnett (Safety).
Now you might say that the ACC sucks and we are 1-8 in BCS games etc....but I guess thats why you play the game. Should be a good one.
- Jacket Fan
whatifsports.com has already made the prediction: Iowa 24, GT 21. We'll see.....
I like the match-up but I dont know why the BCS put TCU and Boise State playing each other. They needed to match both of those teams up with BCS' conference opponents to have an measurable opponent. Which ever team wins, people are just going to say the other wasnt "for real."
On to the Hawk game....I like our match up vs. GT. I give 10 point advantage to the Hawks because the problems that most teams have with GT is that their scout Offense doesnt have enough time to have a proper install practice and run an "affective" triple option package.
Thus, when you face GT it is like a well oiled machine and you simply arent ready for it.
I like our Defense against their offense...stack the box against GT and make Nesbit make a mistake. They celebrated his long passing TD vs Clemson like it was a top 5 college play when it was just a regular deep ball....that means he cant consistantly go down the field. As for their Defense...they give up about 40 pts per game...so i think Iowa wont have too much trouble moving the ball.
The real battle will be how well our D-ends get their initial push off the ball and how well we get off their blocks to make Nesbit make a choice. If we do that moderately well, we should hand-cuff their offense.
Iowa 27 GT 13.
GT 35 Iowa 21
- Jacket Fan
Iowa doesn't have a running game. The Jackets D will step up and will stop Iowa at least a couple of times. The Iowa D cannot stop Tech's spread option attack. If Tech goes into halftime with a lead, consider it over.
- Jacket Fan
Jacket Fan-
Nobody else runs the spread option because it's a high school offense. Give a team time to prepare for it and it's not effective. If GT puts up 35 points it will be beacue Stanzi/Vandenberg turns the ball over, not because GT has such a prolific offense. They rack up rushing yards against teams that don't have defenses. I think a game in the 20s for both squads is probably about right. Iowa's O isn't spectacular, but let's face it, GT's D isn't either. Iowa hasn't been able to run the ball because they are using two freshmen backups, one of which was out for some time, and has had injury issues all year on the line. GT's defense is bad enough you can expect Iowa to put up 24-28 points, maybe more and Iowa defense, coupled with the fact they will be watching film for a month, should mean GT is only able to put up a similar number of points. I think this is going to be a good game that comes down to the wire. If that's the case, I think everyone has to like Iowa's chances.
Anonymous (person above me) -
Paul Johnson has been running the offense for 25 yrs now. He's won 2 national championships at Georgia Southern (Division II, agreed). He has also beaten Clemson (3 times), Virginia Tech and UNC...you cannot possibly tell me that those teams don't have really good defenses. If Iowa's D line cannot penetrate our O line, its going to be very hard to stop this thing (given that the GT offense executes properly). GT leads the nation in time of possession....if Stanzi can Co don't have the ball, they won't be able to score.
No matter what looks (and adjustments) Iowa's D gives us, Paul Johnson would have seen it all in his 25 yrs of experience. If the GT offense is running on all cylinders and Iowa cannot run the ball on us, GT will run away (literally) with the game.
- Jacket Fan
One more thing...if GT runs a high-school offense, then the 10 teams we beat this yr must be running middle-school defenses, right?
- Jacket Fan
the critics were saying the same thing about Iowa last year...you cant keep up with the speed of South Carolina. Iowa's D just cant get it done...Iowa's Offense doesnt have the weapons.
They said the same thing about Iowa last year and we dominated Spurrier and the gamecocks.
Oh yeah, Iowa is 3rd in the nation in Rush Defense...I think Iowa can figure out their blocking scheme and their assignments for different formations in 4 weeks...come on pal..just because the GT offense is unique doesnt mean it cant be stopped.
Dont bring up the ACC schedule as a positive for GT...as bad as the Big Ten is this year...the ACC is worse.
For you Hawkeye Fans:
I am a GT alum - I have watched several Iowa games this year. Here's my take:
Iowa's has a really good defense, their pass defense being REALLY good (#4 nationally), their run defense being not quite as good (#33 nationally). GT's rushing offense has been OUTSTANDING(#2 nationally), they throw primarily for the home run (#8 nationally in passing efficiency).
A couple of things about the Tech Offense/Iowa Defense matchup:
1) Turnovers - GT had 17 in 13 games, 5 of which were interceptions. Iowa caused 29 TO's, 20 of which were interceptions. GT does not throw the ball alot. Iowa must win the turnover battle by 2 or more to win the game.
2)GT's Passing Game - GT does not throw the ball alot, but when they do, they get BIG plays out of it (#8 nationally in passing efficiency). GT has an absolute BEAST receiver in Demaryuis Thomas (6-4, 235) with great hands and balance. If GT is having success running the ball, Thomas usually has a +50 yard catch and a score. Does Iowa have to commit its' safeties to stop GT's rushing attack? If yes, Thomas beats single coverage like a red-headed stepchild.
3)Iowa's defensive front vs GT offense: If GT can block the point of attack, it's game over.
The 5 week layoff will help Iowa more so in the GT offensive line showing rust from the layoff, and Iowa will be able to prepare longer to defense the GT offense.
However, one important point to note: GT runs the true Triple Option only 15-20% of the time.
The mesh point for the offense is 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage, and with the misdirection and speed combined with the mesh, the ball gets past the line of scrimmage much quicker than with other offenses. All of this will be difficult to duplicate in Iowa's practices.
The turnover battle and will GT be able to block Iowa will be the two biggest factors in deciding who wins.
all i want to say is look up at my original post...look at the scoreboard...wasnt too far off.. . .look at what IOWA did to GT!!...come on son...there is a reason that offense has been dropped by so many programs.
Its nice week to week...but when you have a talented defense it can be adjusted for.
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