With a little under four weeks until Iowa’s first scheduled football game, it’s a good idea for a crash course before we get into the weeds of this football team.
About Last Year
Iowa started 0-2 and everyone was very mad because you should stop losing to Northwestern and Purdue and should especially stop losing to them in one-score games. It’s “OK” though because the Hawkeyes won six straight, culminating in a satisfying 28-7 victory over Wisconsin. There was supposed to be a “Championship Week” game against Michigan but because of COVID issues (Michigan’s COVID issues), the game was canceled. There was also the Music City Bowl against Missouri, also canceled due to COVID issues (Missouri’s COVID issues). And so, the Hawkeyes finished 6-2 (6-2), tied for second in the Big Ten West, the third second-place finish in the past five seasons.
The Offseason
As expected, Iowa lost a lot of high-profile players due to graduation/foregoing the additional year of eligibility. That includes Brandon Smith, Alaric Jackson, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Chauncey Golston, Nick Niemann, and Keith Duncan. Daviyon Nixon also declared early for the NFL Draft. In all, Iowa has to replace 10 starters, the majority of which are on defense. A lot of depth also disappeared, with the Hawkeyes losing their second-string tight end and every defensive tackle on the depth chart not named Noah Shannon.
The good news is that the offense will feature several familiar faces including Spencer Petras, Tyler Goodson, Ivory Kelly-Martin, Tyrone Tracy, Sam LaPorta, and Nico Ragaini. The offensive line is anchored by Tyler Linderbaum and, well, I’ve been doing this long enough not to worry too much about whatever is going on with Ferentz’s offensive line. Also: Tory Taylor is back.
There were also some changes in the coaching staff. Offensive line coach Tim Polasek joined the Wyoming coaching staff as their offensive coordinator. This wasn’t all that surprising, as he’s reuniting with head coach Craig Bohl. Polasek spent time under Bohl when they were at North Dakota State. Running backs coach Derrick Foster also left Iowa and joined the Los Angeles Chargers, leaving a significant absence in the recruiting efforts in the south.
Polasek was replaced by George Barnett, previously of Tulane University, Miami (OH), Illinois State, and Grand Valley State. No, that’s not a terribly exciting hire. But, good news, Ladell Betts is a very exciting hire and that’s who coaches Iowa’s running backs now! Betts had been coaching high school since 2013, most recently serving as head coach for Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. With almost a decade of experience, entirely in the South, there’s optimism that Betts can help fill Foster's void in the recruiting front.
Finally, Jason Mason was named Director of Player Development.
The Kinnick Experience
After years of consternation, the Athletics Department finally caved and will serve beer and wine at Kinnick Stadium, Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Duane Banks Field, and Bob Pearl Field. Don’t worry, they’re not serving it in the areas next to the student section and, uh, I’m not sure why that’s important? Also: the field was named after Duke Slater and that’s a very well-deserved honor.
The 2021 Schedule
Iowa kicks off 2021 with…a conference game?! Yes, that’s correct. The first game of the season will be at home, against Indiana, at 2:30 PM. The Cy-Hawk series resumes in Ames and then Iowa gets a couple of warm-ups with Kent State and Colorado State. A trip to Maryland opens the October game slate, followed by home stands against Penn State and Purdue. After the bye week, there are road trips to Wisconsin (after a bye week…yikes) and Northwestern. Then, it’s Minnesota, Illinois, and a trip to Lincoln for The Heroes Game on Black Friday.
By my count, this is the first time Iowa has opened the season against a Power 5 opponent (not counting the COVID season) since 2000 when they played Kansas State at Arrowhead Stadium. This is also the first time they’ve opened with a conference game since 1980 when they played…Indiana. The Hawkeyes have a total of seven home games, five against conference opponents and four against teams that will likely be ranked preseason: Iowa State, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Penn State.
Questions?
The elephant in the room is asking how much of this season is going to go as planned. Like, I’m sure there’s going to be college football but how many games will get canceled? The athletic department plans on Kinnick being full capacity this fall but, uh, looking at some of the data things don’t appear to be trending in a great direction.
Assuming they do play, what does Spencer Petras look like in year two? In year one he completed 57% of his passes and threw for nine touchdowns and five interceptions. There were some serious Jake Christensen tendencies where he was throwing the ball as hard as he could to a guy running a five-yard in route. How is the deep ball going to look? Is he going to cut down on the Tacopants tendencies?
Is Ivory Kelly-Martin finally going to be The Guy and complement Tyler Goodson? Or will Iowa see a new face in Gavin or LeShon Williams? Iowa needs a bigger body at wide receiver. Who fills that role? Who is the leader on defense and, uh, what is Iowa’s actual defensive strength?
Why are there so many award watch lists? Why does there even need to be a watch list for the Ray Guy Award when it should so obviously be given to Tory Taylor?
Those are my questions for 2021. What are yours?
