I think my favorite show on television might be college gameday. There is no better team or cast on television that Kirk, Lee, David, Desmond, and Rece! I don’t need Advil to cure my hangover during football season because I have coffee and College GameDay! Since they usually pick the best game of the week and they always travel to that location, I am going to do a full on preview and pickem for that game every week. So this week, they are in Ames, Iowa which means I will preview the game and pick a winner by putting a picture of the mascot!

Ames, Iowa

19 Iowa @ Iowa St.

The Cy-Hawk trophy is on the line for the 68th time in this rivalry. The first time these two teams met was all the way back in 1894, 125 years ago! The Cyclones took that first meeting by a score of 12-8, but for the most part it has been all Iowa since! The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series 44-22-1 heading into the 68th meeting between the two schools.

Iowa St. has had its moments but Iowa is definitely the football dominant school in the state of Iowa. They have produced guys like George Kittle, Noah Fant, TJ Hockenson to name a few. I guess could call Iowa Tight End U. Iowa St. has not had as many stars but definitely some noteworthy names such as Seneca Wallace and Kelechi Osemele.

Over the last 2 years ISU has been solid at home with a record of 9-4, but one of those losses came two years ago at the hands of Iowa. In that game Iowa came in and beat ISU by 3 in overtime. Iowa has won 4 matchups in a row actually and they come into Ames this week ranked 19th looking to make it 5 straight.

Iowa comes into this matchup with 2 blowouts over inferior opponents and this will probably be their first real test. They are led by a senior QB though in Nate Stanley and going on the road in these rivalry games that is exactly what you want. An experienced vet is always the best bet to keep his cool in what is sure to be a crazy fucking atmosphere in Ames. Iowa is definitely missing their two TEs that got drafted, but the weapons on the outside have held their own through 2 games and look to keep that momentum going. Iowa will also employ some kind of RBBC using three backs behind their big ass OL. Iowa always has those cornfed motherfuckers that are huge and this year is no different. They will try to use all three backs to control the tempo of the game. Running the ball is the easiest way to quiet a loud crowd on the road.

Iowa St. is about the only team in the Big 12 that relies on their defense to win games. They were the top defensive scoring team in the conference last year. They were great against the run last year and expect the same this year. The problems lie in the secondary where they have a couple freshman that will try to contain Stanley. The biggest nightmare for a coach may be a senior QB against a real young secondary.

On the other sides of the ball, ISU returns their entire starting offensive line from last year which is sure to make any coach and QB happy. The issue is that this OL was not any fucking good last year, but experience seems to be a huge component in OL play so coach Matt Campbell is hoping this group can protect QB Brock Purdy.

ISU will also employ a RBBC using three backs, and hopefully they fare better than they did last year because they ran for less than 50 yards in last year’s matchup. They may have the same issues this year as Iowa has given up less than 70 yards per game on the ground in their 2 games so far this year.

I am huge on OL play and I think that whichever OL plays better usually wins the game. I think ISU returning all 5 starters on the OL is huge and they will be ready to get some leverage on this Iowa DL. I think ISU will get the running game going opening things up for Purdy to make a couple of plays. ISU’s defense will come up big down the stretch in the 4th and ISU will steal this one in Ames.

Iowa St. 27 Iowa 21