By DI Pregame staff
It’s finally game week. Iowa will kick off against Illinois State on Saturday, and the “talking season” is almost over.
Almost.
To help preview this season, the DI Pregame staff spoke with a representative from each team on the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten schedule. This is what they had to say.
Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst
“I’ve got a ton of respect for what they’ve done as a program, for Kirk, who he is as a coach, I’ve forever thought that. When I was out in Pittsburgh, he’s from out there, and the number of people that respect him as a coach.”
Iowa is scheduled to play at Wisconsin Oct. 3.
Illinois offensive lineman Ted Karras
“I’m excited to go to Kinnick; I’m sure we’re going to get a lot of banter from Hawkeye Nation. Especially since we compete with recruits out of the Illinois suburbs, it’s going to b e nice to compete with them on the field, too.”
Iowa is scheduled to play Illinois Oct. 10.
Northwestern superback Dan Vitale
“Iowa’s always been a hard-nosed defense. That’s something you can never take away from them. They’re going to bring it to you, you’ve got to bring it back to them 100 times. I don’t expect anything bad will happen to them.”
Iowa is scheduled to play at Northwestern Oct. 17.
Maryland head coach Randy Edsall
“It’s a tough league, a lineman league. There are a lot of teams that really are strong up front, and you have to be able to deal with that if you want to play in the Big Ten.”
Iowa is scheduled to play Maryland Oct. 31.
Indiana offensive lineman Jason Spriggs
“They’re a very tough football team, they’re a very hard-hitting football team. That’s kind of the key when you play them to get ready for. It’s not going to be the run-around type of game, it’s going to be classic, Big Ten, head-to-head football.”
Iowa is scheduled to play at Indiana Nov. 7.
Minnesota cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun
“It means everything to me; that is the game I look forward to every year, because the fans said some not nice things to me when I was a sophomore there, and that was the year that I wasn’t playing, so I made sure I got some redemption last year with the interception.”
“Briean Boddy-Calhoun … people already think my last name is ‘Boddy,’ which kind of looks like ‘booty,’ and you have ‘Cal,’ which looks like ‘call.’ So they kept calling me booty call all on the sidelines all like ‘put booty in the game, put booty in the game,’ and I was so frustrated, and I held on to that for two years. One interception was not enough; I still got more.”
Iowa is scheduled to play Minnesota Nov. 14.
Purdue cornerback Frankie Williams
“I was a punt returner my redshirt freshman year and got drilled twice by Micah Hyde. I loved playing there, though; it was a pretty hostile environment, the fans were loud, and that’s always a great thing.”
Iowa is scheduled to play Purdue Nov. 21.
Nebraska wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp
“It’s a huge, huge rivalry, and that game is great every year. We’re like the only show on TV that day, so it’s always one that we look forward to. It’s always a hard game for us.”
Iowa is scheduled to play at Nebraska Nov. 27.