On takeaways from Iowa’s 35-27 victory over Indiana last week
Charlie Green, football reporter: Really high entertainment value in that game, I thought. Lots of scoring, which is kind of what we all expected coming in against that [Indiana] offense. And they tried to hold it under 28 points. I think [Hawk coach Kirk Ferentz] after the game said this is the kind of team that would be hard to hold under 28 points. But the defense did what it has done all year.
Ryan Rodriguez, football reporter: I would have loved to watch this game again and give Indiana even one semi-solid, competent receiver. I mean, how many balls did quarterback Nate Sudfeld put right on the money, catchable balls, that didn’t get caught? Either they bounced right off their chests, they dropped them, or whatever. And obviously, I’m not saying that was the biggest difference-maker, but at least two of those were on third down? I think they gave up something like close to 80 yards just on drops.
Danny Payne, Pregame editor: The stretch of the game, at least for me, that was the real difference-maker here was when Indiana had a real long drive, an Iowa-esque drive, and got all the way down to the 20, but only got a field goal out of it, didn’t come away with 7. Then Iowa gets the ball back, scores, and then the defense goes three-and out. Iowa gets it back, scores, same thing again with the defense. So that was key.
On the rivalry with Minnesota
Jordan Hansen, football reporter: There’s a lot of back and forth between these two fan bases that I think a lot of the people on the outside maybe aren’t as aware of. Minnesota has an edge in the all-time series by something like 60-40. And that Iowa has had a lot of success against [the Gophers recently, and that Minnesota was a powerhouse in the early 1900s and has kind of struggled for national prominence ever since while Iowa has been more successful. Then when you get into things like Iowa fans pulling down the goalpost in the Metrodome (2002), there’s a lot there.
On C.J. Beathard’s health
Green: One of the big things for me is that, I’ve noticed, C.J. looks leaps and bounds healthier right now than he has been the last few weeks. And that’s after landing on his back from a pretty high altitude after that touchdown run.
On the Iowa defense
Payne: Defensively, I think they’re going to have to make adjustments to how they’ve played the last two weeks. Basically, Iowa needs to cover that second-half adjustment they made against Indiana over to the next week — because for the three halves before that, I was not super confident in it as a run defense. Perry Hills got around, Jordan Howard did, too, in the first half, and if you watched the Minnesota game last year, you know that’s what happened.