Iowa is ready to get a sour taste out of its mouth against Rutgers.
By Jordan Hansen
Iowa and Rutgers will play a football game for the first time ever on Saturday.
It’s a critical bounce-back opportunity for the Hawkeyes, who are coming off their first regular-season loss since 2014. The trip to Piscataway is also the first road (and Big Ten) game of the year, which brings its own set of challenges.
Iowa is not overlooking Rutgers, something head coach Kirk Ferentz brought up before he was even asked in his press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“If you look at their team, they’re big and physical, both lines of scrimmage, both offensive line and defensive line, veteran secondary that plays well,” he said. “They’re playing with a good attitude, playing hard, and doing the things you have to do to be successful.
“You give them a lot of credit for that.”
Rutgers is in its first season under Chris Ash, who is from Ottumwa and played for Drake. He spent time coaching the Bulldogs and eventually Iowa State, before coaching under Bret Bielema at Wisconsin and Arkansas.
Oh, and he was also Urban Meyer’s defensive coordinator at Ohio State before taking the Rutgers head-coach job. He knows the Hawkeyes well and certainly has Ferentz’s respect.
“They’ve got a new staff, an excellent coaching staff,” Ferentz said. “Chris Ash to me is a guy who has really earned the opportunity that he’s been given, and he’s got an excellent football staff of coaches.”
Rutgers will be only the second Power 5 school the Hawkeyes have played this year, and even though it is rebuilding, there are a number of quality players on the roster.
One of the best is Janarion Grant, who will be a huge thorn in the Hawkeyes’ side. He’s a multipurpose player with excellent returning skills and already has 6 touchdowns this season — 3 rushing, 1 passing, 1 punt return, and 1 kickoff return.
He lines up all over the field and will not be an easy threat to contain.
“He’s a fast guy; he can get the edge on you and come back from there,” Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell said. “Corralling him and stopping the run is going to be big for us.”
While Scarlet Knight quarterback Chris Laviano has struggled at different points this season, shutting him down will be a major key to the game for the Hawkeyes as well.
The junior has thrown for 457 yards this year, with 4 touchdowns and 2 picks. His completion percentage of 51.7 percent isn’t great, however, and forcing him to make rushed throws will be important.
Defensively, the Scarlet Knights haven’t been great. The team is giving up 178 yards per game on the ground, which bodes well for a hungry Akrum Wadley, who was overlooked by Rutgers during his recruitment.
“I talked to a couple of their coaches, the special-team coach,” Wadley said. “Yeah, it’s going down.”
Iowa will have to come out strong in this game, something it did not do last week. Starting the conference slate out with a loss would be extremely disappointing for the Hawkeyes and not something they want to contend with.
Overall, the Hawkeyes seem excited about washing the bad taste of the North Dakota loss out of their mouths. A good win against a Big Ten opponent would be a great way for them to do just that.
“It’s going to be a good game out there,” Desmond King said. “It’s gonna be good, hopefully, to get this win on the road.”
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