Friday, November 8, 2013

Gamewatch #10: Iowa Hawkeyes (5-4, 2-3) vs. Purdue Boilermakers (1-7, 0-4) Saturday, November 8th @ 9 a.m.

This week our beloved Hawkeyes head to Ross-Ade stadium in West LaFayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers, which will hopefully be a confidence-building game for Iowa after the loss at home to Wisconsin. Purdue did topple the Hawks last season in Kinnick, 27-24, on a last second field goal.

Purdue is currently 1-7, and has the worst passing and rushing defense in the B1G, and are coming off a 56-0 loss against Ohio State. They are at the bottom of the B1G in rushing offense as well, only tallying an average of 70 yards per game on the ground. Their lone win this season was at home against Indiana State. The only thing the Boilermakers seem to have going for them is the fact that their college band owns the biggest bass drum in the world, which hopefully won't be beaten too often this Saturday.

Iowa heads into this week hurting from a 28-9 loss at home to Wisconsin. Starting QB Jake Rudock, who left the Wisconsin game with a knee injury, looks to be back at the helm this week. Also back this week in his starting role is RB Mark Weisman, who was suffering from an elbow injury last week. Weisman currently has 768 yards rushing, and hopes to eclipse the 1,000 mark by the end of the season.

Kickoff is at 9am on the B1G Network, so if you don’t get that channel head to one of the game watch locations.

This weekend tips-off the Hawkeye men’s basketball season too. Friday night at 6:30pm you can login to ESPN3 and catch Iowa vs. UNC-Wilmington online. Then on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm, the Hawks face Nebraska-Omaha, also available on ESPN3.

On Iowa and Go Hawks!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Gamewatch #9: Wisconsin Badgers (5-2, 3-1) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (5-3, 2-2) Saturday, November 2 @ 9:00 a.m.

Hello again Western Washington Hawkeyes! Hopefully your hearts have stopped racing from last week's thrilling overtime win over the pesky Northwestern Wildcats, when Iowa prevailed 17-10 on a touchdown catch by TE CJ Fiedorowicz. This week's Hawkeye game has the #22 Wisconsin Badgers (5-2) bringing their run-heavy offense into Kinnick Stadium to battle for the Heartland Trophy. The Badgers and Hawkeyes haven't butted heads since 2010,
where the Badgers nipped Iowa 31-30 in Kinnick Stadium. The rivals' overall series record is currently tied, 42-42-2.
Wisconsin is coming off a bye week, and a 56-32 win at Illinois the week prior. They are led by the Big 10's leading rusher, Melvin Gordon, who already has over 1,000 yards rushing. He also ranks fourth nationally at 144 yards per game. The Badgers rank 11th in the nation in total offense at 514 yards per game. As if they weren't already an imposing opponent for the Hawkeyes, the Badgers also have the nation's sixth best defense, only allowing 285 yards per game.

The Hawkeyes are no slouch on defense either, having the nation's 12th best defense while only allowing 321 yards per game. They still have only given up 2 rushing TD's this year. Iowa's defense produced last week's Big 10 Defensive Player of the Week in Senior LB James Morris. Morris recorded 8 tackles, two sacks, and an interception against the Wildcats.

This Saturday's game is Iowa's annual blackout game, and no, this isn't an event started by Vodka Samm. The Iowa fans going to Kinnick this Saturday are encouraged to wear all black. This week's game is also preceded on Friday night by the Rusty Toolbox game, which pits each teams' football managers against each other in a flag football game for the honor of taking home a rusty toolbox trophy for the year. The Badgers managers won last year, but Iowa's managers lead the overall series 11-6.

We hope to see you at the game watches this week! At the Buckley’s Queen Anne locale, the drawing for the cornhole boards will take place at halftime, so if you haven't bought tickets for the drawing yet, track down our Alumni President Nik Pflugrath by halftime to purchase a final chance at those sweet boards!

On Iowa and go Hawks!

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