Iowa looks for road win, ISU is at home in conference play

The Iowa Hawkeyes look for their first road victory of the season when they visit Purdue. The Boilermakers are off to a disappointing start in which they have dropped back-to-back games to Minnesota and Notre Dame. An experienced Purdue defense has been struggling but Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz expects to face a defense that has been a tough for the Hawks to solve. He says he expects them to play tough against his team like they always do as Ferentz says they’re not a well oiled machine yet.Ferentz says a strong defense has helped the Purdue program become a consistent winner. He says Purdue’s ability offensively has been well documented to and he says it’s not luck that they’ve been to eight straight bowl games.Brandon Kirsch took over as Purdue’s starting quarterback but he has played against Iowa on two previous occasions. Ferentz says Kirsch made the game exciting two years ago when he came in. He says Kirsch can throw the heck out of the football.Iowa State is at home in the Big-12 against Baylor. The Bears are 3-1 after an overtime loss to Texas A@M and coach Dan McCarney is not surprised by their improvement. He says he sees a hard nosed, tough team that plays as hard late in the game as they do early in the game. McCarney says Baylor’s special teams have shined and that may be a key to the outcome. He says their return guys have an 18 to 19 yard average and have a very sound system.With Stevie Hicks battling injury the Cyclones running game has suffered. McCarney says while quarterback Bret Meyer has the ability to run it is not their first option. He says they can’t let him have 25 carries every week against Big 12 defenses if he’s going to last.