The Iowa Hawkeyes need to bounce back from a heart breaking loss to Wisconsin in a hurry as they prepare to face an unbeaten Michigan State team that is in the drivers seat of the Big Ten race. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says Michigan State is a very talented and a very balanced team that is playing very well right now.

The Hawkeyes won a last second thriller in East Lansing a year ago but the roles are reversed heading into this game. He says the Hawkeyes were undefeated last year and now the Spartans are undefeated and kind of under the radar right now. Special teams is a concern this week.

The Hawkeyes were victimized by a fake punt late in the Wisconsin game and now play a Michigan State team that has used a number of “trick plays” in their unbeaten start. He says the Spartans do a good job with the “trick plays” and are playing to win and not just throwing things out there.

Ferentz says nobody has hit the panic button over the play of the Iowa defense. After giving up 28 points in a win at Michigan the Hawks yielded 31 to the Badgers. He says in every game you have areas where you don’t do well and you look to make corrections and move on. Ferentz says they won’t change their scheme, they will try to play it better.

Ferentz says the defense needs to do a better job and that starts with tackling better and playing blocks better. But Ferentz says Wisconsin is probably going to move the ball on everyone, and Michigan State is a team that will move the ball. “We’ve just got to play better football, we will,” Ferentz says.

Iowa is 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.