The Iowa Hawkeyes open the Big Ten race at Minnesota. The Gophers are 4-0 under third year coach Jerry Kill. “They’re really a physical football team, similar to last year but they are a little bit different obviously at the quarterback position,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.
Both teams want to run the football but the Gophers get more of their yards from quarterback Mitch Leidner. Ferentz finds more teams are using their quarterback to run in the games he looks at.
The Iowa offense line will need to block Gopher defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman. “He’s a tough matchup, he’s a big guy, very explosive, very powerful and very active and one of the leaders of the defense,” according to Ferentz. He said all of the Gopher defensive linemen are good.
Iowa is 3-1.