Finally, after going away and hibernating for eight long months, Iowa football has returned to us. Today the beloved Hawkeyes battle our long-time arch nemeses, the Tennessee Technocrats in Legendary Historic Kinnick Stadium. On paper, Tennessee Tech doesn't look like a great threat to our favorite black and gold footballers. They play in something called an "Ohio Valley Conference" and historically they haven't even been any good there. They do return almost everyone from last year's team and the specter of 2009 UNI lingers over all Iowa games of this ilk, but Iowa has bigger, more talented options at every position and a coaching staff that's not too shabby. The two things we're most curious about:
1) How does the Iowa defense handle Tech's no-huddle spread offense? Can they get Tech off the field? How will the defense rotate in new faces to stay fresh? There are a lot of teams on Iowa's docket this year that will be running a similar offense, so it would be good to see a little early success against it.
2) Can the Iowa offense -- and specifically the Iowa offensive line -- dictate the game? The Iowa offensive is bigger and stronger than their Tech counterparts (and well-schooled in technique to boot); they should give Iowa a significant advantage in this game. So if Vandenberg finds himself getting harassed or Coker can't find running lanes, though... be concerned.
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Go Iowa Awesome.