North Texas comes to Kinnick today and though they're led by one Iowa's biggest bogeyman coaches of the last 20 years, Dan McCarney, this is not a visiting team that should send too many shivers down your spine. It's true, McCarney did beat Iowa with some not-so-great Iowa State teams during his tenure in Ames, but I don't think he ever led a team struggling quite as much as this North Texas squad. On paper, this looks like the worst team to visit Kinnick since... well, since Western Michigan and Purdue in 2013, which isn't all that long ago, but Iowa played some really bad teams in 2013. North Texas ranks near the bottom of the country in most meaningful stats on offense and defense. If Iowa plays smart, focused football, they should win this one going away.
What do I want to see from Iowa today? I want to see a comfortable win. I want to see Iowa score some points -- 31 has been the previous high mark this season and they should be able to improve on that today. I want to see good health -- Iowa has one of their toughest games of the year next week in a trip to Madison, so it would be good to see everyone as healthy as possible. If that means resting LeShun Daniels and Drew Ott today, so be it. On that same note... I want to see back-ups today, especially on offense. I want to see what Tyler Wiegers can do in a game situation. I want to see what Akrum Wadley and (especially) Derrick Mitchell can do on the ground. I want to see what those freshmen receivers (or Jay Scheel? Remember him?) can do in the passing game.
What do you want to see?
WHO: North Texas Mean Green (0-2)
WHEN: 2:30 PM Central; Saturday, September 26, 2015
WHERE: Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, IA
TV: ESPNU
ONLINE: via WatchESPN(TV) and Tunein Radio (audio-only)
MOBILE: via WatchESPN (iOS and Android)
RADIO: via Hawkeye Radio Network, KRUI (89.7 FM), Sirius channel 135, XM channel 195
TV COMMENTATORS: Anish Shroff and Ahmad Brooks
ODDS: Iowa -25
Strange but true: Iowa is 7-0 in games televised on ESPNU, per this week's game notes.