Breakdown, go ahead & give it to me....

I feel like I should have "Ride of the Valkyries" playing in the background as I type this. I'll settle for some Travis Porter & "All the Way Turnt Up" instead. So the biggest game for the Jackets since the 1990 Citrus Bowl is almost upon us. And we're ready. We leave for Miami tomorrow and can't wait to see the game on Tuesday night. But what will we see? Well, hopefully a Jacket victory. But I can't guarantee that. What I can guarantee is you'll see two extremely well coached teams knocking heads for sixty minutes. Here are some keys for the Jackets if we hope to win. We'll start with the offense:

• Establish a rhythm early. We haven't played in a game in thirty days. That's a long layoff. Good news is that the Jackets got some live action in this week. Always good to get a little hitting in before a big game. But we need to come out & find an early rhythm. If we do that, it will make Iowa's night that much harder.
• No turnovers. Again, it's cliche & not terribly insightful on our part but it's true. When you have two evenly matched teams it's often turnovers that are the difference. Iowa has been very successful at forcing them this year, averaging about 2.5 per game. If we don't turn it over & beat ourselves, we're tough to handle.
• Red Zone Efficiency. This is maybe our biggest key to the game. With our defense woes of late we just can't settle for field goals. We need six points every time we're in the red zone if we're going to win.
• Give them some new looks to think about. I'm sure CPJ has some fun stuff in store for our cornfed friends. At F$U it was a trips set to the wide side. Against Carolina it was the sprint draw. Versus Clemson we saw Dwyer at A-back. Expect more of the same versus the Hawkeyes. We'll doubtlessly see some new formations & maybe even some new plays. I also expect some trickery on our part. Maybe an end around-throwback to Nesbitt? Who knows but we need to keep Iowa guessing....
• Pound the edge. Iowa is stout & well coached defensively. If they have one weakness it's on the perimeter. That's where Ohio State exploited them. Expect us to do the same. We'll use speed option early to spread them out & get Allen & Roddy one-on-one on the edge. This should also loosen things up for Dwyer on the dive....
• Exploit CB Shaun Prater. Iowa's other corner is stud Amari Spievey. Prater is the weak link. At 5'11" & 175 pounds BayBay & Hill have a huge size advantage over him. Expect us to try & use this. We will also run right at him as he should be fairly easy for us to block...
• Put a hat on Tyler Sash. The Iowa safety is a very, very good player. He'll be their "X" factor as DC Norm Parker will sometimes fly him to the pitch-man & sometimes have him take Nesbitt. We must block Sash or we're in for a long day....

On defense it's pretty simple: if we play like we have the last three games of the year we will lose. No doubt about it. We simply have to play better. Iowa's offense isn't great so we've got a chance. Some keys:

• Hold the interior line & maintain gap control. Easier said than done, I know. Ferentz, through a personnel move, has pretty much declared his intent; he's going to pound the ball inside. Great strategy as 1) we're weak there, & 2) the best defense against our offense is to keep us off the field by dominating the clock & running the football. He's using the exact same blueprint Georgia did against us. Ferentz has moved RT Kyle Callaway (6'7" 315) inside to guard & usual guard Riley Reiff (6'6" 270) to tackle. This enables him to get more push on the inside & get a quicker player outside to deal with Derrick Morgan. So we know what they want to do. Are we physically strong enough to stop them?
• Make Ricky Stanzi beat us. He hasn't played a live game in two months. That's a long layoff. We must sell out to stop the run. Yes we will give up at least one big play. But our linebackers are horrible in coverage so why waist them there. Stack them on the line & make Stanzi throw. He's a good player but he' also been error prone this season, throwing several horrible interceptions. I'll take my chances with Stanzi & hope he makes some mistakes as opposed to having the ball run down out throats all night. I expect us to play a good bit of 3-4 & walk the ends up to essentially make it a 5-2. Should help us against the run.
• Cover TE Tony Moeaki. Hopefully they'll leave him in to help with Derrick Morgan. If not, look out. He's very good & certainly presents a mismatch for any of our linebackers. We must account for him on passing downs....
• Man up on the corners & don't give a huge cushion. If we give Iowa the 7 yard slant freely all night we will get killed (see Wake Forest). We must play tighter on the corners & try to take away the slant routes.

This game will be a tight one. Iowa reminds us of UNC but Stanzi is a touch better than Tyler Yates. Way too much is being made of the immovable object (Iowa's defense) vs. unstoppable force (Tech's offense). This game will be won by how our defense plays against their offense. It's really that simple. Both teams will move the ball plenty - it's who can create turnovers & get red zone stops that will win the game. Expect to see both teams with a little rust early & things open up as the game goes on. Tech leads 14-10 at half on a passing TD to Dwyer on a wheel route & a trick play early. Iowa scores the next 10 & leads 20-14 at the end of the third. Then it's Nesbitt time. Jackets celebrate 27-23......

If you're in Miami hope to see you there. If not cheer like hell & we'll drink plenty for you....