Man, the offseason takes so darn long to pass. What can we Iowa fans look forward to from your Huskies this year? The Hawkeyes are going to be a huge mystery for a few games due to coaching turnover.

What I do know is that we have a solid QB coming back, a solid OL, decent receivers and one running back (okay, a slight exaggeration).

The back seven for the defense are very solid, but the DL is a work in progress. There is some talent there, but nobody knows a whole lot about them outside of a couple players who have gotten decent PT in the past year or two.

Special teams should be a strong point again this year with a decent kicker, more speed and more depth than we've had the past few years. Punter should be a true frosh who will be thrown into the fire, but is 6'6" and can absolutely crush the ball. It will be interesting to see how he does because at Iowa, we (Ferentz) believes that punting is winning.

Initial thoughts from you guys?

The Huskies defense should be pretty strong with a good D-line and deep secondary. The offense has potential to be explosive if the O-line can learn to gel quickly. I think good coaching will really pull this years Huskie team together and should be a solid year.

I believe this game to be a good match up for both teams. It's a tough challenge for the Huskies, but if they pull off an upset it could set the tone for the season.

It is kind of telling that the main talk on the Hawkeye board right now is about NU not NIU. Id say about 95 percent of Iowa fans expect a double digit victory, which is possible. The above summary of NIU sounds right on, NIU is replacing tons along the offensive line although the rotation could be a little deeper if Volk and Krempel are indeed ready to go for Iowa, which Coach Doeren thinks they could be. NIU has no clear number one running back, so that in combination with new faces along the offensive line and a new QB starter with Lynch could spell a slow start to the season for the Huskies. The positives are that Lynch, while a first time starter, appears to be quite ready to lead the team with some backup work over the past few years. Explosive runner with a strong arm, although some are questioning his ability to make the reads like Harnish did. Another thing Lynch has to prove is that he can be accurate in rollout scenarios which he has struggled with in the past. The defense is much brighter for NIU with a good deal of depth at most positions besides MLB. Most Huskie fans expect a competitive game decided in the 4th quarter, but consensus around here is that the senior leadership of Vandenberg should make the difference to what otherwise appears to be two evenly matched teams.

I am so pumped for this game. I think Iowa fans recognize that the huskies are for real and are capable of winning.

I think the key match-up will be in the trenches. An Iowa stength is the O-Line while Northern Illinois has a strong D-Line. Iowa has a young D-Line while Northern Illinois has a young O-Line. I think the team that can control the line of scrimmage will come out on top.

Lynch's mobility scares me more than anything else. Not on designed runs but when he will scramble out of a pass play. That really hurt Iowa last year.

An Iowa advantage could be the size of their wide recievers and tight ends vs. the Norhtern Illinois DBs. Davis, and Feidorowicz need to take advantage.

Another good match-up will be NIU's wide outs vs the Iowa corners. Iowa will be playing more man this year and this will be a great test week one.

I think Iowa will look to be aggressive early. The first quarter may be the most important of the game. Although NIU does have a lot of talent, I think they will need that early success to really get their confidence up. If they have that success it will make things very difficult on a young Iowa team.

I will take Iowa to win 27-17. Good luck and good health to both teams next saturday.

(08-25-2012 12:12 PM)Iowa Fan Wrote:  I am so pumped for this game. I think Iowa fans recognize that the huskies are for real and are capable of winning.

I think the key match-up will be in the trenches. An Iowa stength is the O-Line while Northern Illinois has a strong D-Line. Iowa has a young D-Line while Northern Illinois has a young O-Line. I think the team that can control the line of scrimmage will come out on top.

Lynch's mobility scares me more than anything else. Not on designed runs but when he will scramble out of a pass play. That really hurt Iowa last year.

An Iowa advantage could be the size of their wide recievers and tight ends vs. the Norhtern Illinois DBs. Davis, and Feidorowicz need to take advantage.

Another good match-up will be NIU's wide outs vs the Iowa corners. Iowa will be playing more man this year and this will be a great test week one.

I think Iowa will look to be aggressive early. The first quarter may be the most important of the game. Although NIU does have a lot of talent, I think they will need that early success to really get their confidence up. If they have that success it will make things very difficult on a young Iowa team.

I will take Iowa to win 27-17. Good luck and good health to both teams next saturday.

Seems like a fair evaluation. Your comment about the Iowa WR's and TE's and their size, that is what scares me the most about this game.

I'll be curious to see our WRs in action against Iowa, especially Ashford and Moore. And we'll find out how good the NIU defense is against a good experienced QB.

My biggest concern is our secondary. We seem to handle our "undersizedness" best on offence. On defense it seems hard to make up for.

(08-25-2012 12:51 PM)niuguy Wrote:  My biggest concern is our secondary. We seem to handle our "undersizedness" best on offence. On defense it seems hard to make up for.

Yea that reminds of a game at Iowa State where they had a big WR we couldn't cover. Although our secondary is better than it was then.

I have a question for you Northern Illinois fans. I did not see any NIU games last year so I am not sure how the QB situation worked. What kinds of situations was Lynch brought in for? Was he just a wildcat QB or was his playbook more open? It is curious to see him having so much playing time behind a great starter in Harnish. Also will we see Lynch's backup getting similar playing time this year, or will it be a one man show?

(08-25-2012 01:14 PM)Iowa Fan Wrote:  I have a question for you Northern Illinois fans. I did not see any NIU games last year so I am not sure how the QB situation worked. What kinds of situations was Lynch brought in for? Was he just a wildcat QB or was his playbook more open? It is curious to see him having so much playing time behind a great starter in Harnish. Also will we see Lynch's backup getting similar playing time this year, or will it be a one man show?

It will be a one man show this year, at least I think. Harnish was a big time runner, and often times he would run for 50 yards and NIU likes to keep the pace fast on offensive (at least with Harnish). Lynch would come in to give him a breather in those situations sometimes after a long run. Also on more of a clearer running situations Lynch would get a few snaps, he definitely has a tailback mentality of dealing out punishment when running which is why some worry if he will make it through the whole year. In camp, NIU's backup has not done exceptionally well and is probably not ready for significant action yet. It was probably more of a wildcat mentality, but that will not be the case this year as a starter (for the good or bad, not sure!)