Undefeated Indiana has put the entire country on notice. The Hoosiers have an explosive offense and a punishing defense to match.
“They clearly have a vision of what they want to be, and it looks like it’s working really well for them,” said Kirk Ferentz, Iowa football’s head coach. “In the backfield they have two really good running backs right now, and then the quarterback might be the best quarterback in the country. Somebody was saying he’s the leader for the Heisman. I don’t have a Heisman vote, but I’d vote for him based on what I have seen. He looks really good, too. I think that’s part of why they’re putting up those numbers. They can run the ball, pass it.”
Ferentz compared Indiana to the reigning national champions, Ohio State, in terms of talent across different positions.
“They did it last year and they’re doing it right now, too, with a lot of new players again,” Ferentz said. “That’s really impressive. That’s good coaching.”
“They got a whole lot of movement going on, pretty good players up front, big bodies,” said Logan Jones, an Iowa offensive lineman. “They’ve done a great job up to this point. I mean even last year you look at what they did and this year being 4-0 it’s not easy to do. I mean I think that starts up front anywhere, and up front they’ve done a great job so they are going to present a tough challenge.”
“I think a lot of it is they get a guy in a gap, and they move that guy out of that gap so a lot of it is going to be us sound in our gaps in the run fits while also swarming that ball carrier,” said Jaxon Rexroth, an Iowa linebacker. “If the running backs have one guy on them, ya know, hopefully we make that tackle, but we gotta get as many guys as we can on that running back.”
Indiana has not trailed in its last three games, and the Hawkeyes know they need to start fast to make the Kinnick Stadium crowd a factor.
“The crowd makes it very difficult in those senses,” said Mark Gronowski, Iowa’s starting quarterback. “When I played here (for South Dakota State), we started off the game with two false start penalties. When you start the game 1st & 20 that makes it very difficult. So as long as the crowd can continue to stay into it, hopefully be loud enough that they can’t even her themselves on the field. I think it’s going to be a real advantage on Saturday.”
“This is what you play college football for, right. Playing a ranked team in the Big Ten, a really good team in Kinnick, right,” Jones said. “That’s awesome. You don’t get those moments a whole lot, so having them come to Kinnick is going to be a lot of fun. Really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great game. This is just something you dream of. We are really excited.”
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.