Here we go again, it’s Iowa week. The week where we usually watch the Nittany Lions squander their season to a wrestling school BigTen foe. However, before this week-end arrives with its inevitable misery, we do have one bright spot here at the NLD: Mike Jones from HighPorchPicnic.com stops by to to discuss the 2011 Hawkeye squad in this week’s Behind Enemy Lines: Iowa.
NittanyLionsDen.com: Firstly, this is more than just another BigTen football match for Penn State fans. The Hawkeyes have haunted us for years (“6-4” is still one of the most dreaded games in Nittany Lion history). Do Iowa fans view this game any differently than other BigTen matches? Is there a sense that beating Penn State is more important than just the W, but also to continue the series supremacy? Is there any sense of a rivalry in Iowa City, or is it just an expected win at this point?
Mike Jones: Tough question. I’d be lying if I said Hawkeye fans approached the Penn State game like any other Big Ten matchup. However, I wouldn’t give it “rivalry” game status. I’d say the most important thing for Iowa is to continue series supremacy. It’s as simple as this: Hawkeye fans always feel like Rodney Dangerfield. We don’t get no respect. Even when we’re getting respect we’re not getting enough respect. We’re college football’s most overrated underrated team. Our fans complain when we’re ranked too high. Our fans complain when we’re ranked too low. We’re never happy with how the college football world is viewing us.
That being said, I think we feel as if Penn State is in the same league as Michigan and Ohio State. They’re schools that get all of the attention despite other conference members having success. For example, right now everyone is talking about Wisconsin and Michigan but Illinois isn’t getting any press. Being slighted by the media upsets fans. Being slighted by the media really upsets us Iowa fans when the Hawkeyes are having success. So basically we want what Penn State has: unquestionable respect. We don’t like when we beat Penn State and a Centre Daily Times writer entitles an article “Iowa?” We don’t like when a Penn State player calls us a “wrestling school” despite us having as many Big Ten football titles in the past ten years as the Nittany Lions. That makes us feel disrespected. Thus, when Saturdays roll around, we have to earn our respect.
Thus, it’s not so much about Penn State personally. It’s more about our blood thirst for the respect that we never feel like we get and that Penn State already has. We just want a piece of the pie…and unfortunately we always have to take it from the Nittany Lions.
NLD: This Iowa team seems to have figured it out on offense, putting up gaudy numbers all over. They average 37.8 ppg, Vandenberg has a 10:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and Marvin McNutt is on pace for nearly 1,500 yards receiving. What is it about the offense that has allowed it to be so effective thus far? Is there a weakness that can be attacked? If so, where?
MJ: Iowa’s offense is effective thanks to arguably the most talented receiving core the Hawkeyes have ever had. Marvin McNutt, Keenan Davis and KMM 
(Kevonte Martin-Manley) are all highly talented wide receivers who have blossomed under the tutelage of Erik Campbell. Steve Breaston, Marquise Walker, David Terrell and Braylon Edwards were so great at Michigan because they had an excellent wide-receivers coach. Now, we’re fortunate enough to have him at Iowa.
In the past the Iowa offense went something like this: run, pass, run. Rinse, wash, repeat. Due to necessity the whole scheme has changed. James Vandenberg ran the no huddle offense in high school and he was forced to play it against Pittsburgh. Turns out, it worked and it worked well. Now, Iowa is considering running the no huddle out of the gate to put defenses on their heels. Vandenberg is still inexperienced as a quarterback but when you have a guy like Marvin McNutt all you have to do is get the ball in the general vicinity and he’ll do the rest.
Iowa’s offense is often labeled as vanilla and that’s understandable. But now we’re coming out with something completely different. We used to run to set up 
the pass. Now we’re passing to set up the run. That’s something defensive coordinators aren’t used to from the Hawkeyes and it’s allowed us to be effective as of late. Does that mean we’re turning into Oklahoma? No. But we are doing something we haven’t done in a while (2004 was probably the last time).
NLD: No doubt that the offense has been good in Iowa City, but there are a lot of concerns about the defense. In two games against BCS conference opponents UI has given up an average of 35.5 ppg, including 44 to in-state rival Iowa State. What has been the real weakness so far? If there is a strong unit that needs to step-up in BigTen play, who is it?
MJ: Iowa fans have been blowing the defensive problems out of proportion. The world isn’t ending. Iowa’s defense isn’t awful. It isn’t very good but it definitely isn’t awful. Minnesota’s defense is awful. Northwestern’s defense is awful. Iowa’s defense just isn’t as good as Iowa fans are accustomed to. We aren’t getting much pressure with our front four, our linebacker core is thin and parts of our secondary haven’t lived up to expectations. We have a lot of problems but it’s not as if we’re playing defense like Greg Robinson is our coach.
If I had to single out one weakness it would be the linebackers. Our linebacking core is young, inexperienced and thin. It seems like every week a linebacker goes down with an injury. Hell, a few weeks ago a kid left the program. That’s been a real problem for the Hawkeyes over the past two years. When you run a base 4-3 and a cover 2, cover 3 or cover 6 and you’re in man to man coverage you need guys who can keep up with the opposing teams slot wide receivers or tight ends. Aside from our outside linebacker, Tyler Nielsen, who has struggled with injury, we can’t do that. Middle linebacker James Morris and weakside linebacker Christian Kirksey are talented players but they’re only sophomores. They need more time to develop.
One of the surprises this year has been the secondary. We weren’t expecting much from the defensive backfield but they’ve shown flashes of brilliance. Iowa lost two starting safeties in Brett Greenwood and Tyler Sash. You guys remember Tyler Sash, right? Anyway, we tried to replace him with cornerback Micah Hyde, who played safety in high school. Yeah, that didn’t work. Fortunately, a young man by the name of Jordan Bernstine stepped up and has reminded Iowa fans of Bob Sanders. He was the best recruit coming out of Iowa years back and has been plagued with injury throughout his entire career. Now, he’s out there flying around like a madman. The only problem is the combination of cornerback Shaun Prater and free safety Tanner Miller. Prater was supposedly Iowa’s “lockdown corner” but I have seen him get beat on more than a few plays. In his defense, there’s supposed to be a free safety to help him over the top but there has been some lethal miscommunication between these two guys. If the Hawkeyes are going to be successful in the Big Ten these two need to get on the same page.
NLD: How do you see the game this week-end playing out? The Nittany Lions’ struggles against Iowa are well documented; do you believe they continue? What are a few keys to the game for the Hawkeyes? Finally, what’s your score prediction?
MJ: Ugh. The dreaded prediction. No one knows what to expect coming into this game. Iowa’s offense is humming right now but their defense isn’t very good. Penn State’s offense isn’t very good but their defense is humming. Does that spell for a shootout or a 6-4 snoozer? I see this as the game where Penn State’s inability to pick a quarterback really comes back to bite them. Iowa’s defense isn’t very good but they’ve already managed to pick the ball off four times. They’re 16th in the nation in turnover margin. I don’t see Penn State having a problem moving the ball but I do see them making some critical mistakes on our side of the field like they did against Indiana. That’s going to be huge key to the game for the Hawkeyes: points off turnovers. I expect at least two interceptions from the Penn State quarterbacks and I expect Iowa to turn them into points. I also expect Iowa to surprise the Nittany Lion defense by running the no huddle but for defensive adjustments to be made in the second half. Iowa will revert to the old ground and pound but won’t be successful. Fortunately, they’ll capitalize on some Nittany Lion mistakes and escape Happy Valley with another W. However, if there’s any upside to the whole thing…I think Joe Paterno fill finally make a quarterback decision after the loss. Final Score: Iowa 28, Penn State 24
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