Predicting the 2009 Iowa Hawkeye Football Season: Iowa State

I'll be honest with you. I have been putting off writing this prediction for a day or so for multiple reasons.

First, I am a die hard Hawkeye. Like any loyal and die hard Hawkeye, I HATE Iowa State. I hate even having to type those two words in that combination. So you can imagine my feeling when I have to write a prediction about them. On my blog, I refer to the Cyclones as the Red Crows. 

Another reason I don't want to write this prediction is the fact that Iowa, under Ferentz, hasn't exactly had a stellar record against the Red Crows. Ferentz has gone 4-6 against Iowa State in his career as head coach at Iowa, and this has caused some to question his determination in this rivalry (just for the record, I am not one of those people).

Yet another reason I avoid writing this is that it requires me to read news about Red Crow football. I would rather take shots of battery acid then read about Iowa State football.

But, enough of my excuses. It is time to give the Cyclones their three seconds and move on with my posting.

ISU head coach Paul Rhoads is probably thankful his first game against the Hawkeyes is in Jack Trice Stadium. He is also thankful that Gene Chizik left him a little talent to play around with in his first year, too (not much though). 

QB Austen Arnaud is a decent quarterback who threw for 15 touchdowns last year and rushed for five more. ISU will look to him to step up this year. 

The running game also has potential with the return of Alexander Robinson. Robinson rushed for 703 yards as a sophomore and will look to improve upon that this year. But both Arnaud and Robinson will have to rely on a young OL to make sure they have enough time to do their thing.

The ISU defense was downright awful last year. They finished the year 95th in the country in rushing defense, 116th in pass defense and 112th in total defense. At least no one can say they didn't try their hardest to be the worst defense in the country.

Now that the obligatory Red Crow Recap is out of the way, let me get down to business with this Hawkeye nerd's fearless prediction for the outcome of the game.

Iowa 128 - ISU 0

OK, I'll be objective.

Iowa 42 - ISU 10

With all of the adrenaline flowing because of the rivalry, Iowa State scores a field goal right out of the gate. But then the Hawkeyes shut them down. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt by saying they may score a touchdown of some kind on special teams, but outside of that don't look for much offensive production from ISU. 

Jewell Hampton will play a little bit more in this game than he did in the opening game against UNI, gaining over 100 yards and scoring a TD. But this game could very well be all Stanzi and the WRs. 

Marvin McNutt scores his first TD of the year in this game, and so does Tony Moeaki.  Ricky Stanzi throws for over 300 in this game, and racks up a few more TDs for the season.

Up next in the series of fearless predictions for the 2009 Iowa Football Season: Arizona.