Iowa Football: 10 Key Matchups When the Hawks Take on Louisiana-Monroe

This should be an easy win, right?

Wrong.

Louisiana-Monroe is not Tennessee Tech, and they should provide a tough matchup for the Hawks following Iowa's come-from-behind thriller against Pitt.

Mind you, the only way Iowa will come away with a loss is if Iowa beats itself. In other words, if the Hawks play their game, it won't matter how far above their heads the ULM Warhawks play.

But the Hawkeyes have certainly been known to beat themselves against lesser opponents, and this lesser opponent has the pieces in place to make an upset happen.

Currently, Vegas has Iowa as 17.5-point favorites.

I'd take ULM in that one. While I expect Iowa to win, unless the Hawks have taken huge steps forward this week, I think Iowa will be up by a couple of scores at halftime and will go ultra-vanilla for the final 30 minutes.

Either way, though Iowa should win. I'm not looking at it as a gimme like Tennessee Tech.

Iowa vs. Playing Down to Opponents

As we head into this week, I am eerily reminded of the 2009 Arkansas State game for a number of reasons, not the least of which concerns Iowa's tendency to play down to inferior opponents.

If you'd prefer, you could put Indiana 2010, Purdue 2008 or any number of other games in this category—games in which the Hawks should have creamed their opponents, but instead, let them hang around and came dangerously close to losing.

This has to do with Kirk Ferentz's seeming tendency (I stress "seeming" because I'm not an insider in any way, shape or form) to prepare for all of the Hawks' opponents in the exact same way.

The advantage of this philosophy is that there are very few opponents against which Iowa is unable to compete. The disadvantage is there are very few layups on Iowa's schedule.

Iowa vs. Running into 8- and 9-Man Fronts

Expect it.

As I will get into later, no matter what we saw last week, the nature of this week's game will dictate a return to Iowa's base offense. And that offense leans heavily on the running game to set up the play action passing game.

Often, that running game includes running into the teeth of a loaded box.

And I do expect ULM to drop everybody into the box and dare the Hawks to beat them through the air.

In the end, Kirk Ferentz likes to use these games as learning experiences for his teams, even if it causes the fans' blood pressure to get dangerously high.

Iowa vs. a Spread Option Offensive Scheme

Purdue, under Joe Tiller, wrote the original script to beat Iowa's defense. Northwestern refined and perfected it. And for the last two years, up-tempo, spread offenses featuring a quick, precision-passing game coupled with a dual-threat quarterback have copied Northwestern's plans and given Iowa fits.

ULM just happens to run just such an offense.

Firstly, ULM has the right type of quarterback.

ULM also returns its four top pass catchers from last year, and 10 offensive starters overall.

In short, if Iowa allows the Warhawk offense to get into a rhythm (see Iowa State), the Hawkeyes may be left chasing their tails.

Iowa vs. a Dual-Threat Quarterback

As for that dual-threat quarterback, last season, Kolton Browning passed for 2,553 yards and ran for an additional 385. He also completed 61.9 percent of his passes.

He is off to a slow start this season, but that may have something to do with the competition he's faced. Thus far in 2011, the Warhawks have played at Florida State, at TCU and a home game against FCS Grambling.

Last year, they played Arkansas at a "neutral" site, at Auburn and at LSU, so Browning and the Warhawks will not be intimidated by Kinnick Stadium.

In short, if Iowa allows Browning to control the pace of the game, the Warhawks will have a good chance to put points on the board.

Iowa Defensive Line vs. ULM Offensive Line

Iowa fans know as well as any fanbase in the country that the most telling element of an offense's potential success lies not in the skill position players, but in the offensive line.

An experienced, cohesive offensive line is the foundation of any offense.

As it happens, Louisiana-Monroe has one of the most experienced offensive lines in the country.

Given the issues the Iowa defensive line is having, this could cause problems.

On the other hand, all the experience of the ULM line has not helped the quarterback. The Warhawks have allowed 10 sacks, which is one of the nation's worst totals.

Last week, ULM let up five sacks to TCU.

On the other hand, last week, the Iowa defensive line had its best showing to date, en route to a three-sack game.

In the end, this battle of the trenches could be a battle of which unit improved the most.

Christian Kirksey, Anthony Hitchens and Tyler Nielsen vs. ULM Receivers

ULM has a ton of experienced receivers.

They return every wide receiver that had a reception last season. Most notably, last year's top pass catcher, Luther Ambrose, is back for his senior season.

With only five catches for 22 yards in 2011, he has started off slowly.

Nevertheless, junior Brent Leonard and sophomore Tavarese Maye have stepped up, combining for 29 catches and 334 yards.

Most of the Warhawks' receivers are more of the slot variety than big outside receivers. This is befitting of a spread offense.

Presumably, Louisiana-Monroe will juggle their receivers and try to get mismatches against Iowa's linebackers. Most probably, the Hawkeyes will oblige.

Needless to say, the ULM quarterback will target those mismatches all game long.

Iowa vs. the Offensive Game Plan

As previously mentioned, for those expecting Iowa to become a passing team following last week's fourth-quarter explosion, well, you haven't been paying attention the last 12 years.

I'm not saying Iowa won't become a pass-first team. I'm saying it won't happen this week, against ULM, right before a bye week.

This week, Iowa will go vanilla. There might be some wrinkles in there, but Ferentz puts progressing his players within his system at a high premium. When you think about it, as a college coach, that is what he is supposed to do.

I expect Iowa to make a switch to pass first, but I don't expect it to happen this week.

Marcus Coker vs. the Bye Week

As Iowa will be vanilla, expect there to be a lot of rushing plays.

Up until now, Kirk Ferentz has been reticent about putting anybody other than Marcus Coker in the game at tailback.

We got a taste of true freshman Damon Bullock against Pitt. He got one four-yard carry (which should have been a touchdown) and played a few more downs besides that.

It is evident that Ferentz will have to find a backup for Coker. Even if Coker's body can survive a season in which he is literally an every-down back, the Iowa offense would benefit greatly from a change-of-pace back.

They need a more explosive runner to offset Coker's bull-in-a-China-closet style.

With the ULM game coming right before the bye week, Kirk Ferentz might figure that Coker can go all out and then have two weeks to rest. However, I hope he gets Bullock (or whoever else) a lot of playing time, as he will be needed for the Big Ten season.

The Iowa Offense vs. a 3-Man Front

Louisiana-Monroe runs a 3-3-5 defense.

It seems unlikely that a three-man defensive front will ever be successful in the Big Ten, but it does seem to be the scheme du jour for would-be underdog teams.

Last week, Pitt ran a more traditional three-man front than ULM is likely to run, and at times, the Hawks seemed confused by it.

First of all, the Panthers did a nice job of holding Iowa to 2.30 yards per carry. And before you say that the Warhawks are not the Panthers, consider that ULM is currently holding their opponents to 3.16 YPC. Again, two of those opponents were ranked teams.

Secondly, Pitt had four sacks against the Hawks. By comparison, they had three sacks against Buffalo and two sacks against Maine.

Meanwhile, ULM already has 10 sacks on the season, with nine different players registering at least half of a sack. Six of those players are defensive linemen, two are linebackers and one is a defensive back.

In short, expect Louisiana-Monroe to bring the heat and to bring it from every direction they can think of.

McNutt and Davis vs. ULM's Cornerbacks

ULM's top cornerbacks are freshman Rob'Donovan Lewis, sophomore Vincent Eddie and senior Tim Taylor.

Eddie is 5'8" and weighs in at 155 pounds. Lewis is 5'10" and 173 pounds. The biggest of the bunch, Taylor, is 5'9" and packs 180 pounds.

By contrast, Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt is 6'4", 215 pounds, while fellow receiver Keenan Davis is 6'3", 215 pounds.

I've pointed this out with Iowa's previous games, but the mismatch is there, as it will be there against a number of the defenses Iowa will face this season. There is no way the Warhawks' cornerbacks can go one-on-one with Iowa's receivers, but that is probably what they will be expected to do.

Even if Iowa is as vanilla as expected, there will be opportunities for some big plays. JVB will have to look for them.