Rush Defense vs. Pass Defense
A tale of two defenses (and defensive strengths) in this one… so who better to highlight than those who may be leading their units in the less than stellar side.
Iowa State
Caleb Bacon
Iowa State has struggled against the run, and really you could highlight just about any of the Cyclone defensive linemen or linebackers here, but I’ll go with the man, the myth, the legend, Caleb Bacon. Caleb has rotated to more of an outside linebacker in Jon Heacock’s defense, but his importance as both a leader and player will
be put to the test this weekend. Bacon missed all of last year after going out with an injury against North Dakota, and his presence was very much missed, particularly in the CyHawk game where Kaleb Johnson ran all over Iowa State for nearly 200 yards and 2 TDs on 25 carries. Look for Bacon while the Cyclones are on defense, both getting after Gronowski, but also in trying to slow down the Hawkeye run game.
Iowa
Xavier Nwankpa
The Hawks have largely had success against the Cyclone running game in the past, and I don’t see that stopping, at least not to the point of the Cyclones running wild. And you already know both Nwankpa and the Cyclone offense have their eyes on a little something something from last year. Xavier looking for revenge, the Cyclones looking for another deep shot to open the playbook entirely. Who prevails? The questions are currently all on Nwankpa and the Hawkeye Secondary.