Opponent View: Iowa

Can Purdue make it three wins in its last four trips to Iowa? That’ll be the goal when the Boilermakers kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Iowa on Peacock.

Purdue’s last junked to Iowa City produced a 24-7 win in 2021. In fact, the Boilermakers went 4-2 in six meetings with the Hawkeyes under Jeff Brohm, who Kirk Ferentz couldn’t figure out. But know this: Purdue is 4-13 in Kinnick since 1981. In addition to the victory at Iowa in 2021, the Boilers also won in Kinnick Stadium in 1992, 2012 and 2017.

The Big Ten West rivals meet for the 94th time on Saturday, as Purdue leads the all-time series by a 50-40-3 advantage. Since Ferentz took over at Iowa in 1999, the Hawkeyes have won 12 of the 20 matchups. Purdue trails 21-22-2 in Iowa City, where it won in 2021 when Iowa entered the game ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll.

Tom Kakert of HawkeyeReport.com breaks down the Hawkeyes.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Iowa offense?

Kakert: There will be some questions. The biggest news was in the first quarter against Michigan State, starting quarterback Cade McNamara went down with what appears to be a pretty significant knee injury. Obviously, he’s gonna be out this week, probably out the rest of season. They have not announced as of (Sunday) an official diagnosis. But most believe it’s probably a torn ACL. So, he’ll be out for the year, more than likely, and Deacon Hill takes over.

He’s a kid that was at Wisconsin, and he was gonna head to Fordham to play. Iowa lost another quarterback Carson May, so they quickly kind of rebounded and got Hill to come in at the semester. He’s done pretty well. He’s got a big arm. Bigger kid, 6-3, 250.

It sounds like their top two running backs will still be out for another week. Kaleb Johnson ran for 200 yards last year against Purdue. He’s gonna be out more than likely and so will Jaziun Patterson, who had a really good game against Iowa State earlier this year. So, it’ll be Leshon Williams probably leading the pack along with true freshman Kamari Moulton and another true freshman Terrell Washington.

And they also were without one of the best pass-catchers in tight end Luke Lachey, who is done for the year with a broken ankle. So, they are counting on Erick All, who transferred in with Cade from Michigan, and WRs Nico Ragaini and Seth Anderson, Diante Vines and Kaleb Brown.

Iowa is pretty beat up on the offensive side and one of the starting guards Nick DeJong left the game and was replaced by Connor Colby, who was held out of the game and was just kind of an emergency fill-in because he got dinged up at Penn State.

As Hayden Fry would say, there’s a lot of walking wounded in Iowa City.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Hawkeye defense?

Kakert: They had probably their most typical Iowa performance on Saturday, where they created four turnovers, had three interceptions and were able to create some plays. Cooper DeJean had an interception, Sebastian Castro had his second interception. Jermari Harris sealed the game with an interception. And they had one forced fumble, as well, by Virginia transfer Nick Jackson. Iowa is giving up yards. Michigan State had almost 350 yards of total offense, which is a lot for an Iowa team to give up. Penn State ran for over 250 against Iowa, so they are pushing the boundaries of bend-but-don’t-break. They didn’t give up vs. Michigan State. At Penn State, the longest play was 14 yards. So, they’re limiting explosives. Here’s an interesting stat for you about the Iowa defense: They have zero sacks against Power Five competition so far this year. That is kind of a stunning stat for a team that’s regularly in the 30s in sacks has gone bagel against Iowa State, Penn State and now Michigan State.

GoldandBlack.com: How do you see this game unfolding?

Kakert: I think this is a real toss up game. Iowa circled the wagons last week a little bit. You just wonder when the injuries are going to eventually catch up with you. You can ride the emotions during the game when injuries hit. But after they settle in, it gets a little tougher to keep moving forward. So, we’ll see what happens. But I suspect a low-scoring and tight game. Maybe first one to 20 wins.

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