Matchup to Watch –No. 17 Indiana Hoosiers at No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The #17 Indiana Hoosiers are travelling to Iowa City to play the #18 Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium. The 3:30 clash on Saturday afternoon will begin the 2021 campaign for both squads and it is one of the more highly-anticipated games in a loaded week one slate for college football. Both Indiana and Iowa went 6-2 in 2020 with the Hawkeyes winning the final six games of the season after beginning 0-2. Winning in Kinnick Stadium is going to be very tough and one matchup in particular could go a long way towards determining the outcome:

IU’s Defensive Line vs. Iowa’s Offensive Line

The Iowa Hawkeyes are typically very strong up front. Going back several decades, the Hawkeyes have put an emphasis on the offensive line and it has paid off year after year with players like Jay and Joel Hilgenberg, Ross Verba, Casey Wiegmann, Marshal Yanda, Robert Gallery, Brandon Scherff and Tristan Wirfs. That legacy could continue this season as junior Tyler Linderbaum is possibly the best center in the country. Linderbaum is a converted wrestler and he anchors the unit. He’ll be flanked by Cody Ince and Kyler Schott. Both have experience and the interior of this group is very strong. The questions and potential target points for the Hoosiers come when you look at the tackles. Jack Plumb and Nick DeJong are likely to be the tackles and neither have much experience.

Indiana’s defensive line was a concern for the coaching staff heading into the offseason. Thankfully, they were able to target the position in the transfer portal. Jaren Handy, Ryder Anderson and Weston Kramer were brought in to join a returning core of James Head, Michael Ziemba, Sio Nofoagatoto’a, Demarcus Elliott and Jonathan King. IU is going to rotate a lot of bodies up front and adding two SEC transfers plus a very experienced interior guy from the MAC was huge. Looking at this matchup, IU is more experienced and surprisingly, quite a bit bigger than the Hawkeyes. None of Iowa’s expected starters weigh in at more than 300 pounds while IU is expected to start a pair of interior guys that push 310 pounds. That’s not to say the Hoosiers should be able to push Iowa around but it does illustrate the days of IU being undersized against good Big Ten teams are well and truly gone.

This matchup needs to be watched on two fronts. First and foremost, can IU’s defensive line prevent Iowa from controlling the game on the ground. The Hawkeyes gained 4.62 yards per carry on the ground last season and the Hoosiers cannot allow outstanding running back Tyler Goodson or the other Iowa backs to have that kind of day. Goodson is terrific so he is going to have some success but minimizing that is the goal. The second part of this battle is whether or not the edge rushers can get pressure on quarterback Spencer Petras. This is where Ryder Anderson comes into play. He was brought to IU with a mostly singular purpose of getting to the quarterback. Besting those young tackles for Iowa and rattling Petras could be the key to IU winning in Iowa City. The Hoosiers likely feel very good about their secondary against most wide receiver groups, Iowa included. However, if Petras has lots of time and a comfortable pocket, no secondary will hold up all game. Indiana must win the battle against Iowa’s offensive line to give themselves a good shot at coming back to Bloomington 1-0.