Harty: Must-win game for Iowa

Come Sunday morning, the Iowa football team will have lost its best weapon besides senior receiver Marvin McNutt: A favorable schedule.

Saturday’s afternoon matchup against a 1-6 Minnesota squad is all that stands between Iowa facing without question the toughest part of the 2011 schedule.

The final four games against Michigan and Michigan State at home and Purdue and Nebraska on the road will tell us all we need to know about the Iowa football team.

On the other hand, Saturday’s game against Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis won’t tell us much if Iowa wins, but it would put fans in crisis mode if the Hawkeyes lose.

You knew coming into the season that the final one-third of Iowa’s schedule was a potential death march.

It looks that way even more so now with Purdue showing signs of being better than expected after winning two of its first three Big Ten games.

The last four teams on Iowa’s schedule have a combined record of 22-6 overall and 9-3 in Big Ten games.

Michigan and Nebraska also have two of the best running quarterbacks in college football in Denard Robinson and Taylor Martinez, respectively.

And with the way Indiana marched up and down the field on its first two drives against Iowa last Saturday behind a true freshman quarterback with good running skills, it’s easy to see Robinson and Martinez doing the same thing.

That’s why defeating Minnesota is a must for Iowa.

Not only would it make the Hawkeyes bowl eligible at 6-2 overall, it would also be Iowa’s first road victory in almost a year and its third victory in a row.

Iowa needs all the help it can get heading into the final four games, including momentum.

The 2011 Iowa team isn’t as deep or talented as the 2010 Hawkeye squad, but the players on this year’s team should be in a better frame of mind to face the Gophers.

Iowa had big plans for the 2010 season, but by time the Hawkeyes faced Minnesota in the regular-season finale, those plans had been ruined by four losses, including the previous two games by a combined seven points.

The team was in a funk that nobody realized until it became time to compete, but then it was too late.

Iowa fans still wonder how the 2010 squad, which had six players selected in the NFL draft, could lose 27-24 to a Minnesota team that entered the game with a 2-9 record.

Perhaps the best way to explain it is that any Big Ten team, except for maybe those pathetic Northwestern teams from the 1970s and 1980s, can rise up and pull off an upset if the other team isn’t ready to compete.

Minnesota dual-threat quarterback MarQueis Gray could cause a lot of damage if the Iowa defensive players aren’t ready to tackle the 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior from Indianapolis.

It’s no secret that Iowa struggles to contain dual-threat quarterbacks, especially on third down.

But with Gray, Iowa will be pitted against a different kind of dual-threat quarterback.

“He’s a different runner than what we’ve seen,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of Gray, who contributed to last season’s upset with a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. “I don’t know if we’ve played any guys that are 240.

“This guy is a strong, powerful running back when he runs the ball. He’s also got a strong arm.”

It’s easy to see the Iowa offense scoring at least 30 points against a Minnesota defense that’s ranked next to last in the Big Ten in total defense and rushing defense and 10th in pass defense.

The Gophers are even worse on offense with regard to statistics, averaging a Big Ten-low 293.7 yards per game.

But Iowa is hardly a wrecking crew on defense, with opponents averaging 406.7 yards per game and 5.2 yards per play against the Hawkeyes.

There is still time for the Iowa defense to get better with five games left in the regular season, but hardly any time until the level of competition improves dramatically.

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Tags: MarQueis Gray, Minnesota

Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football