College Sports

College football preview: Northwestern at Iowa

Posted October 14, 2011 12:00 am

By Mike McGraw

mmcgraw@dailyherald.com

Northwestern (2-3, 0-2) at Iowa (3-2, 0-1)

When: 6 p.m. Saturday at Kinnick Stadium

TV: BTN

Radio: WMVP 1000-AM, WNUR 89.3-FM.

Series: Iowa leads 46-23-3; NU won 21-17 last season.

Coaches: Pat Fitzgerald (36-32, sixth year at NU); Kirk Ferentz (92-62, 13th year at Iowa).

Players to watch: Iowa QB James Vandenberg ranks second in the Big Ten with 253 passing yards per game. RB Marcus Coker is sixth on the rushing list with 91 yards per contest. ... Northwestern backup QB Kain Colter is staying busy since starter Dan Persa returned from injury. He ran for a 15-yard touchdown last week and also lined up at WR.

The skinny: The jury is out on Iowa. The Hawkeyes had a nice comeback win against Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, but lost to Iowa State and couldn’t muster much offense in last week’s 13-3 defeat at Penn State. Until losing to the Nittany Lions, Iowa hadn’t dropped a game by more than a touchdown since 2007. Northwestern is trying to find a way to play better in the second half after blowing leads of 18 points at Illinois and 10 against Michigan. The Cats have won five of the last six meetings, including three straight in Iowa City.

Fast fact: Northwestern had just 2 turnovers on the season until coughing it up twice in the second half against Michigan.

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