The Iowa Hawkeyes were able to get to an 8-4 record largely because of their dominance on the road, where their only loss came to Ohio State. They averaged just 27 points a game, but scored at leats 20 points in all but three matchups. The LSu Tigers were a prolific offens,e but an ACL tear sustained by Zach Mettenberger will likely put a damper on the unit that averaged 37 points a game while churning up 465.9 yards. It'll be on Freshman Anthony Jennings to make the big plays and keep the offense on schedule.
Jake Rudock took most of the snaps for the Hawkeyes this year, completing 60.2% of his passes for seven yards per attempt with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The sophomore signal caller struggled mightily in the fourth quarter of games, averaging just 5.4 yards per attempt. completing only 58% of his passes and throwing six interceptions with just a single touchdown. The Hawkeyes didnt have any single receiver that was much of a threat to break a big play, besides Damond Powell who averaged 24.3 yards per catch. Iowa's offensive line will likely be tested against the Tigers, but they did allow pressure on just 9.2% of their pass attempts this year. The rushing attack was solid enough, lead by Mark Weisman who carried it 208 times and played in all 12 games. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry, and converted 72.2% of his third down carries with less than three yards to convert. Jordan Canzeri might get a few carries, and has teh ability to break a long one after posting 15 of his 67 carries this season for more than 10 yards.
Everything we know about the LSU's passing attack can likely be tossed out at this point, with Anthony Jennings making his first start. He will at least have two of the best receivers in the nation to throw to in Jarvis Landry and ODell Beckham Jr. Beckham Jr. might be the most dangerous deep threat in college football, with 36 receptions of more than 15 yards on his 57 receptions, and he converted 13 of his 14 third down receptions. Jarvis Landry had 59 first down receptions, to go with 34 catches of more than 15 yards. He'll also have a running game that features a pair of backs that each averaged better than six yards per carry. Jeremy Hill averaged 6.8 yards per run, and found the end zone 14 times. Terrence Magee picked up 7.8 every time he ran it, and the team overall had 16.5% of their runs go for over ten yards. The aforementioned backs did combine for just 21 carries a game, which is likely to see a bump this week
The Bayou Bengals defense suffered from attrition this seaosn, with so many players headed to the NFL. They did however contain the passing game of their foes, allowing just a 57.1% completion rate for only 6.5 yards per attempt. The secondary only forced nine turnovers though despite a 14.9% pressure rate from the pass rush. Jermauria Rasco was the bets pass rusher the team had, with 4 sacks to lead the team but another eight hurries. He also had 52 tackles, good for 8th on the team. Lamin Barrow lead the team with 86 stops, 4.5 of them for loss. They did struggle a little against the run, allowing 4.1 yards per carry, posting just a 7.1% tackle for loss rate.
The Hawkeyes only allowed 4.6 yards per play on defense, while stifling opponents for just 18.8 points per game. They did it by stopping the run first, allowing only 3.5 yards per carry. They were especially tough through November, allowing only three yards a carry and just three touchdowns on the ground. They posted a tackle for loss on 9.2% of their defensive snaps, with 27.5 of them coming from line backers James Morris and Anthony Hitchens. The pair combined for 200 stops on the season, with Christian Kirksey adding another 97 tackles. The secondary shut down passers as well, allowing only a 5.8 yards per attempt mark with only 56% completion rate. Only 11.7% of those passes went for more than 15 yards, and BJ Lowery was able to break up 16 passes this season.
LSU without Mettenberger is still a very dangerous team. They should be able to shut down The Hawkeyes offense for the most part, and pull away in the end.
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