Football Cats Impressed with What They See from Iowa
Now that finals and National Signing Day are over, No. 22 Kentucky can turn its attention to their opponent in the Citrus Bowl, 15th-ranked Iowa.
The Hawkeyes, like the Cats, opened their season with six straight victories. Iowa beat Indiana, Iowa State, Kent State, Colorado State, Maryland and Penn State and, in doing so, rose to number two in the national rankings.
Also like the Cats, the Hawkeyes had some bumpy roads in the middle of the season. After opening 6-0, Iowa was upset, at home, by unranked Purdue and followed that with a loss as Wisconsin.
Iowa would close out its regular season by beating Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska. By finishing 10-2 and 7-2 in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes won their division and advanced to the Big Ten title game.
There, they ran into a buzzsaw that called itself Michigan. The Wolverines beat the Hawkeyes 42-3 in Indianapolis.
Still, at 10-3, Iowa has put together a most impressive season, one that will culminate with a game against Kentucky in Orlando in New Year’s Day.
Veteran head coach Kirk Ferentz leads the Hawkeyes and is in his 23rd season in Iowa City. Ferentz likes his offense simple and his defense complex, something that the Cats have discovered on film.
The Hawkeyes have run the ball 477 times this season while passing on just 374 occasions. Those numbers tell the UK defense that Iowa will be running the ball, something that senior Marquan McCall seems to favor.
“We are really excited because it’s an old-school offense and that’s what we like,” McCall said. “We like for teams to run the ball and to give us some more challenges. We’re prepared and ready to go.”
McCall’s job against Iowa will be especially tough as he squares off with Tyler Linderbaum, who is widely regarded as the best center in the country and a likely first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft. McCall plans to be up for the challenge.
“I’m really excited. I always like competition,” McCall said. “It’s just exciting to get to go against him and show him what I got and for him to show me what he’s got.”
On the other side of the ball, the Hawkeyes have one of the nation’s best defeneses. That’s because they do a lot of things very well, according to UK All-American tackle Darian Kinnard.
“Their defense is very technical,” Kinnard said. “They are pretty big, they’re very stout when they play. They don’t miss a lot of tackles. Their linebackers have over 100 tackles, one of their (defensive) lineman has like 50. They’re very technical guys and they’re going to play throughout the whole game.”
As the Cats continue to prepare for Iowa, as well as preparing for a trip to Florida, Kinnard is enjoying one last ride with his teammates. And he has advice for the younger players.
“Throughout this whole break before bowl game, I would say enjoy the time,” Kinnard said. “It is a daily grind but I would say have fun with it. Have fun, don’t burn yourself out and enjoy the process.”
That process includes learning more about Iowa each and every day, something UK will continue to do right up until game time.
