Wolverine247 Board

Conference road games are tough, especially in a place like Kinnick where the fans are right behind the players. Ferentz didn't just turn into a bad coach and Iowa a bad football program. They'll be tough to handle and ready to play.

For the first time in a long time, I'm starting to think about upcoming games as likely WINS. Confidence in the coaches and the player's execution has improved so much, I expect them to win every game again. The only thing I worry about is going back to that game plan Borges used for MSU. That stunk on ice in so many different ways. Iowa will bring the pressure, a la Sparty. I hope we've prepared and react differently that we did at SpartyAsylum.

Michigan wins 31-14

Since my board is in football hibernation with Minnesota on deck, I'll chime in here.

Here's my Iowa post since it got lost in the "Congrats on the new board" thread

he key to Iowa is to be in it in the 4th quarter. I think their starters are good on defense, but they have almost no depth. As long as UM doesn't find itself down 3 scores, you guys will have an excellent chance of winning. You guys should own the 4th Q.

The biggest concern if I'm UM is Coker. Kid's a load at 6'0 230 and is definitely one of the best overall RBs in the conference. That Iowa OL is good and McNutt is an NFL receiver. In that respect, Iowa has juuuuust enough weapons on offense to keep an opponent off balance; viable RB, big, strong WR, TE safety valve and a QB that can make a fair amount of throws.

The flip side is that Vandenberg is a statue, even more so than Cousins. If you can get past the Hawkeye OL, JV is not going to make your rushers miss.

Offensively, keep it balanced and you'll be fine. Iowa's strength is its secondary, so Denard has to be careful when throwing the football; Hyde's got a real nose for the ball. Watch for Daniels on the interior of the DL; he's a bull-rush specialist and one of the strongest players in the conference.

Iowa runs a base Cover 2 and almost never blitzes. They play assignment football, so they're tough to "outscheme" . . . but they are susceptible to being out-talented, if that makes any sense.

Finally, that 11 a.m. start time is a real pain in the rear for EST teams, as MSU has found. Don't be surprised if the first Q or so goes Iowa's way.

I was thinking the same thing. Everyone seems to have forgotten we have a pretty big game this weekend. Win and we officially have more wins than last year. And it only leaves us with one more road game.

Edit: Iowa's defense is swiss cheese this year. Final score: Michigan 31 Iowa 20.

The one thing I think we will see deployed more by our defense is the 46 alignment that we brought out against MSU a couple times. It worked when we used it to stop the run, but we didn't use it often because Cousins is very experienced and if we played it as our base defense he would have shredded us. I think since stopping Coker will be key, and Vandenberg not being nearly as experienced as Cousins, we run the 46 more.

I think it will be close, especially since Iowa seems to play well at home.

My guess is Michigan 21 - Iowa 17

Michigan wins, Iowa loses.

More in depth predictions later.

I'll say Coker will get less than 100 rushing yards. Reason being Michigan jumps out to an early lead and they will be playing catch up all day long. Don't really know how much impact McCall will have he hasn't played since week 1 right?

I think Michigan is gonna have one of those game where they really don't do anything wrong. Lord knows I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again just hopefully not this week.

I know we're on the road, but I'm not too worried if we can bracket McNutt and limit the big play from him. Play keep away while playing sound gap discipline on D not allowing Coker to run wild. Iowa falls apart in the 4th, so if we can own the ToP by maintaining long drives, eventually Denard and Co. should find holes all of us could run through. Limit our stupid mistakes or quick 3 and outs on O...I'm not a fan of our special teams/kick coverage, so hopefully that doesn't bite us. Hit the ground running and don't look back...UM by at least 17......

I think with Iowa keeping the 2 deep safeties Denard will have a big game on the ground. Hopefully, Fitz and Smith will have at least solid games as well. I am not expecting a lot of big play TDs so we are going to have to execute long drives in order to score. A big factor is going to be if we are capable of doing this for TDs and not setting for FGs.

Defensively I am expecting us to show an improved run defense from the MSU game. The only thing that really scares me about Iowa is that their QB is capable of getting really hot like he did late in the Pitt game. If that happens we could be in for a shootout.

Prediction- UM 31 Iowa 23

Agree abotu the 4th Q. Wolverines should own that Q. As long as you guys aren't carrying a 3 score deficit (and even then), you should pull out the W.

Just beware of Coker and Iowa momentum at home. Things can get out of hand in a hurry in Kinnick.

Because it's funny.

I really hope you guys are correct with your predictions. I think week to week anyone can beat anyone in a BCS conference and if we don't play a good road game we will be leaving 7-2.