Out of Towner: Hawkeye Nation Gears Up for Orange Bowl
Sunscreen, check. Sunglasses, check. Lucky Hawkeye boxers, check. New custom Hawkeye gold mohawk, check. Orange Bowl tickets, check. Well, I guess I'm ready. As are about 40,000 other Hawkeye faithfuls. Miami here we come. Georgia Tech here we come.
Aside from enjoying the warm weather and scantily clad women, of which I intend to enjoy my fair share, Iowans will also be treated to on hell of a game on January 5th at Land Shark Stadium against a very tough Georgia Tech team.
In Iowa's first ever game versus ninth ranked Georgia Tech (11-2, 7-1 ACC), the strength of the Hawkeye Defense will be the determining factor of the game. This is nothing new to this year's squad. However, the triple option run by QB Josh Nesbitt and RB Jonathon Dwyer (the ACC's all-time dual running threat) will be something the Hawkeyes and Kirk Ferentz have never seen. Georgia Tech's offense is ranked 2nd in the country in rushing and 11th in scoring and has been nearly unstoppable this season.
Luckily for Hawkeye faithfuls the Iowa defense has been equally impressive this year. Iowa's defense, the 10th ranked scoring D in the country, relies heavily on disciplined gap coverage and an outstanding front four led by Adrian Clayborn. This disciplined attack, along with help from from the defensive backfield will, as I mentioned, be the biggest key to bringing home an Orange Bowl victory.
Another huge key to the game will be the return of Ricky Stanzi as the starting QB. The big question is who will show up. Will it be our fourth quarter clutch Ricky, or will it be INT prone Castanzi? Georgia Tech will score points. The object of the game is to score more points than GT. This is Ricki and company's job (although the Defense has helped out quite a bit this year). Can Ricki consistently find McNutt, Johnson-Koulianos and Moeaki? Well, he damned well better.
Georgia Tech's defense has weaknesses that can be exploited and has been burned by the long pass quite a few times this year. Stanzi and company will have to do it again to win this game. So please, pleaaase Ricky, bring your A-game. I know its in there somewhere. I've seen it. Just find it early and hold on to it for dear life. Remember, you don't win BCS bowl games by only playing 2 or 3 good quarters of football.
So there it is. Stop the run and don't turn the ball over. Seems pretty simple from where I'm sitting. Of course it's never that easy. But I for one have faith that Iowa's coaching staff has done everything possible to prepare our boys for victory. I predict a fairly high scoring affair for this year's FedEx Bowl (I hate FedEx by the way), with Iowa winning a 30-28 stunner.
All ye faithful gather up next Tuesday wherever you can find the game on. TV viewers keep in mind that Mediacom subscribers in Iowa are going to get the royal screwjob and not be able to watch the game from the comfort of their own homes. So change your service to Dish or get to the bar. This is gonna be one exciting finish to one great Hawkeye football season.
For all those lucky fans who are able to make it to Miami, I'll see you there. Go Hawkeyes!!!
Questions, comments and pictures of Hawkeye women in bikinis can be sent to pixleyjackson@yahoo.com.
Comments
blog comments powered by Disqus
