One week after TOSU, the Hawks will be put to the test again by the Purdue Boilermakers.  Both teams are 4-1 and are coming off losses (Purdue lost to Notre Dame in South Bend last week) so this is a big game for both teams.

Why Purdue is dangerous:

Purdue knows how to do offense.  They always have and this year is no exception.  They are anchored by a sound offensive line with 2 returning juniors C & RG, 1 returning sophomore RT, 1 returning senior LT, and a first year starting senior LG.  Purdue also has plenty of weapons on offense.  At RB, they have two fast sophomores in KORY SHEETS and JAYCEN TAYLOR.  This has me worried, especially after the way Antonio Pittman burned us on his runs to the outside last week.  I know those guys aren’t on the same level as Pittman, but they will no doubt try to exploit us as TOSU did.  At the helm is sophomore CURTIS PAINTER.  Painter is averaging about 300 yards a game so far and has 10TD to 5INT.  Painter had 398 yards passing (shit!) against the Irish last week and the whole team put up 490 yards of total offense!  I know Notre Dame’s secondary sucks, but the Hawk’s secondary has gotten the injury bug this season.  Word is that if CB Charles Godfrey doesn’t get moved to free safety, red shirt freshman Marcus Wilson will.  As mentioned last week, Devan Moylan is out for the year and, allegedly, Marcus Paschal isn’t even on the two deep on the roster.  Apparently Purdue doesn’t run the 5 wide as much, but there will still be some mismatches.  The Boilermakers have 3 sound WR’s in junior DORIEN BRYANT, sophomore GREG ORTON, and SELWYN LYMON.  Junior TE DUSTIN KELLER is pretty decent too and is played like a wide out at times.  Also, expect the two RB to go into the slot on some plays.  The Hawkeye defense will be tested this week, but not to the extent they were against the Buckeyes.

Where Purdue is weak:

While Purdue knows offense, they apparently didn’t get the memo on defense.  Here is the yardage that the Boilermakers have given up this year: 387 against the might Indiana State Sycamores, 483 to Miami Ohio, 352 to Balls State, 418 to the Gophers, and 454 against the Irish.  Wow.  I know the offense generally carries the team in West Lafayette, but hell.  When asked on the growth of his defense thus far, head coach Joe Tiller said, “I think they fucking sucked made a lot of improvement last week at the corner (back) position. I know that (Notre Dame receiver Rhema) McKnight caught a zillion passes against us, but so does every wide reciever we face he catches them against everybody.”  Personally, I think this defense is just what the Hawkeye offense needs to get rolling.

Bottom Line:
IOWA 24 – Purdue 21

This should be an intense game.  I don’t think Iowa will cover the 11 point spread, but I wager Iowa does just enough to edge the Boilermakers in another classic between these two schools.

ON IOWA, GO HAWKS