Hawks to face Cyclones

Kirk Ferentz will hold his weekly press conference this afternoon. Having had a few days for Iowa's dramatic 17-16 win over Northern Iowa to settle in his mind, Ferentz hopefully will only take positives from such a surprising week one test.

A few things I hope he addresses:

Who is going to start at running back?
Redshirt freshman Adam Robinson, who came in after starter Paki O'Meara struggled early, led the team with 63 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown on Saturday. Robinson was bursting through holes in the offensive line, but more importantly the Des Moines-native showed he was willing to work for the tough yards instead of attempting to hit a "home run" on every play. The Hawkeyes' first touchdown of the season came on an 11-yard scamper by Robinson in the third quarter.

Fellow redshirt freshman Jeff Brinson did not play in Saturday's game. If Brinson suits up this weekend in Ames, expect him to see some action.

What is the situation with Derrell Johnson-Koulianous?

• Why did DJK get on the field for only a handful of plays, especially considering how close Saturday's game was?


• How much playing time is he going to see against Iowa State?


• Is Ricky Stanzi going to throw the ball to Tony Moeaki so many times that Moeaki eventually gets hurt? Why flirt with disaster so early in the season?

How does the defensive game plan change after the success UNI had against it?
In the last few seasons Iowa has typically struggled against the spread offense (Indiana and Kellen Lewis, ring a bell?). On Saturday, UNI spread out the Hawks' conservative base defense and veteran quarterback Pat Grace tore Iowa apart, completing 23-of-37 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, 15 of those completions went for Panther first downs.

Sure, Iowa's defense kept them in the game like they always do. But when the Hawks needed simply to keep UNI out of field goal range on the final possession of the game, Grace and the Panthers marched down the field seemingly with ease. It was like Grace was performing surgery on the Iowa secondary.

Can a brother get an adjustment or two?

Maybe just something as simple as press coverage. It doesn't even have to be man-to-man coverage; it can still be cover two zone. However, letting the defensive backs get a good jam on a receiver at the line of scrimmage throws off the timing of the routes and forces the quarterback to sit in the pocket where the defensive line can get after him.

How about blitzing a linebacker or a safety up the middle? Or how about a nickel back off the edge? Certainly the Hawks have the athleticism defensively to take a few risks here and there.

The spread offense is an aggressive style of offense and the best way to counter it is not to sit back and watch, bend but don't break, but to attack.