CyHawk

Football in the state of Iowa reaches its annual pinnacle this weekend when Iowa and Iowa State square off. During Hayden Fry's glory years at Iowa, the Hawks owned the Cyclones. But since 1998, the Clones have taken six of eight games. In 2002, Iowa's only loss was in the second half to ISU.

A couple of subplots to the game this week:

• Iowa QB Drew Tate sat out last Saturday with an injury. Iowa won without him, but only by the thinnest of hairs on backup Jason Manson's chin.
• An Iowa win this week likely vaults Iowa back to #12 or so in the ratings. A win by Ohio State this week keeps them at #1. The two teams play next Saturday in Iowa City, in prime time on ABC.
• Most people in these parts believe ISU traditionally plays their best game against the Hawks because they want the win more badly. That's probably not true, but its a good excuse for Iowa fans when their team loses. This year, particularly, I don't think there's any chance whatsoever that the black-and-gold are looking past the cardinal-and-gold.

There's no doubt that Iowa should have a better defense than ISU. The bigger question is this: which team has a better QB/RB combination? ISU's Meyers and Hicks have a statistical advantage over Iowa's Tate/Manson/Young two weeks into the season. I have a hard time believing Hicks will run well against Iowa's defense, but Young may do no better against the Clones. Iowa traditionally has trouble with scrambling QG's like Meyers. Will Tate go all the way, or will he get hit in the ribs early in the game and take a seat on the bench?

I'm making two predictions for this Saturday.

If Tate plays four quarters:
Iowa 24
Iowa State 17

If Manson is the man:
Iowa 16
Iowa State 14
(Iowa wins with a field goal in the last minute of the game)