No. 25 Iowa vs. Illinois State Preview and Picks: Kirk Ferentz-less Hawkeyes looking to start 1-0 in 2024 (2024)

Series History:

It will be the second game between Iowa and Illinois State in the all-time series. The Hawkeyes defeated the Redbirds, 31-14, during the 2015 season in Kinnick Stadium.It is Iowa's first game against an FCS opponent since hosting South Dakota State in the 2022 season opener.

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Here is how to watch, stream or listen to the game between the Hawkeyes and Redbirds:

Announcers:Play-by-Play: Mark Followill, Analyst: Anthony Herron, Sideline: Melanie Ricks

TV:Big Ten Network at 11 AM CT on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024

Location:Kinnick Stadium (Iowa City, Iowa)

Radio:Hawkeye Radio Network-Gary Dolphin, play-by-play, Pat Angerer, color analyst,Rob Brooks, sideline reporter. Sirius XM 137 or 196.

Stream:FoxSportsGo

Online radio:TuneIn

How do things go without Kirk Ferentz on the sideline and a new offensive coordinator?:Kirk Ferentz said it best on Tuesday when asked how things will look without him on the sidelines. He believes in his experienced staff and it helps that he has a lot of experience on the roster, too. Iowa's acting head coach in Seth Wallace has been around the program for a long time, and is used to the gameday environment.

"I just think it made sense at that time," Ferentz said of giving Wallace the assistant head coach title this offseason. "There's nothing more to it than that. He's done a great job, but I have total confidence. We have a really good staff of guys and guys that have been here for the most part for quite a while and have association with the program for quite a while."

"I've said it before, the best part of my day is walking in there. Outside of being with my wife, Mary, obviously. Is walking in here and being with a lot of good people. We're different, but we're all working toward the same thing, and that's a fun thing. Fun thing to be a part of."

One of the unique situations for Iowa will be having a new offensive coordinator in Tim Lester. The former Western Michigan head coach will be calling plays from the pressbox. There will be a lot of eyes on the offense going into the season opener, and it'll be interesting to see what questions are answered without Ferentz on the sideline in Lester's first game with the Hawkeyes.

"It's like every game, you want things to go smoothly, and you want the flow of things to go good," Ferentz said. "Things that stop offenses are negative yardage plays, unforced errors, penalties, false starts, those kind of things, alignment errors. Just playing fundamentally sound that way would be a good starting point. Keeping the ball off the ground is always a good thing."

QB Cade McNamara:McNamara has not played a full season since 2021, and his 2022 and 2023 campaigns ended with season-ending injuries. McNamara has said recently that he's full-go and is in the best shape health wise that he's been in a long time, but there is always a mental aspect that is involved with overcoming a serious injury, especially when it's two seasons in a row. Iowa is going with McNamara as the starting quarterback to begin the season. McNamara has the most experience between himself and Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan, who has made strong strides as the Hawkeyes' backup quarterback since arriving on campus in June. How does McNamara come out in his first game since tearing his ACL last season? I'm not expecting a dominant performance from McNamara, but Ferentz has said in the past that McNamara looks to be getting more comfortable in the pocket, whether it be taking a hit, making plays on the run, or absorbing any sort of contact. He looks to be in more control, but there is still a hurdle to jump over when the whistle blows and all eyes are on you. A steady, consistent game from McNamara on Saturday would be a positive going into the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State, but it'll be interesting to see how much McNamara can do on Saturday and what he looks comfortable doing.

Iowa offensive line:Iowa's offensive line is the most experienced it has been during the George Barnett tenure and it feels like this is the year for them to break through. For the first time with Barnett on staff, the Hawkeyes have starting experience at every position on the offensive line and also have a fifth-year senior in Tyler Elsbury and a sixth-year in Nick DeJong, who provide reliable depth at almost every spot on the offensive line.

"Consistency," Barnett said of what he likes about this offensive line. "You don't get as many ebbs and flows. It's cool because the senior group, the five plus two guys that are probably the top guys right now, you're seeing way more understanding and way more physicality in their play. Things that used to bother them, aren't bothering them anymore."

The key for Iowa this season on offense is establishing the run, and that starts with the offensive line. Suppose Iowa has an offensive line that can block and stay consistent. In that case, the Hawkeyes have a good chance of being a very good team, and Saturday is the first test of that against an Illinois State defensive front that is a three-man and a strong linebacker corp, one of the best in the FCS ranks. We'll see how this Iowa offensive line comes out because their play this year is so, so important for this Iowa offense.

The defensive line:One of the main question marks for Iowa'sdefense from outsiders is the play of the defensive line. The Hawkeyes lose two of their most valued players in the last couple of years upfront in Logan Lee and Joe Evans, and while there is experience returning at certain spots, we don't know exactly what we'll see from all of them in an expanded role. Deontae Craig and Ethan Hurkett are set to man the edge for the Hawkeyes, while Yahya Black and Aaron Graves will be on the interior. That's a solid core group. There has been a lot of good said about Iowa's backup edge rushers in Brian Allen and Max Llewellyn, along with how Jeremiah Pittman has come on in the interior, but what this group can be is still up in the air.

Iowa will have a tough task ahead of it in week one against Illinois State's offensive line that boasts one of the best FCS NFL Draft prospects in Hunter Zambrano, as well as a couple of returning starters and a few FBS transfers. The Redbirds also have a running back that is tough to bring down in Mason King, so it could be an early challenge for the Hawkeyes, and we'll see what they can bring to the table.

QB's Tommy Rittenhouse and Jake Rubley:Illinois State will go with two quarterbacks on Saturday, and both bring a little something different to the table. Rittenhouse is a smaller, quicker quarterback who can make throws on the run, and also has good zip on his passes.Rittenhouse completed 46-of-69 passes last season for Illinois State with 467 yards and three touchdowns to no interceptions in 2023. He also had 140 rushing yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. Behind him is Rubley, a former four-star recruit, who transferred from Kansas State this past offseason. Rubley is more of a pocket passer with great arm strength and can make some impressive throws. Spack has said he feels confident in both, so it'll be interesting to see which one the Redbirds go with more than the other or how they allocate snaps.

RB Mason King:King started his collegiate career atNorthern Illinois, transferring to Illinois State prior to the 2023 season. Last season for the Redbirds, King had 150 carries for 908 yards, and 14 touchdowns.King is listed at 6-foot-2, 220-pounds, and is a big, physical back with good speed and experience. He underwent surgery this offseason for a torn labrum in his left shoulder, which he played most of the season with in 2023.

OL Hunter Zambrano:The top NFL Draft prospect on this Illinois State team is its starting left tackle in Zambrano. He is listed at 6-foot-5, 300-pounds, and it will provide a tall task for Iowa's edge rushers early in the season. Zambrano is one of the top offensive linemen in the FCS ranks.

LB Amir Abdullah:The strength of Illinois State's defense is in the linebacker room and it starts with Abdullah.Abdullah had 14 tackles for a loss and 9.5 sacks at linebacker a year ago and was on the FCS all-American team.

Establish the run, but also improve Cade McNamara's confidence:As we've said many times before, Iowa's offense is going to go as the run game goes, and it's going to be key for Iowa to set up the run so the pass can be used. Kamari Moulton is listed as the starting running back, though the Hawkeyes are also going to use Leshon Williams, Kaleb Johnson, and potentially Jaziun Patterson. It would be ideal to see Iowa find some groove early in the run game and get the juices flowing to make things easier on Cade McNamara. That's an another important factor.

The Hawkeyes need to allow McNamara to find his footing with the offense. He has been slowly making his way back from injury and has started to look better, but it's a process, and the mental side of it is something he needs to overcome coming off back to back season ending injuries.

"But the bottom line is a player has to get confidence in his body and confidence that he can do what he has to do to perform whatever his position may be," Ferentz said of McNamara earlier this week. "I think that open scrimmage is really the first time I saw him look like he just kind of put it aside, and we've seen a lot of those pictures since then. I think he's more than ready to go and really confident in his body."

Getting McNamara more comfortable and with more confidence going into a week two matchup against Iowa State would be a big bonus along with a strong rushing attack.

Control the tempo:Illinois State is going to run the football and the Redbirds are going to want to find success on the ground. That's going to be key for Iowa to stop King and the other running backs that Illinois State uses. However, the Redbirds offense also likes to play fast, and use a number of quick hitters and short routes to keep the tempo of the offense. Illinois State doesn't like to hang on to the ball for very long in the pocket and will look to get its offense moving by finding those receivers on those quick routes and moving the chains. Iowa will have to combat that and it'll be important for the defense to contain those quicker actions while also finding ways to get pressure on the quarterback to not allow Illinois State more momentum.

Sean Bock:No Kirk Ferentz, no problem. Iowa should have no issue with Illinois State, but the Redbirds return nine of their 11 starters on defense from last year.This should be a realistically good challenge for Iowa with Illinois State's returning defensive players, but the Hawkeyes should have no issues getting the win. I think the offense has a bit of a slow start, but we start to see things that we're not used to with this offense in how it can attack opposing defenses. I think the Hawkeyes also find the run game relatively early, and most of the scores are on the offensive end, but there is also a defensive or special teams touchdown.

Iowa 35, Illinois State 7

Record: 1-0

David Eickholt:This is a perfect tuneup game for the Hawkeyes. The only goals will be for Iowa to gain confidence in its offense and for the offensive line to dominate. I would recommend that people don't read too much into what Iowa runs against the Redbirds because this isn't going to be a true look at what the Hawkeyes are going to run this season. It would not surprise me if Iowa ran the ball 45 times and wanted to limit passing to around 18-20. The Hawkeyes won't have too much trouble with Illinois State. They'll go out there and rush for four touchdowns and throw for a score while shutting down the offense. I have Iowa in an easy one as they look toward their first big game of the year against Iowa State.

Iowa 38, Illinois State 6

Record: 1-0