As Iowa football (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) prepares for Monday’s TransPerfect Music City Bowl clash vs. Missouri (9-3, 5-3 SEC), fifth-year senior linebacker Jay Higgins shared his thoughts on defending against a ball-control heavy Tigers’ offense.
Higgins began by praising Missouri quarterback Brady Cook for his ability to make the right decisions during critical moments and mentioned the challenge that will come with stopping the clever signal-caller.
“No, he’s really good. I mean, obviously, arm talent. I think there’s a thing going around, like a game manager. He makes the right throw every single time. As soon as you lull yourself to sleep, he’s going to beat you over the top. He’s got ability to run, really likes to do it in the hot zone. But just the ability to make it out of the pocket. Really good throwing the ball on the run. Really good at extending the play,” Higgins said.
“So he’s a guy that we need to make sure we stay in coverage, even if he leaves the pocket. He does have the ability to obtain the first down himself.”
Higgins continued by addressing how he feels the Hawkeyes can disrupt the versatile and heavy time-of-possession Tigers offense during the game by saying Iowa will need to control the line of scrimmage and make Missouri “one dimensional.”
“We’ve just got to make them one-dimensional. Obviously, they’ve got some big dudes up front. Their offense is based on how well their offensive line is doing. Their offensive line has been playing great these last six games or so. We’re going to try to stop the run. We’re going to try to make their game plan as small as possible. Put them in obvious pass situations and do our best to play our way of football,” Higgins added.
“We want to disrupt routes, take some time and just play physical. Physical bowl game doesn’t sound like… I don’t think too many teams want to play a physical bowl game. That’s the only way we can play it.”
Higgins, a 6-foot-2, 232-pound unanimous All-American, enters his final game in a Hawkeye uniform with 153 solo tackles and 182 assists for 335 total tackles to go along with nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, 14 pass deflections, and five interceptions in 28 stars over his 57 game career.
The upcoming TransPerfect Music City Bowl will occur from Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., at 1:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN and through the radio on the Hawkeye Radio Network.