Tag: 2023 Big Ten

Week 3 Big Ten Power Rankings: Bucky Badger stumbles, Nebraska heads for the cellar

Wisconsin went stumbling down. Iowa took care of business in its rivalry road trip. Where’s everyone in the Week 3 Big Ten Power Rankings?

Two weeks down in the college football season, and boy, the Big Ten is not having the best showing at all. While the Pac-12 is having a farewell tour for the ages, with only four losses in the conference so far, the Big Ten has stumbled a bit out of the gates.

The West Division, in particular, is looking especially gooberish in its farewell tour. Only two teams remain undefeated through two weeks — Iowa and Minnesota — and they haven’t really shown out so far. Both have played their games and have pretty much been the same exact team we all expected. They play their brand of football, and even when it results in wins, they aren’t always the most convincing games.

Outside of those two, it’s been rough. Both Illinois and Wisconsin lost to non-conference opponents, while Nebraska continues to be — well — Nebraska. On the eastern front, the top three teams still remain the same, but even then, two of them haven’t really had the most dominating performances, at least not when you look at some of the squads putting up 70 points to start the season.

As always, we won’t be able to get a proper gauge on how good the Big Ten is until the real important games start rolling around. Two weeks in, here’s an updated look at the Big Ten conference power rankings.

Note: All of next week’s kickoff times are listed in CT.

Iowa Football 2023 Schedule Breakdown: Illinois

The Iowa Hawkeyes return home for Senior Day in Week 12 to play host to Illinois. A preview of the Fighting Illini.

Illinois was one of the big surprises of last season. A team many thought to be a pest to play, but not necessarily a contender, Illinois was one of the big players in the Big Ten West.

Backed by a fantastic defense and rushing attack spearheaded by Chase Brown, the Illini quickly established themselves as a force in the West. Illinois won seven of their first eight contests. Had it not been for a bad call, they should have beat Indiana as well.

Unfortunately, the end of the season was a disaster for Bret Bielema’s squad. They dropped four of their last five, including a monumental game against eventual division winners Purdue. They had their spot in the Big Ten Championship game in clear view and just fumbled it away.

Despite the failure in the end, it still was a largely successful season for Illinois. Their 8-5 finish was definitely better than their 5-8 record in Bielema’s first season. They certainly looked better than they ever did under Lovie Smith.

Roots football under Bielema brought the Illini back to relevance, and it should keep them from derailing after losing a lot this offseason. Much of what made them successful last year is gone, from their fantastic secondary to Brown all going to the NFL. Whoever the key players are to emerge for Illinois, you can be sure they will give the Hawkeyes a hell of a fight.

Here is a preview of Illinois.

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247Sports tabs Iowa wide receivers as position group with most potential improvement

Iowa’s wide receiver room could experience a big breakout in 2023, but only if given the right play from quarterback Cade McNamara.

Out of all the positional groups to watch out for on the Iowa football team, the wide receivers room may be the one to keep an eye on.

After experiencing a ton of change over the offseason, Iowa has reloaded its pass-catching room with a bunch of young, up-and-coming talents. In Sean Bock’s superlatives for every position group ahead of fall camp for Hawkeye Insider of 247Sports, he listed wide receiver as the one with the “most potential improvement.”

Iowa used the transfer portal this offseason to fill missing pieces at wide receiver as it landed Charleston Southern transfer Seth Anderson and Ohio State transfer, Kaleb Brown.

Anderson was the Big South Offensive Player of the Year as a redshirt freshman while Brown was a former four-star recruit, and any wide receiver that is recruited heavily by Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has the chance to be a game-changer in any offense.

Brown and Anderson were two missing pieces that Iowa needed. An X receiver would’ve been ideal, but Anderson and Brown both have big-time playmaking ability and that’s something Iowa needs. – Bock, Hawkeye Insider.

The wide receiver room is a good mix of these newly transferred in talents such as Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown, and returning experience. The Hawkeyes bring back Nico Ragaini for his sixth year and will hope Diante Vines can stay healthy and make an impact.

As for returners, Nico Ragaini and Diante Vines will play big roles for the Hawkeyes. Ragaini is the team leader this fall, and could have a 2019-esque year with Cade McNamara under center. Vines has been hindered by injuries throughout his career, but he was one of the top performers in fall camp last year before going down with an injury. Jacob Bostick should also get a mention, too, but he needs to stay healthy. – Bock, Hawkeye Insider.

I think bringing up Cade McNamara is vital, because the quarterback plays a huge role in how effective the wide receivers are. There definitely was talent at the position last year, and I still think Keagan Johnson can be a breakout star for Kansas State this year.

It’s just really hard to show any of that talent when the quarterback cannot reliably make the throws. Combine that with injuries, and you have a wide receiver room that I think looked worse than what they really were. It’s no shock that Charlie Jones immediately became one of the best receivers in the nation the minute he left Iowa.

Iowa will undoubtably have talent at receiver again. We know Nico Ragaini is reliable, and Kaleb Brown has the potential to be the best receiver at Iowa since… ever. What they need is a quarterback who can get the job done, step up and make the throws, and not put a massive handicap on the offense.

If Cade McNamara can be that guy, then sure, this group of pass catchers could certainly make some noise in 2023.

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247Sports ranks Cooper DeJean as one of college football’s top-10 most explosive players

Iowa’s Cooper DeJean leaves zero question about his athleticism. As a result, 247Sports tabbed him a top-10 explosive player nationally.

Don’t think that the most explosive players in the nation are only on the offensive side of the ball!

While most people think of dynamic threats as wide receivers or running backs, guys who can break off a big play at any time, being an explosive threat is not exclusive to offensive players. On Carter Bahns’ recent list of the top 10 most explosive players for the 2023 season for 247Sports, he featured Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean at No. 8.

A versatile defender, Cooper DeJean started games at both linebacker and cornerback for Iowa last season and achieved a feat no Hawkeyes player had ever accomplished before; DeJean set a program single-season record with three interception return touchdowns. Of his five interceptions on the year, which tied for the 11th-most in the country, three were pick-sixes. DeJean picked up a first-team All-Big Ten selection from the league’s media and enters 2023 as perhaps the top pass defender in the conference. – Bahns, 247Sports.

The junior defender isn’t really one to be saddled with one specific position. DeJean is just an overall playmaker on the defensive side of the football who can improve your team almost anywhere you put him. Last year he did it all for the Hawkeyes. Whether it was at cornerback, at the CASH position, or as the best dang gunner you will find on special teams, Cooper DeJean was the one making the big plays.

As mentioned, DeJean not only intercepted five passes, he returned three of them for touchdowns. That is nearly half of the total touchdowns that came from Iowa’s quarterback position, as if we haven’t hammered home to you just how bad the passing attack was.

Through his phenomenal play both on defense and in special teams, DeJean had arguably a bigger role than anyone else in putting points on the board for Iowa last year. Punter Tory Taylor also deserves a shout out for that award as well.

Last year it took a while for some to view cornerback Riley Moss as a legitimate NFL option leading into the 2023 NFL draft. That won’t be the case for Cooper DeJean.

Anyone who watches Cooper DeJean knows that athleticism and making dynamic, game-swinging plays is not a problem at all for the Odebolt, Iowa, native.

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Iowa Hawkeyes 2023 Snapshot Profile: No. 85 Luke Lachey

Luke Lachey demonstrated he’s ready for stardom when Sam LaPorta was sidelined. Lachey’s 2023 snapshot profile.

There were very few bright spots on the Iowa offense last year. Unsurprisingly, of course, the tight end position was one of the few areas of light in a very bleak unit.

Current Detroit Lion Sam LaPorta led the way last year for the Hawkeyes with a team-high 657 receiving yards. This is the second-straight year that the Lions’ newest second-round pick led the Hawkeyes in both yards and receptions.

However, Sam was not the only tight end on the roster who was turning heads. As “Tight End U” always does, Iowa had another waiting in the wings, slowly building a name for himself as the next big thing. We saw a brief glimpse at just what Luke Lachey can possibly do in 2022. The Cleveland, Ohio, native led the Hawkeyes with four touchdowns. That was more than every other Hawkeye receiver combined.

It wasn’t just his work as a secondary tight end to the league-bound LaPorta that was most impressive. When he had to step up as a starter due to injury, Lachey excelled. Just look at some of the plays he made against Nebraska! He has some serious talent, and can be another star at the position for Iowa. Here’s a look at potentially the next great Iowa tight end, Luke Lachey!

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Iowa Hawkeyes once again searching for running game answers in 2023

The Iowa Hawkeyes are still looking to find that patented Iowa rushing attack this spring. Brian Ferentz detailed the progress.

Something has been quite off with the Iowa offense over the past two years, and it’s quite easy to see.

Of course, Iowa’s offense as a whole has suffered a down two years now under offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. In the past two seasons, the Hawkeyes have averaged 23.4 points per game and most recently an abysmal 17.7 points per game.

While the Hawkeyes are never going to be mistaken for a Big 12 squad with an air-it-out offense, it is a mistake to assume that the offense has always been this pedestrian. Three times since 2015 Kirk Ferentz’s squad has averaged over 30 points per game, most recently in 2020. Something has changed, and it certainly isn’t the team’s philosophy when it comes to moving the football.

“I’m going to approach my job the same way I’ve approached it the last 11 seasons. My job is to help us win football games,” offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz said in his recent press conference. “We have a tried and true method, we know how we win, we know who we are. My job is to make sure we play to those strengths and on Saturday, we’re winning games, not losing them.”

The idea at Iowa is still the same as it ever was: run the football and demoralize the opposition. Unfortunately, the past two years have seen the Hawkeyes struggle to run the football. Like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar if he suddenly wasn’t able to hit his signature sky hook, the Hawkeyes have simply been unable to play the way they want to. To Ferentz, that inability to run the football is what will lose you games.

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“I think for anyone to have success, you have to run the football. I think the game is pretty simple in that you need to block and you need to tackle.”

To get Iowa’s offense back on track, it’s going to all start up front. Iowa needs a committed team effort to run the football.

“When we’re running the ball effectively, I don’t care what the year is, the offensive line is a big part of that. It’s a team effort, too. Are we in the right play? That starts with me, then it goes to the quarterback. Are we blocking the right guys? That’s important. We need the offensive line playing well, we need the tight ends playing well, we need the receivers blocking on the perimeter.

“We need to make sure we’re exchanging the ball at the right depth, we need to make sure we’re on the right track. If we get guys into space, we’re out there, and we have 11 guys. I figure that if we’re optioning, we can block more than nine, but for the most part, we’re going to be able to block more than nine guys however we choose to do it. At some point, we’re going to have the ballcarrier on someone even if we block everything perfectly. What is he doing with it? I bring that up, if you want to look backwards, which I prefer not to, but 2020, I think it was a team effort,” Ferentz said.

In a pivotal season for the Hawkeyes, with the fanbase extremely restless given the current state of the team, we’ll see if a return to the old style of Iowa football can yield better results for this current Hawkeyes team.

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