The Iowa Hawkeyes enter week three with a 1-1 record and scrambling to find some offense. The team scored just 14 points through its first two games and 7 of those points came from safeties and a field goal. Enter the Nevada Wolf Pack: a Mountain West team that is at the start of a complete rebuild. This is what you need to know about the visitors from Reno this week.
New faces everywhere
If you tuned in to the Mountain West Conference in recent years you were treated to a pretty fun brand of football from Nevada. Coach Jay Norvell—with quarterback Carson Strong and top receiver Romeo Doubs — executed an effective air raid offense. The scheme fit Strong’s talents well, as he racked up shy of 10,000 yards in three years as a starter.
The Iowa defense does not have to worry about that air attack though. Norvell and several of his players are now at Colorado State. Strong and Doubs are cutting their teeth in the NFL. Several more players transferred out of the program during the turnover. It is a whole new ball game for Nevada.
It is not just the players and coach that are different. With new coach Ken Wilson, a former assistant, comes a completely different identity on offense. The Wolf Pack are now a run-first team through and through. They average 46 carries per game which would be high even in the Big Ten. There is also some uncertainty at quarterback. Nate Cox is the starter in name, but he has split some reps with Shane Illingworth in every game. Cox is still getting the greater share of work, also adding 26 carries.
A defense of pieces
Mackay stadium‼️ Letsss rideee 😈 pic.twitter.com/J2aASR2cg0
— Dom🎭 (@IamDomPeterson) September 5, 2022
That is the best way to describe what Nevada’s defense is: some good pieces trying to become whole. The defensive line and linebacker positions were ravaged by the transfer portal.
The good news is stalwart defensive tackle Dom Peterson stayed with the program. Peterson is one of the Mountain West’s best and has been producing for the Wolf Pack since 2019. He broke out with 9 sacks and 15 tackles that season. To call him a “tackle” is selling him a little short. Like some of Iowa’s linemen, Peterson will move around the line and could even spend more time on the end this year. Anywhere he can have an impact is where he will be. Wilson knows what he has in Peterson, and compared him favorably to another player he coached, Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Can the Iowa Hawkeyes get right against the Wolf Pack
Nevada comes in 2-1, having played a week zero game. The 2 wins came from independent New Mexico State and Texas State from the pesky Sun Belt. The loss, however, was at the hands of non-major Incarnate Word last week. The Wolf Pack surrendered 55 points in that game.
This has been a good, under-the-radar program in recent years but the amount of turnover this year is hard to look past. The Hawkeyes snuffed out the run in week one and that will likely be the story again. Of course we know what to expect from Iowa’s defense. In what should be a mismatch, we have to ask what the measuring stick is for a good Saturday night from Kirk Ferentz’s team? Even for a team that has been lifeless on offense, anything less than 20 points is not going to feel like ‘W’. How much of those points rely on good defense and Tory Taylor’s punting, we will have to see.
If you want to know what the oddsmakers are saying about Iowa as a heavy favorite against Nevada, check out James West’s betting preview right here.
Read the prediction for the Nevada vs Iowa game in Part 1 of the Hawkeyes’ season preview here. Be sure to follow My Page for more Iowa football news and analysis and follow me on Twitter @jfisheriainfo
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