Iowa vs. FIU - what I expect

I have to be honest. I'm not a fan of match-ups such as what will take place at Kinnick Stadium in a little less than 12 hours.

We had the discussion in class this week, and while I know fully well that this is all about the money, games such as Saturday's against FIU or last week against Maine are complete lose-lose situations. If Iowa wins, no one's going to really care except for the hardcore Hawkeye fan because the Hawkeyes are supposed to win this game. If they somehow lose, on the other hand, then everyone will act like the sky is falling here in Iowa City and the Hawkeyes would be doomed to finish worse than Minnesota.

I expect the Hawkeyes to win this game with ease. I don't see Iowa scoring 46 again like it did against the Black Bears, but I would not be surprised in the slightest if the defense ends up pitching a shutout against the Golden Panthers because NONE OF THEM were satisfied with the effort they had against Maine last week.

As for the whole quarterback situation, I fully expect exactly what Kirk Ferentz said at his press conference on Tuesday - that the pattern of game reps for both Jake Christensen and Ricky Stanzi will be similar to what it was a week ago, with Christensen starting both halves, and Stanzi coming in during the second and fourth quarters.

I also am hoping for more of the balance the Hawkeyes showed last week because the second an opponent figures out how to stop the running game and make Iowa one-dimensional is probably going to be when the Hawkeyes start playing more high-caliber opponents. Maybe Iowa State and Pittsburgh aren't what a typical fan would have in mind, but I feel you learn more playing games like those than you do against the likes of a Maine or FIU.

All I hope is that the coaching staff gets exactly what it wants out of these first two games because as far as I'm concerned, next week's game against the Cyclones is going to play a major role in dictating how the remainder of the 2008 season fares.

- Brendan Stiles