GameDay Saturday: Who will Iowa play in the Big Ten Championship Game on 12/5?

Iowa senior #33 Jordan Canzeri ran for 140 yards and two B1G runs for touchdowns
in a 28-20 Hawkeye win over Nebraska.

Iowa City, IA -- Iowa 28, Nebraska 20: Jordan Canzeri broke long touchdown runs on back-to-back series in the third quarter, and #3 Iowa completed its first perfect regular season in 93 years with a 28-20 victory over Nebraska on Black Friday. As one of two remaining unbeaten teams, they'll head to next week's Big Ten Championship game in the middle of the College Football Playoff race.

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The Big Ten Conference wraps up the 2015 regular season on Rivalry Saturday. Iowa is one half of the 2015 Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis on December 5th. #5 Michigan State is in the driver's seat with a win, while the winner of the #8 Ohio State @ #10 Michigan game need help from Penn State in East Lansing.

• Indiana at Purdue 11:00 am on BTN - for Old Oaken Bucket in West Lafayette; second B1G win of season for winner of today's game!
• Maryland at Rutgers 11:00 am on BTN - the Terrapins have locked up the cellar, so playing simply for pride on the road in New Brunswick.
• #8 Ohio State at # 10 Michigan 11:00 am on ABC / espn3 - Former Iowa QB Jake Rudock leads his Wolverines, as coach Jim Harbaugh seeks first win over the Buckeyes' Urban Meyer.
• Penn State at #5 Michigan State 2:30 pm on ESPN - The Spartans need to take care of business on Senior Day; earn a win ... they are in next Saturday's Big Ten Championship Game.
• Illinois vs. #16 Northwestern (Chicago) 2:30 pm on ESPNU - Will Illinois interim coach Bill Cubit earn the head coaching job for the next two years and a bowl game with a win at Soldier Field? Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald seeking his second 10-win season in his tenth season.
• Wisconsin at Minnesota 2:30 pm on BTN - The Golden Gophers have not won in the series, since 2013 and have lost 18 of the last 20 in the battle for Paul Bunyan's Ax.

End of the Paul Rhoads era @ Iowa State

•  Iowa State at West Virginia 11:00 am on FS1 - The Cyclones won the first go around in 2013 in 3 OT to close out Rhoads first 3-9 season. A win would conclude a 4-8 season for ISU, against a bowl-bound Mountaineers team in 2015 ...

Games with College Playoff implications, as #19 TCU knocked off #7 Baylor in overtime on Friday night in Ft. Worth.

• #1 Clemson at South Carolina 11:00 am on ESPN - The Tigers are one win away from a perfect 12-0 regular season, while the Gamecocks have an interim coach and a new era beginning in the near future, in 2016 ... upset alert?
• #2 Alabama at Auburn 2:30 pm on CBS - The Crimson Tide can have the wheels fall off, if they don't beat their rival and Ole Miss ties them for the SEC West division ...
• #14 North Carolina at North Carolina State 2:30 pm on ABC / ESPN2 / espn3 - The Tar Heels are heading to the ACC Championship Game, but Wolf Pack can spoil their undefeated conference season. 
• #22 UCLA at USC 2:30 pm on ABC / ESPN2 / espn3 - The winner wins the Pac 12 South and will face Stanford in the Pac 12 Championship Game ...
• Vanderbilt at Tennessee 3:00 pm on SEC Network - The Volunteers were the last team to knock off Iowa in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl, but it was Iowa who made the perfect run through the 2015 regular season, after the Volunteers rolled the Hawkeyes 45-28 ...
• UConn at #25 Temple 6:00 pm ESPNU - Bob Diaco's bunch knocked off Navy last Saturday and they can knock the Owls out today. One non-Power 5 team will earn a birth in a New Year's Day bowl.
• #13 Florida State at #12 Florida 6:30 pm on ESPN - The Seminoles are out in the ACC, but they can spoil any Gators hope for a College Football Playoff spot today, with a win ...
• #6 Notre Dame at #9 Stanford 6:30 pm on FOX - The Fighting Irish are playing for a birth, but the Cardinal have a great opportunity to get through the back door, if the right upsets occur, starting with what they have in front of them.
• #3 Oklahoma at 11 Oklahoma State 7:00 pm ABC - The Bedlam game in Stillwater, as OU can clinch the Big 12 title today, with a win over the Cowboys, as coach Bob Stoops looks to get in the College Football Playoff in 2015.

NCAA FCS First Round Playoffs begin today, with the Panthers hosting in Cedar Falls ...

• G8: Western Illinois at Dayton 11:00 am on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G1: Fordham at Chattanooga 12:00 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G2: The Citadel at Coastal Carolina 1:00 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G4: Southern Utah at SHSU 2:00 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G5: SDSU at Montana 2:00 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G3: Colgate at New Hampshire 2:30 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G7: Duquesne at William & Mary 2:30 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3
• G6: Eastern Illinois at Northern Iowa 4:00 pm on ESPN Extra / espn3

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Ames, IA -- The Paul Rhoads era will be ending at Iowa State (3-8, 2-6 Big 12) at the end of the 2015 College Football season, after the Cyclones blew a 35-14 lead at Kansas State on Saturday, losing 38-35. Like Bo Pelini's seven seasons last season at Nebraska, the Cyclones will let go of Rhoads, after seven seasons.

Will it work well for the Cyclones to start over?

The Cyclones chose to relieve Dan McCarney in 2005, after a 4-8 season. The two season experiment with Gene Chizik ending with 3-9 and 2-10 season. So, is this change for the sake of change for athletic director Jamie Pollard?

Pollard announced on Sunday there will be a change in the head football coaching position at ISU at the conclusion of this season. Pollard informed Coach Paul Rhoads of his decision Sunday morning.

Rhoads will coach the Cyclones in their season finale at West Virginia (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) on Saturday. The game will kickoff at 11 a.m. CST on FS1.

Rhoads is ending his seventh season on the Iowa State sidelines. He is 32-54 overall and 3-8 this year. Rhoads took Iowa State to three bowl games in seven years.

Pollard will be available to the news media on Monday at noon in the Hunziker Auditorium. Rhoads is meeting the media at his previously scheduled media session on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in the Bergstrom Football Complex.

Could AD Pollard consider Bo Pelini as his replacement for Rhoads?

Former Nebraska coach Bo Pelini has spent the 2015 season leading FCS
Youngstown State to a 5-6 season, after seven season leading the Huskers to
at least nine games per season, but a consistent four losses each year.

Cy-Hawk Game: Iowa (1-0) at Iowa State (1-0) on FOX at 3:45 p.m, Saturday

Iowa starting RB 29 LeShun Daniels, a junior.

Ames, IA -- The trophy has changed hands in eight of the last 11 games in the Cy-Hawk Game. The visitor has won three of the last four games, as well. Iowa State regained possession of the trophy, after last year's 20-17 win, fueled on the 42 yard field goal by placekicker Cole Netton, with two seconds remaining at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City.

Our Pick: Hawkeyes 29, Cylcones 24

The game should be won in the trenches, on both sides of the football. Over the last five seasons, Iowa's offensive and defensive line has been very inconsistent, at times.

The Hawkeyes (1-0) opened 2015 with strong line play on both sides, in a 31-14 win over Illinois State, the runner-up in the 2014 FCS championship game. The Hawkeyes open 2015 with a new quarterback, a new running back and a new number one receiver.

The 2014 Iowa State Cyclones (2-10 overall) celebrating
the 20-17 win at Kinnick, by taking home the Cy-Hawk
Trophy for the third time in four seasons.

Iowa State (1-0) opened the 2015 College Football season with a strong 31-7 win over Northern Iowa, who split 1-1 with Illinois State, in 2014. The Hawkeyes opened the 2014 season with a win, as well over UNI.

The Cyclones are lead by a three-year starter at quarterback, as well as four upper classmen at wide receiver. The running back position is lead by three underclassmen though.

In the last four games, the Cy-Hawk Trophy has been decided by six points or less. The last dominating win, was Iowa in 2010, in Iowa City, by the score of 35-7.

Last year, Iowa took a 14-3 lead into halftime, at Kinnick Stadium. But, it was all Iowa State in the second half.

Iowa State senior QB 12 Sam B Richardson, in last year's
20-17 win over Iowa. The Hawkeyes senior DE 34 Nate
Meier and his teammates need to put more pressure
on Richardson, after playing contain, in the '14 game.

Iowa dominated Iowa State for nearly 3-1/2 quarters in the 2013 win. Iowa took a 27-7 lead midway into the fourth quarter.

Iowa State came back fueled on the three TD reception performance of wide receiver Quenton Brundrage, as well as on the arm of quarterback Sam B. Richardson. Both seniors are now in 2015. The figure big in today's showdown for the Cyclones.

Iowa won the game in 2013, 27-21, after recovering the Cyclones onside kick with 2:25 left. The Hawkeyes took home the trophy in the game, last played in Ames.

In the last six years, Iowa State has 19 turnovers that have resulted in 51 of Iowa's 161 points.

Penalties hurt Iowa in the 2014 loss. Iowa State had four sacks on Iowa last year. The Hawkeyes failed to get one sack on Richardson. The defensive game strategy was one of containment, rather than pressure. It resulted in a 20-17 win by the Cyclones.

In the 2013 win, Iowa forced turnovers and were not shutout getting to the quarterback, but ISU still lead in the QB sack department. Iowa needs to do a better job protecting the quarterback.

The Iowa players will honor former S #9 Tyler Sash,
after Tuesday's death. Sash was at Iowa (2007-10).

Both Iowa and Iowa State got to the quarterback or benefited from tackles for loss, in the season openers, against MVfC programs, Illinois State and Northern Iowa, respectively. Who controls the line of scrimmage in today's Cy-Hawk Game?

It has been a bitter sweet week for the Hawkeye Football program, with news on Tuesday, that former Iowa safety Tyler Sash had passed away. The former Iowa safety played in three Cy-Hawk games. Iowa won all three games:

• 2008 - Iowa won 17-5 in Iowa City
• 2009 - Iowa won 35-3 in Ames
• 2010 - Iowa won 35-7 in Iowa City

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz is 7-9 as a head coach in the Cy-Hawk Games.

Iowa enters today's game 0-4 in trophy games, from last year. Now, throw in the emotional impact of the Sash death on the Iowa coaching staff, especially HC Ferentz, DC Phil Parker and DL coach Reese Morgan, who were directly involved in his coaching and recruitment at Iowa. How will the Hawkeyes coaching staff planning be impacted?

In the last two games, Iowa has opened with leads of 27-7 and 14-3, only to have Iowa State roll back and win one of two over the Hawkeyes. Iowa's starting QB, RB and WR all are new in roles in the Cy-Hawk Game. The TE position is a little of a question mark for each team, as well.

There is typically no easy sledding in the Cy-Hawk Games typically, since Ferentz became the head coach at Iowa. Paul Rhoads is 3-3 in the Cy-Hawk Series, as head coach.

• Iowa has an edge in the rushing game on offense
• Iowa State has an expected edge in the passing game on offense
• Special teams is an area where no one team would seem to have a edge

Iowa State opened 2015, with a new
3-4 front 7, with NG Demond Tucker.

Iowa State has hit the junior colleges, since the 2013 season to strengthen the defensive side of the football. Coach Rhoads has brought in ten JUCO transfers in, filling out the two-deeps for the Cylcones.

Iowa State will use quickness more than Iowa in the trenches. The leader up front is JUCO transfer 97 Demond Tucker (6-0 296 Jr.) at nose tackle. The Cyclones front 7 isn't big and tall, so look for quickness to be a key element, as Iowa works to establish the running and short passing game.

Senior RB 33 Jordan Canzeri has prior Cy-Hawk Game
experience and is coming off one of his better games in '15.

One senior on the Iowa offense to keep a big eye on is Iowa senior running back Jordan Canzeri. The change of pace running back, had a very solid game against Illinois State.

RB Canzeri had 118 all-purpose yards (28 rushing, 90 receiving). His 90 receiving yards are a career best. Canzeri ranked second on the team with 752 all-purpose yards in 2014, including 494 yards rushing, 123 yards receiving, and 135 yards in kickoff returns. His 51-yard reception on the final drive of the first half was a career long.

SERIES EXPERIENCE

Iowa junior QB 16 C.J. Beathard
will make first start today in the Cy-Hawk
Game in Ames. He is 2-0 as a starter.

Junior QB C.J. Beathard is making his first Cy-Hawk Series appearance. Former Iowa QB Jake Rudock took every snap at quarterback against the Cyclones in 2013 and 2014. Junior RB LeShun Daniels did not appear against the Cyclones in 2013 or 2014. The Hawkeyes combined for 104 rushes and 347 rushing yards in those games.

Ten active Hawkeyes, five on offense and five on defense, have previously started games against Iowa State. C Austin Blythe is making his fourth start against the Cyclones. RG Jordan Walsh, DE Drew Ott, and DB Desmond King are making their third starts in the series. Other Hawkeyes with starting experience in the Cy-Hawk Series include DE Nate Meier, DB Greg Mabin, FS Jordan Lomax, WR Jacob Hillyer, LG Sean Welsh, and TE George Kittle.

FIRST TIME STARTERS
Seven Hawkeyes made their first career start in Iowa's season opener: RB LeShun Daniels, Jr., LT Boone Myers, DT Nathan Bazata, DT Jaleel Johnson, LB Cole Fisher, LB Ben Niemann, and SS Miles Taylor.

It will be an interest game on Saturday. The only winning season by Iowa State, in the six seasons Rhoads has been head coach was in 2009, when Iowa beat ISU 35-3, but the Cyclones finished the season 7-6. Rhoads needs more than a 4-3 record over Iowa. Of course, 7-9 for Ferentz has many asking questions in Iowa City, as well.

Iowa DE Drew Ott 95 tackling Illinois
State QB Jake Kolbe in the season
opener, as he enters his final Cy-Hawk
game as a senior. He didn't play
as a freshman, since he was trying to
redshirt, but didn't in B1G play.

Iowa State LT 67 Jake Campos moves
from RT last year to LT for the 2015
Cy-Hawk Game. He will face Iowa's
top pass rusher and most experienced
defensive lineman.

It will be an interesting day for each coaching staff, as the chess match begins ...

Top Match Up on the Field?

It will also be an interesting game on the field, as the most interesting match up will likely be Iowa's senior DE 95 Drew Ott (6-4 272) against Iowa State's sophomore left tackle 67 Jake Campos (6-8 297). 

Iowa has a mix of youth and experience heading into the 2015 Cy-Hawk Game
in Ames. One player to watch is junior DT 67 Jaleel Johnson, who had four
tackles in the season opener against Illinois State. He had his first sack during
Iowa's bowl game against Tennessee and may be primed for a breakout game.

Iowa needs to get some pressure in the Iowa State backfield, unlike last year's game. 

Iowa finished the opening season game with five sacks, all in the opening half. DE Drew Ott had two sacks. Freshman DE Parker Hesse, senior DE Nate Meier, and sophomore LB Ben Niemann each had one. It was the first career sack for Hesse and Niemann.

This game lately has gone down to the wire and it shouldn't surprise as it should this year.

Turnovers, special teams, penalties and coaching adjustments will be key areas to watch, as the Cy-Hawk Game kicks off at Jack Trice. This should be a good game.

Iowa (1-0) vs. Iowa State (1-0) in the Cy-Hawk Game, as each head coach has history in this series

Iowa City, IA -- Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz will be heading into his 26th game in the series, while Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads will be heading into his 12th game in the series on Saturday in Ames. Each coach was an assistant at their school, before leaving, than later returning to become head coach at the respective schools.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz heading into the 26th game of the Cy-Hawk Series on
Saturday, while it will be the 12th game for his Cyclone counterpart, Paul Rhoads.

Both head coaches have plenty of history in the Cy-Hawk Game. Ferentz is 7-9 as a head coach, while Rhoads is 3-3. Overall, Ferentz is 14-11, when you add in his time as an offensive line coach under Hayden Fry. Rhoads was 2-3 as a defensive assistant under former ISU head coach Dan McCarney, so he enters 5-6 overall.

Ferentz says the Cyclones are a tale of two cities.

Iowa senior DE 95 Drew Ott tackling ISU QB 12 Sam B.
Richardson, in last year's game in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes
new starting DT 67 Jaleel Johnson, a junior, will play an important
role on the inside of the Iowa defense in this year's game.

Offensively, Iowa State is a veteran group with a senior quarterback in Sam B. Richardson, a three-year starter, with 27 career starts, while the receiving corps returns three players that have posted 40-catch seasons. Defensively, the Cyclones revamped unit courtesy of the junior college ranks, with ten JUCO players in the two-deep.

"Offensively, they are settling into what they're doing and have an identity," said Ferentz. "Defensively, there is an injection of good energy, and they played well (against UNI)."

Ferentz says Iowa will have its hands full with the Cyclones' receivers -- a group that lines up 6-foot-6 (D'Vario Montgomery), 6-foot-2 (Quenton Bundrage), and 6-foot-5 (Allen Lazard).

Iowa junior cornerbacks 14 Desmond King and
13 Greg Mabin will be tested on Saturday against
the ISU wide receiver corp in this year's
Cy-Hawk Game in Ames.

"It has to be a team thing," said Ferentz. "Our secondary has to do a good job, and there are going to be some balls that we're going to have to try to fight for and come out ahead on.

"They have good size at the receiver position, which is concerning. We're going to have to do a good job trying to get pressure and trying to reroute and things like that. If we let those guys run the routes they want to uncontested, it's going to be a long night."

Ferentz says senior tight end Jake Duzey is making progress coming of knee surgery this off season, while he is hopeful sophomore running back Derrick Mitchell, Jr., is available Saturday. Mitchell moved to running back from wide receiver in the Spring and appears to be third in the running back rotation for the Hawkeyes heading into the 2015 season.

The Cyclones are young at running back. Sophomore Tyler Brown is the new starter, with Mike Warren, a redshirt freshman, and true freshman Joshua Thomas running right behind in ISU's three man rotation.

The series was dark from 1935 to 1976, but in 1977, the series resumed, with Iowa winning 12-10 in Iowa City. The series returned to Ames in 1981, with the Cyclones winning the game, 23-12, which was Ferentz' first season, under Fry at Iowa. The Hawkeyes began a 15 game win streak, the following year. Rhoads was in his fourth season, as a defensive assistant, when the Cyclones ended the Iowa streak, in Fry's final season at Iowa. 

The all-time series favors Iowa 38-19 overall; and the Hawkeyes have won 24 of 38, since the series resumed in 1977. The average score in Ames, since 1977, has Iowa 31, Iowa State 17.

"It has been a great series through the years, and it is an exciting football game for all of our players that grew up in the state of Iowa," Ferentz said Wednesday inside the All-American Room in the Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center. "For them to have an opportunity to play in this game is a special thing. It's going to be an exciting environment."

Iowa and Iowa State have six starters apiece that hail from the Hawkeye State. Iowa has 17 homegrown players and two specialists on their two-deep; the Cyclones have 11 and two specialists.

"The heart and soul of our team come from this state," said Ferentz. "Our great leaders tend to be the guys that played high school football in this state, and that's important in this game. They have an appreciation and they're the guys that do a good job of sharing it with other players that come from other places."

"It has been a tough atmosphere. I go back to 1981, it was no walk in the park back then," said Ferentz. "We know it's going to be tough walking in there. It was tough two years ago, and they'd say the same thing about coming here.

"It's going to be a lively, vivacious crowd, they're going to be loud, and it's one more thing as the road team that you have to try to overcome to be successful."

Ferentz has a nice trump card heading into Iowa's first road game of the 2015 season -- a rushing attack that spurned out 210 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per attempt in the season opener against Illinois State.

Iowa senior RB 33 Jordan Canzeri makes another trip to Ames
and figures to play a role in both the run and pass game for the
Hawkeyes this season.

Running backs, junior LeShun Daniels, Jr., and senior Jordan Canzeri, combined for 242 yards of total offense against the Redbirds. Daniels had a game-high 123 yards rushing, while Canzeri had 118 yards of total offense, including four catches for 90 yards.

"They completed each other well (against Illinois State)," said Ferentz."If we could keep that kind of rhythm going that would be wonderful."

Both defensive coordinators are seeking to take away the run in 2015. In addition, each one will want to put pressure on the quarterback. ISU had four sacks in last year's 20-17 win in Iowa City. The Cyclones kicked a 42 yard field goal with 0:02 left in the game, to clinch victory.

Iowa State RDE 45 Dale Pierson lead the Cyclones defense in
the season opener, with 3 sacks and one interception vs. UNI.

The Cyclones have undertaken a urban renewal project with the ISU defense. The Cyclones recorded six sacks (their most since the Houston Bowl a decade ago) and 13 tackles behind the line in the season opener against UNI. A “3-4” defense (three linemen, four linebackers) was added to the team’s playbook in the off-season. Senior RDE Dale Pierson stood out with three sacks, but the team’s overall defensive pressure was the dominating factor in the game.

The 2015 game in the rivalry will take place in the newly renovated Jack Trice Stadium at 3:45 p.m. central time on Sept. 12th televised on FOX. The road team has won the last three meetings, including a 27-21 Iowa victory in 2013 in Ames.

Iowa senior WR 4 Tevaun Smith has been pretty quiet in past Cy-Hawk games.
Could this be a breakout game for the Hawkeye #1 wide receiver?