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No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes (5-0, 1-0)
2015 Schedule & Results
| Record: 5-0 | Second-order wins (diff.): 4.0 (-1.0) | S&P+ Rk: 23 | |||||||
| Date | Opponent | Opp. S&P+ Rk | Score | W-L | Percentile Performance |
Adj. Scoring Margin |
Win Expectancy |
| 5-Sep | Illinois State | N/A | 31-14 | W | 88% | 34.8 | 100% |
| 12-Sep | at Iowa State | 53 | 31-17 | W | 85% | 11.6 | 90% |
| 19-Sep | Pittsburgh | 45 | 27-24 | W | 79% | 7.8 | 80% |
| 26-Sep | North Texas | 128 | 62-16 | W | 97% | 33.6 | 100% |
| 3-Oct | at Wisconsin | 16 | 10-6 | W | 58% | -4.9 | 29% |
| Date | Opponent | Opp. S&P+ Rk | Win Probability |
Proj. W-L |
Proj. Margin |
Proj. Score |
Cumulative Proj. Wins |
| 10-Oct | Illinois | 31 | 62% | W | 5.2 | 25.1 - 19.9 | 5.62 |
| 17-Oct | at Northwestern | 29 | 45% | L | -2.3 | 19.9 - 22.2 | 6.07 |
| 31-Oct | Maryland | 83 | 88% | W | 20.6 | 35.1 - 14.5 | 6.95 |
| 7-Nov | at Indiana | 55 | 62% | W | 5.4 | 33.0 - 27.6 | 7.57 |
| 14-Nov | Minnesota | 24 | 59% | W | 3.9 | 24.7 - 20.7 | 8.16 |
| 21-Nov | Purdue | 75 | 84% | W | 17.3 | 35.8 - 18.5 | 9.00 |
| 27-Nov | at Nebraska | 41 | 51% | W | 0.3 | 28.1 - 27.8 | 9.51 |
| Category | Offense | Rk | Defense | Rk |
| S&P+ | 31.8 | 48 | 18.8 | 21 |
| Points Per Game | 32.2 | 49 | 15.4 | 15 |
Offense
- Shockingly, Iowa's adjusted offensive pace is No. 95 in the country. Now is the time to mentally prepare yourselves for a mind-numbingly boring game on Saturday.
- Iowa isn't exactly the best third down team in the country. They perform well on first and second downs -- S&P+ rankings of No. 27 and No. 37, respectively -- but that figure plunges to No. 72.
- Junior quarterback C.J. Beathard has been really good for the Hawkeyes this season; through five games, he's passed for 1,039 YDS (64.1% completion rate) and 7 TD to just 2 INT. But Beathard has also rushed for 221 YDS and 3 TDS while becoming one of Iowa's main ground threats.
- Speaking of the Hawkeye's rushing attack, senior running back Jordan Canzeri already has already gone for 441 YDS and 8 TD this season. He's averaging almost exactly 5.0 yards per carry.
- Matt VandeBerg is the Hawkeyes' leading receiver and he's already hauled in 31 catches for 300 yards and a touchdown on the year. The six-foot-one junior is targeted on 30% of Iowa pass attempts, and he's posted a fairly staggering 79.5% catch rate. The other player to keep an eye on in the passing game is Tevaun Smith (12 REC, 235 YDS, 2 TD), who's targeted 16.9% of the time.
Defense
- Junior defensive back Desmond King has caught five of Iowa's six interceptions -- Illinois may want to avoid him as much as possible.
- Senior defensive lineman Drew Ott has 4.0 sacks on the year, and he's the team leader in that department.
- Iowa's team 'Havoc' rate is 18.3%, which ranks them No. 32 in that category. Havoc is the percentage of plays in which a defense either recorded a tackle for loss, forced a fumble, or defensed a pass (intercepted or broken up).
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For more, make sure to check out Iowa's advanced stats profile on Football Study Hall.