Nevada running back Toa Taua barrels through the middle against Incarnate Word at Mackay Stadium on Sept. 10, 2022.
A look ahead to Saturday’s (4:30 p.m.) non-conference football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (2-1, 0-0) and Iowa Hawkeyes (1-1, 0-0) at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa:
How to watch, listen: Big 10 Network, 94.5 FM.
The spread: Iowa by 23.
At stake for Nevada: Confidence. The Wolf Pack’s confidence took a huge hit last week with a 55-41 loss to Incarnate Word at home. The Wolf Pack doesn’t have to beat Iowa to restore its confidence, but it has to remain competitive at least to the end of the game. The Iowa game ends the Pack’s non-conference slate and Nevada does not want to head into its Mountain West schedule a battered, confused and defeated team.
At stake for Iowa: The Hawkeyes are in search of their offense. Iowa has scored just 14 points in two games, with four of those points coming from the defense on two safeties. Iowa needs to find some production against Nevada, a team that just allowed 55 points to a Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision) school.
Nevada last week: The Wolf Pack lost to Incarnate Word, 55-41, at home, giving up 35 unanswered points after building a 17-3 lead late in the first quarter.
Iowa last week: The Hawkeyes, of the Big Ten, lost to rival Iowa State, 10-7. Iowa State went on a 21-play, 99-yard drive to score on an 8-yard run by Xavier Hutchinson to win the game. The drive lasted 11:49. The Iowa offense produced just 150 yards.
Iowa has quarterback issues: The Hawkeyes are expected to start Spencer Petras at quarterback, though that might change by kickoff. “He has not been perfect,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said this week. “Nobody has. But he hasn’t been getting enough help to do a fair assessment of his performance.”
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Petras is in his third season as the Hawkeyes’ main quarterback, though he has never excelled. Last year, he passed for just 1,880 yards and 10 touchdowns. The year before it was just 1,569 and nine. Petras, who is from San Rafael, Calif., is just 23-of-51 for 201 yards, with two interceptions and no touchdown passes this year.
Iowa’s backup quarterback is Alex Padilla, who helped the Hawkeyes last year in victories over Northwestern, Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois on the way to a Big Ten West Division title. The 6-1 Padilla has not played this year and is just 56-of-114 for 648 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in his career since 2020.
The head coaches: Ken Wilson is 2-1 in his first season as Nevada head coach. The 58-year-old fell short last week of becoming the first in school history to win his first three games as the head coach. This week at Iowa, Wilson hopes to become the first Pack head coach to win his first game against a Power Five opponent. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is in his 24th season as the Hawkeyes’ head coach. He is the longest-tenured current head coach in the FBS. Ferentz has a record of 178-111 at Iowa.
The rivalry: This is the first game between Nevada and Iowa. The Wolf Pack is 2-4 against Big Ten teams, going 0-1 against Wisconsin, 1-2 against Northwestern and 1-1 against Purdue. The Pack is 0-4 against the Big Ten on the road and 2-0 at home. The Wolf Pack also lost to current Big Ten school Nebraska, 52-10, in 2007 when Nebraska was in the Big 12. The Wolf Pack is also scheduled to play at Minnesota in 2024. The game at Iowa will be just the second for Nevada against an Iowa-based team. The Pack beat Northern Iowa in 1982 at Mackay Stadium, 37-0.
Another gift from Norvell: The Wolf Pack scheduled the game at Iowa when Jay Norvell was the Nevada coach. Norvell played defensive back for the Hawkeyes in the mid-1980s, intercepting seven passes in 1985 and winning the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award. Norvell’s head coach at Iowa was Hayden Fry. The Iowa offensive line coach under Fry at the time was Kirk Ferentz, the current Hawkeyes head coach.
What the Wolf Pack needs to do to win: The Wolf Pack won its first two games against New Mexico State and Texas State by winning the turnover battle, 9-0. The Pack and Incarnate Word each turned the ball over twice last week and the Pack lost by two touchdowns. Winning the turnover battle might be crucial to the Pack’s chances of upsetting Iowa.
Iowa doesn’t score a lot of points (14 all season), but it allows even fewer (13). The Wolf Pack is averaging over 30 points a game, but they haven’t done it against a physical defense like Iowa. The Pack, as always, will need to run the ball and control the clock and the offensive line, which allowed six sacks last week to Incarnate Word, needs to protect the quarterback.
What Iowa needs to do to win: Scoring some points would be nice. Iowa is the worst offensive team in the FBS so far, scoring just 14 points in two games against South Dakota State and Iowa State. But if they continue to struggle on offense at home against Nevada, a Mountain West team that just gave up 55 points to a Division I-AA team, there will be serious problems in Iowa. The Hawkeyes could play a game of musical quarterbacks this weekend if Spencer Petras continues to struggle.
Wolf Pack-Iowa connection: The Wolf Pack does have a couple connections to the state of Iowa and the Hawkeyes. Former Wolf Pack running back James Butler transferred to Iowa for the 2017 season after rushing for 3,316 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Wolf Pack from 2014-16. Butler played in a reserve role at Iowa, gaining 396 yards and scoring one touchdown for the Hawkeyes. Former Nevada President Joe Crowley was born in Oelwein, Iowa, and was a 1959 graduate at Iowa, getting an undergraduate degree in political science. Crowley, who was Nevada president from 1978-2001 and again in 2005 and 2006, was given the Iowa Distinguished Alumni award in 1994 when he served as the president of the NCAA from 1993-95.
Prediction: Iowa 17, Wolf Pack 13. But don’t be shocked if the Wolf Pack pulls off the upset. The oddsmakers have Iowa as a three-touchdown favorite, which is a bit strange for a team that has scored just one touchdown over two games. But the Hawkeyes’ defense is one of the best in the nation so far and is expected to give the Pack offense problems. The crowd (Kinnick Stadium seats 69,250) and the Big Ten Network announcers will, of course, be decidedly pro-Iowa. But if the Hawkeyes’ offense continues to struggle, the crowd and the announcers might turn on the home team.
