The Breakdown: Iowa vs. Purdue

No. 23 Hawkeyes face a passing challenge from Boilermakers.

Jonathan Jones/USA Today Sports

Breaking down Saturday's game between Iowa and Purdue.

Game facts

Time and place — 11 a.m. CDT, Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City

TV — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins, PBP; Anthony Becht, analyst; Rocky Boiman, sideline)

Radio — Hawkeye Radio Network. Also available on Sirius Ch. 99 and XM Ch. 196

Tickets — The game is sold out.

Records — Iowa 4-2 (1-2 Big Ten), Purdue 2-4 (1-2)

Rankings — Iowa is No. 22 in the coaches poll and No. 23 in the Associated Press poll.

Series — Purdue leads, 48-38-3. The Boilermakers have won the last two games.

Streaks — Iowa has lost two consecutive games. Purdue has won one.

The lines

Point spread — Iowa -17 1/2

Moneyline — Iowa -301, Purdue +660

Over/under — 48

The weather

Kickoff forecast — 59 degrees, cloudy

Daily forecast — High of 59 degrees. Morning rain, otherwise mostly cloudy.

Fast facts

• Iowa is 59-43-5 in Homecoming games. The Hawkeyes have won seven of their last nine Homecoming games. Iowa is 15-5 in Homecoming games under coach Kirk Ferentz.

• Iowa has allowed seven touchdowns in six games. Only Penn State (5) and Wisconsin (4) have allowed fewer.

• Iowa kicker Keith Duncan has made 13 field goals, tied for second among kickers in Football Bowl Subdivision play.

• Iowa's Ihmir Smith-Marsette is averaging 28.9 yards on kickoff returns in his career. The Big Ten career record is 28.8, set by Purdue's Stan Brown in 1968-70.

When Iowa has the ball

The offensive burden for the Hawkeyes will fall on the interior of the line. Mark Kallenberger will be making his second start at right guard, but Ferentz hinted on Tuesday that backup guards Cody Ince, a redshirt freshman, and Justin Britt, a true freshman, have a chance at more playing time.

"I think we're keeping an open mind for everybody," Ferentz said. "We're not playing well enough on the line enough, not cohesively enough. We're working to get our best combination in there, get our best football being played up there.

"It's an open door right now. Opportunity for any one of the guys to jump up there, practice well this week. We'll base it off what we see this week in practice."

The Hawkeyes need that protection to a.) keep quarterback Nate Stanley from getting sacked (he's been sacked 10 times in the last two games) and b.) get the running game going.

Purdue has 14 sacks this season, four of those coming from freshman George Karlaftis. Karlaftis is second on the Boilermakers with 29 tackles, but 9 1/2 of those have been for loss. Senior linebacker Ben Holt leads Purdue with 60 tackles.

But the Boilermakers rank 79th nationally in rushing defense (166.5 yards per game), 104th in total defense (444.5 ypg) and 112th in passing yards per game (278 ypg).

When the Boilermakers have the ball

Purdue likes to throw the ball. That's nothing new under coach Jeff Brohm.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Plummer was the Big Ten's offensive player of the week after throwing for 420 yards and three touchdowns in last Saturday's 40-14 win over Maryland. Wide receiver David Bell was the conference's freshman of the week after catching nine passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Iowa is getting its secondary healthy, which will help with some different defensive packages.

"We better defend the ball deep," Ferentz said. "These guys throw the ball as deep as anybody we played, in my opinion, over the last two years. They did it Saturday. Threw the ball down the field well. I'm even more focused on our deep zones than I am our underneath zones.

"They do a really good job. They run the ball effectively. They've got a good scheme that way. I don't think they overdo it, but they do it enough to be effective running the football. Then they throw the ball really well. Coach Brohm was a quarterback. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. They threaten you all over the place. We've had a hard time defending these guys."

Tight end Brycen Hopkins is coming off a career game against Maryland, when he had 10 catches for 140 yards.

Freshman running back King Doerue has 226 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

The Boilermakers' offense has been hit with injuries this season — wide receiver Rondale Moore is among those not expected to play on Saturday — but this is still a pass-happy team that will test the Hawkeyes, who could use a few takeaways.

The final thought

It looks like a chance for Iowa's offense to get healthy, but this isn't a game in which the Hawkeyes can get into a points battle.

Iowa is going to have to run the ball and control the clock, something the Hawkeyes have done in their first four games and haven't done in the last two.

The Hawkeyes need to get back to their fundamentals to start the second half.