Iowa Football vs. Northwestern: Five Opponent Questions

Happy prediction Friday, Hawkeye fans! 

We began one of our favorite coverage days with our game prediction for Iowa's trip to Northwestern on Saturday, but there's still a lot of fun stuff coming your way on the first Friday of November. 

We're always looking for fresh perspectives on here, so what better way to do that by bringing in someone who covers the opposition? Shoutout to our friends at NorthwesternRoundtable for reaching out and suggesting a collaboration ahead of one of the most intriguing matchups the Hawkeyes and Wildcats have had in a long time. 

We sat down with NorthwesternRoundtable writer Daniel Shi earlier this week to pick his brain with some of our five most burning questions ahead of Saturday's contest, so here's what Shi has to say about this game. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was published before Northwestern QB Aidan Chiles will reportedly miss the game due to injury. Here's how that could impact Iowa's defensive game plan. 

Shi: His ability to both run the ball and throw the ball effectively. With the addition of Chiles, Northwestern has four potential rushers that all have the ability to run for over 100 yards in any given game. The four-headed monster of Caleb Komolafe, Joe Himon II, Gavin Sawchuk and Chiles gives Northwestern one of the more varied rushing attacks in the country.  Komolafe will get the bulk of the carries, but Himon is the speed back that acts as the perfect complement. Chiles is listed as questionable on the initial availability report. If he does not play, Northwestern would turn to Nico Marchiol, who was West Virginia's QB1 for the first four games last year before suffering a season-ending injury.

Shi: The brilliance of the offense is just how rare it is, even if they don't run it all the time. The Wing-T, for the most part, fell out of favor, but Northwestern runs it enough that defenses have to prepare for it. Eye discipline and maybe some old VHS tapes of the Wing-T when it was still in fashion. 

Shi: The Northwestern secondary is really where the weakness lies, especially in the Oregon game where the Wildcats gave up a season-high 336 passing yards to an Oregon offense that hadn't done much over the previous few weeks. Getting safety Robert Fitzgerald, who is listed as probable, should be a big help. Fitzgerald hasn't played since the Ball State game, and it will have been over a month since he's seen game action come Saturday. 

Shi: In my opinion, the stadium is definitely worth the buzz that it generated nationally when it first opened against Penn State. My personal favorite thing to do is to walk along the top of the lower concourse and watch the game if you don't mind standing up for portions of the game.

Shi: Northwestern 24, Iowa 21. The prediction comes with a huge contingency that Chiles is able to play. If he's able to orchestrate the offense, Northwestern should have just enough firepower to overcome an always stingy Iowa defense.