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    • Friday’s games bode well for Hawkeyes football
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    Friday’s games bode well for Hawkeyes football

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    PASADENA, Calif. − The external concerns are plentiful and understandable for the Iowa football team this week.

    The Hawkeyes will travel several time zones west for a Friday night game against an up-and-coming opponent in a stadium that has been home to major disappointments for the program.

    But there’s plenty of evidence to put some of those concerns to rest now that Iowa is set to face UCLA. Let’s unpack each of these three things.

    More: Iowa vs. UCLA score, live updates, highlights, how to watch the Hawkeyes football game week 11

    Big Ten teams are 7-14 this season when traveling across multiple time zones.

    That’s true. But teams also adapt. After a 1-8 start in such games, the record since then stands at 6-6.

    And UCLA was an anomaly in this trend. The Bruins have won back-to-back wins when traveling across multiple time zones: 35-32 at Rutgers, 27-20 at Nebraska. They also have two home losses against teams that come from far away to Rose Bowl Stadium: 42-13 against Indiana, 21-17 against Minnesota. UCLA is 0-3 at home this season, with the other loss coming to No. 1 Oregon. So…Iowa advantage?

    “Indiana certainly didn’t believe that. They did pretty well at UCLA. I’m not sure I believe that,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Wednesday on his weekly radio show. “I’m also not sure I buy the narrative that West Coast teams aren’t physical. Washington had some physical guys a few weeks ago (in a 40-16 win at Iowa). And I’ll tell you, if you look at this UCLA group, they’ve got some guys too. … I think a lot of that stuff gets overhyped.

    In other words, the outcome of these time zone travel games was more about the quality of the game. And road games tend to be tougher to begin with, which is a bigger part of that 7-14 record.

    But what about a short preparation on top of the trip?

    Well, Iowa actually has a good history about this. Since the Hawkeyes switched to morning practices after the 2014 season and changed the players’ required day off from Monday to Thursday, they are 10-1 in Friday games. That includes an excellent 7-0 record in Friday road games – 5-0 at Nebraska (2015, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’23), 1-0 at Minnesota (2020) and 1-0 at Maryland (2021 ). ).

    The closest parallel to this turnaround would be Maryland’s 2021 Friday night game, six days after a home win against Colorado State. The Hawkeyes defeated the undefeated Terrapins 51-14, with a 31-point second quarter and seven forced turnovers. That was a night of celebration for a large contingent of Hawkeye fans in the Washington, DC area. It wouldn’t be a surprise if 15,000 Hawkeye fans or more packed into the Rose Bowl.

    Because Iowa’s usual day off is Thursday, that became the travel day this week — and the players will get Saturday off instead. The only adjustment to the routine was that we ramped up the workouts on Monday and Tuesday, while going lighter on Wednesday. Once again the game on the field is more important than the short preparation for Iowa.

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    Iowa’s Jay Higgins discusses the novelty of the Rose Bowl season matchup

    The fifth-year senior linebacker is feeling momentum after back-to-back home losses at Northwestern and Wisconsin.

    What about Iowa’s recent history in West Coast games?

    Ferentz said before the 2019 Holiday Bowl in San Diego that as long as he was Iowa’s coach, he would never play another West Coast game in the regular season. “We will not go down that road again, I can assure you of that,” he said at the time.

    Ferentz’s comments were rooted in tough program losses in 2004 at Arizona State (44-7) and 2010 at Arizona (34-27), when Iowa had very good teams. The Hawkeyes were demolished in their only Rose Bowl trip under Ferentz (45-16 by Stanford to end the 2015 season painfully).

    Those comments, of course, were made before four teams from the West joined the Big Ten this season. This is Iowa’s first regular-season road game in the Pacific time zone since a 44-18 loss at Oregon in 1994. But the trend will continue. Iowa will visit USC in 2025, Washington in 2026 and Oregon in 2027.

    Most of these current Hawkeye players were between the ages of 10 and 14 when Iowa last played in the Rose Bowl. That history isn’t important compared to how the team plays on the field, and fifth-year senior linebacker Jay Higgins leads a defense that hopes to perform well. This team sounds confident and ready to atone for back-to-back road losses (Oct. 5 at Ohio State, Oct. 19 at Michigan State).

    “Over the last few weeks, defense, offense and special teams, we’ve done a good job of putting everything together,” Higgins said. “We really play off each other.”

    Chad Leistikow’s Iowa football vs. UCLA prediction

    Iowa Hawkeyes (6-3, 4-2) at UCLA Bruins (3-5, 2-4)

    Time, TV, Line: 8:00 PM CT, FOX, Iowa by 6 points

    Where Iowa has the edge: While poor rushing defense bit the Hawkeyes in road losses to Ohio State and Michigan State, they will go against the last rushing attack in FBS in UCLA. Iowa still has the No. 18 rush defense nationally, and UCLA is averaging just 73.9 yards on the ground per game. Iowa is converting 45% of third downs this season, going against the nation’s worst third down defense. UCLA has allowed a conversion rate of 54.3%.

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    Video: Hear from Iowa QB Brendan Sullivan ahead of the matchup with UCLA

    Brendan Sullivan discusses a number of topics ahead of Iowa’s game with UCLA.

    Where UCLA has the edge: The Bruins are built to stop Iowa’s best strength in Kaleb Johnson and the run game. They are No. 11 nationally against the run, allowing 100.4 yards per game. And as good as Brendan Sullivan has been for Iowa, UCLA has its own mobile quarterback in Ethan Garbers, who has thrown for nearly 900 yards and rushed for more than 100 yards in UCLA’s last three games. Offensively, UCLA has been a lot more productive since reshuffling its offensive line in early October. This is a sneaky good, athletic team.

    Prediction: Iowa 24, UCLA 20… The Hawkeyes are 31-0 and have scored over 21 points since 2020, and this season they are averaging 21.7 in the second half alone. Sullivan must stay healthy, with only walk-on Jackson Stratton as backup. The Hawkeyes will get off to their usual slow start, but put the hammer down in the second half and earn their first win in Pasadena in 66 years, which will be enlightening for Hawkeye fans everywhere.

    Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow served 30 years at The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text group (free to subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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