Hawkeye HQ predictions and pregame: Guys being dudes

The year is 2013. Vine star Steve Addazio is moonlighting as Boston Colleges head football coach. He stands atop Alumni Stadium stadium and utters the seven words that would set the tone for a fairly steady tenure as the Eagles head coach: Whats better than this? Guys being dudes.

The year is 2013. Vine star Steve Addazio is moonlighting as Boston College’s head football coach. He stands atop Alumni Stadium stadium and utters the seven words that would set the tone for a fairly steady tenure as the Eagles’ head coach: “What’s better than this? Guys being dudes.”

We never actually got his definition for what a “dude” is, but based on extensive research, it seems to be someone who is good at the sport of football.

Flash forward to 2021, Vine is dead and has given way to Tik Tok (yuck.) Addazio didn’t get enough dudes at Boston College and is now the head coach at Colorado State. But thanks to he and Jeff Bridges, “dude” will live on forever.

There’s going to be plenty of dudes on Duke Slater Field this weekend. On paper at least, Iowa seems to have more of them than Addazio’s Colorado State Rams.

“We are playing an elite football team,” Addazio said earlier this week. “We’re playing the number five team in the country and they should be.”

It’ll be the first meeting between the two schools, but there’s some familiarity between the Hawkeyes and an Addazio-led team. They beat Boston College 27-20 in the 2017 Pinstripe Bowl.

This Colorado State team is built a whole lot like that one, maybe just with less dudes. They want to run the ball, a lot. A tough ask against an Iowa defense that’s faced players like Breece Hall and comes into Saturday ranked 19th against the rush.

“We want to stop the run and force them to drop back on third and long,” senior defensive lineman John Waggoner said.

It’s a match of dudes with a reputation of being big and physical against guys hoping to be.

Colorado State is definitely big and Addazio said many times this week, the main goal is to match Iowa in the physicality department. So expect slugfest, even if the score doesn’t reflect that.

If you’re an Iowa fan, what’s better than that?

Now let’s see what the this week’s picks.

Hawkeye Headquarters
Zachary Winiecki: Iowa 31, Colorado State 13

National Predictions
CBS Sports
Dennis Dodd: Iowa
Tom Fornelli: Iowa
Chip Patterson: Iowa
Barrett Sallee: Iowa
David Cobb: Iowa
Shehan Jeyarajah: Iowa
Jerry Palm: Iowa

Bleacher Report
Kerry Miller: Iowa 24, Colorado State 6

USA Today
Scooby Axson: Iowa
Jace Evans: Iowa
Paul Myerberg: Iowa
Erick Smith: Iowa
Eddie Timanus: Iowa
Heather Tucker: Iowa
Dan Wolken: Iowa

Athlon Sports
Steven Lassan: Iowa
Mark Ross: Iowa
Ben Weinrib: Iowa

College Football News
Pete Fiutak: Iowa 34, Colorado State 13

Hawkeye State Predictions
Quad City Times
Steve Batterson: Iowa 31, Colorado State 10
The Hawkeye defense does its thing, neutralizing the Rams’ desire to run the football. Expect continued growth on the offensive side of the ball from Iowa as young receivers and linemen continue to benefit from the experience they’ve gained during the Hawkeyes’ 3-0 start to the season.

The Athletic
Scott Dochterman: Iowa 41, Colorado State 6

Hawkeyes Mic
Brendan Stiles: Iowa 42, Colorado State 7
John Patchett: Iowa 46, Colorado State 10
Tyler Tjelmeland: Iowa 45, Colorado State 7
Jack Brandsgard: Iowa 34, Colorado State State 6

#IowaSim21 simulation
Cody Hills: Iowa 30, Colorado State 6

Totally relevant irrelevant prediction simulation
The artist formerly known as HawkeyeHQ.com’s Ryan Jaster: Iowa 17, Colorado State 7

Consensus: The picks look pretty much the same as last week, with Iowa unanimously being picked to win this one in fairly comfortable fashion. Based on tape from the first few weeks of the season, this could be the most limited offense the Hawkeyes have faced so far this year and they’ve handled those just fine. The offense looked better last week, with Tyler Goodson posting a career high in yards and touchdowns, and they expect that growth to continue this week. It’s college football, so there’s always surprises, but you put those two things together and 4-0 seems more likely than not.

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