By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Despite having a struggling offense, The Iowa football team is one win from having a 5-1 record midway through the regular season.

Thank goodness for defense and special teams.

Standing in the way of Iowa being 5-1 is a 2-3 Purdue squad that raised a few eyebrows last Saturday with its 44-19 victory over Illinois.

Ryan Walters is in his first season as the Purdue head coach after having been Bret Bielema’s defensive coordinator at Illinois for the previous two seasons.

Walters was also the defensive coordinator for Missouri from 2016 to 2020 before moving to Illinois.

He took over a Purdue program that was known more for its offense under previous head coach Jeff Brohm, so it might take a while for Walters to put his stamp on the program.

However, the victory over Illinois shows that Purdue is making progress.

“They’ve been playing well,” Kirk Ferentz said of Purdue. “They have a brand new staff. I think everybody knows that. Coach Walters came over from Illinois. It’s kind of an interesting matchup. Purdue has always been a good football team, a good program. He and his staff have done a great job moving that team forward, and they had a great win on Saturday, looked very impressive in all three phases against Illinois. So, it was a big deal for them.”

Walters has brought an aggressive attitude on defense and it’s showing as Purdue has 17 sacks in five games while playing in what could be described as a 3-3-5 scheme.

“You can see the improvement week to week, and certainly did a great job Saturday,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Defensively, they look a lot like Illinois did the last couple years and Missouri three years ago. Looked like we were going to match up with them in a bowl game. He has that system in place and tweaked a little bit and continues to do well, doing a great job there.”

Purdue holds a 50-43-3 advantage in the all-time series and has won four of the last six games, but Iowa has won 11 of the last 17 meetings.

But this is a new era for Purdue, so the past doesn’t mean much.

One of the more intriguing storylines will be the Iowa defense matched against former Iowa receiver Tyrone Tracy Jr., who now plays running back for Purdue.

“He’s doing a very nice job, playing very well,” Kirk Ferentz said of Tracy.

Here is a look at which team has the advantage at each position:

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Quarterback: What was expected to be a former Michigan quarterback matched against a former Texas quarterback is now a former Wisconsin quarterback versus that same former Texas quarterback.

Iowa’s Deacon Hill versus Purdue’s Hudson Card.

Hill has the daunting task of replacing starter Cade McNamara, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of last Saturday’s 26-16 victory over Michigan State at Kinnick Stadium.

McNamara also suffered a soft-tissue injury in the Kids Days practice on Aug. 12, and he never has been completely healthy this season.

And that was apparent in how he played as McNamara only passed for 505 yards before being injured, and he was completing just 51.1 percent of his passes.

Hill only completed 11-of-27 passes against Michigan State, but that statistic is misleading as there were at least six drops.

Considering the circumstances, Hill held his own in what was his first extended playing time since high school.

Card, meanwhile, has taken advantage of the opportunity that came with transferring to Purdue from Texas where he passed for 1,523 yards and 11 touchdowns over three seasons.

Card has 1,244 passing yards this season and is completing 63.8 of his passes. He also has thrown five touchdown passes and three interceptions, and he has been sacked eight times behind an offensive line that has struggled at times this season.

Card is a threat with his legs, and he has shown that can be effective as a runner when the play breaks down.

Advantage: Purdue

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Running back: Former Hawkeye receiver Tyrone Tracy Jr. leads Purdue in rushing with 288 yards on 46 attempts. He is averaging an impressive 6.3 yards per carry and has scored five touchdowns.

Sophomore Devin Mockobee gives Purdue another threat on the ground as he has 279 rushing yards and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry.

Dylan Downing also has gained 104 yards as a third option.

Iowa has been hampered by injuries at this position, but Kirk Ferentz said there is a chance that starter Kaleb Johnson could play Saturday. Johnson has missed the last here games because of an apparent lower leg injury.

Junior Leshon Williams leads Iowa in rushing with 211 yards and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry. However, he lost a fumble against Michigan State last Saturday.

Freshman Kamari Moulton has 94 yards on the ground and has shown a nice burst and some elusiveness, while fellow freshman Terrell Washington Jr. has 34 rushing on seven carries.

Iowa is only averaging 107.0 rushing yards per game, and that doesn’t reflect well on the running backs, although injuries and poor blocking have also contributed to the struggles.

Advantage: Purdue

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Receiver: Purdue has three receivers with at least 191 receiving yards and 18 receptions, led by Deion Burks with 20 catches for 377 yards and four touchdowns, while Nico Ragaini leads the Iowa receivers with just eight catches for 70 yards and zero touchdowns.

Enough said.

Advantage: Purdue

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Tight end: A healthy Luke Lachey would’ve given Iowa a clear advantage, but without him it’s close.

Purdue tight end Max Klare has 22 receptions for 196 yards, while Iowa tight end Erick All has 14 catches for 183 yards.

Klare has a slight edge in catches and receiving yards, but he hasn’t scored a touchdown, while All has scored two touchdowns this season, including a 13-yard reception against Michigan State last Saturday in which he dragged defenders into the end zone.

Garrett Miller has three catches for 39 yards as Purdue’s second option at tight end.

Steve Stilianos has five catches for 54 yards as Iowa’s second option at tight end.

Iowa sophomore Addison Ostrenga also has two receptions for 19 yards.

Advantage: Iowa

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Offensive line: Neither unit has distinguished itself this season, so this decision partly comes down to statistics, and with Iowa averaging just 107.0 rushing yards per game, it reflects poorly on the offensive line.

The hope was that a now veteran Iowa offensive line would show improvement from last season, but it just hasn’t happened.

The pass blocking has improved somewhat from last season, but Iowa wants its offense to feed off the running game, and right now, the buffet is severely lacking.

Advantage: Purdue

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Defensive line:  After five games, it seems pretty obvious that Iowa’s defensive line misses Lukas Van Ness as the Hawkeyes only have three sacks.

The Green Bay Packers picked Van Ness 13^th overall in the 2023 NFL draft for a variety of reasons, and his ability to pressure the quarterback was perhaps the biggest reason.

Iowa’s defensive line still is a formidable unit with quality depth and experience.

Iowa has five defensive linemen with at least 16 tackles, led by junior tackle Yahya Back with 22 stops.

Junior defensive end Ethan Hurkett leads the Iowa defensive linemen with three tackles for loss, and he is second among the defensive linemen with 21 tackles, and he doesn’t even start.

Iowa’s starting defensive line has combined for 60 career starts, led by senior tackle Logan Lee with 32.

As for Purdue’s defensive line in Ryan Walters’ new 3-4 scheme, it’s still very much a work in progress, but that is to be expected following a head coaching change.

Previous head coach Jeff Brohm was known more for his offense, and that was a factor in the roster that Ryan Walters took over from Brohm.

Walters has climbed the coaching ladder on defense and his impact is already being felt as Purdue has 17 sacks, which is 14 more than Iowa.

Most of Purdue’s sacks, however, have been made by linebackers.

Advantage: Iowa

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Linebacker:  Iowa seniors Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson rank first and second on the team in tackles with 62 and 46, respectively.

Higgins also leads the Big Ten, and ranks third nationally, with an average of 12.4 tackles per game. He had a career 18 tackles at Penn State and 16 against Western Michigan this season.

Jackson finished with a season-high 13 tackles against Penn State, and he ha 2.5 tackles for loss. He also had 10 tackles and forced a fourth-quarter fumble against Michigan State last Saturday.

Jackson transferred to Iowa from Virginia where he had 410 career tackles and made second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference last season.

Senior Kyler Fisher is Iowa’s third linebacker, and the former walk-on has 16 tackles this season.

Purdue’s linebackers also have been busy and productive this season.

Senior Kydran Jenkins leads Purdue with four sacks, while fellow linebacker Nic Scourton has three sacks.

Jenkins and Scourton also rank third and fourth on the team in tackles with 23 and 21, respectively.

Advantage: Iowa

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Defensive backfield: Freshman safety Dillon Thieneman leads Purdue with 45 tackles, and he also has two interceptions, one quarterback hurry and one pass breakup.

Senior safety Sanoussi Kane is second on the team with 33 tackles, and he also has two pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and one forced fumble.

Purdue’s fifth, sixth and seventh leading tacklers are all defensive backs as Markevious Brown, Marquis Wilson and Cam Allen have 20, 20 and 16 tackles, respectively.

Allen also has two interceptions and two pass breakups.

Iowa’s secondary is led by dynamic junior cornerback Cooper DeJean, who ranks third on the team with 30 tackles. He also has six career interceptions, including three pick-sixes from last season.

Senior free safety Quinn Schulte has made 18 career starts and has 27 tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass breakup so far this season.

Schulte is among three safeties that play extensively for Iowa, the others being sophomore strong safety Xavier Nwankpa, a former five-star recruit from Southeast Polk, and fifth-year senior Sebastian Castro, who plays the cash position.

Junior Jermari Harris starts at the other cornerback position for Iowa after having missed the first two games. The Chicago native has made nine career starts and has five career interceptions.

Advantage: Iowa

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Special teams: This might be where Iowa has its biggest advantage as senior punter Tory Taylor and sophomore kicker Drew Stevens are arguably the best punter/kicker combination in the country.

Taylor, who is from Melbourne, Australia, is averaging a whopping 48.2 yards on 30 punts this season, with 13 of his punts having traveled beyond 50 yards.

He has a 45.8 career average on 232 punts with 76 going over 50 yards.

Stevens has made 8-of-9 field-goal attempts this season, including one from 53 yards against Michigan State last Saturday. He has made 24-of-27 field-goal attempts overall as a Hawkeye.

He also has converted on all 31 of his point-after kicks and handles kickoffs.

Purdue has used two kickers this season and they have combined to make 3-of-5 field-goal attempts. Julio Macias has made both of his attempts, while Ben Freehill has missed two of his three attempts.

Cooper DeJean is also a force as a punt returner as he showed against Michigan State last Saturday by returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Purdue’s return game is led by Tyrone Tracy Jr. as a kick returner and T.J. Sheffield as a punt returner. Tracy is averaging 33.6 yards on six returns, and he has a 98-yard return for a touchdown, while Sheffield is averaging 8.43 yards on seven punt returns.

Advantage: Iowa

Prediction: Iowa 23, Purdue 21