Road games are a little different this season. Iowa is 0-2 following single-digit losses to both Purdue and Penn State. But whenever these two teams play, it’ll be interesting. See the 2015 Big Ten Championship.

Ahead of the matchup, The State News spoke with Robert Read of The Daily Iowan to get a preview of this Saturday’s game. This is the first meeting between the two programs since 2017 when MSU won 17-10.

Q: Iowa is 0-2, a loss to Purdue and then Iowa loses again to Northwestern, who wasn’t one of the better teams in the Big Ten last season. In a weird season, in a weird year, just what is your initial thought on Iowa football at 0-2?

A: It’s a weird situation for Iowa. I think the last time they were 0-2 was the year 2000 right at the beginning of Kirk Ferentz's tenure, so this is a — especially since we're starting out right in Big Ten conference play — it’s a tough situation from Iowa to bounce back from. Like you said it’s been two close losses to start the season. Two games that Iowa could have and in the case of Northwestern probably should have won. 

Kirk Ferentz was saying throughout the offseason that this season’s restrictions and how the weird offseason looked that the teams with veteran quarterbacks might be the ones that have a little bit of an advantage, and that’s not something Iowa has right now. Spencer Petras, a redshirt sophomore, started two games in his career and has looked very up and down in those two games. 

It's been really close so far (for Iowa) against two teams that weren’t great last year but look to be at least improved early in the season. The opportunities have been there for Iowa, but they haven’t really taken advantage of them so far.

Q: Star wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette is charged with an OWI. He’s suspended for this game. He’s a big playmaker for this Iowa team, was a big part of the offense last season and was going to be this year. So, what kind of problems does that cause for this Iowa offense?

A: Obviously Smith-Marsette is a big component of Iowa’s offense and special teams. He’s the Big Ten’s all-time leading kick-returner by return average ... and leads Iowa in receiving yards. He didn’t catch any passes in the opener, which Iowa’s offensive staff was criticized for, but last week he caught seven passes. 

Take Iowa’s performance last season in the Holiday Bowl, where he scored three touchdowns in three different ways. They’re starting to get him involved in the running game a little bit too just because of how dynamic that can be for them. 

Not having him, which it looks like it’ll be a one-game suspension then he’ll probably return to the lineup after that. It’s a big loss (regardless) because he’s one of those players I imagine that when the ball touches his hands the opposing team's defensive coordinator holds his breath for at least a second.

It really is the deepest receiving corp Iowa has ever had. … Tyrone Tracy Jr. is probably the guy who’s going to take the heaviest workload filling in for Smith-Marsette.

Q: Who’s a guy to watch from the defense?

A: I think the team's MVP so far has been defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon. He was a rotational player last year. Iowa had a really veteran and kind of stacked defensive line last season. They lost three starters, so he’s been elevated into that starting defensive tackle position and just reading from the stat sheet last week against Northwestern: 11 tackles as an interior defensive lineman, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble. He’s just been dominant. 

It’s been insane to watch, you have former Iowa players tweeting during the game, “This is his last year in college. He’s going pro next season.” I don’t know if that’s actually happening, but he does look clearly like Iowa’s best player this season on any side of the ball. 

Some other guys because Iowa lost guys like A.J. Epenesa from a year ago, guys like Geno Stone from the secondary. So, at linebacker, it's a really interesting situation because they lost their starting middle linebacker from a year ago. … They’re kind of thin coming into this at linebacker. 

Q: Simple question, what’s your score prediction for Saturday and why?

A: We do these game picks every week. I’m 2-8 right now, so I have no authority to be guessing. I picked Iowa the first two weeks because I really did think they were going to win. I don’t know If I necessarily am as confident in picking them this week, but I do think Iowa rebounds. 

I just think eventually this offense, which they’ve got a veteran O-Line, position players everywhere, it really just all does come down to Petras filling in what Nate Stanley was for three years as a reliable starter. I think after a couple of starts under his belt, including one at home, it almost seems like it could be harder to play at home a little bit this year because you're used to having that crowd to pump you up, but I’m going to pick Iowa.

Let’s give them 28-24. No way that’s going to be right.