Let’s say Drew Tate had to sit on the bench this week. I think he’ll play, but let’s pretend he needs another week of rest for a second. And, Jason Manson is going to be the starter. Where would you rank Iowa right now with Manson as the starter?
I would put us somewhere around 20th. The defense is good. The offense will be fine if the turnovers decrease. And, I do not expect Manson to ever end up with anywhere near 4 INTs again.
Where would I rank Iowa with Tate? Probably around 15. I want to see them get on a roll before I worry about pushing them anywhere near the top 10. Beat ISU convincingly with Tate or at all with Manson and I’ll start getting happy.
The difference might be bigger if the running game sucked or the defense showed any signs of struggling. With those two aspects working well right now, any decent quarterback should be able to give Iowa a good chance of beating some pretty good teams. Manson looked just fine in overtime.
So, by my calculations, Tate is good for about 5 positions in the rankings. There’s a big difference between being ranked 15 and 20, though. A loss at 15 pushes you into the 20s the next week. A loss at 20 pushes you into the “Also getting votes” category.
Here’s my question for Hawkeye fans. If Tate isn’t 100%, would you rather see him sit, maybe lose against ISU and try to recover for the start of the Big 10, Or would you prefer for him to try and play, risk getting hurt and missing Big 10 games.
I want Tate to rest until he is healed. In addition to being bad for the season if he misses more games, the potential of losing him in the middle of the ISU game is scary. It is hard enough to quarterback a team playing as the starter and getting to practice with the starters. Trying to come into the game after the 1st string QB gets hurt and after playing with the 2nd string offense all week is even worse.
The good news is that I think the injury at this point is just something to keep ISU guessing. I’m expecting that Tate is healed up after his week off and will be ready to go this Saturday.