The Iowa football program typically doesn’t change much from year to year, but it did make a substantial pivot this past offseason by investing in more advanced scouting resources.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz approved offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s idea of hiring of ex-Wake Forest offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero and ex-New York Jets assistant Billy VandeMerkt as analysts. Ruggiero was a particularly notable hire. The 2021 finalist for the Broyles Award (given to the nation’s top assistant coach) has been tasked with advanced scouting reports on Iowa’s opponents.

Ruggiero and VandeMerkt have been working on the Iowa State game plan since the summer. Now, with Iowa visiting Iowa State on Sept. 6 in a monster rivalry battle, we’ll get to see how beneficial (or not) those investm

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