Set to travel to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, the Iowa Hawkeyes will be gunning for their second-straight victory over the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.

As Tom Kakert, publisher of HawkeyeReport.com, pointed out on Twitter, Kirk Ferentz’ team has at least one fact working in their favor.

This previous meeting came in 2017, during Diaco’s lone season as the defensive coordinator for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Unsurprisingly, Iowa cruised to a 56-14 victory that day at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Fresh off a 10-3 (6-3 B1G) season that culminated in a San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl victory over the USC Trojans, the Hawkeyes return their leading rusher from 2019, sophomore Tyler Goodson. The program also welcomes back senior Mekhi Sargent, who finished as their second-leading ground-gainer last fall with 563 yards and four touchdowns on 119 carries.

With Iowa set to break in a new quarterback in redshirt sophomore Spencer Petras, it would not be surprising to see the team rely heavily on this running back duo, meaning Diaco’s Boilermakers will have their work cut out for them.

Saturday’s action will kick at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.