Why is Kinnick Stadium “where top 5 teams go to die”?

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - You don’t need anyone to tell you Kinnick will be rocking on gameday, There’s a reason Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said this:

“(Kinnick Stadium) is where top 5 teams go to die?” Harbaugh said on Saturday.

The last time a top 5 team came to Iowa City, Penn State fell to the Hawkeyes, thanks largely to eight Nittany Lion false starts.

“The biggest thing is it makes communication a lot harder,” senior quarterback Spencer Petras said about the noise. “especially teams that have the type of offense where they’re clapping, they look to the sideline, quarterback is trying to communicate a lot at the line of scrimmage.”

Iowa has won five of their past six home games against top 5 opponents at Kinnick Stadium.

“The fans come out with great energy every week, but they really bring it in these types of games,” said senior defensive lineman John Waggoner. “We’re excited to play in that atmosphere.”

If Iowa does pull the upset on Saturday it’ll be largely due to their defense. When the crowd is getting hyped, the Hawkeyes line up with 12.

“Especially on those third downs when it’s time to get off the field I’m hyping up the crowd the whole defense is hyped,” said senior defensive back Kaevon Merriweather. “It definitely gets us excited.”

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