The No. 5 Iowa football team has a chance to clinch a trip to the Big Ten Championship game Saturday.
By Ryan Rodriguez | [email protected]
Make no mistake, the Iowa football team knows exactly what is on the line Saturday against Purdue.
“Having an opportunity to go 7-0 in the Big Ten, which would be significant, 7-0 in Kinnick, which has only been done once before, that’s important,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “And then the other thing is a chance to grab a share of the West Division title, which to me those are tangible things that are out there for us, and that’s really what we’re focused on.”
It’s become almost a foregone conclusion at this point in Iowa’s already historic run in 2015, but a trip to the Big Ten title game would be all sewn up with victory over 2-8 Purdue.
The key for Iowa’s players will be remembering that they don’t have it yet.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to get to this point, and right now, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot, but we’re just trying to prove ourselves each week,” quarterback C.J. Beathard said. “But if we prepare well, we should be alright.”
It’s one of the most tired, over-used narratives in sports: a hot team on an incredible run must not overlook a huge underdog lying low to knock them off of their throne in one of the last games of the season.
And cliché as it may be, it really is all that needs to be said going into this one.
Purdue is a bad team — like, bottom of the Big Ten in almost every statistical category bad. For Iowa to lose this game, it would take a collapse and breakdown not seen since by Hawkeye fans in years.
There’s not a single college football analyst in the country who would say that the two teams are even close on paper. But that’s exactly what makes it all the more important.
For Iowa’s best season in almost 100 years to come undone against its weakest opponent would be a disaster.
These Hawkeyes have little time for disaster, though.
“They’re a tough team, and they’ve played a lot of really good team really close,” Beathard said. “We know that they’re not going to be easy, and it’s going to be a tough game for us.”
The game carries extra emotion for Iowa’s 21 seniors, who will suit up in their final home games at Kinnick with a chance to close out the most incredible season of their careers.
Keeping those emotions in check is necessary for earning the W.
“It’s kind of crazy, because just yesterday I feel like I was a freshman here,” wide receiver Tevaun Smith said. “To have a chance to play my last game and Kinnick is going to be special for me and just everyone that’s there.”
Iowa would be well-served to stick to its guns against the Boilermakers. The even-keeled game plan that has sustained them throughout this season is the best one they can take in week eleven.
Do that, and everything else will follow.
“I know our opponent is not too interested in any of that stuff,” Ferentz said. “But it is important for us. On that front it gets back to our preparation. We have to do a great job of getting ready this week and then showing up at 11 ready to go.”
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