Iowa football is in a weird place right now.

Its in-state rival Iowa State, which the Hawkeyes beat 44-41 in overtime earlier this season, is ranked in the top 25. Perennial Big Ten bottom feeder Rutgers has more Big Ten wins than Iowa after beating Illinois and Purdue in back-to-back weeks. And the Hawkeyes sit toward the bottom of the conference with only one Big Ten win and a 4-3 record after losing to Northwestern in overtime, 17-10.

The absences of star middle linebacker Josey Jewell and safety Brandon Snyder were apparent in the second half, when the Wildcats stole the momentum to take the game over.

Without its tandem of Jewell and Snyder, Iowa still held Northwestern to zero first-half points and just 103 yards of total offense, but the offense could only put 7 on the board.

The Hawkeyes moved the ball when the game began and racked up 218 first-half yards, but that took a turn in the second half.

Iowa could not get anything going and did not score another touchdown. The offense put up a grand total of 62 yards in the second half, and unsurprisingly, it wasn’t enough to get the job done.

“Anytime you’re not producing what your side of the ball should be doing, it’s frustrating,” wide receiver Matt VandeBerg said.

With three losses in its last four games, Iowa has had to change its goals a little bit.

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After starting the season 3-0 with a hope for an appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game, the focus will have to shift to winning games and maintaining bowl eligibility.

The three losses certainly hurt, but what hurts the Hawkeyes even more is that they were close.

They nearly upset Penn State, but the Nittany Lions scored as time expired to give Iowa its first loss, 21-19.

Since then, Iowa has suffered losses to Michigan State and Northwestern, both by 7 points, meaning the Hawkeyes have lost their three games by a total of 16 points.

“You have to find a way to win close games,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “For us, that’s been historic for the most part. It just gets down to detail. A little better preparation, a little better practice … Part of that’s growing pains, and part of it is we have to to improve faster. [We have to] get a little better here if we’re going to flip this thing over.”

The Hawkeyes have some winnable games still on their schedule with Minnesota, Purdue, and Nebraska coming up.

In games against Ohio State and Wisconsin, however, Iowa will be the decided underdog.

Either way, the Hawkeyes aren’t going to change what they’re going to do. Ferentz said they will continue to run the ball, as Iowa has done well in the past.

With those five games remaining, it seems as if Iowa is focusing on the only thing it can: taking each day one at a time and fixing the small mistakes.

“We just have to keep fighting,” quarterback Nate Stanley said. “There are five games left that we’re guaranteed. Just continue to fight and get to be the best team we can be so we have a shot to play that 13th. Right now, just take it one day at a time and do our best to get better right now.”