The reality facing the Iowa Hawkeyes and other not-quite-top-tier Big Ten football schools is layered and not easy to sort out.
On one hand, Iowa will — in most years — need to beat Ohio State or Michigan at some point if it expects to win the Big Ten championship, the ultimate goal for the program.
On the other hand, Michigan and Ohio State have such huge resource advantages and recruiting infrastructures that it will be hard for Iowa to expect to outdo those two schools at any point in time.
Iowa and the teams which have been competing in the Big Ten West Division for the past decade are caught in between, trying to match the Michigan-Ohio State standard but knowing that in most years, beating their neighbors (Nebraska, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern) offers a direct path to the Big Ten Championship Game and a relatively successful season.
Yes, the Big Ten will remove divisions next year when USC comes in, but that’s a different story. How has Iowa measured itself in recent years, given these two layers of comparisons in the Big Ten? We talked to Hawkeyes Wire editor Josh Helmer about this in an episode you can listen to below:
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