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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan drew the shortest straw when it came to Big Ten champions week this week, as the conference went away from its original plan to match East vs. West by where the teams finished, as it tried to reschedule some canceled rivalry games. Since it didn’t want any rematches from earlier in the season, the Wolverines drew a red-hot Iowa team that’s won six-straight games and is poised to finish second in its division.
But, while the fanbase might be apprehensive, you won’t hear players in Schembechler Hall complain or have a similar attitude.
Fourth-year offensive lineman Andrew Stueber is one who’s eager for the opportunity, noting that this team is ready to avenge its loss to Penn State — which easily could have been the final game of the season given the team’s COVID-19 woes. And considering Michigan is a sizable underdog, that’s a challenge that the team is excited about and not shying away from.
“It was definitely kind of an interesting take, but we accept any challenge,” Stueber said. “They’re a great team. We have a great history of playing them in the past. They’re a great, hard-nosed Big Ten team — so are we. We’re plowing ahead, we’re game-planning (like) any other opponent. Have a great game plan set up. Everyone was excited when we found out we were playing Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. It’s gonna be a great atmosphere, even though there’s no one there. It’s a great stadium in itself. At night, too, on Saturday.
“So yeah — we were excited, especially after two weeks of not playing a game. You’re really just excited to get any opponent. We didn’t want our season to end with a game against Penn State — we wanted to play one more game. We’re excited to play them and can’t wait to get a chance to get to Kinnick and show them what we got.”
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It’ll be a particular challenge for what will likely be a makeshift offensive front for the Wolverines.
The Hawkeyes are second in the conference with 22 sacks, just one sack behind Indiana. But the Michigan football offensive line is the top team in the conference and No. 14 in the country in sacks allowed, having given up just eight all season long.
Stueber notes how stout Iowa’s defensive front is and what it’s good at. Again, it’s a challenge that Stueber & Co. are embracing and not shying away from.
“They’re a good defensive line,” Stueber said. “They lost a pretty good defensive end last year in A.J. Epenesa. But they’re still a very good, very sound defensive front. They know who they are and they play great defense. But their defensive front is great, they have great (hard-nosed) players who play their game, get off blocks. So I’m excited to play against them, line up against them, and hope things go well.”
The Wolverines and Hawkeyes will kick off at 7 p.m. on Saturday night in Iowa City.
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