Hopefully, Iowa enjoyed a nice easy win over Northwestern because the pressure is back on. The honeymoon is over, here comes the Big Ten West division gauntlet.
While their midseason clashes against Michigan and Ohio State will show just where Iowa stacks up nationally, the Hawkeyes’ season really depends on the final four games of the season. Iowa faces four straight extremely tough divisional rivals as they push for a spot in the Big Ten championship.
Iowa fans will want to forget all about Purdue. Just when it looked like the Hawkeyes were legitimate national contenders last year, Iowa ranked No. 2 in the country and coming off of a massive win over Penn State, everything came crashing down against Purdue. The offense couldn’t do anything against the Boilermakers, losing 24-7.
Purdue is an interesting team in 2022. They played spoiler in 2021, knocking off both Iowa and Michigan State. They just weren’t consistent enough, though, dropping some key games against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Their offense emerged as one of the best in the nation over their last six games, averaging 37.1 points per game during that stretch. Can Purdue keep that hot streak rolling into 2022?