Oct 31, 2015; Iowa City, IA, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes wide receiver Tevaun Smith (4) and teammates enter the field before the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa is going where no team in school history has gone.
The Hawkeyes’ 10-0 record is the best ever for the program. They remained at No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night. They’re trying to get to the Big Ten championship game for the first time since it began in 2011.
With a win Saturday at home over Purdue (noon ET on ESPN2), though, the Hawkeyes will lock up a trip to Indy and a share of the division title.
“We want to win it outright,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That’s our goal.”
Iowa (10-0, 6-0) goes into its final home game as a three-touchdown favorite over Purdue (2-8, 1-5). The Hawkeyes have a chance to finish 7-0 at home for the first time since 2003 and send 21 seniors out in style.
If the wins keep coming, there’s also the possibility of a spot in the four-team national playoff.
“We’ve talked really openly about it this week, and it’s mathematical,” Ferentz said. “I mean, if we win, then we’re in, I guess, right? Not to get cute, but that’s the way it is. That’s a really good thing, and that would mean we’re 11-0 and that would mean we’re 7-0, and boy, that would be great.
“But we’re not done yet, so we’ll acknowledge that privately, and we’re going to have to move fast towards that next game.”
Despite the historic success this year, Iowa could be playing before less than a full house in 70,585-seat Kinnick Stadium. As of Tuesday, Iowa remained 8,000 short of a sellout.
“It would be nice to have them sell out. But we still have to worry about what’s going to happen on the field,” senior wide receiver Tevaun Smith said. “If they don’t want to come to the game, they don’t want to come. That’s what happened at the beginning of the season. A lot of people didn’t want to get season tickets, and now they regret it. Who knows? They might regret not coming to this one.”
Asked about the non-sellout, Ferentz said, “I don’t really give it much thought. It’s kind of out of my realm of expertise. But we’ve got great fans. I’ve said that a long time, forever basically, since ’81, and my experience is if we play well on the field, our fans will be there. That’s how I look at it.”
The Hawkeyes also have plenty of doubters in the national media who question the viability of the No. 5 ranking and bash their schedule. That’s more fuel for the fire, but this team seems to be motivated from within.
Ferentz acknowledged his team isn’t flashy. The Hawkeyes are built around one of the country’s better rushing attacks, a solid offensive line, a capable quarterback and a hard-nosed defense. But they’ve scored 30 or more points in four straight Big Ten games for the first time in Ferentz’s 17 seasons, including last week’s 40-35 victory over rival Minnesota.
“To me, we’re just kind of letting the season unfold and what have you, but the most important stat is winning games,” Ferentz said. “That’s ultimately the one that gets judged the most critically, and it’s the goal we have every week.
“That’s kind of what we’ve been focused on, and that’s what we’ll hopefully be focused on this week and the week after.”
A stumble against Purdue this week would be a major disappointment for a team that has come so far after struggling to a 7-6 record a year ago. Iowa could still lose Saturday and secure a spot in the Big Ten championship game if Wisconsin falls to Northwestern this week.
“If you’re looking backwards instead of forwards, pretty soon you’re going to be going down, and I don’t think we’re going to be guilty of that,” Ferentz said, “But if we do, shame on us, that’s for sure.”
NOTES, QUOTES PLAYERS TO WATCH
–QB C.J. Beathard is 11-0 as a starter at Iowa, the first quarterback in school history to win his first 11 starts. The junior has completed 163-of-267 passes for 2,044 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions this season. Last Saturday in the 40-35 win over Minnesota, Beathard ran for two touchdowns and 50 yards on 10 carries and connected on 18-of-26 passes for 213 yards and no interceptions. He suffered a painful hip pointer on a sneak and continues to deal with a groin injury but said he will play Saturday against Purdue.
–RB LeShun Daniels Jr., healthy again after battling a high ankle sprain since the second week of the season, ran for a career-best 195 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries in the 40-35 win over Minnesota last Saturday. He helped seal the outcome with a 51-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Daniels came within five yards of joining Jordan Canzeri and Akrum Wadley as the third Iowa back to rush for 200 yards in a game this year. Canzeri returned from an ankle sprain last week against Minnesota and should be ready for more work this week. Wadley sat out last week as a precaution with an ankle injury but should also be in the mix against Purdue.
–WR Matt VandeBerg is not flashy, but he’s as steady as they come as a receiver. VandeBerg caught a team-best six passes for 74 yards against Minnesota last week and helped Iowa keep the chains moving. The Hawkeyes converted 10-of-15 third downs against the Gophers and rank 17th nationally in third-down conversions. The junior has 55 receptions for 587 yards for the season and ranks sixth in the Big Ten in catches per game (5.5).
–LB Josey Jewell led the Iowa defense against Minnesota with 13 tackles and a sack, reaching double-digit tackles for the fourth time in the past six games. Jewell’s 90 total tackles put him first on the team and fifth in the Big Ten after 10 games. He has played a big part in Iowa allowing just 104.6 yards per game on the ground (ninth in FBS) and 18.4 points per game (16th in FBS).
SERIES HISTORY: Purdue leads Iowa, 46-36-3. The Hawkeyes lead 20-19-2 in games played in Iowa City. They defeated the Boilermakers 24-10 last year in West Lafayette, but Purdue won the last meeting between the teams in Iowa City in 2012 on a game-ending field goal.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We didn’t have much leadership last year. A big part of being successful is having leaders and having guys that step up and lead the young guys. We’ve got guys that aren’t selfish this year. We had guys doing their own thing last year. It’s a unit, a group, we’re a team. We’re all in it together.” — Iowa QB C.J. Beathard
