Ready or not, the Big Ten West’s money game — Iowa vs. Wisconsin — is this week

I’m short-sleeped, having stayed with the Arizona-USC football game to its conclusion earlier Sunday morning.

That game was nutso, the kind of thing you can’t even imagine seeing in the Big Ten. USC won 43-41 in triple-overtime. Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, making his second career start, threw five touchdown passes.

The game went to overtime because USC botched a 25-yard field goal at the end of regulation with a bad snap.

I’m not really sure how the Trojans won. It was late and it felt like a gummy experience without the gummy.

USC is 6-0 without the benefit of a defense. Say what you will about the stupidity of the Pac-12 being torn asunder by the Big Ten, but it will be interesting to see how the world-class offenses of USC, Oregon and Washington fare next year against the world-class defenses of Michigan, Ohio State and Purdue.

Those six teams are unbeaten. Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State are 1-2-3 nationally in scoring defense. The Wolverines are allowing a ridiculous 6.7 points per game.

USC, Oregon and Washington are 1-2-3 nationally in scoring offense. USC’s average actually dropped to 51.8 points per game Saturday/Sunday.

Somewhere on the outside of all that is the soon-to-be-defunct Big Ten West. Five of its seven teams are under the 25-point standard former Iowa athletic director Gary Barta set this year for Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. That keeps Barta in the thoughts of the Iowa football compound.

The Hawkeyes are at 21.8 points per game. That’s not good. And yet, six other Big Ten teams are at 22.0 ppg or less, and Iowa has four of them on its remaining schedule.

Did you see that Nebraska-Illinois game Friday night? It was offense-challenged. Northwestern couldn’t reach 25 points Saturday against Howard. Minnesota was on the ugly end of a 52-10 score against Michigan in Minneapolis, managing a mere 169 yards.

Which, of course, more than doubled the yardage Iowa had at Penn State last month.

Stats, stats, stats. Iowa is 5-1 in a stat that kind of matters. It’s 5-0 as a favorite, 0-1 as an underdog. It’s an underdog by more than a touchdown Saturday at Wisconsin.

Ahh, Iowa-Wisconsin. Amid all the unremarkableness of the West, here comes the money game in Madison. If the Hawkeyes pull the upset, they have the upper hand in the division and perhaps a bit more since the Badgers must still host Ohio State.

If Iowa loses, it’s two games behind Wisconsin in the loss column and the Badgers have the tiebreaker. So forget a division title in Iowa’s last chance to get one, and forget the chance to — and this wouldn’t be hyperbole — shock the world in Indianapolis against Michigan or whomever represents the East.

People in Kenya would find it stunning.

Wisconsin’s one loss was on the road against a Washington State team that wasn’t held in high enough esteem to get a lifeboat from either the Big Ten or Big 12.

The Badgers beat Rutgers Saturday in Madison, 24-13. In true Big Ten West fashion, with one of their touchdowns on an interception return.

Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai threw 72 touchdown passes over his previous two seasons when he was at SMU. In five games as a Badger, he has three.

Iowa has twice that many TD passes! However, it ranks 128th out of 130 teams nationally in passing offense, 129th in passing efficiency, and 130th in completion percentage.

Which explains why I stayed up past 1 a.m. to watch USC and Arizona go back and forth, piling up points instead of punts. I wanted to see what that was like.

Guess what? It’s different. It was like being in Los Angeles at night after spending the daytime in Iowa City.

Saturday, Oregon plays Washington (they combine for 97.6 points per game) at the same time Iowa plays Wisconsin. One game is on ABC, the other on Fox. It’s something for everyone. Yeah, that’s what we’ll say.

One of the two games has a pair of Heisman Trophy candidates playing quarterback, and the other one is Iowa-Wisconsin.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a nap.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com