Legends Division race stops in Iowa City this week

IOWA CITY -- This season has zigged, this season has zagged. They took the twistiest of the windiest roads, but the Hawkeyes find themselves in the glare this week.

The Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-2 Big Ten) welcome No. 15 Michigan State (7-2, 4-1) with the inside track to the Legends Division lead on the line (11 a.m. kickoff on ESPN2). Now, the "inside track" and "the lead" are hardly definitive. The race counts all eight conference games. The Spartans' final two weeks (Indiana, at Northwestern) are somewhat cushier than the Hawkeyes' (at Purdue, at Nebraska).

Saturday and Michigan State is an elimination game for the Hawkeyes. Three conference losses would make the math that would lead Iowa to Lucas Oil Stadium and the Big Ten title game on Dec. 3 an exercise in infinitesimal calculus.

"It should be a great football game," Iowa center James Ferentz said. "I think the fans will get their money's worth. It will be two physical teams going at it."

And, of course, the twistiest of the windiest roads took another turn for Iowa during Saturday's wrenching 24-16 victory over Michigan, Iowa's third straight over the Wolverines.

Sophomore defensive end Dominic Alvis suffered a torn left ACL in the third quarter. Senior Lebron Daniel, who missed the last two weeks, took over and likely will be the man from here on out. Iowa is down to three defensive ends in senior Broderick Binns, who was credited with three defended passes, Daniel and walk-on Joe Forgy.

Junior Steve Bigach has played some end this season, but he's needed at tackle. Don't look for anymore redshirts to come off. Riley McMinn is 6-foot-7, 219 pounds and under construction. Melvin Spears moved from linebacker to D-end in August.

"The only thing that could have been worse is if he [Alvis] was a senior, but you hate for any player to deal with something that's going to require surgery and rehab and all those types of things," coach Kirk Ferentz said. "He's a young guy that's been working really hard and playing a lot better and improving each week, so it's a loss to our team, but our thoughts are more so with him right now."

Against Michigan, the emphasis was contain, which is key against a quarterback Denard Robinson. Binns met him face-to-face on several bootlegs. Also, Iowa had linebackers spying Robinson, who exploited that for a couple of completions but he's not an accurate enough passer to be counted on consistently.

"For the first time, it seemed like we played as a whole defense," Binns said. "We got stops and we got what we needed."

The Spartans have some bruising of their own to deal with, but should be close to fully healthy for Saturday.

O-linemen Joel Foreman and Travis Jackson were dinged, but Foreman (rib) returned and Jackson (ankle) could've played but at out MSU's 31-24 struggle against Minnesota. The defense also was banged up, but should have linebacker Chris Norman and cornerback Darqueze Dennard back for the Hawkeyes.

And then with these two teams, there's the fact that they don't seem to dig each other.

"We'll find a way to make it personal," MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins told the Lansing State Journal.

Cousins doesn't have to look very far. His grandfather, Ralph Woodard, played tight end and defensive end for the Hawkeyes, lettering in 1945, '47, '48 and '49. His mom, MaryAnn, was on the UI pom pom squad. At Iowa last season, Cousins threw three interceptions in a 37-6 loss.

Kirk Ferentz isn't worried about personal and he sure isn't worried about the Legends Division race. He was asked in the postgame if he allowed himself to start thinking "three more and we can win this division."

The response was classic Kirk Ferentz.

"Only if we're idiots," he said. "What we've got to do is worry about next week, so I hope we don't have any idiots on our team."

The race will continue this week, the next and the one after that.