Next 2 foes for Iowa: Bottom-dwellers

IOWA CITY -- Since there's a loser in every college football game, it's hard to take the term "must-win" too seriously.

So let's simply call Iowa's 41-31 victory over Northwestern Saturday night a season-saver.

Still too much hyperbole? Maybe. But had the Hawkeyes fallen to the Wildcats, there wouldn't be a breath of enthusiasm about Iowa football today. Not at 0-2 in the Big Ten, 3-3 overall, and nothing to get excited about the next two weeks no matter the results.

"It's better we won today, there's no question," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "The biggest reason is none of us felt very good or had a good taste about last week's performance (a 13-3 loss at Penn State).

"We didn't compete at a level that realistically would lead you to think that you're going to have a chance to win too many Big Ten games. That was a concern."

The Hawkeyes didn't exactly impersonate Alabama or LSU defensively Saturday in allowing 495 yards, but a win is a win is a win. And if they can score 41 points against Northwestern, what might they be capable of against, say, the two worst teams in the Big Ten?

As luck would have it, those are Iowa's next two opponents. Indiana in Iowa City, Minnesota in Minneapolis.  While overly cautious Hawkeye fans will say those were bad teams last year and Iowa was lucky to get a split with the two (which is true), they are really bad this season. Really, truly bad.

They have lost to New Mexico State. And Ball State. And North Dakota State. And North Texas. Those are crimes against the Big Ten.

OK, now that was too much hyperbole.

But one can't deny Minnesota's 58-0 loss to Michigan and Indiana's 59-7 defeat at Wisconsin indicate the Gophers and Hoosiers aren't jockeying for their league's berth in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

Had Iowa taken an 0-2 conference record into these next two games, it wouldn't have mattered how severely the Hawkeyes handled the least of the Leaders and the lousiest of the Legends. The back-to-back losses to Penn State and Northwestern would have hung over the team and dominated discussion from the outer Hawkeye world until Iowa played someone or ones of note.

Which are Michigan and Michigan State, Nov. 5 and 12, both at Kinnick Stadium.

But with the Northwestern win, interesting things from a positive standpoint are still possible. Barring a barely fathomable loss in the next two games, Iowa will be 3-1 in the Big Ten and 6-2 overall when Michigan brings its sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-erratic squad to town. The Wolverines have only a home game with Purdue before then, so it should be 3-1 and 7-1 when they play the Hawkeyes. Should be.

Iowa isn't good enough to take even the dregs of its league lightly, of course. But these upcoming two games ought to provide all Hawkeye units the opportunities to become sharper by the time November and the Michigans roll into Kinnick. And then, who knows?

Right now, the prospect of the Hawkeyes playing the Wolverines and Spartans in consecutive weeks would be daunting. But two weeks from today? Maybe not as much.

Michigan showed it was plenty mortal at Michigan State Saturday. Michigan State will have played Wisconsin at home and Nebraska on the road before it reaches Iowa City.

"We have an awful lot of things to clean up and improve upon," Ferentz said, "but at least if we'll compete hard we'll have a chance."

Iowa is at the halfway point of its season. You would assume you haven't seen the best of the Hawkeyes yet. If that proves to be true, this team can still be a factor in the Legends Division title chase.