The college football season is now six weeks old and the Big Ten is struggling. Only two teams in the Big Ten have gotten through the first six weeks unscathed. The Big Ten is a very weak conference this year, and it is unclear which team that will dominate conference play and win the Big Ten title. This has created a perfect storm for the Iowa Hawkeyes to win the conference. With their weak schedule, powerful air and ground attack, and their massive defensive line, they have become the best team in the Big Ten West division.

The Hawkeyes have been looking strong coming into conference play. I was able to watch Iowa play at Kinnick Stadium against Ball State in week two. They were looking to go 2-0 after beating Northern Iowa. They handled Northern Iowa through their depth at the running back position. A strong performance by star running back, Mark Weisman from Buffalo Grove, was the greatest reason for the team’s dominating performance. This would not be the story against Ball State. Weisman’s struggles helped open peoples’ eyes to Iowa’s strong passing game. Weisman failed to gain a single rushing yard. Therefore, they had to rely on quarterback Jake Rudock. He threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns. Rudock then led his team to a late scoring drive with 2:53 left, and a game-winning touchdown with exactly one minute left in the game. This showed that they are not just a one dimensional offense. The offense did sputter in the red zone in the first three quarters, and the Hawkeyes missed three field goals and gave up a fumble recovery touchdown. They overcame these errors due to other running backs stepping up. Backs like Jordan Canzeri and Damon Bullock combined to take the workload left behind from Weisman’s poor performance. In addition, the defense had to step up due to the poor offensive performance in the red zone. The Hawkeye’s defense would shine, and dominate the Cardinal’s offense the whole game, They were led by Drew Ott, who had thirteen tackles and three tackles for losses. In addition, he sacked Ball State quarterback Ozzie Mann causing a fumble with twenty seconds left. This strong performance helped show America that the Hawkeyes are the team to beat in the Big Ten West.

Homer Glen native and offensive lineman Ryan Ward spoke after the victory. He spoke about his outlook on the season. He was asked about making changes to the red zone offense, and he confidently replied ” We will take a look at the film. Obviously, there are things we need to work on, but the strong performance at the end shows us that there is little to worry about.” This was an issue with the three missed field goals and their inability to convert third downs in the red zone. He then spoke about the Hawkeyes having one of the easiest schedules in the Big Ten, and if it will help them get to the conference title game. During this he said “We are just taking it one game at a time. Right now we are focused on this game (Ball State). Then we will focus on next week, and just keep repeating the process.” He then spoke about how last minute wins, like these, will help the team gain momentum into Big Ten play by saying ” Games like these where we stick together and follow through always help. It is always good to get a win. It wasn’t pretty, but in the end we stuck it through and finished the job.” They will begin Big Ten play after they play Pitt.

The Hawkeyes did have a tough outing in week three against in state rival Iowa State. They were in control the whole game, and the defense was stellar again. A last second field would give the Hawkeyes the first loss of the season. Although the scoreboard was not what they wanted, they still looked strong even in defeat. Iowa State is from a stronger conference (Big 12). The Cyclones were not as talented as Iowa. Iowa State just had a few bounces go their way in a close game that made all the difference. Weisman had another decent game, but it still wasn’t enough to get past the Cyclones.

Since that Iowa State game, Iowa has won two straight. Both games being important road wins against Purdue and Pitt. This improved their record to 4-1 and 1-0 in the Big Ten. In the Pitt game Iowa used their balance attack to scrape out a last minute win of 24-20. The next week Iowa easily handled Purdue by 14. In the coming weeks Iowa will play Indiana, at Maryland, Northwestern, at Minnesota, at Illinois, and ending at home against Wisconsin. If they keep a balanced attack on offense they will have no problem winning out the rest of their schedule, and winning the Big Ten West.

Photography by Ryan Wenzel