It’s time to renew hostilities with our most hated rivals. The Iowa Hawkeyes come to Ross-Ade Stadium, where two years ago they ended the tenure of Darrell Hazell with a relatively easy 49-35 win. Last season Purdue got an unexpected win in Iowa City to get back into bowl contention. The 24-15 victory was a shock to many and made up for an earlier listless offensive loss at Rutgers.
This year the Hawkeyes have been solid against some bad to mediocre competition. Their only two losses were to ranked teams and they have conference wins over Minnesota, Indiana, and Maryland. The Hawkeyes feature a stout run defense that was rated equal with Michigan State as of last week, and the offense has been surprisingly good for a traditionally conservative team. This makes for an interesting matchup. The winner stays alive (barely) in the race for the Big Ten West, while the loser is done.