Iowa football: Wisconsin, Purdue lose and Northwestern clinches Big Ten West

With the Wisconsin, Purdue, and Iowa football teams losing Saturday, the Northwestern Wildcats clinched the B1G west title. Here is a recap of the weekend.

As we alluded to in our Big Ten West power rankings last week, all signs were pointing to the Northwestern Wildcats winning the Big Ten West and making a trip to Indianapolis at the end of the season to play in the Big Ten Championship game. To do so this weekend, they needed a little help, and they got it.

Mathematically, Wisconsin, Purdue, and the Iowa football team were all still in the running for the Big Ten West title, but with all three teams losing this weekend, Northwestern has won the title. Due to this, we will no longer be continuing the power rankings going forward as we know the West winner two weeks before the end of the season.

The Northwestern Wildcats couldn’t be a more improbable champion after going winless in their non-conference schedule which featured games against Duke, Akron, and Notre Dame. Moreover, they performed so poorly against bottom-dwellers Rutgers and Nebraska, most people (myself included) it was only a matter of time before the Wildcats fell back down to earth. I can tell you firsthand, however, after watching the Wildcats beat Iowa at their own game Saturday that this is a team that is getting all of the right bounces.

The Iowa football team didn’t play their best game and were hurt by a few disappointing performances across the board, but kudos to the Wildcats for getting it done. Around the Big Ten West were a number of surprising scores.

Wisconsin continued their free fall this season with a loss to banged up Penn State in Happy Valley. Jonathon Taylor gashed the Nittany Lion defense for 185 yards on 20 carries, but the Badger passing attack fell flat on its face with backup quarterback Jack Coan completing less than 50% of his passes for just 60 yards. Penn State won easily 22-10.

Purdue, fresh off a last-second victory over the Iowa football team, couldn’t have had a more disappointing game against the lackluster Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Boilermakers lost by more points against Minnesota (31) than they have in their other four losses combined (18) as Minnesota kept their bowl-eligibility hopes alive with a 41-10 win. Of note from this win, wide receiver Terry Wright, who torched the Iowa football team, had no targets against Minnesota.

Wrapping it up for the Big Ten West was Illinois at Nebraska where the Huskers continued to show the potential they have under Scott Frost. Nebraska won its third game in the last four as they racked up over 600 yards of total offense in route to a 54-35 victory. Freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns and ran another in. Based on his performances the last few weeks, he could be a tough matchup for the Iowa football team.

As it stands today, the Iowa football team is sitting in fourth place in the division with a 3-4 record. Wisconsin and Purdue are tied for second with a 4-3 conference record with division champion Northwestern sitting in first place.