Iowa Football: Michigan is a higher quality opponent in Ann Arbor
By Matt Opad
When the Iowa football team plays Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday, they will have a tougher task than West rival Wisconsin had against the same team.
The Iowa football team plays Michigan well under Kirk Ferentz. The statistic that is mentioned frequently is that Iowa is 5-1 against the Wolverines in their last six matchups.
The bigger question is how do our Hawkeyes fare in Ann Arbor? Of those last 6 games, only two of them have taken place in Ann Arbor.
The Hawkeyes are 1-1 in the last two games at the Big House. The win was in 2010, nine years ago almost to the day.
The Hawkeyes are playing their sixth game under Kirk Ferentz at Michigan Stadium. While the 2-3 record isn’t terrible, the success certainly isn’t anything like the 5-1 record we have against Michigan in the last decade.
The Wolverines are a different team at home. Yes, they occasionally struggle with teams like Army (though in fairness, so did 2018 playoff participant Oklahoma), but Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan team rarely loses to anyone but Ohio State at home.
In fact, since Harbaugh became the head coach of the Wolverines in 2015, his team has lost to Michigan State and Ohio State at home. That is all.
Jim Harbaugh is 27-4 within the confines of the Big House. Since 2015, that is a better home record than any Big Ten team not named Ohio State.
Wisconsin, the team that pummeled the Wolverines two weeks ago, has had two opportunities in Ann Arbor since 2015. While the Badgers lost a close 14-7 game in 2016, their game last year was a mirror image of what they did to Michigan in Madison this year.
We do not know how good Wisconsin is, at least based on their game against Michigan. The truth of the matter is that their win over the Wolverines in Madison did not prove anything beyond what was already known. Madison is a difficult place to play, and Michigan does not play as well on the road.
As Iowa football fans (or fans of any team, really), it is sometimes easy to write off a team when they play poorly against another opponent. Make no mistake, Michigan is still a quality opponent.
If Iowa wins in Ann Arbor, they will have accomplished something that Wisconsin has not done since 2010. Wisconsin, in fact, has only two wins in Michigan Stadium since 1981.
A win for Iowa in the Big House is not the same as a Wisconsin win against Michigan in Madison.
Next. Nebraska is not our rival. dark
If and when this happens, let’s hope that the college football nation, specifically those that vote in the Playoff Committee, acknowledge the accomplishment.