Iowa Heads To Purdue
Iowa continues Big Ten Conference play at Purdue this Saturday. From here on out, pretty much every game is a must-win for the Hawkeyes if they want to repeat as West Division Champions. With Iowa’s victory at Minnesota last weekend, the Hawkeyes have now won eight straight road games — tied for third longest in the country. The streak also equals the school record set all the way back from 1920–1923. Seven of those wins have come against Big Ten opponents.
Iowa sits at 4–2 overall and 2–1 in the Big Ten. Purdue is 3–2 on the season and 1–1 in conference games. The Boilermakers have beaten Eastern Kentucky, Nevada, and Illinois while losing to Cincinnati and Maryland.
Purdue leads the all-time series 46–37–3 — but the Hawkeyes have won five of the last six including last year’s 40–20 victory in Iowa City. Iowa has won three straight games played at Ross-Ade Stadium. The Boilermakers are looking for their first back-to-back wins since the 2012 season. This will be Purdue’s Homecoming and also being celebrated this weekend is its 1966 squad — the only successful Rose Bowl team in the program’s history. Iowa has been the opponent 14 times for Purdue’s Homecoming and the Boilers record in those contests is 10–3–1.
Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz continues his climb up the Big Ten Record Books. Ferentz, who is in his 18th year as head of the Hawkeyes, has a 131–89 record at Iowa. He is tied for seventh all-time in the Big Ten for overall coaching victories — and he is also seventh in conference wins.
Head Coach Darrell Hazell is in his fourth season at Purdue where his record is 9–32. His career mark is 25–42 — he previously headed up the Kent State program where he was 16–10 and 2012 MAC Coach of the Year.
This Saturday’s game will be televised on ESPN 2 with announcers Anish Shroff and Tom Ramsey. As usual it will be broadcast on the Hawkeyes Radio Network with Gary Dolphin and Ed Podolak. It can also be heard on satellite radio XM channel 195 and Sirius channel 135.
After this game the Hawkeyes return to Kinnick Stadium next Saturday to host the Wisconsin Badgers in an 11 AM kickoff. Purdue travels to Nebraska.
Tidbits & Nuggets
Iowa Quarterback C.J. Beathard started his first game for the Hawkeyes at Purdue in 2014, guiding Iowa to a 24–10 win. Beathard has now amassed more than 5000 yards in total offenses, is 8–0 in road games as the starter, and is 11–1 in Big Ten regular season games.
In other career stats news, Iowa Running Back Akrum Wadley has now topped 100 points and 1000 rushing yards after the Minnesota game. Wadley has totaled 1098 yards and 102 points at Iowa.
The Hawkeyes eight game road winning streak is the longest under Head Coach Kirk Ferentz — and the seven straight road wins in the Big Ten is also the longest in program history.
While the overall series between Iowa and Purdue is close — there was a stretch from 1961–1980 where the Boilermakers won 20 straight games over Iowa.
Big Ten / NCAA Notes
The Big Ten currently has four teams ranked in the top ten in the national polls — with Ohio State and Michigan leading the way.
Three of the remaining undefeated teams in the FBS are in the conference: the aforementioned Buckeyes and Wolverines plus Nebraska.
Michigan and Ohio State also reank among the top five teams nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense — and the Buckeyes are the only team yet to allow a rushing touchdown in 2016.
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Posted 10/13/16
