We’ve all seen this movie before. The Hawkeyes are playing a directional school, and they act like they’re taking them seriously, and we all write about it. Blah. Blah. Blah.
However, a deeper look at this week’s opponent: Western Michigan, reveals an alarming history that should keep the Hawkeyes plenty engaged this week: They have a losing record against Western Michigan.
2 losses, 1 win. The Broncos walked out of Kinnick with a victory in 2000 and 2007. The Hawkeyes, however, steamrolled Western Michigan 59-3 most recently in 2013. In the heat of Kirk Ferentz’s 200th win, the only two on his mind was that 1-2 record.
“A lot of talk about 200 the last couple of days,” Ferentz said. “I’d like to throw out a number two also, and that would be as in losses to Western Michigan since I’ve been here.”
“Never ever are we going to look at an opponent and say, ‘Oh, this is an easy game,'” Joe Evans said. “That’s not how we do things. But the history with this team is obviously a little bit fuel to fire.”
Well, the Hawkeyes’ fire is burning pretty hot these days. An emotional Cy-Hawk win on Saturday could have the Hawks flying high, but according to Nico Ragaini, they’ve landed since.
“It’s always 24 hours with us,” Ragaini said. “No matter who we play. It was a good game. We celebrated that night and got back to work after we watch film.”
On the other side of this matchup is the biggest one of the season: The Penn State whiteout game. Sandwiched in between is a game the Hawkeyes are 28.5 point favorites against that’s 1-1 in the MAC. But Ferentz always keeps his Hawks on their toes, and this edition of, “Here’s why the Hawkeyes are taking their inferior opponent seriously” isn’t a hard sell.
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