‘It would be awesome’: Hawkeyes can clinch West in front of Kinnick crowd

Iowa can clinch the Big Ten West divisional championship with a win over Illinois this Saturday. The opportunity is a unique one — they only need to win one of their next two remaining games, either Saturday or next Friday in Nebraska.

But the chance to put any doubts to rest and lock in a trip back to Indianapolis in front of the Kinnick faithful is one wide receiver Nico Ragaini isn’t taking for granted.

“That would be awesome,” Ragaini said. “I mean I’ve been playing here for six years. I think this is the first time where we have really controlled our own destiny without anyone else needing to do something for us. So we understand how rare that occasion is and not taking it for granted.”

“Coach Ferentz speaks about November football here at the University of Iowa,” Jay Higgins said. “And that’s just us trying to get better week to week. And I feel like if we put all our focus there, we will like where we’re at at the end of the year.”

“What Coach Ferentz is always stressing a lot is we’ll focus about that after the game,” Deacon Hill said. “But for now we’ve got to focus on what Illinois brings to the table.”

“There’s really no downside to winning and there’s a lot downside to losing,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “So not that it’s all about winning and losing but that’s what you want and get up and compete for. It’s always great to win and and rarely is it easy. So it’s kind of how this game’s gonna fall in line.”