Iowa football deserves a matchup with Indiana, but Big Ten has other priorities
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Big Ten Conference was unfairly criticized for its handling of the COVID-19 global pandemic because it was mostly acting on the side of caution when it first canceled the 2020 football season in August.
Could the Big Ten have been more transparent and handled things better from a public relationship standpoint?
Without question.
But player safety was its primary concern then, and still is now as the revised 2020 Big Ten season is set to conclude on Friday and Saturday, assuming there are no setbacks with the coronavirus, which is a big assumption under the fluid circumstances.
But where I refuse to defend the Big Ten is its decision to have Iowa face Michigan instead of Indiana in the so-called postseason because it has nothing to with player safety and everything to do with money.
Iowa and Indiana finished in second place in the Big Ten West and East Divisions, respectively.
It was previously set up that teams would face whomever finished in the same spot in the other division, or in other words, second place versus second place.
But that was before games started being canceled at an alarming rate, and before it became abundantly clear that the Big Ten only has one elite team.
The Big Ten had previously ruled that a team would have to play in at least six of the eight regular-season games to qualify for the conference championship.
But when it became clear that Ohio State was at risk of not meeting that requirement, the Big Ten caved.
And it’s easy to see why.
Ohio State is the only team from the conference that has legitimate chance of making the four-team college playoff, and it’s important from a financial standpoint that the Big Ten be a part of the playoff field.
But to have 6-2 Iowa face 2-4 Michigan, and 6-1 Indiana face 2-4 Purdue makes no sense from a reward standpoint, or from a competitive standpoint.
It only makes sense from a money standpoint, and that’s what this is all about.
The Big Ten wants you to believe that their main motivation was to protect the rivalries and trophy games, and to honor tradition, but that’s a bunch of hooey.
Big Ten officials are more concerned that Northwestern will get pounded by Ohio State in the title game, thus eliminating the Wildcats from New Year’s six bowl contention, and they also didn’t want to risk that Iowa would defeat Indiana and cost the Hoosiers any chance of making a New Year’s six bowl.
So as a result, Iowa doesn’t get what it deserves, which is a game against the second place team from the East Division.
My other problem with the postseason matchups is why reward a 2-4 Purdue squad that has regressed, while punishing Iowa, which has won six games in a row?
And while it’s true that Purdue defeated Iowa 24-20 in the season opener, and did so without its head coach and star player, a lot has changed since then.
One could argue that Iowa is the second best team in the conference right now, especially since Indiana is without starting quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. because of a season-ending knee injury.
But even without Penix, the Hoosiers are a quality team and a matchup with Iowa would have been intriguing and rewarding to the winner.
It feels weird to be disappointed that Michigan instead of Indiana will be the Iowa football team’s opponent on Saturday.
But then again, it’s 2020.
You can blame Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan players for that because they’ve been a colossal disappointment.
A victory over Michigan usually means something, but Iowa would gain little from winning on Saturday, while a loss to the Wolverines would severely damage Iowa’s bowl status.
Some might worry about a letdown with the Iowa players, but that seems unlikely because the Iowa players will have a chance to make a statement on Saturday by winning decisively and showing that they deserved a better opponent than 2-4 Michigan.
The chance to play a ninth game also should motivate the Iowa players, because if this COVID-19-shortened season has taught us anything, it’s to appreciate the opportunity to compete because it could be taken away at any moment and with little warning.
Just look at Michigan.
In addition to being a huge disappointment on the field, the Wolverines also have had two games canceled, including last Saturday’s annual showdown with Ohio State, because of COVID-19 health concerns. Michigan hasn’t played a game since Nov. 28.
Harbaugh held a zoom conference with the media on Monday and expressed confidence that his team would be able to play on Saturday.
“Yes, that’s our plan,” Harbaugh said at his weekly press conference. “As I said, we were able to practice yesterday. Practicing today. Scheduled the rest of the week. Tomorrow, we won’t practice. It’s a heavy day for finals. So we’re going to let the guys focus on taking those finals tomorrow.
“Plan to be back on the field practicing Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. Fly to Iowa City Friday afternoon.”
It’s hard to know what to expect from Michigan on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
The team has certainly struggled on both sides of the line of scrimmage, but Michigan’s roster is filled with heralded recruits, and Harbaugh has won his share of games, both in college and in the NFL.
If the Michigan players have any pride, they’ll show up on Saturday and compete with a purpose.
As for the Iowa players, they without question have pride, or they wouldn’t have rebounded from an 0-2 start.
The Big Ten might have given Iowa the short end of the stick. But the Iowa players have a chance to make their own conference look foolish, and to keep Jim Harbaugh winless at Kinnick Stadium.
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