By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With a 4-3 record and a passing offense that is sometimes hard to watch, the Iowa football team obviously has some serious flaws.

Even its highly acclaimed defense has struggled at times this season, including in last Saturday’s 32-20 loss at Michigan State when it allowed 468 yards and had multiple missed tackles.

A berth in the 12-team playoff is no longer a possibility with nearly half of the regular season still to be played.

So, what is already a grueling grind gets even more difficult from a mental, and from an emotional standpoint, because the goals that helped to fuel the fire in the offseason are no longer within reach.

Some teams might unravel under these circumstances, but this particular Iowa team seems built to avoid such a thing with all of its veteran leadership and team-first guys setting the tone each day.

“We always talk about big lofty goals, but at the end of the day, we’re just trying to get one game at a time, trying to win each game,” said fifth-year senior tight end Luke Lachey. “So, you can’t look too far ahead. We’ve just got to worry about what’s ahead of us.”

Asked what the goal is now, Lachey said:

“Just to keep winning every game we can. We go out the and compete and win. Look, we can only worry about the one game that’s ahead of us, and we’re going to continue to worry about that.”

Fans might be a little worried, too, considering how poorly Iowa played in almost every phase against Michigan State last Saturday.

The momentum that came from Iowa’s impressive 40-16 win over Washington the previous Saturday was crushed and erased in East Lansing.

But on the flipside, Iowa could be favored in each of the final five regular season games, and it’s easy to picture Iowa winning each game as long as it doesn’t pull another Spartan stinker.

Iowa is favored by 13.5 points heading into Saturday’s game against Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium.

The Wildcats (3-4, 1-3) have more flaws than Iowa on offense as they struggle to run and pass, and to score points, as evidenced by last Saturday’s 23-3 loss to Wisconsin at home.

Northwestern is also beat up with some key players battling injures.

This is a game that Iowa should win on paper, but so was the Michigan State game.

The difference is that Iowa will be playing at home on Saturday, and against a team that probably isn’t as talented as Michigan State, though the moment you sell Northwestern short, it often rises up to bite you.

No Big Ten team plays harder than Northwestern.

Whatever the Wildcats lack in depth and athleticism, they make up for with grit, toughness and determination.

And remember, they’re Big Ten football players, and smart ones.

The nation wouldn’t drop to its knees in shock if Northwestern were to win on Saturday.

Because the glow has certainly faded from this veteran Iowa team, which has five graduate students that start on defense, if you include third linebacker Kyler Fisher, along with four seniors.

Four of the five starters on the offensive line are seniors, while starting quarterback Cade McNamara is in his sixth year.

Starting linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson are in their fifth and sixth season, respectively.

From an age standpoint, this might be the oldest team in the history of Hawkeye football.

And with age usually comes maturity, perspective and more discipline.

That’s reason to believe that this Iowa team will stay unified and stay the course.

The veterans help to set the tone each day in practice, in the weight room, in film study and wherever else the team assembles.

They also have a better understanding of how how to deal with adversity and disappointment.

“It helps a lot, no doubt, it definitely helps a lot,  just with the experience,” said Nick Jackson, who played his first four seasons for Virginia where he was a three-year starter. “When you’re younger you kind of have a lot of questions like can you play at this level? Can you do this? Can you do that?

“When you have a veteran group, it’s okay, we’ve put good tape out there before. So, it’s one of those things where you’ve got to get back to the fundamentals and get back to the basics, and just get back to playing the way we want to play.”

In other words, there is no magic cure, which might seem obvious, but it still helps to have veteran players reinforcing that point on a daily basis.

Cade McNamara certainly has to play better because it just sort of feels as if Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan has narrowed the gap and might be used in more than just goal-line packages starting with Saturday’s game.

Sullivan’s knowledge of Northwestern football could be beneficial both on and off the field.

Iowa defeated Northwestern 10-7 last season at Wrigley Field in Chicago in a game that obviously left much to be desired from an offensive standpoint on both sides.

What’s different about this year, however, is how much the Iowa running game has improved under first-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

Junior Kaleb Johnson is second in the nation with 1,035 rushing yards, which he has gained in 6 1/2 games. He also has scored 13 rushing touchdowns and he has 17 rushes of 20-plus yards, five of 40-plus yards, and six touchdowns runs of 25-plus yards.

This just feels like a bounce-back game for Iowa, and for Kaleb Johnson, who has been held to less than 100 yards rushing in two of the last three games.

But if Iowa comes out flat and struggles to move the football, anything can happen.

Iowa has won the last three games in the series, and four of the last five, but six of the last eight games against Northwestern have been decided by seven or fewer points.

As for the big picture in those brief moments when the Iowa players might look ahead, there still is a chance to win a lot of games.

Another 10-win season still is within reach.

But as Nick Jackson said on Tuesday, you can’t win six, seven, eight, nine or 10 without winning number five.

Prediction: Iowa 24, Northwestern 10

Northwestern (3-4, 1-3) vs. Iowa (4-3, 2-2)

When: Saturday, 2:40 p.m.

Where: Kinnick Stadium ((69,250)

TV: BTN

Radio: Iowa Radio Network

All-time series: Iowa leads 54-28-3.

Last meeting: Iowa won 10-7 on Nov. 4, 2023 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.