The Iowa Hawkeyes made a statement last weekend against the Penn State Nittany Lions, with a big victory moving them up to No. 2 in the rankings. Some were dubious about the Hawkeyes actually being the second-best team in the country, though, and those people were proven right on Saturday.
Iowa laid a monster egg against the unranked Purdue Boilermakers, getting totally dominated in a 24-7 loss. The Boilermakers racked up 464 yards of offense, with quarterback Aidan O'Connell throwing for 375 yards and two touchdowns. David Bell was O'Connell's favorite target, catching 11 passes for a whopping 240 yards and a touchdown.
O'Connell's counterpart, Spencer Petras, threw for just 195 yards and tossed four interceptions. After the game, Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz was blunt in his assessment, via ESPN:
“Basically they outdid us in every category,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “The bottom line is we didn't get it done.”
Fact check: True!
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Purdue beat Iowa in nearly every facet. At least the Hawkeyes had fewer penalties? That's not much solace given disappointing outcome.
This could be seen as a bit of karma after some of the controversy following Iowa's win over Penn State. Hawkeyes fans booed Penn State players and accused them of faking injuries during that game, and Ferentz played into the drama by saying the fans “smelled a rat.”
Iowa must now lick its wounds and regroup. A spot in the College Football Playoff is probably now out of the question unless a ton of things break in favor of the Hawkeyes, but they can't let this one loss totally derail their season. They're still a very good team that just had an awful day, and the schedule the rest of the way is very manageable.
Up next is a trip to Wisconsin to face the Badgers, who have struggled this season and barely beat Army on Saturday.
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