This year’s Big Ten Championship Game is slated for Dec. 4, six years to the day Iowa last played in one.
IOWA CITY, Ia. — The early excitement and anticipation for the first two games on Iowa’s 2021 football schedule is understandable. On Sept.4: A top-20 matchup against Indiana, with Kinnick Stadium brimming with fans for the first time in more than 20 months. On Sept.11: A trip to top-10 Iowa State in what figures to be a raucous road test and the most hyped of 68 all-time Cy-Hawk meetings. Those two games in eight days are THE topic of conversation right now. Can the Hawkeyes get through that stretch 1-1? What if they actually go 2-0? Or, oh no, what about 0-2? Absolutely, if you’re a Hawkeye fan or player or coach,2-0 is the dream start. That probably puts Iowa ( preseason No.18 in both major polls) firmly in the national top 10. But whatever happens in the first two games, it’s important to take the long view. What matters more: Winning the program’s first Big Ten West championship since 2015. More: Here are seven reasons why Iowa Hawkeyes football can win the Big Ten Tyler Goodson and Tyler Linderbaum, Iowa’s top two stars, were 15-year-old high schoolers when the Hawkeyes last appeared in a Big Ten Championship Game. Though the Hawkeyes lost a last-minute thriller to Michigan State,16-13, in Lucas Oil Stadium, that game remains a really powerful (and sometimes positive) memory for Iowa fans. Because their team was there; they were in a high-stakes game with a College Football Playoff berth on the line. The feeling hasn’t been matched since. In 2016, Iowa was the overwhelming pick to win the West, but Wisconsin tore through a difficult schedule — including a 17-9 win at Kinnick — to rise to the top. In 2017, the Hawkeyes rebuilt with a new quarterback and new offensive coordinator and went 8-5 while Wisconsin enjoyed a 12-0 regular season (as Iowa did two years earlier). The three years since have been more painful for the Hawkeyes, because they had the team and the chances to win the West … but didn’t.
