Iowa and Minnesota can look like two teams headed in very different directions and still arrive at the same kind of Saturday problem.
That’s the message Kirk Ferentz is hammering home as the No. 15 Hawkeyes get set to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy.
Minnesota is coming off a rough one - a 41-13 loss to Purdue - after stacking up back-to-back wins over Washington on the road and Michigan. Iowa, meanwhile, has spent the 2026 season bouncing from high to low itself: a last-second win over Michigan at the Big House, a 31-14 home loss to Ohio State, then a 41-24 win at Washington on short rest last Friday night.
That kind of week-to-week swing is exactly why Ferentz is trying to keep his team locked on the task in front of it.
In his weekly news conference, he reached for a baseball example to make the point.
"So the Cubs beat the Tigers, and then the Tigers beat the Reds. Hey, we beat the Tigers, so we'll naturally beat (that team).
And then, you end up losing by 10 runs. That kind of thinking gets you beat," Ferentz explained to the media, according to Tyler Tachman of HawkCentral.
The coach’s warning is simple: none of the noise matters if Iowa doesn’t handle this weekend first. Minnesota may be unranked and listed as the home underdog, but Ferentz knows P.J. Fleck’s team is capable of showing up for this kind of game, especially with a trophy on the line.
The Hawkeyes sit at 5-1 and are in the playoff conversation, but Ferentz isn’t interested in letting that chatter creep into his locker room.
“The moral of the story is you better be ready this Saturday and just worry about this Saturday,” Ferentz said. “I know the whole world wants to worry about what's out there, and we're really starting to fuel that fire now because you've got the playoff shows coming up here sometime in the next four weeks, I'm sure.
So, all the chatter is about what's going to happen in December. The best advice I can give our guys is let's just worry about Saturday."
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Purdues Next Exhibition Could Clarify One Key Role Before Opening Night
Purdue gets one more preseason look when it meets Purdue Fort Wayne in exhibition play, and the matchup should offer a clearer picture of how Matt Painter wants his rotation to settle before opening night. The Boilermakers used their first exhibition against Ball State to experiment with lineups and roles, a common October wrinkle for a team still sorting out who fits where and how the offense will flow once the games count.
What makes this one worth watching is the center of attention it could create in the middle of the floor. Exhibition games are never a perfect preview of the regular season, but they can reveal who is handling responsibility well enough to become a focal point and who still needs a little more polish before Purdue leans on him in meaningful minutes. [Read more 🡒]