INDIANAPOLIS — No. 16 Iowa will have their work cut out for them in Saturday's Big Ten Championship against No. 2 Michigan. The Hawkeyes are currently listed as 23-point underdogs. But this isn't unfamiliar territory for Iowa.
"Everyone loves to hate Iowa," said senior wide receiver Nico Ragaini. "You know, we're always the underdog, but I don't know, we like it that way. We know it's gonna be a dogfight. We want to make it a dogfight."
In 2016, Iowa was also three-score underdogs to Michigan and upset them on a last-second field goal, proof that odds aren't the end-all-be-all.
"It really doesn't matter [how] they set the line for who's supposed to win [or] who's not supposed to win," said senior defensive back Quinn Schulte. "I mean, as soon as the clock starts, you know, you have to play football and you know, it doesn't matter who the opponent is. And so whether we're the underdog or not, we're still just trying to go out there and win a football game."
Head Coach Kirk Ferentz has had a message for the team to ignore the outside.
"Put up those walls, knowing that it's all about us. It's all about our locker room," said senior linebacker Nick Jackson. "We believe in the messages that he's sharing with us and just knowing that we're gonna play for each other, focus on our growth as a team and know that our best football is ahead of us."
Ferentz also has been around long enough to know that the game is won on the field.
"A great thing about sports teams: you just never know what's gonna happen," Ferentz said. "Because people are people and there's a lot of things that can happen."
No. 16 Iowa and No. 2 Michigan kick off at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.