Michigan vs. Iowa in Big Ten title game: Wolverines, Hawkeyes more similar than you think

Free Press sports writer Michael Cohen looks ahead to Michigan football’s game against Iowa on Saturday:

Next up

Matchup: No. 12 Iowa (10-2) vs. No. 3 Michigan (11-1)

Kickoff: 8 p.m., Saturday, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.

TV/radio: Fox; WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: Wolverines by 10½.

HOW'D THEY DO IT? How Mike Macdonald's game plan held Ohio State's offense in check

Know the foe: Iowa

The Hawkeyes rose to as high as No. 2 in the nation after six straight wins to begin the season, including three victories over ranked opponents. The highlight of their first half was a win over then-No. 4 Penn State on Oct. 9 that pushed Iowa to 6-0 and a No. 2 national ranking. But the remainder of October was difficult for the Hawkeyes. They failed to translate the momentum from their victory over Penn State into a home tilt against Purdue the following week and lost by 17. Then they lost by 20 on the road at Wisconsin as a once-promising season showed signs of derailment.

But coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff deserve credit for finding a way to right the ship in November, and the Hawkeyes put together four consecutive wins over Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska by an average of 6.8 points per game. The Hawkeyes entered the regular season finale against the Cornhuskers needing some help to reach the Big Ten championship game. Iowa did its part by beating Nebraska on Friday but needed Minnesota, which had lost two of its last three, to beat the 14th-ranked Badgers at home the following day. The Gophers complied with a 23-13 win that sent Ferentz and Co. to Indianapolis for the second time in the last seven years.

MICHAEL COHEN: How Mike Macdonald's Michigan football game plan held Ohio State's offense in check

“It’s been quite a journey here the last couple days,” Ferentz said in a video news conference Sunday afternoon. “I did watch the (Wisconsin) game obviously. We had family over, we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. So we had the game on, and I was trying not to get too sucked in emotionally to it. Pretty clear what outcome we were cheering for. But you just kind of let the game play out, and as the game went on it became apparent that maybe this would be a reality. When the final whistle went off, it was a really good feeling for us.”

Three things we learned

The offensive line is nasty: Earlier this fall, backup guard Chuck Filiaga said his goal coming into the season was to develop a mean streak he could channel during games to punish opponents in the trenches. The concept was repeated at times by Filiaga’s teammates and position coach, Sherrone Moore, who encouraged his players to carry themselves like dogs whenever they took the field. Never was that philosophy personified more than Saturday, when the Michigan offensive line humiliated Ohio State. Behind the stellar running of tailbacks Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum, the Wolverines averaged 7.2 yards per carry and racked up 297 rush yards as a team. Coach Jim Harbaugh called the performance dominant — a word that will sting the Buckeyes until the next iteration of this rivalry in 2022. When it mattered most, Moore’s guys came through.

“I think after what happened in the 2020 season we took it upon ourselves to kind of start identifying this offensive line and building an identity that we wanted to be,” right tackle Andrew Stueber said. “Started in the spring, started in training camp, just building that intensity, that ability to move people off the ball and that ability to kind of become nasty. So we’ve been building that all year.”