Michigan 42, Iowa 3 -- 2021 Big Ten Football Champions!

[Cody_Russell]

Fair and balanced. Good information from the Iowa side of this and then a neutral side.

Iowa Hawkeyes LIVE 15 / BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK

Michigan vs Iowa Preview - Don't Assume it'll be Easy

Aside from the astronomical ticket prices (hovering around $400/ticket right now), M is likely to have more fans in the stands than Iowa. M will get the Chicago crowd. Des Moin is nearly 500 miles and a 7+ hour drive to Indy. Chicago is half that. I can't over-emphasize the point that has already been made: the game is not a night game at Kinnick! A neutral field benefits M.

M can also benefit from bending the neutral field towards a home field advantage with a numerous and loud stadium crowd supporting the team. Hard to say that will actually materialize. Chances are it will.

I agree that M should have more fans.
Some of the crowds in recent NCAA tourney basketball games have been HEAVY in favor of M. Roots of M is being a Michigan football program. The crowd will show up on Saturday!

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think M will have this let-down that people are talking about. That's primarily because how the team has mobilized around Aiden Hutchinson and his belief that his goals and the incorporated team's goals haven't been achieved yet. Winning the BT CCG hasn't been accomplished yet.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32755368/aidan-hutchinson-working-fulfill-own-michigan-football-legacy-big-ten-title

[Jeff Buchanan]

As the week counts down to Saturday and game day, I try to look for information that runs counter to the prevailing thinking. In this case, M will win easily over Iowa.
I predicted a 31-10 kind of win for M. This was probably based on stuff that was available on Sunday and Monday of this week without digging too deeply.

Sure, it looks like on paper, this is mismatch and a walk for M. The problem with that is that Iowa - mostly as a result of Ferentz's seemingly uncanny knack of gathering together farm hands and winning football games with them.

In the first cut and past, Bill Connelly wonders how, in the 2021 season, Iowa can win games with as shitty of an offense as Ferentz puts on the field:

Connelly.JPG
The answer, as closely as I can divine it, is Kirk Ferentz voodoo. Seriously, though, he's a great coach and obviously understands the game and, even with his motley band of farm hands, figures out ways to win footbal games as they unfold. I also have the feeling he is meticulous planner bringing his decades long involvement with CFB and Iowa in particular to identify and be able to exploit, in game, the weaknesses of his opponent ..... and M has some.

This next graphic puts some meat on Bill Connelly's Tweet and reaffirms just how terrible Iowa's 2021 offense is. It also reveals what the Hawkeyes are good at :

Connelly2.JPG
I don't feel right now that my score prediction needs revision but for those scores to hold up, M can't gift Iowa any points, the referees can't take them away or give them up to Iowa and M has to play about as error free, and as near perfect football as they did v. OSU.

The M defense has to play it's part to the level it has throughout 2021. The offense however, has to produce the kind of results and do it just as efficiently as it demonstrated in was capable of v. OSU, maybe better given that Iowa's D is likely to slow it down To do that, players and coaches have to be as laser focused on winning as they were last Saturday. I'm not the best one to ask but I think most of those things will happen.

[Niffla]

I agree that M should have more fans.
Some of the crowds in recent NCAA tourney basketball games have been HEAVY in favor of M. Roots of M is being a Michigan football program. The crowd will show up on Saturday!

There might be a spite factor from Buckeye fans to explain the astronomical price of tickets

Yeah I heard a rumor on this. Don't know how accurate it is, but it's floating out there.

[Obi-Jon]

If that's true (which I doubt), then prices should start dropping drastically on Friday, unless they are so spiteful they'd be willing to eat the tickets. Of course, maybe it IS true and they're trying to recover the inflated ticket prices they paid for last Saturday's game!

[Obi-Jon]

I wish Bob Ufer was broadcasting Saturday's game. It was the '81 Iowa game that was his final broadcast and probably killed him. I will never forgive the Hawkeyes for that.


c1c0.png

[Tom W]

Even in his current state, Ufer would be a lot easier on the ears than listening to Brandstatter and Deirdorf..

[lineygoblue]

I dunno .. Ufer and Dierdorf would make a good combo. .. IMO

Dan wouldn't get much time to talk tho ...

[Mike]

YYYEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!

[Hannibal]

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[lineygoblue]

On Saturday, Michigan will be wearing it's white road uniforms, and on the jersey they will wear a tribute to the four kids who were killed at Oxford HS.

https://247sports.com/college/michig...fe41ff878805bb

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[Niffla]

I'll be at a Michigan alumni watch party in Dallas with another friend who's a lifelong Michigan fan. The place looks like an odd place for a football game watch party -- looks like an old school pub with limited television screens, but I gotta believe they picked that place for a reason, and that it's a decent place to watch a game. I'm just going off the pictures I saw online.

[Mike]

Anyone going to the game? We can meet up somewhere!

[Cody_Russell]

I will be watching on my couch with a comfy fire going. Sure the tailgate and fan experience in the stadium will be nice though.

That patch thing is awesome. Love to see it.

Still no word on the pants. I hope it’s blue pants for the game. Iowa yellow, M blue. Contrast.

[lineygoblue]

I wish I could go Mike, but the tickets are just too far out of reach for me. You know that I'd carpool with you no problem.