Everyone has a foil- someone or something they just can’t get the best of. Dr. Claw had Inspector Gadget, Charlie Brown had Lucy, and her placekick holds; and I have the various forms of fried chicken.
And the Iowa Hawkeyes have the Northwestern Wildcats.
On Saturday, the Cats once again ruined the Hawks college football season. Last year they defeated No. 8 (AP) Iowa (No. 4 BCS) in Iowa City when the Hawkeyes were 9-0. This year, they ended their Big Ten title and BCS bowl hopes.
NU has now won three in a row in the series and five of the last six, including three games at Kinnick Stadium in 2006, 2008 and 2009. During ’08-’09 Iowa went 12-0 at home versus every non-Northwestern opponent.
Iowa still leads the overall series 46-23-3, but NU has again won 9 of the last 14. After the loss in Evanston, I had to ask the Hawkeyes what was going on with this recent purple reign.
By Paul M. Banks
Follow paulmbanks