The schedule makes this one worth watching. Both teams are 2-1 in the Big Ten, both beat Washington on the road, and both beat Michigan, Iowa by 1 in Ann Arbor and Minnesota by 6 at home. On paper they look a lot alike. Their last games say otherwise. Iowa scored on 5 drives in the first 25 minutes at Washington. Minnesota was down 20-3 at the half in West Lafayette, and P.J. Fleck burned a challenge and a timeout trying to gain 2 yards on a spot.
Northern Iowa55-0
Iowa's only loss came against Ohio State, 31-14 at home, and that's also the game that cost them Brown. Otherwise this team has won the Iowa way: 16-13 over Iowa State, 20-19 at Michigan, then the outlier. That 41-24 win in Seattle was the most points they've scored against a Power 4 opponent this season, and Kamari Moulton's career-high 208 yards on 26 carries did most of the work. The open question is whether that was a breakout or just a good night against a defense that couldn't line up.
Minnesota's season has gone in streaks. They lost 38-13 at home to Mississippi State, then won 3 straight, including 27-24 at Washington and 20-14 over Michigan, and then got run over at Purdue. Fame Ijeboi carried 31 times for 195 yards and 3 touchdowns. You don't fix that kind of run defense in a week, but they get 2 to work on it before hosting a team that wants to run 40 times.
In the end this comes down to the line of scrimmage. If Minnesota's front can't stop Moulton, it barely matters who starts at quarterback for Iowa. If the Gophers can stuff the run and make the Hawkeyes throw, the Brown-or-Hecklinski question starts to matter a lot. Either way it's a home rivalry game with a 2-week build-up, and Minnesota has already shown this year that it can beat good teams at Huntington Bank Stadium.