Post Game
Michigan QB Cade McNamara threw for 169 yards and a score to help #2 Michigan dominate #13 Iowa 42 to 3 to win the Big Ten Championship. It was the Wolverine's first Big Ten title since 2004.
Michigan pulled out all of the stops to beat Iowa including a backward pass from McNamara to RB Donovan Edwards who then threw a perfect pass to a wide-open Roman Wilson who took it 75 yards for a score. That made the score 14-0 with Blake Corum's 67-yard touchdown run opening the scoring for both teams. Despite the two huge plays, Michigan only led 14-3 at the half.
The Hawkeye's started the second half with the ball and a chance to get back in the game but only managed one first down out of the possession. On the subsequent possession, Michigan took the ball 82 yards in 10 plays for a Touchdown highlighted by a one handed 27-yard catch by TE Luke Schoonmaker which setup a 4-yard scoring run by RB Hassan Haskins.
Michigan never looked back. The Wolverine's scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to emphatically defeat the Hawkeyes, who managed only 279 total yards. The Hawkeyes also attempted a quarterback change by replacing Spencer Petras with Sophomore Alex Padilla who threw 10 completions for only 38 yards and an interception.
It was a bitter end for Iowa who reached #2 in the rankings themselves, but the Hawkeyes needed some late season help from Minnesota, who beat Wisconsin, just to get to the Big Ten title game. Still, the Hawkeyes boasted a tough defense who only allowed more than 20 points in four games this season. That includes a comeback victory against then #4 Penn State. However, Iowa followed that up with back-to-back stunning losses against unranked Purdue and Wisconsin. Iowa will now play #22 Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.
The question for Michigan was whether the victory would be enough to give them a #1 ranking in the final CFP poll. The nod was instead given to Alabama who defeated #1 Georgia in the SEC Championship. Many believed that Michigan had the better resume which includes a dominating victory over then #2 Ohio State and now #13 Iowa. The Wolverines only loss also being the controversial defeat to then #8 Michigan State who benefitted from an incorrectly overturned fumble recovery for a Touchdown which would have likely given the Wolverine's the victory.
Michigan will play #3 Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl on December 31st in the CFP semi-final.
Pre Game
#2 Michigan and #13 Iowa meet in the Big Ten Championship at 8pm ET tonight.
This is the first trip for the Wolverines to Indianapolis since the inception of the conference Championship game in 2011. Michigan comes into the game with a clear path to the College Football Playoff after emphatically defeating archrival #2 Ohio State 42-27 in Ann Arbor. The victory marked The Wolverine's first against the Buckeye's since 2011 and Jim Harbaugh's first as Michigan's head coach. Despite close calls early in the season against Rutgers and Nebraska and a controversial loss against MSU in which a potential game winning touchdown was wrongly overturned*, Michigan dominated with blow out victories against Wisconsin, PAC-12 foe Washington and the afore mentioned drubbing of the Buckeyes.
Iowa comes into the championship game thanks to Minnesota's unlikely upset of the resurging Wisconsin Badger's. The Hawkeyes, who lost to then unranked Wisconsin 27-7, average only 25 points per game and have scored north of 30 only four times. Defense has been the name of the game for Iowa who has 22 sacks and 24 interceptions on the year, five of those INT's came against Maryland. Defense also played a crucial role in the Hawkeyes 23-20 upset of then #4 Penn State in which the Nittany Lions had a 20-13 lead going into the fourth quarter only for Iowa QB Spencer Petras to throw a 44-yard pass to Nico Ragaini for the game winning touchdown with 6:26 on the clock.
The offense that can sustain the most success against two of the Big Ten's best defenses will likely the be difference in this game. Michigan has the edge in total yards per game (451 to 299), yards passing (226 to 177) and yards rushing (225 to 121). Both teams are nearly identical in major defensive statistic's both allowing just over 100 yards per game rushing and around 200 yards per game passing.
*The Big Ten admitted to officiating errors in the MSU game including the overturned fumble recovery for a touchdown.