Iowa vs. Northwestern: Hawkeyes' 3 Most Important Keys to Victory

Let's be honest with ourselves: this one is massive for the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Northwestern Wildcats. The winner of this game has a legitimate shot at making a run at the College Football Playoff and its 12-team field. Sitting at 7-2 in the Big Ten is a pretty good spot to be.

For the Hawkeyes, this game comes down to doing the little things right, winning in ways Iowa has long done under Kirk Ferentz, taking away an opponent's strength to make them beat you elsewhere, and controlling the tempo at which this game is played.

Win the turnover battle

This can't be said enough about the Iowa Hawkeyes and the way they want to play football games. When Iowa loses the turnover battle, its style of play exacerbates how impactful those plays are. This week, Iowa needs to find a way to turn over the Wildcats.

Northwestern has been elite at taking the ball away, while also not giving it up. The Wildcats have a +10 turnover margin. To win this game, Iowa needs to be at least +1, if not better, in order to give the offense short fields and keep Northwestern's offense from popping explosive plays.

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Put the game on Northwestern's wide receivers

If I am Phil Parker, my game plan is to take away Northwestern's ground game as much as possible. That's how the Wildcats have moved the ball this year, and it's been very successful. This isn't to say the Wildcats can't throw it. Aidan Chiles has been simply fantastic throwing the ball.

Griffin Wilde leads Northwestern with 44 receptions for 761 yards and five touchdowns. He can hurt teams in the passing game. But if I am Iowa, I take my chances against Northwestern's drop-back passing attack and roll the dice. Iowa should trust Deshaun Lee, Zach Lutmer, and others to hold up.

Stay patient

The ground game should open up for Iowa in this game. Northwestern allows over 4.5 yards per carry this year and almost 147 yards per game. Against Big Ten foes, those numbers have ticked up to 4.85 yards per carry and over 150 yards per game.

Iowa needs to stay patient with the ground game. It can keep the defense resting on the sidelines, limit the total amount of possessions that Northwestern can score on, and it turns this game into Iowa's pace, which is slow and methodical, instead of quick-strike back-and-forth action.

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