The Iowa Hawkeyes need a victory at Northwestern to stay in the Big Ten title chase. The Wildcats have won four of the last five in the series, including the last two years in Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says the games have been even the last two years and his team has not been able to come out on top as he says turnovers have been big factors the last two games. He says one team played clean and the other team didn’t. Ferentz says he doesn’t want to discredit Northwestern, but in 2006 his team showed up like “fat cats” and got beat, and the next two years turned the ball over. He says they can’t turn it over and need to give themselves a chance to win.

The Iowa State Cyclones are on the road in the Big-12 to take on Colorado. I.S.U. coach Paul Rhoads says quarterback Austen Arnaud is playing the best football of his career. Rhoads says a few weeks ago they made some adjustments in play selection and Arnaud has run with them and says he has worked hard even on his days off to view film.

Rhoads says the offensive line is paving the way for an improved running game. He says they are running the ball well right now and that is a credit to the offensive line and Alexander Robinson is back to top form and is in a groove right now.

Rhoads says they look for the ground game to set up the pass, as he says you have to do what you do well and then look for opportunities to take shots down the field.

The Cyclones will face a Colorado team that may be playing with even more emotion after head coach Dan Hawkins was fired this week. Rhoads says the Cyclones need to be ready to play regardless of what happened this week. He says you have to get the team to show up and stay around the entire football game. Rhoads says that’s a challenge to the coach and leaders on the football team.