Iowa coach Steve Alford says the Hawkeyes are treating Saturday’s game at home against Minnesota as a season opener. The Hawks won 12 of their first 13 games and rose to number 14 in the national polls. However a loss to Michigan at home followed be last weekends setback at Ohio State has but the Hawks in an early Big Ten hole at 0-2 and Alford says with a week to prepare they have wiped the slate clean. He says they got off to a good start, but since have gotten off to a 0-2 league start and he says they need to scrap both and go to a 14 game schedule with this game as their home opener.Alford feels this is a big test for his team, he says they don’t want to start the conference season at 0-3. He says this is a bounce back game, not a do or die game, and they need to get a win.Alford says they will need a good effort to beat the Gophers who have won ten games in a row.
