Northwestern has been a thorn in Iowa’s side the past few years but coach Steve Alford would love to see the Wildcats upset Ohio State on Wednesday night and boost the Hawkeye’s Big Ten championship hopes. With two games to go the Hawks are a game behind the Buckeyes and need some help to have a chance. Alford says Northwestern hasn’t helped his team in a long, long time and it would be nice to get some help.

Alford says Northwestern is fighting hard to stay above .500 and try to get a postseason bid, while O-S-U is fighting to win the conference, so it should be a good battle. The Hawkeyes are 9-5 in the Big Ten after a loss at Illinois but Alford says his team still has a positive attitude.

Alford says you never like to lose, but they’ve lost in a couple of tough environments. He says because of the loss they know what they have to do. Iowa hosts Penn State on Wednesday night and will close out the regular season at home against Wisconsin.