Iowa Football: 2018 game-by-game predictions
9. Purdue (Nov. 3)
Iowa goes back on the road for the second consecutive week to face a Purdue team that stunned them at home a season ago on senior day. Boilermaker quarterback Elijah Sindelar fired two touchdown passes, on a torn ACL nonetheless, en route to Purdue’s 24-15 win and spring-boarding the Boilermakers run to a bowl game. Iowa had won the last four meetings against Purdue prior to last season.
The Boilermakers surprised many in the Big Ten last season as they made their presence known early by nearly upsetting Louisville in the season opener and giving Wisconsin and Michigan all they could handle. Coach Jeff Brohm was a hot commodity last off-season but elected to remain in West Lafayette, much to the approval of the Purdue faithful. The Boilermaker are close to making a possible breakthrough.
This game could be problematic for Iowa, especially coming off a loss to Penn State. However, the last time Iowa lost in Happy Valley, they came back the back the very next week and upset then No. 2 Michigan. While Purdue will be ready to go against their division rivals, Kirk Ferentz will have his troops ready to extract some revenge from last season.