Hawkeyes: We've handled our business all season

No, Iowa hasn't played in one of these Big Ten football title games.

And, no, the Hawkeyes don't see that as any particular disadvantage, even if Saturday night's opponent, Michigan State, is a grizzled cuss playing for a third time in the conference's spotlight showdown at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

"I don't think anyone who's in this program has played in a true championship game," Iowa center Austin Blythe said during a teleconference Monday. "But with this game, I think we'll just continue with the mindset of one game at a time, do our best, and play to the best of our ability."

As the super-safe testimony from Blythe made clear, scripts were followed with perfect diplomacy during Monday's conversation. No. 4 Iowa (12-0) and No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) meet to decide which team likely moves into the four-team college football playoffs.

The Hawkeyes nearly wore out the word "physical" when speaking of the Spartans. The players canonized Michigan State's defensive and offensive linemen, as well as quarterback Connor Cook, all while repeating that the Spartans "plays a full 60 minutes."

Nothing remotely inflammatory was breathed or implied. Blythe's skills were particularly keen, as when he said:

"It is what it is. We're going to go out and play to the best of our ability and whatever happens, happens."

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Michigan State is a three-point favorite, mostly because it has beaten prominent tough guys (Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon) while Iowa has benefited from life in the somewhat more forgiving Big Ten West.

No one's seriously knocking the Hawkeyes. But schedules count — unless you're Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard, a junior from Tennessee whose promotion to Hawkeyes starter last January convinced former Iowa starter Jake Rudock that a transfer to Michigan would be healthy for all parties.

Beathard has a passer rating of 139.3 and isn't buying into discounts of Iowa's season.

"We don't make our schedule," said Beathard, whose team beat a slew of perilous schools in 2015, including Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Nebraska. "All you can do is play one game at a time. You can be lining up against a high school team — but you can't change that.

"We've done a good job of handling our business all year long. We respect MSU. They've played some tough opponents and done a good job. But strength of schedule and all that stuff — it all really doesn't bother us. All we can do is what we can do."

The Hawkeyes and Spartans haven't met since 2013. Much of the current cast didn't play in that season's game, a 26-14 victory by the Spartans at Iowa City. Most of the Hawkeyes playing this week at least remember watching films of Mark Dantonio's team.

Little has changed, the Hawkeyes said.

"Their offense has definitely quickened the past couple of weeks," said linebacker Cole Fisher, a fifth-year senior from Omaha, Neb. "You see a lot of power stuff. Nothing we haven't seen before, unless they throw a few curveballs.

They're definitely dangerous."

lynn.henning@detroitnews.com

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