The Gophers have maybe the toughest remaining four games of any team in the Big Ten. All of a sudden, Iowa becomes one of the better teams in the Big Ten, even though earlier this season they lost to Iowa State, lost to Maryland and needed a last-second field goal to beat Northern Iowa.

But the Iowa team that comes in here Saturday is a much improved team over what it was three or four weeks ago when most of the experts, including myself, thought the Iowa game would be a pushover, and the worries would be about the final three games against Ohio State, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Now Iowa could be just as competitive as any of those teams.

The Gophers will have to play so much better than they did against Purdue and Illinois if they want to beat the Hawkeyes on Sunday.

Yes, the final four games of the Big Ten season will be a big test for Jerry Kill and his team. If they want to be among the elite of the league, they'll have to find a way to win these games.