Iowa 40, Purdue 20: Five things we learned

Noon Big Ten game as 24-point favorites. Field covered in snow. Nebraska looming next week, the Big Ten title game after that. It would have been easy for Iowa to start sluggish.

Instead, the Hawkeyes scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, gaining 161 yards and with eight first downs. Quarterback C.J. Beathard started 5 of 6 for 97 yards, and Iowa looked like it wanted to end this game early.

But....

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Iowa possessed the the ball for just over five minutes in the second quarter and gained 40 yards. It allowed more than 100.

The Hawkeyes took their feet off the gas in the second quarter, and as a result Purdue's quarterbacks went 13 of 17 for 107 yards in the first half. The Boilermakers scored 10 unanswered to narrow the gap before halftime.

In that situation, at home against lowly Purdue, Iowa has to do better to keep its lead at two scores going into the locker room.

MORE: No matter how it looks, Iowa is Big Ten's best team

Come on, Iowa. You've squeaked out some close wins, five single digits, but have shown the killer instinct to bury bad teams all year. How else have you gotten all the way to No. 5?

Iowa's effort just felt strange at halftime, and lacked that killer instinct. But late, the Hawkeyes did enough.

Purdue kicked a field goal to make it 20-13 in the third. After trading possessions, Beathard led an 8-play, 91-yard drive that ended in a 35-yard touchdown pass. Then early in the fourth, Beathard led a 7-play, 79-yard drive to go up by 23, but Purdue answered with a long touchdown drive four minutes later.

So what did Iowa do? Running back Jordan Canzeri broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run with 2:12 remaining in the game to put things out of reach at 40-20.

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Total yards: Purdue 405, Iowa 386

First downs: Purdue 21, Iowa 21

Turnovers: Purdue 1, Iowa 1

The Boilermakers were much less explosive on offense and gained those 405 yards on way more plays than Iowa did. But still, Purdue didn't have a ton of trouble moving the ball, especially after a poor first quarter.

In the second half, each of Purdue's five drives (not including the one that ended the game) went for at least 28 yards, and three went for at least 58. Iowa had three touchdowns in the final two quarters, but stalled on its other two drives.

Overall, even in a win by 20 points, Iowa didn't look like a top-5 or even top-20 team.

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If you follow college football, you know that Iowa is probably not one of the five best teams in the country. Yet at No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings, the Hawkeyes are very much in contention for a spot.

Yes, Iowa is unbeaten, but its best wins are over Wisconsin and Northwestern. The committee has consistently penalized the Big 12 for its weak schedule, but Iowa avoided Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Penn State this year. The best of the Big 12 all have to play each other once.

Iowa has not been penalized at all for its weak schedule, despite some fairly sluggish efforts, including Saturday's against two-win Purdue, so how will the committee react?

CFP Rankings, Week 12: Five things we learned