During the 1960 season, Iowa, Ohio State, and Minnesota were the dominant teams in the Big Ten, and Iowa faced big games with Minnesota and Ohio State during the first two weeks of November. During this era, the Big Ten only allowed its champion to go to a bowl game, so much was at stake in these games. Since Minnesota and Ohio State had each lost one Big Ten game and undefeated Iowa had been in the 1959 Rose Bowl game, the only way that Iowa could return to the Rose Bowl was to beat both Minnesota and Ohio State on successive weekends. Minnesota would go if it could beat Iowa and win its final game the following week, and Ohio State would go if it could beat Iowa and Minnesota lost either of its final games. Ohio State and Minnesota did not play each other that season.
The week before the Ohio State game, the undefeated Hawkeyes played once beaten Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Hawks did not play particularly well, but trailed only 13-10 midway through the fourth quarter. However, at that point, a Minnesota player recovered a backup Iowa halfback's fumble in the air and returned it 50 yards for a score. Then, Minnesota scored another cheap touchdown after another late Iowa fumble to secure a 27-10 over the No. 1 rated Hawks. The Hawks' Rose Bowl hopes were essentially gone after the Minnesota loss. But Ohio State needed to beat the Hawks the following week in Iowa to remain in the Rose Bowl hunt, so one would have thought that Ohio State had the clear edge in motivation coming into the game.
The Buckeyes came in ranked third in both polls. After the Minnesota loss, the Hawks had fallen to eighth. But Iowa was motivated to beat Ohio State for a very basic reason, Evy hated Woody Hayes and the feeling was quite mutual. Evy and Hayes had quickly become heated rivals when they began their head coaching careers at their respective schools in the early 50's, and the animosity grew steadily throughout the decade. For example, Hayes accused Evy of not mowing the grass on the Iowa Stadium field in order to slow down Ohio State's strong rushing attack. On one occasion at a Big Ten coaches' conference in Chicago, after Hayes and Evy traded insults, Evy climbed over a conference room table to attack Hayes and had to be restrained by the other coaches. The only blemish on the record of Evy's 1958 Big Ten championship team and 1959 Rose Bowl champion (arguably the greatest team in Iowa football history) was Ohio State's 38-28 victory over the Hawks at Iowa Stadium in what was generally considered the greatest display of offensive football in Big Ten history at the time. Evy considered that loss, along with the infamous 1953 Notre Dame game, as one of the most bitter of his coaching career.
