Significance of 1981 Big Ten Championship

[hawkeyebob62]

That was the day Iowa football changed the entire culture of the state and the Big 10.
it put Iowa back on the map. The iconic tigerhawk logo. The pink locker room.
The forward pass.

Fry brought huge changes, not only to Iowa, but the Big 10. No more 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

Actually, Illinois was already starting to throw the ball all over the place (Dave Wilson, then Tony Eason), Indiana had "sort" of been doing it, and Purdue, with Mark Herrmann had already been doing it. NW had tried doing it, but just didn't have the horses. OSU had even started "opening up" with Art Schlichter but, along with Michigan, still pretty much ran an option offense out of the I-Formation.

It's interesting to note that the day Iowa beat Nebraska, Wisconsin also beat Michigan. As a matter of fact, the 1981 Iowa@Wisconsin game was pretty much going to determine which team had a shot at the Rose and which one was going elsewhere. Wisconsin ended up in the Garden State Bowl, the very last one, in fact.

 

[DickieRay]

Those shared championships in the list like 1981 & 1986 are confusing. Every team's goal was the Rose Bowl and only one team went.

Every Big Ten win was needed, but I believe the 1981 win over Wisconsin decided the Big Ten for the Hawkeyes. That Rose Bowl year established the Hawkeyes as a Big Ten powerhouse and marked the death of the Big 2 and the Little 8. Of course, Michigan and Ohio State didn't fade back into the pack, but Iowa showed the other programs how it could be done.