Looking Back at a Busy Week For Iowa Football

There was a lot of news surrounding the Iowa Hawkeyes this past week

August 1 was the first day that schools could officially offer members of the class of 2017. There was no lack of enthusiasm from Iowa’s verbal commits. Many of them went on Twitter to show their official letter that Iowa sent them. Eno Benjamin and Peyton Mansell were just two of many that took to Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MansellPeyton/status/761225191502467072

https://twitter.com/eno_benjamin5/status/760238961029550080

After the Big Ten Network released their top-100 players heading into the season, which featured three Hawkeyes in the top-25, ESPN did the same. Josey Jewell was ranked #22, C.J. Beathard at #14 and Desmond King as the third best player in the Big Ten. Both Jewell and King were ranked lower by ESPN, although Beathard cracked the top-15 after barely missing out in the Big Ten Network rankings.

With that being said, it does come with a little surprise that Michigan State’s defensive tackle Malik McDowell was ranked ahead of King. Both are phenomenal defensive players, and McDowell has a chance to bring home some hardware this season, but King is coming off a historic season for Iowa and is considered by many as the best defensive back in the nation.

Despite J.T. Barrett and McDowell being ranked ahead of King in the Big Ten rankings, both were behind him when ESPN ranked the top-100 players in the nation. King ranked eighth and as the highest Big Ten player. Myles Garrett, a defensive lineman from Texas A&M was the only defensive player ranked ahead of King.

As well as player rankings, the preseason Coaches Poll was released this past week. Iowa will start the season ranked as the 15th best team in the nation by the coaches, although the AP Poll is what carries the most weight until the College Football Playoff ranking starts. Still, it somewhat shows where Iowa will be ranked by the AP in a couple of weeks. With Iowa being #15, I wouldn’t expect them to fall lower than 20 and they’re a near lock to start the season in the top-25, which is a huge improvement from where they started last season.

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Alabama led the way with Clemson, Oklahoma, Florida State and Ohio State rounding out the top-5. Michigan and Michigan State who were ranked 5th and 11th, respectively, were the only other Big Ten teams ranked ahead of Iowa, and none were below the Hawkeyes. The Big Ten wasn’t as well-represented in the Coaches Poll as we’re use to seeing.

This is also somewhat disappointing as Iowa’s only ranked opponent heading into the season is Michigan, although Wisconsin, Penn State and Northwestern will have chances to be ranked later in the year.

Other than the Coaches Poll, the Associated Press is celebrating their 80th season doing college rankings. In order to celebrate, they released a top-25 all-time ranking where they ranked programs based on their history.

Seven Big Ten teams, if you count Nebraska, made the top-25, including Iowa. The Hawkeyes were barely able to sneak on as they were #25, although it speaks highly to the level of success they’ve had throughout their entire history. The Big Ten was not shy of any star power in this ranking as Ohio State took home the top spot.

There was a lot of news surrounding the Iowa Hawkeyes and more should be on the way as the season is quickly approaching. Class of 2017 can officially get offers and the Hawkeyes will be gearing up for hopefully another magically run in 2016.