It took seven weeks of college football but the Iowa football team finally gained some respect as they are ranked for the first time since last November.
After the Iowa football team’s dominating victory over the Indiana Hoosiers, they have finally entered the AP Poll and the NCAA Coaches’ Poll. They have been teetering on the line for most of the college football season and were 26th highest ranked team before losing to the ranked Wisconsin Badgers. For some reason, losing a close game to a ranked team wasn’t enough to sway voters, and in fact, deterred voters from their Hawkeye support for a few more weeks.
Fast forward three weeks and two big road wins against Minnesota and Indiana, the Hawkeyes are 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. With their homecoming game against the Maryland Terrapins in a few days, they can add some numbers in front of their name.
The coaches’ poll has the Iowa football team sitting at #22, which is three spots lower than the 2-loss Wisconsin Badgers.
The AP poll has the Iowa football team sitting at #19, which is four spots higher than the 2-loss Wisconsin Badgers. The #19 ranking is the highest Iowa has ranked since they were ranked #13 in 2016 before they lost to North Dakota State.
The point difference between the #19 Iowa Hawkeyes and #18 Penn State is substantial (523-266), but ultimately these polls do not mean much in the grand scheme of things. It is, however, nice to get a little recognition for the way the Iowa football team has been playing this season.
What actually matters is where the Iowa football team ranks when the initial College Football Playoff ranking is released. The College Football Playoff (CFP) committee is truly the powerful party responsible for where Iowa eventually lands in the postseason discussion. The 13-person CFP committee releases their rankings in the latter half of the season and will continue to release rankings for the remainder of the season.
As the season progresses, we will keep you posted on the latest moves the Iowa football team is making in the rankings. I’ve got a feeling they’ll be going a little higher than #19 this year.