Iowa football: Hawkeyes appear in first College Football Playoff Ranking

The Iowa football program is 6-2 through eight weeks, and tonight they were ranked #16 in the first College Football Playoff ranking of 2018.

It took six games for the Iowa football team to finally get enough love to show up in the AP Poll when they made their debut at #19 after their big win over Indiana. After beating a solid Maryland team 23-0, the Hawks only advanced one more spot up #18. Then, after losing to Penn State on the heels of an incredibly disappointing outing for the Hawkeye offense, they dropped just one spot.

Despite being 6-2 and being just a few plays away from an undefeated record, it didn’t feel like the Iowa football team was getting the love they deserved.

Tonight, a little more love was thrown their way after the College Football Playoff committee placed Iowa as the #16 team in the nation. I know it’s only a few spot jump, but a few spots can make a huge difference when it comes to bowl selections, and it goes along ways in showing how the committee feels about Kirk’s team.

The Hawkeyes are the fourth highest ranked two-loss team in the nation behind #11 Florida, #14 Penn State, and #15 Utah. I can’t argue with Iowa’s placement when it comes to those four two-loss teams considering the quality of each of those team’s losses.

Other Big Ten teams in front of the Hawks include #5 Michigan and #10 Ohio State. No other Big Ten teams made the initial list, but one surprising team that Iowa football fans are quite familiar with did make it into this initial top 25 list: Iowa State.

Going forward, these rankings will be produced each Tuesday night until the conclusion of the season, and you better believe that we will be keeping you updated every step of the way.

Looking at the rest of the list, if Iowa can win this weekend at Purdue, there are a few opportunities to jump teams who may be heading for a loss:

• #13 West Virginia plays #17 Texas, and if Texas takes care of business, there is a chance that Iowa jumps ahead of a two-loss West Virginia team and remains ahead of two-loss Texas who they share a common opponent with (Maryland).
• The Utah Utes head to Tempe to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils who despite being 4-4 have played tough throughout their schedule. A Utes loss would send this two-loss team likely below Iowa.
• Non-power five darling Central Florida faces a strong 5-3 Temple team that could show how good (or bad) this Knights team actually is. It’s unlikely a one-loss Central Florida team would stay above Iowa considering the lack of quality opponents they’ve played.

As we said above, we will keep you posted every Tuesday night when new rankings are posted. So far, I have no complaints with how the Iowa football was slotted. Let’s hope it stays that way.