Iowa football: Three most underperforming teams in Kirk Ferentz era
By Andrew Wade
1 2006 Iowa Hawkeyes (6-7)
I’ll be honest, it was tough to decide whether to put the 2005 Iowa football team or the 2006 Iowa football team here, but I didn’t think it would be right to include both on this list. The 2005 Hawkeyes started the season ranked 11th after winning the Capital One Bowl and finishing the season ranked 8th in 2004. They were returning Big Ten Player of the Year Drew Tate and a loaded roster, but they still lost 5 games.
2006 was worse. Drew Tate was returning for his senior season and running back Albert Young and a few key defensive pieces. The season started strong with the Hawks ranked 16th and jumping out to a quick 4-0 start. They dropped a game against #1 ranked Ohio State but rebounded with a win over Purdue. That, however, was when the wheels came off.
The Iowa football team won just one more game the rest of the season (against Northern Illinois), and dropped six games (including the Alamo Bowl against Texas). What’s worse is three of those losses came by double digits.
Iowa’s loss to Texas brought their final record to 6-7, one of just four losing seasons in the Kirk Ferentz tenure.
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The 2006 season is the most disappointing simply because expectations were high at the beginning and they even had a strong start before completely disappearing down the stretch.