Iowa football: 3 reasons the Hawks could make the CFB Playoffs in 2019

2 of 4

AMES, IA – SEPTEMBER 14: Defensive end A.J. Epenesa #94, and defensive lineman Austin Schulte #74 of the Iowa Hawkeyes tackle quarterback Brock Purdy #15 of the Iowa State Cyclones as he scrambled for yards in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

The schedule is difficult, but not impossible

There are a couple of things to unpack here. First, usually, when the Iowa football team does have a talented team, the big knock on them is their schedule (i.e. 2015).

This year, that isn’t exactly an issue as the Big Ten West is much better from top to bottom (even in spite of Northwestern and Purdue’s struggles) and nationally speaking, it’s considered the second toughest conference in the nation. Furthermore, with road games against five teams who were either ranked in the preseason top-25 or were close (Northwestern), people respect this schedule much more than they have in years past. Yes, surviving the schedule isn’t going to be easy, but that brings me to my last point here.

It’s doable. While the Big Ten is undoubtedly the second-best conference in the nation, through four weeks of college football, Nebraska doesn’t appear to be this flawless team that is ready to win a national title right now.

Michigan has struggled, and in general, I just never believe Michigan is a true top-10 team under Jim Harbaugh. Northwestern lost their starting quarterback and their five-star transfer quarterback has struggled. Minnesota is struggling to beat bad teams, and Illinois is Illinois.

The jury is still out on Purdue, but they do have one of the most talented players in college football, and Penn State looked average, at best, against Pitt. Plus, they come to Kinnick.

That leaves Wisconsin, who looks like they are the top team in the Big Ten West right now. At this point, I feel like the Iowa football team should be favored in all but two games (Wisconsin and Michigan), and if they get one win on the road against one of those teams and win the Big Ten Championship game, they should get into the College Football Playoffs.

The point of all of this is the schedule is tough enough to look good to the CFB committee but not so tough that it would be impossible for the Iowa football team to achieve 11 or 12 wins this season.

Home/Iowa Football