Iowa Hawkeyes ascend in ESPN’s final preseason SP+ rankings
The Iowa Hawkeyes are right on the cusp or just barely included in nearly every final preseason ranking that is coming out. The Hawkeyes were snubbed from the USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll but found themselves at No. 25 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
ESPN sees the Hawkeyes in the top 25 of their final preseason SP+ rankings. In fact, they have Iowa slightly higher than the other polls at No. 22. Iowa was No. 29 nationally in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly outlined what these rankings consist of.
Below are my final SP+ projections for the 2023 college football season. As covered in previous pieces, these are based on three primary factors: returning production (final rankings for which you can find at the bottom of this piece), recent recruiting and recent history. How good have you been recently? Whom do you have coming back? How good are the players replacing those you don’t have coming back? – Connelly, ESPN
At No. 22 overall, Iowa is within the top 25 and just three spots behind another Big Ten West contender, Wisconsin, who is at No. 19. Slightly weighing Iowa down is their offensive SP+ of 22.9, which is 79th in the country. For comparison’s sake, Ohio State nearly doubles Iowa with an offensive SP+ of 44.1. That figure for the Buckeyes is tops in the nation.
Defense is where the Hawkeyes make up quite a bit of ground. Iowa’s defensive SP+ is 8.9, which is first in all of college football in these rankings. Phil Parker’s unit comes in above Georgia at No. 2, Texas A&M at No. 3, Michigan at No. 4 and Penn State at No. 5.
Per these rankings, Iowa’s average total wins come out to 8.4 with an average of 5.8 conference wins. This is all considering Iowa’s strength of schedule, which is 0.833 in the rankings, or the 58th-hardest schedule in college football this year.
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