Iowa Hawkeyes move to 67th in USA TODAY Sports’ college football re-rank
Iowa football is climbing its way back up! At least in the latest college football re-rank by USA TODAY Sports.
Every week, USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg ranks the entire college football field based on the recent results. That’s right. Forget your typical top-25 rankings, this is a top 1-through-131 team ranking.
Evidently, Iowa’s 33-13 victory over Northwestern earned them a little more credibility, the Hawkeyes moving up two spots to claim the 67th spot. Eight Big Ten teams currently rank above Iowa, including upcoming opponent Purdue in the No. 40 spot. Purdue actually moved down two spots this week, so there might be something brewing this weekend.
Iowa is stuck in the college football wasteland that is around .500. It is a mixture of the usual Group of Five suspects, such as 73rd-ranked Eastern Michigan and some other big-time programs experiencing some massively disappointing seasons.
Iowa fans can take solace in the fact that they aren’t the only team who’s not exactly where they’d like to be. Miami (4-4, 2-2 ACC) is ranked No. 80, partying it up amongst the likes of Alabama-Birmingham and UNLV.
The bottom of the ranking is pretty sad, 1-7 Massachusetts just cannot seem to figure it out. Fresh off of their 34-7 loss to Buffalo, UMass’ lone victory on the season comes against Stony Brook. It also stinks, from an Iowa perspective, to see two of the four opponents they’ve defeated ranked in the 100’s in Nevada (No. 129) and Northwestern (No. 116).
Overall, No. 67 does seem like a pretty proper placement for Iowa (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) so far. I have zero clue how to differentiate the Hawkeyes’ season from teams around them like Pittsburgh or Texas A&M, but it’s pretty much in the ballpark of who they are as a team: right in the middle of the pack.
They’ve kind of been the definition of meh so far this season, the offensive woes very well documented. As frustrating as it’s been though, they still are 4-4 with an opportunity to finalize and then enhance their bowl outlook.
Their defense has done enough to keep them competitive in most games, and they have played some tough competition. Iowa nearly knocked off Illinois, the nation’s No. 12 team per Myerberg and the No. 13 team in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. They aren’t the bad team that we feel they are when we are feeling especially frustrated with the Ferentz offense. The team is quite literally a middle of the pack team.
That may begin to change, though. While the Hawkeyes’ recent win came against the 116th-best team in the country per Myerberg, Iowa is coming off a win and might just be on the up and up. Maybe they can keep moving up the rankings with a big win over Purdue.
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