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Joke

Iowa is the type of program that needs to earn every bit of preseason hype they are given. If teams like Texas, Florida State, USC or any SEC team wins 10 games and has a large chunk of their team returning, they are automatically a preseason Top 15 by every magazine in the country. Not so much with Iowa. Despite their strong start and peak at #2 last season, the Hawkeyes looked awful in the BTCG and followed that up with an uninspiring loss to a no-name program in their bowl game. For programs like Iowa, that makes everyone forget that you exist. Iowa has a chance to have a really good season, but not at all surprised by the lack of preseason love.
 
Iowa is the type of program that needs to earn every bit of preseason hype they are given. If teams like Texas, Florida State, USC or any SEC team wins 10 games and has a large chunk of their team returning, they are automatically a preseason Top 15 by every magazine in the country. Not so much with Iowa. Despite their strong start and peak at #2 last season, the Hawkeyes looked awful in the BTCG and followed that up with an uninspiring loss to a no-name program in their bowl game. For programs like Iowa, that makes everyone forget that you exist. Iowa has a chance to have a really good season, but not at all surprised by the lack of preseason love.

Actually, those schools you listed (Texas, FSU, USC) can have losing records, lose most of their starters, have a coaching change and still be in the top 25 every year.

In fact, that has been a staple recently.
 
Iowa went to the B1G Championship Game (got pummeled, yes), returns 15 starters and arguably the nation's best punter to boot (pun intended) but are not projected to be in the initial AP Poll.

I would be surprised if this happens because one thing lazy media members do is look at last year’s record and players lost. If you don’t follow Iowa or the B1G closely, you see that Iowa’s biggest losses were its center, RB and kicker and probably discount how important those guys were.

So you plug Iowa in between 21-25 and feel good about it.
 
Iowa went to the B1G Championship Game (got pummeled, yes), returns 15 starters and arguably the nation's best punter to boot (pun intended) but are not projected to be in the initial AP Poll.

I would be surprised if this happens because one thing lazy media members do is look at last year’s record and players lost. If you don’t follow Iowa or the B1G closely, you see that Iowa’s biggest losses were its center, RB and kicker and probably discount how important those guys were.

So you plug Iowa in between 21-25 and feel good about it.
Its actually even lazier than that. Recruiting rankings play a large role in filling in top 25 rankings, along with teams that have hot/trendy new coaches. The polls have brain worms this time of year
 
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Well it’s Bleacher Report….. opening a BR article is like eating food from McDonalds ….everytime I do it ….. I ask my self what was I thinking

They spew out all these garbage articles so they have something to fill their pages…… some of the worst journalism you can find…..I have the app but only read articles by local writers that contribute to team specific pages

that being said I’ve always liked the Hawks flying under the radar….. the last ranking of the season is what matters
 
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Actually, those schools you listed (Texas, FSU, USC) can have losing records, lose most of their starters, have a coaching change and still be in the top 25 every year.

In fact, that has been a staple recently.
What is phenomenal about your post is that only one of Texas, FSU and USC is in this top 25. Should I say "in fact" only one?
 
I agree - iffy qb, lost best lineman, and tough schedule

I have high hope's, but understand having to prove it
QB - ok
TL - I think the other 4 positions will be stronger
Schedule - agree
 
I read somewhere, "It's not where you start...."
Preseason rankings are only good to spin up the fans and get clicks.
 
Preseason rankings are meaningless, even more so unofficial ones from a random website.

We got dropped from the top 25 after the UNI win in 2009 and weren't ranked until week 6 in 2015. And we were conversely our most underperforming ever once we got ranked #2 in the country last year.

Give me unranked to start the season, please.
 
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Based on a much tougher schedule this season, I don't think it's out of the question they end the year outside the final top 25 rankings. The good thing is, Iowa tends to perform better when expectations are muted a bit.
 
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We finished last year 23rd, add Ohio State/Michigan to the schedule, and lost Linderbaum plus I think the Charlie Jones loss will be felt. It's not crazy to have them out of the preseason top 25.
 
Its actually even lazier than that. Recruiting rankings play a large role in filling in top 25 rankings, along with teams that have hot/trendy new coaches. The polls have brain worms this time of year
No doubt, remember how highly Nebraska was ranked after not being good and hiring a worse coach a few years ago?
 
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Not at all surprised. From the outside looking in, you see a team with a great defense, anemic offense who, last season, looked pretty uninspired vs CO state, Purdue (got waxed), Wisconsin (got waxed), got embarassed by MI and then end it on a loss to Kentucky...throw in 4 of the wins were by 1 score or less, and the offense is still being helmed by one of the worst statistical QBs in D1, its not hard to convince yourself there will be a regression to the mean, and is a 8-4/7-5 team worthy of being ranked? Some years yes, some no. Is Iowa just as likely to go 5 wins with this schedule as they are 10? Id say so. Last year is prime example though that if you win, rankings take care of themselves.
 
Not at all surprised. From the outside looking in, you see a team with a great defense, anemic offense who, last season, looked pretty uninspired vs CO state, Purdue (got waxed), Wisconsin (got waxed), got embarassed by MI and then end it on a loss to Kentucky...throw in 4 of the wins were by 1 score or less, and the offense is still being helmed by one of the worst statistical QBs in D1, its not hard to convince yourself there will be a regression to the mean, and is a 8-4/7-5 team worthy of being ranked? Some years yes, some no. Is Iowa just as likely to go 5 wins with this schedule as they are 10? Id say so. Last year is prime example though that if you win, rankings take care of themselves.
But 10 wins!
Plus we beat the number 4 and 9 teams in the country ;)
 
Not at all surprised. From the outside looking in, you see a team with a great defense, anemic offense who, last season, looked pretty uninspired vs CO state, Purdue (got waxed), Wisconsin (got waxed), got embarassed by MI and then end it on a loss to Kentucky...throw in 4 of the wins were by 1 score or less, and the offense is still being helmed by one of the worst statistical QBs in D1, its not hard to convince yourself there will be a regression to the mean, and is a 8-4/7-5 team worthy of being ranked? Some years yes, some no. Is Iowa just as likely to go 5 wins with this schedule as they are 10? Id say so. Last year is prime example though that if you win, rankings take care of themselves.
This is exactly what a bunch of the media will tell themselves. Its not the craziest theory if you squint. The offense at the end of the year was almost completely broken, and special teams/defense basically sock puppeted the offense into appearing to do its job by constantly scoring or putting the ball in scoring position with turnovers then kicking FG’s.

Side note - Last year’s team could not move the ball. Its actually kinda hilarious when you play some of these games back and watch the action. Iowa’s defense was just so dominant that the opposing team would somehow be more helpless than our offense, then special teams would come into play and we’d net 30 yards sometimes just exchanging punts.

Back to my point - If media thinks that the FG unit and kick return unit production drops (with Shudak and Jones leaving) and that Iowa can’t replicate the turnovers or fix anything on offense, I could easily see where they were coming from. Its a surface level observation, not a deep dive for these media types.

The smarter ones will look at the roster and see a team that has a bunch of young emerging stars, like Lachey, Keegan Johnson, Bruce, Colby, Richman, the entire D line, Jacobs, Harris just to name a few, a bunch of solid vets like Moss, LaPorta, and Campbell. They’ll also see Iowa has some calvary coming to fix the OL issues that ended up being the big problem on offense with a bunch of kids that got seasoned, plus a bunch of RS FR/SO types that hit the weight room and got coached up, and were highly regarded prospects coming in.

Iowa’s got a lot to prove this year but the floor is 7 wins with this roster. I’m not sure that we have a great ceiling with our QB situation, but if the right players emerge on the offensive line and it becomes dominant, SP could thread the needle and a special season (winning the B1G in a down year for the league) is possible.
 
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