New year, new coordinator. There are so many questions our offense, it's hard to tell how exactly things will go this year. We're favored in all but one of our games. We went 10-2 last year, and one of those losses was a fluke, with the worst offense in Iowa history. We return a huge amount of starters on both sides of the ball, and things really can't get any worse offensively.
Cade and Sullivan are immensely huge upgrades to Deacon, our offensive line may be the most experienced in the Ferentz era, and we retained all of our running backs. Tim Lester seems like a smart and experienced coach, he was able to turn around other program's dreadful offenses, so why not Iowa's? As for the defense, what else is there to say? It's a Phil Parker defense, and we'll be just fine.
With that in mind, I see us dropping one stupid game, possibly two. Iowa State, Michigan State, Washington, and Wisconsin are the iffy games for me.
Illinois State - W: I see this as a statement game for Tim Lester and the offense. They'll run up the score and get as much reps as possible against the worst team on the schedule.
Iowa State - For some reason, I keep seeing predictions that Iowa State will win this game handily. I personally don't see Iowa State being as good as everyone says they are. It's still in Kinnick under a Phil Parker defense. This will be a close, ugly game.
Troy - W
Minnesota - W: Revenge game. Minnesota has been the quietest team in the B1G in the off-season. They have nothing going on. If we head into this game 3-0, with our offense starting to gel, I see this as a solid win.
Ohio State - L: No one is beating OSU this year. They have the best team money can buy. Ryan Day was given a blank check and was told to beat Michigan and get a National Title. Any less than that and he's probably gone. I can only hope we put up a fight, especially for Playoff purposes later in the season.
Washington - Washington has to be the biggest question mark on our schedule. They lost practically everyone, from players to coaches. This is a team rebuilding their identity. Iowa has to win this one. Hopefully it's a night game with a nice chill in the air.
Michigan State - This one is tricky, in my opinion. Michigan State was not a good team last year, but it took a Cooper Dejean 4th Quarter miracle to beat them. They're still trying to rebuild, but with this being in East Lansing, I can see this as being one of the stupid games we drop, despite being an objectively better team.
Northwestern - W
Wisconsin - W: The only success Wisky had against us last year was when they were running the ball. They kept abandoning it, which is why I think we won the game. They no longer have their excellent RB, so I think they'll stick to the pass even more this year. Despite us not having Coop in the secondary, Kinnick Magic will do its thing and we'll win another ugly game against the stinkin' badgers.
UCLA - W: This is another tricky game, because the west coast is Iowa's kryptonite. UCLA by this point in the season will likely be done, because they are a bad team. If we play a fundamentally sound game and win the turnover/takeaway battle, this should be a solid win.
Maryland - W: This is another team people are high on, and I can't figure out why. They just lost their entire identity, Tagovailoa, who was their QB for what felt like a decade. I don't think Maryland has anything going for them. The only advantage they have is Iowa will be travelling from the West Coast to the East coast in the span of a week.
Little debbie - W: **** Nebraska, I'd rather die than predict we lose to those cocksuckers.
Floor: 9-3
Ceiling: 11-1
