Iowa heads into its bye week with the Big Ten suddenly looking a lot less settled than it did a week ago.
The Hawkeyes come off a 41-24 win at Washington on Friday night, a result that pushed them to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in league play. That victory also nudged Iowa up three spots to No. 17 in the AP Top 25, and the Hawkeyes should remain somewhere in the No. 15-20 range when the next poll comes out after the bye. They’ve now been ranked in every AP Poll this season.
Around them, the conference picture is crowded. Iowa is one of five Big Ten teams sitting at 2-1 in conference play, joined by USC, Nebraska, Minnesota and Purdue.
Even more telling for the Hawkeyes, three of those teams - Minnesota, Wisconsin and No. 25 Northwestern - are all on the upcoming schedule, and all three have received votes at some point this season.
Minnesota, Iowa’s next opponent, is also off this week.
At the top of the league, only No. 5 Indiana and No.
12 UCLA remain unbeaten in Big Ten play overall. Indiana’s conference title rematch with Ohio State is the headliner this weekend, while UCLA is waiting on word about quarterback Nico Iamaleava after reports surfaced that he could miss significant time.
Wisconsin and Ohio State are the other undefeated teams in Big Ten play.
Iowa still has some injury questions of its own. There is no official report this week, but Kirk Ferentz said after the Washington win that running back LJ Phillips’ situation was still too early to determine.
Phillips left late in the game after a tackle and was seen limping off the field. He finished with 42 yards on 10 carries.
The Washington game also gave Jeremy Hecklinski a national nod. In his first collegiate start, the quarterback was named one of the Manning Award Stars of the Week after throwing for 202 yards and three touchdowns. Iowa piled up 465 yards of total offense in the win.
The Hawkeyes’ trip to Minnesota has also been pushed onto a six-day schedule, with kickoff set for either 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. The broadcast network will be announced later this week.
Iowa’s coordinators are scheduled to speak with the media on Tuesday.
Elsewhere on the slate, Indiana’s game with Ohio State kicks at 11 a.m., and No. 13 Missouri visits No. 9 Ole Miss in a ranked SEC matchup at 2:30 p.m.
In Other News...
Iowas Playoff Push Comes Down To A Brutal Second Half
Iowas 5-1 start has put the Hawkeyes in a promising spot, but the road to a serious playoff push now runs straight through a six-game Big Ten West stretch that looks anything but forgiving. The back half of the schedule brings a mix of rivalry pressure, road trips and matchups against teams that have shown enough quality to make every week feel like a test, even for a team that has handled the first part of the season well.
The slate includes road games at Minnesota, Northwestern and Illinois, along with home dates against Wisconsin, Purdue and Nebraska, and the order alone tells the story of how much can change in a hurry. Some of those opponents have been steadier than expected, some have flashed enough recent form to demand attention, and all of them give Iowa little room for error if the Hawkeyes want the second half to keep the playoff conversation alive. [Read more 🡒]
Iowas Playoff Push Is Starting To Reveal What This Team Really Has
Iowas 5-1 start has put the Hawkeyes squarely in the top 20 and kept them in the College Football Playoff conversation, but the bigger story is what that record is beginning to reveal. Through six games, this team has not leaned on the same type of star power every week so much as a different set of contributors rising to the moment, whether it has been Tony Diaz as a leading receiver, Cam Buffington making his presence felt on defense or Braeden Jackson helping drive the run game.
The picture gets even more interesting when the opponent and the stage change. Tim Lesters play-calling helped shape the road win at Michigan, while specialists Caden Buhr and Boston Everitt still found ways to matter even in the loss to Ohio State, which is the kind of detail that speaks to a team with more layers than a simple ranking suggests. With Iowa still in the hunt, the real question is not just where the Hawkeyes are headed, but which version of this team will show up when the path gets even tighter. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Finally Looked Like The Team Hawkeyes Fans Have Wanted
For one afternoon, Iowa looked like the balanced team Hawkeyes fans have been waiting to see. The 41-24 win over Washington had everything working in sync, with the defense bringing constant heat, the offense moving with efficiency and the special teams quietly doing their part to keep control of the game.
Washington never found an answer for Iowas front, which piled up six sacks and held the Huskies to negative rushing yards. Kamari Moulton powered the ground game with a career-high 208 rushing yards, and Jeremy Hecklinski kept the passing attack efficient, giving the Hawkeyes a performance that felt less like a one-off and more like the kind of formula they have been trying to build around. [Read more 🡒]