Iowa’s work on Saturday doesn’t stop when Purdue comes to Kinnick Stadium.
The 15th-ranked Hawkeyes are 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, and with a 10-2 finish they would be in strong shape for their first-ever College Football Playoff berth. But Kirk Ferentz and company can use some outside help, too, and Week 11 offers plenty of scoreboard-watching opportunities for Hawkeye fans.
Start with the ACC, where Iowa should be pulling for Duke at No. 7 Miami and for SMU against No.
13 Wake Forest. A loss for Miami would make the ACC look more like a one-bid league, and a Wake Forest loss would do the same while giving Iowa another boost in the rankings.
There’s also a Big Ten angle in Columbus, where Northwestern visits No. 20 Ohio State.
After last week’s embarrassing home loss to Oregon, the Buckeyes are already hanging by a thread in the playoff race. A fourth loss would effectively slam that door shut and keep Ohio State from affecting Iowa’s path any further.
A few other matchups could reshape the field in Iowa’s favor. Hawkeye fans should be rooting for Vanderbilt over No.
3 Alabama, Texas A&M over No. 8 Tennessee, Michigan over No.
16 Oregon, Florida over No. 11 Kentucky, Baylor over No.
10 BYU, Arkansas over No. 17 South Carolina, and Oklahoma State over No.
12 Texas Tech.
The Texas-LSU game carries real weight, too. Iowa should want LSU to beat No.
6 Texas, because a third loss for the Longhorns would open the door for Iowa to move ahead of them. That game also feeds into a bigger possibility: if Iowa keeps climbing, there’s a path to get all the way to No. 8 and host a CFP game.
Texas still has Arkansas and Texas A&M left, so Saturday may be the best chance for the Longhorns to take another hit.
LSU would not be out of the conversation with a win, though. The Tigers would jump back into the CFP discussion, but they still face a difficult trip to Tennessee next week.
There’s also a Notre Dame wrinkle. If the Irish drop two of their final three games, they would likely be on the outside looking in. Their closing stretch includes Boston College, SMU, and Syracuse, and losses to Boston College or Syracuse would be major upsets.
One more game to keep an eye on: No. 9 Indiana against No.
18 USC. A USC win could be one of the first dominoes toward Iowa reaching the Big Ten championship game, but a third loss would likely bury the Trojans’ playoff hopes.
Even with one more chance at UCLA, USC would be too far back to climb into the CFP field after a loss here.
And if Utah handles No. 23 Arizona, that would knock Arizona out of CFP contention while keeping the unbeaten Utes in prime position to claim at least one Big 12 bid.
In Other News...
Iowas Purdue Matchup Just Picked Up An Unexpected Complication
Purdues trip to Iowa City for Week 11 turned into a much longer and less predictable journey than expected after a nationwide FAA communication issue grounded all air traffic. Instead of flying, the Boilermakers had to travel by bus, a reminder that even a routine Big Ten road game can get complicated fast when travel plans across college football are suddenly upended.
The FAAs rare nationwide ground stop was issued for safety reasons and rippled beyond this matchup, affecting multiple programs and leaving other games with some uncertainty. For Iowa, the game against Purdue is still set for Saturday evening, but the unusual travel disruption adds another layer to a meeting that was already going to be watched closely. [Read more 🡒]
Boston Everitts Family Went To Extremes Just To See Him Punt
The travel chaos that hit the country on Nov. 13 ended up becoming part of the story for one Iowa family, as the FAAs nationwide ground stop forced a cascade of flight delays and schedule changes around college football. Peter Everitt, the father of Iowa punter Boston Everitt, was among those caught up in it, and he still managed to make the long trip to Iowa City to watch his son play.
It took him 36 hours to get there, a reminder of how far families will go for a chance to see a special teams moment that usually lasts only a few seconds. Boston Everitt has become an important piece of Iowas kicking game this season, ranking among the Big Tens punters and landing on the Ray Guy Award Midseason watch list, which made the effort feel especially worth it for the Everitts. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Faces An Early Reality Check Against A Team It Still Hasn't Solved
No. 10 Iowa gets an early measuring-stick game Thursday in Sioux City, where the Hawkeyes meet No. 8 Vanderbilt at the Tyson Events Center. It is the kind of nonconference matchup that can sharpen a team quickly, and for Iowa it also brings a familiar frustration into focus, since the Hawkeyes are still looking for their first win in the series.
Vanderbilt arrives with a high-powered offense that has been putting up 103.8 points per game, with Mikayla Blakes and Mia Woolfolk leading the charge. Iowa has its own balance, with Dani Carnegie among several Hawkeyes scoring in double figures, but this one asks whether that depth can keep pace with a team that has already had Iowas number four times before. [Read more 🡒]