Iowa’s path is getting tighter, and the bowl picture is starting to sharpen around one question: can the Hawkeyes play their way into the College Football Playoff?
After the win over Wisconsin pushed Iowa to 6-2, the Hawkeyes are back in the mix on the edge of the CFP conversation. They are not locked into anything yet, but they have put themselves in position to finish 10-2, and that record would make a strong case for the 12-team field.
For now, the projections have Iowa hovering between two places: the playoff or the Citrus Bowl. That Citrus Bowl spot looks like the landing zone for the first Big Ten team left out, and Iowa keeps showing up there in the latest predictions.
Sports Illustrated has Iowa just outside the CFP and headed to Orlando for a Citrus Bowl matchup with Ole Miss.
College Football News sees a different ending, projecting the Hawkeyes to win out and sneak into the field at 10-2. In that scenario, No. 9-seeded Iowa would go on the road to No. 8 LSU, setting up a trip to Death Valley.
ESPN’s two bowl projections both land Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, and both have the same opponent: LSU. That would create a stylistic matchup with plenty of intrigue.
CBS Sports also sends Iowa to the Citrus Bowl, though it has the Hawkeyes facing Alabama instead. So while the destination keeps coming up, the SEC opponent remains the moving piece.
That’s where Iowa’s season feels headed now: less wide open, more narrow with every week. The Hawkeyes look too good to drift into the middle-tier bowl range, but the bigger question is whether they can finish strong enough to crash the playoff party.
The Minnesota loss still stands out as the one real stinker on Iowa’s schedule. The Hawkeyes didn’t just lose that game; they gave it away in every way possible. But it also looks like the kind of setback that can sharpen a team rather than sink it.
What remains is a stretch of Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, and Nebraska. Iowa has built its identity on fundamentals and execution, and the idea here is simple: if Kirk Ferentz’s team keeps doing the basics better, that may be enough.
There’s also the possibility that 10-2 still leaves Iowa on the road in the first round. For this week’s projection, though, Kentucky is the team being picked to reach 10-2 and claim the home game. With the other options on the table, that would still be a matchup Iowa should be ready to embrace.
In Other News...
Iowa Gets Its First Real Test In Ben McCollums Home Debut
The first home game of the Ben McCollum era arrives with a little more substance than a typical early-November tuneup. Iowa is set to open the 2026-27 season against Lipscomb on Nov. 3, and after a pair of closed scrimmages and an exhibition win over Illinois Springfield, the Hawkeyes will finally get a chance to show what their new look means in a real game setting.
Lipscomb is not bringing in the kind of opponent that lets a team ease into the schedule, either. Kevin Carrolls group began its season against Southeast Missouri State and comes with three preseason all-conference players, which gives Iowa an early measuring stick in McCollums home debut. For a program trying to establish a new identity, the opener already has the feel of something more than just the first game on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]
Caitlin Clark Just Gave Iowa Fans Another Reason To Celebrate
Caitlin Clark is already making her presence felt in Iowas orbit again, even in the middle of her WNBA offseason. Ahead of the Hawkeyes 2026-27 season, she delivered her first signature Nike shoes, the Caitlin Clark 1, in an Iowa-inspired yellow-and-black colorway to the womens basketball team, a fitting nod for a program that has spent years riding the wave of her legacy.
The timing only adds to the feel-good stretch around the program, which opened its season with a home victory over Towson. Clark has also been on a press tour promoting her new childrens book, but this latest gesture brought her back to the place where her star first took off and gave Hawkeyes fans another reminder that her connection to Iowa still runs deep. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Is Rallying Around Jack Campbell After A Scary NFL Moment
Jack Campbells injury in Sundays game against the Minnesota Vikings sent a jolt through everyone who watched the former Iowa linebacker get taken off the field on a stretcher. The Detroit Lions later offered a more reassuring update, saying Campbell was resting and recovering in a hospital with positive early indications, but the moment was still enough to trigger an immediate wave of concern back in Iowa, where he remains one of the programs most respected recent alumni.
Kirk Ferentz and Campbells former teammates have already made clear how much he means to the Hawkeyes family, and their thoughts are with him and his family as he recovers. For Iowa fans, it was a reminder that the bond with Campbell goes well beyond his college career, and even in a scary NFL scene, the support from Iowa has been instant and unmistakable. [Read more 🡒]