It’s still only Week 3, but the bowl chatter is already rolling in, and Iowa is right in the middle of it.
That’s no surprise for a program that seems to live in bowl season. After opening 2-0 with wins over Northern Illinois and Iowa State, the Hawkeyes are already a third of the way to bowl eligibility, and the projections are starting to settle into a few familiar lanes.
What makes this week interesting is how often Iowa is being tied to the same bowls rather than scattered everywhere like it was a week ago. And one of the common threads is a chance to face an SEC opponent again, just like Iowa did against Vanderbilt last year.
One of the more appealing projections comes from Sports Illustrated, which sets up Kirk Ferentz against James Franklin in a baseball stadium. The pairing has plenty going for it, especially with two teams that feel built in similar ways. That’s the kind of matchup that jumps off the page.
CBS Sports offers another angle that could get messy in the best way, especially if opt-outs become part of the conversation. The big question there is whether Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer would play.
If he did, it would raise the stakes a bit, since a strong showing against Iowa could help his draft stock. The flip side, of course, is whether the risk would be worth it.
College Football News goes for the fun factor too, with Trinidad Chambliss running around while Iowa’s defense tries to slow him down in Nashville. That setup would give viewers a real contrast: Ole Miss speed against Iowa physicality. It also gives the Hawkeyes another shot at an SEC win.
ESPN has Iowa bouncing between two possibilities, the Pinstripe Bowl and the Music City Bowl, and the opponents are a pretty similar draw. Louisville and South Carolina both bring strong quarterback play, which always makes for a better watch when Iowa’s defense is on the field.
Still, Iowa feels like it has more room to climb than those projections suggest. The Music City Bowl would seem to fit an 8-4 season, while the Pinstripe Bowl feels more like a 7-5 destination. If Iowa avoids a slip against Iowa State, a 9-3 finish is on the table.
That would make the ReliaQuest Bowl a natural landing spot based on how the Big Ten could break, though Iowa was already in Tampa last year. If it comes down to shuffling teams around, the Citrus Bowl and ReliaQuest Bowl might end up being treated as interchangeable options to keep Iowa from repeating a destination.
In Other News...
Tony Diaz Added Extra Edge To Iowa's Emerging Passing Attack
Tony Diaz has given Iowas passing game a different kind of jolt through the first two weeks, emerging as the Hawkeyes most productive receiver and helping widen an attack that has looked more varied than it has in recent seasons. With more options showing up in the passing game, Iowa is no longer leaning on just one route to move the ball, and Diaz has been at the center of that early expansion.
After the win, Diaz added a little more spice to the week by calling out Iowa State coach Jimmy Rogers for mistakenly referring to him as Nate Diaz. He was quick to acknowledge the Cyclones as a strong opponent, but the moment also underscored how a receiver making noise on the field can create a little edge off it too, especially when an emerging passing game is still trying to establish its identity. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans Iowa Test Just Became A Lot More Real
Michigans early-season runway gets a little more interesting from here, because the Wolverines now know their Big Ten opener against Iowa will land in the traditional 3:30 p.m. ET CBS window. Michigan is 2-0 and gets UTEP before conference play begins, but the Hawkeyes are the opponent that will start to define what this first stretch of the season really means.
Iowa arrives at 2-0 and ranked No. 18, with a new starting quarterback in Hank Brown and a running game that has already looked like the backbone of the offense behind Kamari Moulton. The setting only raises the stakes for both sides, since this is the kind of matchup that can turn into an early measuring stick for a Michigan team still settling in and an Iowa group trying to prove its formula travels against a bigger stage. [Read more 🡒]
ESPN Just Sent Iowa Fans A Frustrating Cy-Hawk Message
Iowa walked out of the Cy-Hawk game with the result it wanted, improving to 2-0 after beating Iowa State, but the mood around the Hawkeyes got a little less pleasant once ESPNs latest FPI update arrived. Despite the win, Iowa fell six spots to No. 32 in the rankings, a reminder that the advanced metrics still have plenty of questions about how high this team can climb.
The bigger picture for the Hawkeyes did not shift much, at least not in ESPNs projections. Iowas outlook still points toward a bowl trip with a 91.4% chance to get there, while the College Football Playoff remains a long shot at 8.1%. For a team that already has one of its biggest rivalry wins in hand, the challenge now is proving the numbers wrong in the weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]