Do you feel it yet, Hawkeye Nation? Do you feel the excitement and anticipation for a potentially big season for Iowa football yet?
While it would be natural for some of us to try and temper our expectations ahead of this year, it really is a challenge. All of us have a set of fan goggles where we are willing to overlook some of the shortcomings of our favorite teams, believing that we will overcome them! “This team is special!”
For Iowa football though, it is incredibly reasonable to have high hopes ahead of the 2023 season. Even the national media is starting to buy in on the idea of Iowa potentially having a big season.
In Brad Crawford of 247Sports’ recent outlook of the best and worst-case scenarios for every Big Ten team, he sees a high ceiling for this Iowa team.
Iowa must take advantage of its most favorable schedule in years. The Hawkeyes miss Ohio State and Michigan, but do have to play Penn State and Wisconsin on the road. The Hawkeyes likely won’t be favored to win either of those games. Cade McNamara will be one of the nation’s most impactful offseason transfers at quarterback and should bring the offense out of the cellar with a nine-win finish. Even in a worst case scenario situation, the Hawkeyes should still win seven games and finish in the upper tier of their division. – Crawford, 247Sports.
Crawford sees the potential for an 11-win Hawkeye team, one competing to get back in the Big Ten Championship game. In a testament to just how steadily good the Iowa football program is (as well as how weak this schedule is being perceived), the worst-case scenario is only set at 7-5. That is the baseline for what you can expect from Iowa football.
With all of their exciting additions over the offseason, we’ll see if Iowa can take it to the next level in 2023 and take advantage of this schedule that wouldn’t include either Ohio State or Michigan until perhaps a Big Ten title game.
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