At 8-4, the year for the Iowa Hawkeyes was far from any resemblance of a failure. Many teams nationwide would gladly trade places with Iowa and rattle off eight wins to secure a bowl bid.
While not a failure, it is also fair to say that the year was underwhelming for an Iowa team that began the year with darkhorse College Football Playoff aspirations.
Iowa dropped a few games to Iowa State, UCLA, and Michigan State that left a sour taste on the year and kept Iowa from truly reaching its potential.
The Hawkeyes had excellent individual outputs, though. Kaleb Johnson put up a historic year that ranks among the best ever by an Iowa running back. Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson were once again a dynamic duo.
The offensive line and offensive coordinator grew and found success. But still, this team never seemed to stick winning performances together for long periods of time.
Their up-and-down nature of this season has landed Iowa in the middle of the pack with a barely passing C+ grade in CBS Sports 2024 Big Ten football grades.
Iowa was just kind of there this season. It wasn’t a bad year by any stretch, as the Hawkeyes won eight games and Kaleb Johnson had one of the best seasons by any running back. But it wasn’t a good year, either, as this is a program that sees eight wins as its floor began the season ranked but fell out of the major polls after its second game, never to be seen again. The best news is the Hawkeyes won three of their rivalry games, but the one they lost was to their in-state rival who went on to have the best season in their program’s history. Also, you know, there was the whole having to play a billion different QBs again thing. Grade: C+ – Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports
The Hawkeyes had a revolving door at quarterback that saw Cade McNamara, Brendan Sullivan, and Jackson Stratton all start games. The rotational nature and different play-calling that came with that never let the offense find a true rhythm.
In a year where some may feel that the Iowa Hawkeyes were a bit down and underperformed expectations, it should serve as a reminder of how good they are as a program by the fact that they still rattled off eight wins.
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