There’s something special about a rankings release. Even though it is preseason with not a down of football played yet, we as football fans still cannot get enough of a new set of rankings. A certain childlike excitement can wash over fans simply to see someone’s opinions on where teams stand, and it was the same case for ESPN’s preseason top 25 power rankings. Unfortunately for Iowa fans, that fervor quickly washed out for a new wave of despair and anger.
If you scroll through ESPN’s top 25 power rankings, you will be surprised to find not a mention of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Despite finishing last season with a 10-4 record and making it to the Big Ten Championship game—not to mention finishing No. 23 in last season’s final USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll—Iowa is nowhere to be seen this time around. Only four Big Ten squads were deemed worthy of a top 25 distinction, including West division rival Wisconsin.
Once the initial wave of frustration passes over after seeing Iowa snubbed, you start to understand the logic a little bit. There still are a ton of question marks on the offense, from the quarterback play to the offensive line. There is a potential for turnover regression as well, and, of course, the Big Ten is never a cakewalk. Iowa has the gauntlet of West division rivals in Purdue, Wisconsin, and Minnesota (Nebraska, too, if you’re inclined to believe in them) as well as a double date with Michigan and Ohio State. Both the Buckeyes and Wolverines are top-10 ranked schools.
However, besides the fear of turnover regression, it’s still a bit hard for those following the Hawkeyes to see a legitimate regression as a whole. Yeah, there’s question marks on offense, but the unit was already bad last season. They only scored a hair over 23 points per game. They weren’t the reason they were winning games, and they almost threw away great defensive performances in multiple games. Think back to the 23-20 win over Penn State for example.
On defense, however, Iowa returns nearly everybody. Of course, they do lose some valuable pieces such as Dane Belton, Matt Hankins and Jack Koerner, but few units ever stay 100% intact. There are impact players back from last year at every level of the defense, as well as some youngsters primed for breakouts.
Maybe Wisconsin is the better team, but as they mention in the rankings, there are question marks on their defense.
Coordinator Jim Leonhard’s defenses have been reliably elite, but cornerback features new faces after multiyear starters Faion Hicks and Caesar Dancy-Williams depart. – ESPN staff.
It isn’t just cornerback either, both linebackers Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn are off to the NFL. There’s a good shot that Wisconsin can replace both the linebackers and cornerbacks. They’ve done well in the transfer portal and Jim Leonhard is great at adapting players to that defense, but why is that already assumed? You can still feasibly question whether or not their defense will be as great as it was last year. For Iowa, most of the top stars are back on the defense.
The key difference is how Wisconsin have to replace players in an area of strength, their defense that carried the team to a 9-4 record, while Iowa has to really worry about improving their weakest area on offense. Maybe I’m being a bit of a homer here, but it just doesn’t seem right to me. I think both teams deserve to be in the top 25 or neither deserve it.
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